ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2419 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2419 ************************************ 23 Nov 2001 From: Josh Mittleman Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether is an appropriate name for a Scottish man living between 1200 and 1600. This letter is a brief answer to your question. is a modern Scottish Gaelic phonetic spelling of the English name [1, 2]. In the modern language, it is pronounced \LOO-ish\. We have found no evidence that it existed before 1600, or even that the English name was used by non-Gaels in pre-1600 Scotland [3, 4]. In period Irish Gaelic records, the French and English name is represented in various ways: 1227 and 1270, 1242, 1316 [5, 6]. However, the name does not appear to have been adopted by Gaels in Ireland either. There are a couple similar-sounding Gaelic names which are often anglicized as , but they are related only by coincidence of similar pronunication. The masculine given name was pronounced \LOOGH-shakh\ in your period, and was pronounced \LOO-ghee\ [7]. The slash in the first name represents an acute accent mark on the preceding letter. In the pronunciations, \kh\ stands for the raspy sound in the Scottish word or German and \GH\ represents the voiced version of \kh\. was used by Scottish Gaels. The patronymic "son of " has been anglicized [8], but again we find no evidence that this happened before 1600. If you want to use a Scottish Gaelic name that sounds something like or , then would be a good choice for your period. However, we must stress that it is not related to . If you'd like to construct a complete Gaelic name, you can find some good advice in this article: Quick and Easy Gaelic Names http://www.MedievalScotland.org/scotnames/quickgaelicbynames/ 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 Talan Gwynek, Mari neyn Brian, Effrick neyn Kenneoch, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, and Maridonna Benvenuti. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 23 Nov 2001 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Dunkling, Leslie, _Scottish Christian Names_ (Stirling, Scotland: Johnston & Bacon Books, 1988), s.n. Lewis. [2] Morgan, Peadar, _Ainmean Chloinne: Scottish Gaelic Names for Children_ (Scotland: Taigh na Teud Music Publishers, 1989), s.n. Luthais. [3] Black, George F., _The Surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and History_, (New York: The New York Public Library, 1986). He has no entry for a surname , , or anything that could be a precursor to . He does note s.n. Ludovic that , an adaptation of the Latin equivalent of , was used in non-Gaelic contexts; this adds weight to the conclusion that was not available to be adopted into Gaelic. [4] There is a place in Scotland called the in English. Place names weren't used as given names in most pre-1600 cultures, but the place may have been confused with the given name in modern times. It's modern Gaelic name is [4a], pronounced \lyOH-ahss\ with the \OH\ as in English . The name appears as in an 11th century manuscript, in the sagas, in Orkneyinga saga, as 1292, 1449, 1580 [4b]. Its etymology is uncertain, but it may derive from the Old Norse given names or combined with "house". [4a] Dwelly, Edward, _Faclair gaidhlig: A Gaelic Dictionary_ (Herne Bay [Eng.] E. Macdonald & co., 1902-[11]). Dwelly, Edward, _The Illustrated Gaelic-English Dictionary_ (Glasgow: Gairm Publications, 1988), p.1020. [4b] Johnston, James B., _Place-Names of Scotland_, 3rd ed. (London: John Murray, 1934), p.238. [5] Cournane, Mavis, Vibeke Dijkman, and Ivonne Tummers, "Annals of Connacht" (WWW: CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts: a project of University College, Cork, Ireland, 1997), entry 1227.1 referring to the king of France; 1242.12 referring to a Fitzgerald. http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100011 [6] Donnchadh O/ Corra/in, ed., "Annals of Inisfallen" (WWW: CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts: a project of University College, Cork, Ireland, 2000), entries 1270.10, 1316.9, both referring to the king of France. http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100004/ [7] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990), s.nn. Lai/gsech, Lugaid. [8] Black s.n. MacCloy.