ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2361 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2361 ************************************ 28 Oct 2001 From: Judith Phillips Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked us what form of the name would be appropriate for an Irishman at the court of Carolus Magnus. Here is the information we found. Unfortunately, does not appear to have been used in Ireland in your period. was the Latin form of the name of a number of early European saints, including an archbishop of Milan who died in A.D. 525, a French bishop in 660, and a Venetian bishop in 660. The example you noted, Magnus called Magnoaldus, was an abbot who died in 666. However, while he was apparently a companion of St. Columbanus, we found no indication that Magnus himself was Irish; his other companion, St. Gall, was Frankish. [1] appears to be a Latinization of a Germanic name [2], and is probably the Latinization of a pet form such as ; we found several Germanic examples of in the 8th and 9th centuries [3]. The name does not otherwise seem to have become popular until the 11th century. After the death of King Magnus the Good of Norway, 1024-47 [4], the name became popular among Norwegians, and they introduced it to Ireland; the earliest example we found there is dated to 1128 [5]. If you want an authentic 9th century Irish name, we recommend that you choose another given name. Two sources you may find useful are: 100 Most Popular Men's Names in Early Medieval Ireland http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/tangwystyl/irish100/ Dated Names Found in O/ Corra/in & Maguire's _Irish Names_ http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/mari/ocm/ is a modern English surname derived from the Gaelic patronymic , "son of Odar" [6, 7]. (A patronymic byname is one that identifies a person as his father's son, usually based on the father's given name.) is the genitive (possessive) form of , required by Gaelic grammar after . We found the byname in 959 [8] suggesting that the form would be perfectly appropriate for your period. Note that this byname would have been literal in your period: you would only have been called if your father had actually been called . is an appropriate name for an Irishman living in the 12th century. It was probably pronounced \MAHGH-nus mahk OO-dheer\, where \u\ represents the sound of in and \dh\ represents the sound of in . \GH\ represents a voiced \kh\, where \kh\ is the harsh, rasping sound of in Scottish or German . The sound for \GH\ is made by bringing the tongue into the position for the \k\ sound as in 'cool' while pronouncing a strong, rasping \h\ and vibrating your vocal chords. This sound is not found in English. (The sound \gh\ is related to \kh\ exactly as \g\ is to \k\, \z\ is to \s\, or \v\ to \f\.) The byname is appropriate for your period as well. However, was not used in Ireland in your period. I hope that this letter has been useful to you. Please feel free to write 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 Juliana de Luna, Arval Benicoeur, Adelaide de Beaumont, Mari neyn Brian, Talan Gwynek, Effrick neyn Kenneoch, Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, and Ursula Georges. For the Academy, Adeliza de Saviniaco 28 October 2001 --------------------------------- References: [1] "Catholic Online Saints Index", (WWW: Catholic Online, 2000) http://saints.catholic.org/stsindex.html [2] Morlet, Marie-Therese, _Les Noms de Personne sur le Territoire de l'Ancienne Gaule du VIe au XIIe Siecle_, three volumes (Paris: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 1972). v. I p. 166a. [3] Morlet, op. cit., v. II p. 73. [4] Withycombe, E.G., _The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names_, 3rd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988). s.n. Magnus [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/, 1128.2. [6] Woulfe, Patrick, _Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall: Irish Names and Surnames_ (Kansas City: Irish Genealogical Foundation), s.n. Mag Uidhir. [7] The word often becomes before a vowel. [8] 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/, 958.2.