ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2301 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2301 ************************************ From: Lisa and Ken Theriot 22 May 2001 Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You wanted to know if the Gaelic feminine name would be appropriate for an Irish woman in the 12th century. (Here and throughout this letter, the slash indicates an accent over the preceding letter.) Here is the information we have found. was the name of two Irish saints [1]. Unfortunately, we have no examples of this name in common use, so we cannot say whether it is appropriate for your period. Many names which were popular prior to 1000 dropped out of use by the 12th century; we don't know if was one of them. Without evidence that was used in your period, we cannot recommend it as good re-creation. If you would like to see the names which we have found in records for your period, you can find a dated list in this article: "Index of Feminine Given Names in Irish Annals" http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/mari/AnnalsIndex/Feminine/ The byname occurs in a genealogical work from the 12th century [2]. Most of the people named in this work lived well before the 12th century, and in some cases the people are legendary and may never have lived at all. The name occurs 5 times, all applied to men. As a byname, seems to have been eulogistic, with the sense 'brilliant, splendid, glorious'; it was frequently applied to Ireland itself [3]. Based on this evidence, we are unable to conclude whether the byname was used in your period or whether it was used for women at all. It is possible that it is a term which would not have been used in everyday speech in reference to a living person by anyone from your period, so we cannot recommend it as a good recreation. was also the name of at least two Irish saints [1]. We have recorded examples as a given name through the 11th century and in the 12th century as part of a byname, so we believe it is appropriate for your father's name [4, 5, 6]. If a 12th century man named had a daughter named , she would be known as 'Fiadnat, daughter of Oissi/ne'. It would have been pronounced roughly \FEE-@dh-n@t EEN-y@n OHSH-shee-nee\, where \@\ represents the sound of in and , and \dh\ represents the sound of in and . You'll have noticed that we've spelled this name with at the end rather than . This is a change required by Gaelic grammar; is the possessive (genitive) form of , analogous to the relationship between and in English. We hope that this letter has been useful to you and that you won't hesitate to write again if any part was unclear or if you have further questions. I was assisted in researching and writing this letter by Arval Benicoeur, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Mari neyn Brian, Talan Gwynek, and Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn. For the Academy, Adelaide de Beaumont 22 May 2001 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References: [1] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990). s.n. Fiadnat, Oissi/ne. [2] O'Brien, M. A., ed., _Corpus Genealogiarum Hiberniae_ (Dublin: The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1976). Examples of the byname include Cobthach A/n, who was the grandson of E/nnae Bo/guine, an early king of Connacht; also Ailill A/n, listed as 36 generations back in the lineage of Kenneth MacAlpin, first king of Scotland (born 841). [3] Royal Irish Academy, _Dictionary of the Irish Language: based mainly on Old and Middle Irish materials_ (Dublin : Royal Irish Academy, 1983), s.v. a/n. [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). http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100001/ U651.2 Oisseni m. Oisirgg (Here is in the genitive due to sentence structure) U1044.3 h-Ui Oissein U1050.5 Eochaid H. h-Oissein U1161.1 Ua h-Oisse/in, ard-epscop Connacht [5] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh, ed., "Annals of Tigernach" (WWW: CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts: a project of University College, Cork, Ireland, 1996). http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100002/ T651.3 Oissin maic Oiseirg (Here is in the genetive due to sentence structure) T1161.1 Aed h-U/a h-Oissi/n, aird-espoc cuicidh Connacht [6] 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, 1997-98). http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100005A M652.3 S. Oissene Fota, ab Cluana h-Ioraird M704.4 Oissene Fremhann, mac Galluist, abb Cluana Mic No/is http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100005B M997.6 Oissine ua Machaine/n, tighe_rna Mughdorn M1018.16 Aile/ni mac Oissene, tighe_rna Mughdorn M1018.16 Oissene ua Cathassaigh, tighe_rna Saithne M1044.7 d'Ua Oisse/n M1050.14 Eochaidh Ua h-Oisseine M1161.1 Aodh Ua h-Oissein, aird-epscop Thuama [and one form:] M1096.16 Giolla Oissen Mac Corte/n, tigherna Dealbhna Mo/ire