ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2327 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2327 ************************************ 21 May 2001 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether is an appropriate Scots-language name for a Norman in Scotland between 1175 and 1250. You also asked us to suggest French, Gaelic, and Latin equivalents of your name. Here is what we have found. In your period, there were four main language spoken in Scotland: * Norse, spoken in the far north and the Western Isles; * English, spoken mainly in the southeast; * Gaelic, spoken through much of the country; and * Norman French, spoken by Anglo-Norman settlers and their Scoto-Norman descendents, mostly in the south. The Gaelic of Scotland was the same language as was spoken in Ireland. In the 12th and 13th centuries, there was considerable contact among the cultures of Scotland, and names derived from more than one language were not unusual. Starting in the early 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. Scots was closely related to contemporary English. In this period, the cultures of Scotland had less contact. Naming customs were quite different in the different cultures, and the two styles of naming did not mix. The Norman population of Scotland in the 12th and 13th centuries spoke the Anglo-Norman dialect of French. In that period, the "native" form of your name would indeed have been French. Therefore, that will be our starting point. However, the name you asked about has some features more appropriate to the 14th or 15th century, so we'll discuss names of that period as well. is a fine French name, recorded in 10th century France as and and in post-Conquest England as 1169, 1208, 1255, 1273 [1]. We don't find an example of the spelling in the British Isles, though, until well after your period. The first example of the name that we've found in Scottish records is c.1372, where the byname was probably his father's given name [2]. We don't have evidence of the name in Scotland any earlier, but we would not be surprised to find it there in the 13th century, probably in the same forms recorded in contemporary England. The earliest Scottish example we've found of the spelling is late 15th century, 1477 [1, 2]. We have found no evidence of a period Gaelic form of and we do not have a basis for speculating what it might have been. You can read more about the history of this name in the article that is reference [1]. Bynames meaning "white" were certainly used by Normans in Scotland in your period, and by Scots-speakers later. We find the Norman French epithets , , and in both England and Scotland in your period [3, 7]. Scottish examples include before 1200, c.1212-18, c.1200. In Latin, we find the byname "white", e.g. 1180, 1240. In the 15th century, we find examples of a Lowland surname with the same meaning, e.g. 1472, 1497, 1493, 1471 [3]. Equivalent Gaelic bynames are "white" (where the slash stands for an acute accent mark on the 'a') and "white, fair, pale". The latter appears in a Scottish Gaelic manuscript of 1467 in the name [7]. We haven't found a period example of the place name in Scotland. There are several English places whose names appear in various forms in post-Conquest England [4], including 1160, 1167, 1242. However, these are English examples. We can deduce a likely Scottish spelling from examples of the same second element in early Scottish and northern English place names: 1126, 1212, 1153, 1316, 1333 [5]. Your spelling is plausible both for your period and later. Double bynames were fairly unusual in 12th and 13th century Anglo- and Scoto-Norman. or would be good choice for this period, and the same man might well have been known both ways, depending on which piece of information was more important on any particular occasion. However, we doubt he'd have used the two bynames together. Our best guess at the appropriate pronunciation of is \wah-WE~N\, where \E~\ represents a nasalized vowel (i.e. one pronounced through the nose, as in the French word . In a Latin document, he might have been identified as or . Locative bynames (surnames based on a place name) were almost unknown in Gaelic. The overall structure of the name you asked about is typical of 14th or 15th century Lowland (Scots-speaking) culture. is a reasonable re-creation of this period and culture. It would have been pronounced \GAH-vin HWEET ohf WEST-boorkh\. This Scots name might also have been recorded in Latin, perhaps as . 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 Adelaide de Beaumont, Effrick neyn Kenneoch, Mari neyn Bryan, and Talan Gwynek. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 21 May 2001 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Mittleman, Josh, "Concerning the Names Gavin, Gawaine, Gavan, and Gabhainn" in The Problem Names Project (WWW: Sharon L. Krossa, 1998). http://www.medievalscotland.org/problem/names/gavin.shtml [2] Black, George F., _The Surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and History_, (New York: The New York Public Library, 1986), s.nn. Wawane, Rait. [3] Black, George F., _The Surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and History_, (New York: The New York Public Library, 1986), s.nn. White, Blancard. [4] Ekwall, Eilert, _The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names_, 4th edition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991), s.n. Westbury. [5] Field, John, _Place-Names of Great Britain and Ireland_, (London: David & Charles, 1990), s.nn. Edinburgh, Jedburgh, Bamburgh, Peterborough, Bromborough, Aldeburgh. [6] Reaney, P. H., & R. M. Wilson, _A Dictionary of English Surnames_ (London: Routledge, 1991; Oxford University Press, 1995), s.n. Blanchard. [7] Skene, William F., "Genealogies of the Highland Clans, Extracted from Ancient Gaelic MSS.: 1. Gaelic MS. Written circa A.D. 1450, with a Translation,", pp 50-62, and "Genealogies of the Highland Clans, Extracted from Ancient Gaelic MSS.: 2. Gaelic MS. Written circa A.D. 1450, continued," pp. 357-60, _Collectanea de Rebus Albanicis consisting of Original Papers and Documents Relating to the History of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland_, ed. The Iona Club (Edinburgh: Thomas G. Stevenson, 1847).