ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2659 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2659 ************************************ From: "Lisa and Ken Theriot" 20 May 2003 Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether is an appropriate name for a Gaelic-speaking woman living in the Scottish Highlands between 1300 and 1500. You also asked about a design for arms, "Azure, a bend Sable" with a green sea-shell centered in the bend. Here is the information we have found. You've chosen fine name elements, but we'll recommend some spelling changes. In order to help you understand those changes, we'd like to provide some background on the recording of names in Scotland during your period. >From around the 14th century, the two main languages spoken in Scotland were Gaelic, spoken in the Highlands and Western Isles; and Scots, spoken in the Lowlands, including the royal court and towns. Gaelic was the same language spoken in Ireland at this time; Scots was closely related to contemporary English. Since you specified the Highlands, you will want a Gaelic name. The written language of Scotland before the 14th century was Latin. Scots rose as a written language in the late 14th century and became increasingly important over the next two centuries; Latin remained in use for various kinds of documents into the 17th century. Gaelic was sometimes used as a written language in Scotland from at least the 12th century, but few Scottish Gaelic records survive; accordingly, we usually find Gaelic names recorded in different ways than someone writing in Gaelic would have used. To further complicate matters, some documents written in Gaelic are spelled according to Gaelic spelling conventions, and others, still written in Gaelic, are nevertheless spelled according to Scots spelling conventions. is found in "The Book of the Dean of Lismore", a collection of Gaelic poetry compiled in the early 16th century and recorded in Gaelic but using Scots language spelling conventions rather than standard Gaelic spelling. The standard Gaelic spelling of this name is ; it is a Gaelic form of [1, 2, 5]. is recorded in Gaelic in 1467 as part of a genealogy, and the individual in question was several generations removed, so we believe that is plausible for at least the last half of your period. The earliest example we have found in Scotland of dates to 1329, used by a non-Gaelic speaker, so we don't believe it's likely that is appropriate any earlier than the late 14th century [10]. We believe that the particular spelling , though found at the end of your period, is plausible for about the last half, i.e., throughout the 15th century, but only in a document using the Lismore-style spelling. is a fine name for your father. We find it recorded in this spelling in the same 1467 manuscript as ; an earlier example dates to 1408 but only in the abbreviated form where the colon indicates missing letters [1]. It's possible that the name wasn't used much earlier than this: early medieval Gaels considered the names of prominent saints to be too holy for regular people to use. (We more commonly find devotional forms of the names, like 'servant of [St.] Patrick' and 'devotee of [St.] Patrick'. The slash represents an acute accent over the preceding letter.) The byname 'daughter of Padraig' is spelled in standard Gaelic style; the change from to is due to a softening of the initial consonant called lenition. This change is required by Gaelic grammar [3]. is a fine Scottish Gaelic name for the 15th century, written entirely using Gaelic spelling values. It was pronounced \EHL-@-s@tch EEN-y@n FAHD-r@k\, where \@\ represents the sound of in and . By the 16th century, the Scottish Gaelic pronunciation of the word had shifted to \NEE-y@n\; this shift was likely underway during the 15th century. Luckily, "The Book of the Dean of Lismore" contains the word and the name softened due to lenition, spelled using the same phonetic values that produced ; accordingly, we can say that is the appropriate spelling of your byname to go with [4]. is an excellent Gaelic name written in Gaelic using Scots spelling conventions. Note again that this spelling is probably only suitable for the later part of your period: clearly, reflects the later pronunciation \NEE-y@n\. We aren't sure how early the spelling is appropriate, but obviously only after the shift in pronunciation, so probably not until the late 15th century. Whichever spelling you use, it's important to spell your full name using one spelling convention or the other. Either or would mix the spelling conventions of the two languages, and we know of no circumstances in which such a mixture was used. The same woman might, however, be recorded in one document as and in another as . Further, in Scots-language records she might be recorded as [1, 6]. As we discussed in an earlier message, heraldic arms were invented in northwestern France in the mid-12th century. The custom of using arms spread through most of Europe by the end of our period, but not all cultures adopted it. Your culture did not, so you obviously would not have used armory. Heraldry was very popular in Lowland culture, but in the Highlands it appears to have been reserved to chiefs and their immediate families [7]. That doesn't mean you shouldn't use arms in the Society: Many Societyfolk use arms even though their personas would not have done so. Whether you use arms or not depends on how you think about authenticity and your persona. You can find a few thoughts on this issue in an article we've posted on the web: "What Do I Use for Arms if my Persona Wouldn't Have Used Arms?" http://www.s-gabriel.org/faq/nonheraldic.html Your specific design is not consistent with standard heraldic practice, either in period or for purposes of the SCA. The basic tinctures used in heraldry are divided into "colors": gules (red), vert (green), azure (blue), purpure (purple) and sable (black); and metals: argent (silver) and Or (gold). Colors are considered to contrast sufficiently with metals, but not with other colors; accordingly, you