ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2272 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2272 ************************************ From: Lisa and Ken Theriot 10 Apr 2001 Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether or would be an appropriate name for a Scottish woman of Irish origin in the early medieval period, and whether you could use a descriptive byname, possibly one meaning "long-haired" or "willowy". Later, you asked about the Gaelic descriptives , , and . Here is the information we have found. The linguistic history of the area that became modern Scotland is very complex. In the 9th century, the area that is now Scotland had almost half a dozen different cultures speaking as many different languages: * Cumbric (a Brythonic language closely related to Welsh) in the southwest; * Old English in the southeast; * Pictish in the northeast; * Norse in the north; * Gaelic in the west. By the 12th century, Pictish and Cumbric had virtually disappeared, but Norse, Gaelic, and English were still being spoken, joined by Norman French, distributed roughly as follows: * Norse, spoken in the far north and the western isles. * English, spoken mainly in the southeast. * Gaelic, spoken through much of the country. * Norman French, spoken by Anglo-Norman settlers and their Scoto-Norman descendents, mostly in the south. Beginning around the 14th century, the two main languages spoken in Scotland were Gaelic, spoken in the Highlands and Western Isles, and Scots, spoken in the Lowlands, including the royal court and towns. Gaelic was the same language spoken in Ireland at this time; Scots was closely related to contemporary English. The languages were very different and had different naming customs. There was some mixing of names from the different cultures, but most names were not adopted into all of the cultures. Since you specified that your family came from Ireland, and you expressed an interest in Gaelic given names, we will concentrate our discussion on Gaelic naming practices. Gaelic was not used as a written language in period Scotland as often as other languages, such as Latin and Scots; we have few surviving Gaelic documents that include names. As a result, the bulk of our Gaelic name sources are Irish. You told us you want to set your persona as early as possible, so we'll focus on the 8th-10th centuries, the earliest period for which we can recommend either of the given names you've chosen. was a very popular Irish feminine name early in our period (before 1000). It was pronounced \MU"R-(y)@n\, where \U"\ represents the sound of as in German . More precisely, it is the vowel you get by pronouncing the sound of the in with your lips positioned as if you were saying as in . The symbol \(y)\ represents a lightly voiced consonantal , and \@\ represents the sound of in and . The name was used by a number of women in Irish mythology and history [1]. We find the name recorded in the 8th-10th centuries as follows [2, 3, 4]: Muireand, 748, 916 Muirend, 743, 829, 977 Muirenn, 748, 918, 979 Muiriond, 962 is a later form of the Irish feminine given name , both pronounced \MU"R-y@l\. was also used as an early period man's name. [1] Like , we find it recorded prior to 1000 [3, 4]: Muirgheal, 926 Murgel, 928 There is a great deal of spelling variation in the medieval Irish records, and in some cases a later spelling may have been applied when documents were transcribed. It would certainly be appropriate for you to use any of these recorded forms, but we believe that the most typical spellings for the 8th - 10th centuries are and [5]. Both and seem to have fallen out of use in Ireland around 1000; accordingly we believe that either is best used as a recreation for the 8th - 10th centuries. However, we do believe that at least survived later in Scotland. We find record of a woman in 1284 in a Latin document, where her name is given as [6]. Based on her byname, we believe that she was a Gael, and that is a scribe's Latinized version of some form of (though of course we cannot be sure of the Gaelic spelling). You mentioned that you wanted to use a descriptive byname. In period Gaelic, people were almost always identified as their fathers' children. A byname of this type was called a "patronymic". Although some women were sometimes identified by descriptive nicknames, any woman of this culture would have had a patronymic and would have used it in at least some circumstances. If her name were written down, we believe it would almost invariably have included a patronymic. We strongly recommend that you choose a patronymic byname as well as a descriptive. Most period Gaelic descriptive bynames are simple adjectives which describe concrete rather than fanciful characteristics, such as 'young', 'big', or 'black'. (The slash represents an accent over the preceding letter.) In fact, they are the kind