ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2565 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2565 ************************************ 6 Oct 2002 From: Josh Mittleman Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether is an appropriate name for an Irishwoman living in the mid to late 13th century. Here is what we have found. Before we start, we'd like to apologize for the time it has taken to finish this letter. Your letter was actually unclear as to the period you want to re-create. On our form you selected 1150-1250, but then you wrote "mid to late 13th century". We're assuming that the latter is correct, for reasons that will be apparent later in this letter. is one spelling of the Gaelic adaptation of or . That name was carried to Ireland by the Anglo-Normans in the 13th century, but the first example we find of it used by a native Gael is in 1363 [1]: Catirfina 1363, 1417 Catherfina 1412 Caiteri/na 1516 Caiterfina 1525 Cateri/ona 1607 Catairiona 1427, 1440 Catari/ona 1490, 1493, 1507, 1525 The slash represents an acute accent mark over the preceding letter. The first group of spellings represents the pronunciation \kah-tch@-REE-n@\; while the second group represents \kah-t@-REE-n@\, which is how the Norman name or was pronounced. (In the spellings with the , that letter is silent.) All of these spellings except are somewhat irregular by the rules of Gaelic spelling from this period. Several of them, including all of the examples containing the letter , come from a source which consistently used archaic spelling conventions. By the standard rules of late-medieval Gaelic spelling, the name is best rendered for the first pronunciation we gave, and for the second [6]. It is not impossible that was in use among Irish Gaels by the end of the 13th century: Some other Norman names had passed into the Gaelic namestock by that time, such as 1267 and 1269 [1]. We have not found evidence of , in any spelling, until 60 years after your period, so we cannot recommend it as the best re-creation of a 13th century Gaelic name. We don't see any chance that this name was in use among Gaels by 1250. Your byname, , is a fine choice, though we will recommend one of two different spellings, depending on what period you decide to re-create. This name literally means "daughter of O/ Muirgheasa" but by your period had come to be used to mean "female member of the O/ Muirgheasa clan". Clan bynames of this sort were in use for women by the 11th century [4], and the given name was in use at least from the early 12th century to the late 15th [5]; so this byname could certainly have been used in the 12th or 13th century. However, the historical O/ Muirgheasa clan was apparently founded by a man who lived in the late 13th or 14th century [3]. If you want your persona to be a member of that clan, then you'll want to shift your period to the early or mid-14th century. That has the advantage of bringing you into the period for which we have evidence of in use by Gaels. Gaelic spelling underwent a fairly significant change around 1200. Before then, your byname would typically have been written . Later, it would typically have been . Both of these were pronounced roughly \EEN-y@n ee VUR-y@-s@\. The symbol \@\ represents the sound of the in or . The \V\ in the byname is not a mistake: Irish grammar requires a softening of some consonant sounds in some grammatical circumstances; and here the \M\ becomes \V\. is a fine choice for the mid-14th century or later, when the given name was definitely used. It is not implausible for the first half of the 14th century and not beyond possibility for the late 13th. However, we have no evidence that the given name was used before the 1360s, and the clan that actually bore this name didn't exist until the early 14th century. 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 Juliana la Caminante de Navarra, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Mari neyn Bryan, Talan Gwynek, Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, Adelaide de Beaumont, Effrick neyn Kenneoch, Blaise de Cormeilles, Laurensa de Chambord, Julie Stampnitzky, and Margaret Makafee. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 6 Oct 2002 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Mari Elspeth nic Bryan, "Index of Names in Irish Annals: Feminine Names" (WWW: Academy of S. Gabriel, 2001), s.nn. Caitri/ona, Alis, Cristina. http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/mari/AnnalsIndex/Feminine/ [2] Royal Irish Academy, _Dictionary of the Irish Language: based mainly on Old and Middle Irish materials_ (Dublin : Royal Irish Academy, 1983), s.v. Caitir. [3] MacLysaght, Edward. Irish Families (New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1972), s.n. Morrissey. [4] Donnchadh O/ Corra/in & Mavis Cournane, "The Annals of Ulster" (WWW: CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts: a project of University College, Cork, Ireland, 1997), entry U1188.7: "Etai/n, ingen h-Ui Cuinn, righan Muman". http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100001/ [5] Mari Elspeth nic Bryan, "Index of Names in Irish Annals: Masculine Names" (WWW: Academy of S. Gabriel, 2001), s.n. Muirgius. http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/mari/AnnalsIndex/Masculine [6] The spellings with and without the represent two different phonetic renderings of the English name. There was a great deal of variation in Gaelic spellings in the last centuries of our period, as you can see, but there are well-understood rules for that spelling system. Those rules produce the standard spellings like that we listed in above. These spellings are probably the best representations of the vernacular (contemporary spoken language) form of the name. The spellings with are based on a learned re-interpretation of the name as , in order to make it appear more like a native Gaelic name. This spelling was particularly associated with Saint Catherine but also used for contemporary people as well [2]. The element <-fhi/na> appears in some native Gaelic names like , where it was pronounced roughly \EE-n@\, like the <-ine> in . Some modern scholars treat the spellings as the regular spelling of the name, and thus normalize it as [7, 8]. [7] Watson, William J., ed., _Scottish Verse from the Book of the Dean of Lismore_, Scottish Gaelic Texts, Volume 1. (Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd, 1937). He gives the Gaelic spelling for the name of the daughter of Mac Cailn in his recreated Gaelic orthography version of one poem, but in a note says "The regular form is ." [8] Margaret Lantry, ed., "Creidim duit, a abhlann uasal" (WWW: Corpus of Electronic Texts: University College Cork., Ireland, 1997). http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/G402033/ The last stanza includes the name as . The hyphen implies the omission of one or more letters, apparently an .