ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2617
http://www.s-gabriel.org/2617
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From: Sara L Friedemann 
24 Dec 2002

Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel!

You wanted to know if <Eithne ingen Cuillin> is an appropriate name
for an 8th century Irish woman.  Here is the information we have 
found.

Your name is essentially perfect; we recommend just one change in
the spelling of the byname.

<Eithne> was one of the most popular of all early Irish feminine 
names.  It is an excellent choice. [1]

The masculine name <Cuilend> was used throughout the Middle Ages, though
its spelling changed over the years.  This spelling is appropriate for 
your period.  When used in a byname meaning "daughter of Cuilend," the 
name changes to <Chuilinn> or <Chuilind>.  The addition of the <h> is 
a result of lenition, or softening, of the initial consonant [5], and the 
change from <Cuilend> to <Chuilinn> or <Chuilind> is analogous to the 
change from <John> to <John's> in English.  Though both spellings 
<Chuilinn> and <Chuilind> were in use in your period, <Chuilind> is
older and therefore a better choice. [6]  We recommend <ingen Chuilind> 
as an appropriate byname meaning "daughter of Cuilend." [1,2,3,4]

<Eithne ingen Chuilind>, "Eithne, daughter of Cuilend," is an excellent
name; it was pronounced \AYTH-n~@ EEN-y@n KHOO-l~in\.  Here \@\ is 
the sound of <a> in <soda> and <about>, \n~\ is the sound of <ny> in 
<nyah-nyah>, \kh\ is the sound of <ch> in Scottish <loch> and German 
<Bach>, and \l~\ is a palatalized <l>, the sound of <lli> in the French 
word <million> 'million' and <gli> Italian <degli> 'of the'.  This sound 
does not occur in native English words.

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 
Talan Gwynek, Arval Benicoeur, Mari neyn Brian, Adelaide de Beaumont,
and Juan del Escobar.

For the Academy,
~Aryanhwy merch Catmael, 24Dec02

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References:

[1] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The
Lilliput Press, 1990). s.nn. Cuile/n, Eithne

[2] MacLysaght, Edward, _The Surnames of Ireland_ (Dublin: Irish Academic
Press Ltd., 1985, ISBN 0-7165-2366-3). s.n. (Mac) Cullen

[3] Royal Irish Academy, _Dictionary of the Irish Language: based mainly on
Old and Middle Irish materials_ (Dublin : Royal Irish Academy, 1983). s.v.
cuileann

[4] O'Brien, M. A., ed., _Corpus Genealogiarum Hiberniae_ (Dublin: The
Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1976). 158, 45

[5] Krossa, Sharon L. (Effric neyn Kenyeoch vc Ralte), "Quick and Easy 
Gaelic Names (3rd Edition)" (WWW: Privately published, 22 Jun 2001)
http://www.MedievalScotland.org/scotnames/quickgaelicbynames/

[6] Thurneysen, Rudolf, _A Grammar of Old Irish_, trans. by D.A. 
Binchy & Osborn Bergin (Dublin: The Dublin Institute for Advanced 
Studies, 1975).


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