of nicknames we would put in front of a name in modern English. For example, we'd translate as 'Young Domnall' and as 'Big Niall' [7]. We frequently find that these bynames are not capitalized; we would expect to find as often as . We find the byname , meaning 'slender, thin' used to describe a man in 1470; the name recorded is , 'Art, son of thin Domnall O/ Neill' [8]. was also used in the early period as a byname, so we believe that it is appropriate for your period [9, 10]. The most appropriate form for your use is ; the additional in represents a softening of the sound of the initial that is required by Gaelic grammar in some circumstances. This softening is called "lenition". It had a fairly significant effect on the pronunciation of some letters, and was therefore usually indicated in writing, either by adding an after the letter or by adding a dot over the letter, which we represent in text by a period after the letter, e.g. . was pronounced \KHILE\, rhyming with , where the \KH\ represents the rasping sound of in Scottish or German and . This sound is made by bringing the tongue into the position for the \k\ sound as in while pronouncing a strong, rasping \h\. would be understood as 'Slender Muirenn'. We've also seen a smaller number of examples of descriptive bynames that are somewhat more complex and sometimes figurative; for example, we find a man recorded in 1190 as , 'Cathal the red-handed' [11]. In a 12th century Irish genealogy, we find the byname 'beautiful haired'. Unfortunately, the entry is for a legendary Irish figure [12]. We have not found this name recorded in use by a normal pe rson, so we cannot recommend it as the best recreation; however, it is certainly not impossible that it could have been used in the 8th-10th centuries. We believe the most appropriate form for your use is , pronounced \OHLT-khive\ (rhyming with ) [13]. Here \OH\ represents the sound of the vowel in . For your period, lenition of the letter is more commonly represented by use of a dot over the letter; lenition of the letter is more commonly recorded by placing after the [14]. is Gaelic for 'brown'. It is used alone as a masculine given name and as an element of several other masculine given names [15]. We have not found any examples of it as a byname in your period, but we believe it is plausible. The first example we have is for a man in 1103 [16]. We also find it recorded as [17]. We expect that or 'brown Muirenn' was the typical form for your period. The letter did not show lenition in spelling prior to around 1200 even though lenition was reflected in pronunciation. was pronounced \MU"R-(y)@n DHOHN\, where \dh\ represents voiced \th\, the sound of in and (but not in ). is a modern spelling of a word that we find in your period as 'peaceful, tranquil, calm, at rest'; it could be applied to people with the sense 'gentle' [18]. We find no examples of its use as a byname, and we do not believe that it is the type of descriptive that would have been used as a byname in your period. is a rare variant spelling; the common modern spelling evolved from a word that we find in your period as , usually 'needleworker, embroidress' [18]. (with two s) would likely be translated as 'humped' [19]. Bynames of occupation are rare in Gaelic, and are generally limited to jobs which would have been highly specialized, such as a smith. It is highly unlikely that a woman in your period would be specialized as a needlewoman to such a point that her neighbors identified her in that fashion. A patronymic is formed in Gaelic for a woman by using 'daughter', followed by your father's name, given in the genitive, or possessive, form, and lenited. The genitive is a way of altering a name to reflect possession, much as we do when we change to . For example, a woman called , whose father was would be known as 'Muirenn, daughter of Conall'. If she were very slender, it would be plausible that she might be known as , 'thin Muirenn, daughter of Conall', and referred to by her neighbors simply as . If you'd like to consider some other appropriate names for your father, you can find a good list in the following article: 100 Most Popular Men's Names in Early Medieval Ireland http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/tangwystyl/irish100 In summary, or is a fine name for a Gaelic-speaking woman in Ireland or Scotland for the 8th-10th centuries; is a plausible form for common use. is possible, but not attested. The given name is also appropriate. The byname is possible, but not the best recreation. We hope this letter has been useful. Please write us again if any part of it has been unclear or if you have other questions. I was assisted in researching and writing this letter by Arval Benicoeur, Effrick neyn Kenneoch, Julie Stampnitzky, Margaret Makafee, Mari neyn Brian, Talan Gwynek and Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn. For