ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2275 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2275 ************************************ From: Lisa and Ken Theriot 16 Mar 2001 Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked if is an appropriate name for a woman living in Lowland Scotland near Edinburgh between 1450 and 1550. Here is the information we have found. Starting in the late 14th century, there were two main languages spoken in Scotland: 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. Names were formed quite differently in the two languages, and the two styles of naming did not mix. Since you specified Lowland Scotland, you will definitely want a Scots name. Most documents in medieval Lowland Scotland were recorded in Latin. The oldest surviving documents in Scots date to late in the fourteenth century, but Latin remained in common use throughout our period. Scribes often altered or "Latinized" names which were recorded in Latin documents; how this was done varied widely based on the custom of the time, the education of the scribe, and possibly other factors. A name like , which is a form of , could be represented in many ways; we find it translated into formal Latin as , or left close to a spoken form like or , or presented as something in-between. It was very common to find spoken forms with tacked onto the end in order to make them look more like Latin. We find recorded in Lowland Scotland in 1574 and 1599, slightly later than your period [1]. We believe that the original documents from which these citations were taken were in Latin. Accordingly, we believe that the likely Scots form, both written and spoken, would be different from . We find the following forms, any of which would be appropriate for most of your period, recorded in Scots-language documents in Aberdeen between 1500 and 1550 [2]: Jonat 1531, 1532, 1533, 1534, 1538, 1540, 1543, 1548, 1549, 1550 Jonet 1500, 1501, 1502, 1507, 1509, 1520, 1540 Gynne 1531, 1532, 1548, 1549 Gene 1543 Genis 1543 Gennat 1520 Genne 1543 Gennet 1520 Janot 1524 Jonatt 1543 As you can see, none of the forms ends in ; you can also see that spellings beginning with are especially common for the forms that sound most like . We do find the form recorded in 1596 [3], and recorded between 1539 and 1548, so we believe that the forms are appropriate as well. The woman from the citation of 1548 was also recorded in the same document as , so clearly the forms were used interchangeably [4]. would probably be the best choice for the early end of your period; we find it recorded in 1391 [5]. The variety of spellings may represent a variety of pronunciations in common use. We believe that would most likely be pronounced \DJEE-nee\, though \DJEH-nee\ and \DJEEN\ are also quite possible. (In other words, in modern spelling we might render them as , , and .) would likely be pronounced \DJOH-n@t\, where \OH\ represents the sound of in the word , and \@\ represents the sound of in and . We find no evidence to support your byname and we believe it is unlikely. We find the following forms recorded in Scotland [6]: de la Hyll 1271 de le Hille 1321 de Hill 1360 de Hille 1376 del Hylle 1380 de Hyl 1382 of Hille 1385 de Hyll 1426, 1447 de Hill 1435 of Hill 1469 Hyl 1476 Hill 1592 As you can see, none of these forms is plural; we have found a few , but we believe in all cases that they describe a possessive rather than a plural. Since the byname would have arisen as a way of describing a person, saying they are "from the hills" is much less useful than identifying them as a resident on or near one particular hill. It is also clear from these examples that the element representing (i.e., , ) seems to have begun dropping out early in the 14th century, and the element representing (, ) began to disappear in the 15th century. Accordingly, we believe that or is the most appropriate form for the beginning of your period and is the most appropriate form for the end. We would expect to appear in any Latin documents; Scots documents, though they might use in some cases, would be more likely to use the spoken form . The spellings , and might occur in either a Latin or a Scots document; any of these are appropriate for your use. We believe they all represent the same sound. A woman might find her name recorded in several different ways depending upon whether the document was Scots or Latin, and the spoken form might be different from either. We would certainly not be surprised if a woman around 1530, known to her neighbors as , were recorded as in a Scots document, and in a Latin document. By about 1500, almost everyone in Lowland Scotland had an inherited surname, so for most if not all of your period, we would expect that a woman named had a father called, for example, . They would not necessarily live near a hill. In summary, would be an excellent name for a woman in Lowland Scotland around 1550; we might expect the same woman's name to be recorded in a Latin document as . would be a fine name for such a woman a century earlier; her name might be Latinized as or . 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, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Effrick neyn Kenneoch, Julie Stampnitzky, and Talan Gwynek. For the Academy, Adelaide de Beaumont 16 March 2001 References: [1] Black, George F., _The Surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and History_, (New York: The New York Public Library, 1986), s.nn. Izat, Sleigh. [2] The manuscript Aberdeen Council Registers, Volumes 8 - 20 (1501-1551), in the Aberdeen City Archives, various entries. [3] Black, s.n. MacGillewie. [4] Black, s.n. Towers. [5] Black, s.n. Burrell. [6] Black, s.n. Hill.