ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2376 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2376 ************************************ 30 Oct 2001 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether is an appropriate name for an early 14th century Scottish man born in Perthshire. This letter is a brief answer to your question. In your period, Scotland was home to several cultural groups, including Gaels, English, the descendents of Anglo-Norman settlers, and Norse. Your name is composed of Gaelic elements, so we'll focus on that culture. The inhabitants of Perthshire included Gaels in your period. The Gaelic , pronounced \GEER-ick\ with a hard \G\, was the name of a 9th century Scottish ruler and was in use, though rare, in the 12th century [1, 2]. We have found no evidence that it remained in use in the 14th century, so we can't recommend it as the best historical re-creation of that period. A more common name in the 12th century was , which means "servant of [Saint] Giric" and which remained in use at least to the early 13th century [8]. Compound given names with similar devotional meanings were common among late medieval Gaels. By your period, this name would have been spelled and pronounced \MU*L GEER-ick\, where \U*\ represents a sound similar to that of the 'u' in [3]. and are two forms of the same Gaelic name, which was common in Scotland in your period [7]. It's entirely possible that your father and grandfather could have had the same name, but a scribe writing your name would likely have used the same spelling in both cases; we recommend you do so. The expected Gaelic spelling for your period is [4]. However, when we incorporate that into your name we need to use the correct grammatical forms, so we get . The extra 'i' puts the name into its genitive (possessive) form, like the <'s> in English . The extra 'h' in indicates a softening of the \D\ sound called "lenition" that occurs in some grammatical contexts. The word is the lenited genitive form of , in a spelling appropriate to your period. is appropriate for an earlier period [5, 9]. The resulting name would have been pronounced \MU*L GEER-ick mahk DOHN-(@)-khee vick GHOHN-(@)-khee\. \OH\ stands for the vowel sound in . (@) stands for the sound of the in , but very lightly pronounced. \kh\ represents the raspy sound in the Scottish word or German ; and \gh\ stands for the voiced version of that sound [6]. Gaelic was rarely used as a written language in Scotland in our period. If your name had been written, it would have been in Latin. The name appears in 13th century Latin sources as c.1190, c.1190-1200, and c.1214 [8]. was routinely Latinized as [7], so your name might have been Latinized as "Malkirg son of Duncan son of Duncan". We hope this brief letter has been useful. Please write us again if you have any questions. I was assisted in researching and writing this letter by Effrick neyn Kenneoch, Adelaide de Beaumont, Talan Gwynek, Juliana la Caminante de Navarra, Juliana de Luna, Mari neyn Brian, and Will Dekne. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 23 Oct 2001 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] "Donald II", Encyclopedia Britannica (WWW: Britannica.com) http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?eu=31403&query=giric [2] Krossa, Sharon L. (Effric neyn Kenyeoch vc Ralte), "A Simple Guide to Constructing 12th Century Scottish Gaelic Names", (WWW: Privately published, 18 June 1997). http://www.MedievalScotland.org/scotnames/simplescotgaelicnames12.shtml [3] More precisely, \U*\ is the sound you get by pronouncing the in with your lips positioned as if you were saying as in . [4] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990), s.n. Donnchad. [5] Krossa, Sharon L. (Effric neyn Kenyeoch vc Ralte), "Quick and Easy Gaelic Names (2nd Edition)", (WWW: Privately published, 20 Aug 1998), section "Two Generation Patronymic Byname" http://www.MedievalScotland.org/scotnames/quickgaelicbynames/#twogeneration [6] A voiced sound is one made while vibrating your vocal cords. Voiced \gh\ is related to unvoiced \kh\ in the same way taht \g\ is related to \k\ and \z\ to \s\. [7] Webster, Bruce, ed., _Regesta Regum Scottorum VI: The Acts of David II_ (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1982). Although this source is Latin, it shows clearly that the name was in use in the 14th century, e.g. 1342, pp.96-7; 1354, pp.154-5. [8] Black, George F., _The Surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and History_, (New York: The New York Public Library, 1986), s.n. Malgirg. [9] For more information about lenition in Gaelic names, please see "Quick and Easy Gaelic Names (see note [5]) and "Lenition in Gaelic Orthography", http://www.medievalscotland.org/scotlang/lenition.shtml