ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2311 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2311 ************************************ 06 Aug 2001 From: Judith Phillips Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked up whether the name would be suitable for a Welsh woman living in either the 9th or the 12th century. Here is the information we found. In the 9th century, a Welsh name might have been recorded in either Old Welsh or Latin; the majority of surviving records from that period are in Latin. In the 12th century, a Welsh name might have been recorded in English as well. In addition, Welsh spelling conventions changed somewhat between the 9th and 12th centuries, and both differ from modern Welsh. Therefore, the appearance of your name would change quite drastically depending on the language and time in which it was recorded. We'll discuss several spellings for each element of your name. is the modern spelling of a name that is relatively rare in medieval Welsh records. We found only two examples: from 1292 [1] and from 1406 [2]. Relatively few sources of Welsh names survive from before the 13th century, and those that do include very few women's names. This makes it difficult to say with certainty which Welsh women's names were in use before that. Because we have an example of the name from the 13th century, it seems fairly safe to assume that it may have been in use one century earlier in the 12th century. It is less safe to assume that it would have been in use in the 9th century, however because the name is of native Welsh origin (and was not borrowed from English or Norman French) it is not implausible that it might have been used at that time. Neither of our examples represents a Welsh context spelling. In Old Welsh, the final syllable in and related names alternated freely between <-w> (Latinized <-ou>, as in ) and <-wy>. Either or is a reasonable 12th-13th century Welsh spelling; since was frequently used to represent the sound of Welsh , and would be reasonable as well. A 12th century Latin spelling would likely avoid using letters atypical in Latin words, so or would be more likely in a Latin context. [3] In the 12th century, however, it was not uncommon for Welsh names in Welsh spellings to be mixed with Latin words in Latin spellings in the same document. In the 9th century, Welsh spelling was based more or less directly on Latin spelling, so there is little difference between the two: the most likely spelling in either context would be or . [4, 5] In all these spellings, in both periods, the name would have been pronounced roughly \m@-VAHN-oo\ or \m@-VAHN-wee\, depending on whether the final syllable was <-w> or <-wy>. \@\ represents the sound of in or and \oo\ represents the sound in or . The byname is somewhat less common than its derivative, ; both have the root meaning "small, little." We do have at least one example of , from 1292 [6], and we think it could have been used in your period as well. As a woman's nickname, the initial sound in would change from \b\ to \v\; in the 12th century, this would have been reflected in the spelling, , while in the 9th century the spelling would remain [7]. In either case, when used by a woman the name would have been pronounced \vakh\, where \kh\ represents the rasping sound of in Scottish or German . was a relatively common Welsh masculine name. We found the spellings , , from the 8th-10th centuries [3, 4]. Based on a 13th century sources, we believe that the most likely 12th century spellings would be or in Welsh [8] or in Latin [1]. All forms were pronounced roughly \ITH-el\, where \ITH\ rhymes with . is a Latin patronymic marker meaning "daughter;" it would have been used to identify a woman's father in Latin contexts in either the 9th or the 12th century. In Welsh contexts, it is more likely that the Welsh feminine patronymic marker ( in modern Welsh) would have been used. In the 12th century it would most likely have been spelled [9], while for the 9th century or would be more appropriate [3]; at either time, it was pronounced \vairkh\. In summary, the following spellings of your name would be appropriate: 9th century Latin context Mibanou [or Mibanui] bach filia Iudhail [or Iuthel, Ithail] 9th century Welsh context Mibanou [or Mibanui] bach merch Iudhail [or Iuthel, Ithail] 12th century Latin context Mevanou [Mevanui] vach filia Ithel 12th century Welsh context Mevanou [Mevanwy, Myvanw, Myvanwy] vach verch Ithel [Ithael] (substitute as desired) I hope this letter has been useful to you. Please feel free to contact us again if any part of it has been unclear or if you have any further questions. I was assisted in writing this letter by Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, Arval Benicoeur, Talan Gwynek, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, and Adelaide de Beaumont. For the Academy, Adeliza de Saviniaco 6 August 2001 --------------------------------------------- References: [1] Jones, Heather Rose (aka Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn), "Names and Naming Practices in the Merioneth Lay Subsidy Roll 1292-3", in Known World Heraldic Symposium Proceedings, 1991 (SCA: Laurel, Maryland, 1991). [2] Jones, Heather Rose (aka Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn), "Names and Naming Practices in the Anglesey Submissions of 1406", in "Y Camamseriad" issue 4, Summer, 1996. [3] Bartrum, P.C., _Early Welsh Genealogical Tracts_ (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1966). [4] Evans, J. Gwenogvryn, _The Text of the Book of Llan Dav_ (Aberystwyth: National Library of Wales, 1979) (Facsimile of the 1893 Oxford edition). [5] _Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru_ (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, several dates). s.v. banw[1] [6] Pierce, T. Jones "A Lleyn Lay subsidy Account" in _The Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies_, vol. 5 Part 1 (Nov 1929) p.54-71. [7] Welsh grammar requires that the initial consonant sound of some words change when the word is used in a feminine name, a process called lenition. [8] Jones, Thomas ed., _Brut y Tyysogyon or The Chronicle of the Princes_ (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1952) [9] _Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru_ , op. cit., s.v. merch