cannot place a colored charge on a colored field. Azure, sable, and vert are all colors, which were almost never combined as you have in your design. The most common type of sea-shell used in medieval armory was the "escallop", a stylized representation of a scallop shell [11]. This charge was moderately common in late-period Scottish heraldry, appearing in 2.7% of the arms considered in one study. In most of these cases, escallops were placed on another charge, so you're on the right track [8]. The Scots Roll, a collection of arms from the 15th century, gives the arms of Deasynton (later spelled Dishington) as "Or, on a bend sable three escallops argent" [12]. Unfortunately, we were unable to find a combination of escallops on a bend in your tinctures that is free from conflict for purposes of registration with the SCA College of Arms, so we considered other designs. The 15th century arms of Graham were "Or, on a chief sable three escallops or" [9, 12]; based on that design, we can suggest: Azure, on a chief Or three escallops vert Azure, on a chief Or three escallops sable Sable, on a chief Or three escallops vert Sable, on a chief Or three escallops azure If a design incorporating a fess interests you, then we can suggest "Azure, on a fess Or, three escallops sable" and "Azure, on a fess Or, three escallops vert", which is typical of the heraldry of your culture [9]. We believe you can register any of our recommendations with the College of Arms. If you'd like more ideas, please write again. 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, Dietmar von Straubing, Effrick neyn Kenneoch, Eldritch Miller, Juliana de Luna, Mari neyn Brian and Talan Gwynek. For the Academy, Adelaide de Beaumont 20 May 2003 References: [1] Krossa, Sharon L. (Effric neyn Kenyeoch vc Ralte), "Scottish Gaelic Given Names", (WWW: Privately published *in progress*, last updated 18 March 2003), s.nn. Ealusaid, Padraig. http://www.medievalscotland.org/scotnames/gaelicgiven/ [2] We're accustomed to the idea that letters and combinations of letters are used to represent specific sounds in English. Though some sounds can be spelled in more than one way, and a given letter can have different sounds in different words, there's enough consistency that we can usually make a pretty good guess at the pronunciation of an unfamiliar word when we first see it. The same is true of the spelling systems of other languages, but the associations of sounds and letters can be quite different. For instance, the English name uses typical English spelling to represent about the same sounds as the Irish pronunciation of the Irish Gaelic name . Applying the usual English rules to would produce the wrong sounds altogether: you would probably pronounce it like the English words and . An English speaker, therefore, is more likely to produce the desired pronunciation from the spelling . The spellings in 'Lismore' are a bit like the spelling : just as uses the usual rules of English spelling to represent the sounds of an Irish Gaelic name, so Lismore uses the usual rules of Scots spelling to represent the sounds of Gaelic words and names. To put it another way, it's somewhat like spelling the French words as in order to get an English speaker to pronounce the French correctly. [3] Lenition is a softening of the sounds of words that is required by Gaelic grammar in some circumstances. For more information, we recommend the article: "The Spelling of Lenited Consonants in Gaelic" http://www.medievalscotland.org/scotlang/lenition.shtml [4] M'Lauchlan, Thomas, ed. and trans. _The Dean of Lismore's Book: A Selection of Ancient Gaelic Poetry from a Manuscript Collection Made by Sir James M'Gregor, Dean of Lismore, in the Beginning of the Sixteenth Century_, (Edinburgh: Edmonston and Douglas, 1862), pp. 98, 104. [5] Morgan, Peadar, _Ainmean Chloinne: Scottish Gaelic Names for Children_ (Scotland: Taigh na Teud Music Publishers, 1989), s.n. Ealasaid. [6] Krossa, Sharon L. (Effric neyn Kenyeoch vc Ralte), "Early 16th Century Scottish Lowland Names" (WWW: Privately published: 2001). Probably through association with the pet form , the name Elizabeth was frequently spelled in Lowland Scots documents with a at the end: . http://www.medievalscotland.org/scotnames/lowland16 [7] Campbell of Airds, Alastair, Unicorn Pursuivant of Arms, "A Closer Look at West Highland Heraldry", _The Double Tressure_ (#19). [8] Schweitzer, Leslie A., and David Hunter of Montlaw, "Charge Use in Late Medieval Scots Heraldry" in "The Double Tressure" (#24), pp. 11-32 (Heraldry Society of Scotland, 2001). According to Table 2, they occur in 15 of 566 coats, or 2.7%. (It is noted in the text that they occur mostly as charges on other charges.) [9] Pinches, Rosemary and Anthony Wood, _A European Armorial: An Armorial of Knights of the Golden Fleece and 15th Century Europe_ (London: Heraldry Today, 1971), p. 169. Besides Graham, we find the arms of the Archbishop of Saint Andrews: "Azure, on a fess between three mascles argent three crosses crosslet fitchy gules". We believe escallops may plausibly be used in the same way that the crosses are used in this example. [10] Talan Gwynek, "A List of Feminine Personal Names found in Scottish Records" (WWW: Academy of Saint Gabriel, 1996). http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/talan/scottishfem/ [11] You did not specify what type of seashell you were using in your design. Since the escallop, or scallop shell, is by far the most common shell used in heraldry, we have based our suggestions on designs with escallops. There are other types of shell used in SCA armory, but we do not believe that any type of shell other than the escallop is plausible in the arms of a Scottish woman for your period. [12] Campbell, Colin, _The Scots Roll: A Study of a Fifteenth Century Roll of Arms_ (Heraldry Society of Scotland 1995; ISBN 0 9525258 0 1). The roll includes three coats with escallops, Graham and Dishington as given above, and Maule, "Per pale argent and gules, a bordure charged with six escallops all counterchanged."