the Academy, Adelaide de Beaumont 10 April 2001 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990), s.nn. Muirenn, Muirgel. [2] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh, ed., "Annals of Tigernach" (WWW: CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts: a project of University College, Cork, Ireland, 1996). appears in entry T748.8. The first three digits are the year of the events recorded. http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100002/ [3] Donnchadh O/ Corra/in & Mavis Cournane, "Annals of the Four Masters", six volumes (WWW: CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts: a project of University College, Cork, Ireland, 1997). Examples of a form of appears in entries M743.7, M829.3, M916.6, M962.7 and M977.6. appears in entry M926.6. The first three digits are the year of the events recorded. http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100005A (v.1), http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100005B (v.2) [4] Donnchadh O/ Corra/in & Mavis Cournane, "The Annals of Ulster" (WWW: CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts: a project of University College, Cork, Ireland, 1997). A form of appears in entry U748.6, U918.3 and U979.1. appears in entry U928.2. The first three digits are the year of the events recorded. http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100001/ [5] Around 1200, a major change in the spelling of Gaelic names occurred; the written form was altered to more nearly reflect the spoken form. Should you choose to set your persona after 1200, it will change the expected spelling of every name element we suggest in this letter. Please write to us again if you would like the later spellings. [6] Black, George F., _The Surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and History_, (New York: The New York Public Library, 1986), s.n. Muriel. [7] Krossa, Sharon L. (Effric neyn Kenyeoch vc Ralte), "Quick and Easy Gaelic Bynames (draft 3rd Edition)", (WWW: Privately published, 1997-2000) http://www.MedievalScotland.org/scotnames/quickgaelicbynames/ [8] "Annals of the Four Masters", entry M1470.2. The byname appears as in this example, which is a spelling we would only expect to find after 1200. http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100005D (v.4) [9] Jones, Heather Rose (aka Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn), "Early Irish Feminine Names from the Index to O'Brien's 'Corpus Genealogiarum Hiberniae'" (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1999; WWW: Academy of Saint Gabriel, 1996) http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/tangwystyl/obrien/ [10] It was also used as a masculine given name. O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_, s.n. Ca/el, comments on its early use. [11] "Annals of the Four Masters", entry M1190.4. http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100005C (v.3) [12] Jones, s.n. F.oltcha/em. The entry in O' Brien is for , wife of Cairpre Nia Fer. O/ Corra/in and Maguire describe her in _Irish Names_ as "daughter of Brio/n, son of Eochu Mugmedo/n, a legendary king of Connacht...." [13] The \v\ actually represents a nasalized, voiced bilabial fricative, i.e., a nasalized version of the Spanish \v\ in . You can produce it by saying \m\, but opening your lips slightly to let some of the air 'buzz' out between them. [14] If you are interested in why this softening occurs and how it affects different letters, we recommend the article, "Lenition in Gaelic Orthography", available online at: http://www.medievalscotland.org/scotlang/lenition.shtml. [15] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_, s.nn. Donn, Donna/n, Donnchad, etc. [16] "The Annals of Ulster", entry U1103.3 gives "Murcad Donn .i. Ua Ruadacan". The first four digits are the year of the events recorded. http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100001/ [17] "Annals of the Four Masters", entry M1329.10 gives Dabac Dond Mac Uilliam Ridire. The first four digits are the year of the events recorded. Note that <-nn> and <-nd> are different representations of the same sound; the 'd' was pronounced in very early Irish, but the spelling persisted long after it no longer reflected a pronounced sound. In general we find <-nd> spellings earlier than <-nn>. We would expect that a scribe would use one ending or the other; either or would be more plausible than , although there are examples of mixed use in the Irish annals (see M743.7). http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100005C (v.3) [18] Royal Irish Academy, _Dictionary of the Irish Language: based mainly on Old and Middle Irish materials_ (Dublin : Royal Irish Academy, 1983), s.v. su/aimnech, druinech, druinnech. [19] Dinneen, Patrick S. _Foclo/ir Gaedhilge agus Be/arla_ (Dublin: Irish Texts Society, 1979 [1927]), s.v. druinneach.