ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2381 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2381 ************************************ From: "Sara L Friedemann" 15 Oct 2001 Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You want to know what the correct form of the surname would be for an Irishwoman living before 1600. Here is the information we have found. The modern English surname derives from the Gaelic clan name , "male descendant of Treasach." [1] (The slash represents an accent over the previous letter). is a late medieval spelling of a name that we've found used in Ireland from the 9th century to the 12th in the spelling or . [2,3,4,5] Clan names such as these came into use in Ireland around the 10th century. [7] Gaelic spelling underwent some significant changes around c1200; we have listed both earlier and later period forms of the appropriate byname meaning "female member of Clan O/ Treasaigh," along with their pronunciations [6]: pre c1200 ingen hui T.resaig \EEN-y@n (w)ee THREH-see\ post c1200 inghean ui/ Threasaigh \EEN-y@n (w)ee HREH-see\ In these names, the <.> in represents a dot over the . This is added as a result of lenition, or softening, of the initial consonant; in the later period spellings, this dot becomes an , as you see in . In the pronunciations, the \@\ represents the sound of in or . If you would like assistance in chosing a given name that would be appropriate with this byname, we recommend the following articles available on our website: pre c1200 "Early Irish Feminine Names" http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/tangwystyl/obrien/ "Index of Names in Irish Annals: Feminine Names" http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/mari/AnnalsIndex/Feminine/ names used up through 1200 would be appropriate post c1200 "Index of Names in Irish Annals: Feminine Names" http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/mari/AnnalsIndex/Feminine/ names used after 1200 would be appropriate "Names in the Annals of Connacht: 1224-1544" http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/mari/AnnalsConnacht/ "Fourteenth to Sixteenth Century Irish Names and Naming Practices" http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/tangwystyl/lateirish/ We hope that this letter has been useful to you, and that you will not hesitate to write again if any part was unclear or if you have further questions. Research and commentary on this letter were provided by Adelaide de Beaumont, Mari neyn Brian, Talan Gwynek, Arval Benicoeur, Juliana de Navarra. For the Academy, ~Aryanhwy merch Catmael, 15Oct01 --------------------------------------- References: [1] MacLysaght, Edward, _The Surnames of Ireland_ (Dublin: Irish Academic Press Ltd., 1985, ISBN 0-7165-2366-3). s.n. O Tracey [2] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990). s.n. Tressach [3] Donnchadh O/ Corra/in & Mavis Cournane, "The Annals of Ulster" (WWW: CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts: a project of University College, Cork, Ireland, 1997), s.v. U1057.7 http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100001/ [4] 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) s.vv. M884.11, M885.21, M967.6, M1008.7, M1008.12, M1042.10, M1158.16 http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100005A (v.1, to M902.7) http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100005B (v.2, M903-M1171) [5] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh, ed., "Annals of Tigernach" (WWW: CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts: a project of University College, Cork, Ireland, 1996), s.v. T1042.4 http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100002/ [6] The change in spelling of to is a requirement of Gaelic grammar; it is analogous to the change from to . [7] Royal Irish Academy, _Dictionary of the Irish Language: based mainly on Old and Middle Irish materials_ (Dublin : Royal Irish Academy, 1983). s.v. u/a