ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2422 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2422 ************************************ From: Lisa and Ken Theriot 13 Dec 2001 Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether is an appropriate name for a man living in Ireland between 600 and 1050. Here is the information we have found. During the period you specified, the Irish language underwent tremendous changes, both in how it was written and in how it was pronounced. The language of 7th century Ireland is about as different from the medieval language as Latin is from French. We will focus on names appropriate for the period from about the 9th century on; if you are truly interested in a name from the first two centuries of your period, please write again and we will be happy to help you. You should know that such a name will not look like what most people would consider an Irish name. is one spelling of a given name usually written in your period as [1]. We find it recorded in Ireland throughout your period; it is an excellent choice [2]. is a Gaelic masculine given name; the slash represents an accent over the preceding letter. Though it derives from the words for 'hound' and 'sea', it would have been viewed in period as a single name. The byname means 'son of Cu/ Mara'; it would have been used literally in your period, indicating that your father's name was . The change of to is required to render the name in the genitive case. The genitive case shows possession: Just as the English becomes in the phrase , so a Gaelic name will change in ways determined by Gaelic grammar. The earliest record we find of the name is for a man who died in 1030 [1]. We are confident it is appropriate for the last half century of your period, and we think it is probably appropriate for the previous half century as well. If you'd like a byname appropriate for an earlier period, you can find a list of possibilities in the following article: "100 Most Popular Men's Names in Early Medieval Ireland" www.s-gabriel.org/names/tangwystyl/irish100 The byname is a late spelling of a phrase we would expect to find in your period as . We find the given name recorded in 939; it was apparently a rare name [1, 3]. We find the byname in 1095-6 [3, 4]. The name obviously remained in use, as it is the source of the modern name [5]. In the earlier part of your period, this byname would have been understood to mean 'grandson of Se/gdae'. In the 10th century, this style of byname began to be used to mean more generally 'male descendent of Se/gdae', and later 'member of the family' [5]. In the name , Gaelic grammar requires a change of to ; this again reflects possession, because the name is literally 'Muirgius, son of Cu/ Mara hua Se/gdai'. In summary, is a fine name for an Irishman in the early 11th century; the same man might be known at other times as or . It was pronounced roughly \MWEER-y@s mahk KOHN VAH-r@ wee SHAYGH-dh@\. Here \@\ represents the sound of in and , \OH\ represents the sound of in , \GH\ represents voiced \kh\, or a voiced version of the sound of in Scottish or German [7]. The \dh\ represents voiced \th\, or the sound of in (but not in ). is a fine name from the 8th century on, and would be an excellent name for the 10th century, and possibly earlier, pronounced roughly \MWEER-y@s wah SHAYGH-dh@\.. 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 Arval Benicoeur, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Effrick neyn Kenneoch, Leonor Martin, Mari neyn Brian, Talan Gwynek, Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, and Ursula Georges. For the Academy, Adelaide de Beaumont 13 December 2001 References: [1] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990), s.nn. Muirgius, Cu/ Mara, Se/gdae. [2] Donnchadh O/ Corra/in & Mavis Cournane, "The Annals of Ulster" (WWW: CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts: a project of University College, Cork, Ireland, 1997), entries U698.6, U722.8, U737.5, U744.7, U792.2, U793.2, U796.6, U799.1, U802.8, U805.8, U808.4, U810.3, U810.3, U810.3, U812.12, U814.6, U814.11, U815.1, U815.1, U816.6, U826.9, U829.1, U837.8, U838.9, U862.4, U988.1, U1016.1, U1036.1, U1105.5 and others. The first three or four digits indicate the year of the record. http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100001/ [3] Donnchadh O/ Corra/in & Mavis Cournane, "Annals of the Four Masters, vol. 2", six volumes (WWW: CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts: a project of University College, Cork, Ireland, 1997-98), entries M939.7, M1095.4, M1096.13. http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100005B [4] Annals of Ulster, entry U1096.2. [5] MacLysaght, Edward, _The Surnames of Ireland_ (Dublin: Irish Academic Press Ltd., 1985, ISBN 0-7165-2366-3), s.n. (O) Shea. [6] Krossa, Sharon L. (Effric neyn Kenyeoch vc Ralte), "Quick and Easy Gaelic Names (Draft 3rd Edition)", (WWW: Privately published, 27 Aug 2000). http://www.medievalscotland.org/scotnames/quickgaelicbynames/ [7] The sound \gh\ is related to \kh\ exactly as \gale\ is to \kale\; \gh\ is a sound not found in English, except perhaps in the expression of disgust, "Ugh!" (note should not rhyme with ).