ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2683 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2683 ************************************ 4 Jun 2003 From: Aryanhwy merch Catmael Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You wanted to know if is an appropriate name for an Irish woman living between 650 and 750. Here is the information we have found. As we explained earlier, Oghamic Irish is a language known to modern scholarship from stone inscriptions from the 4th century to the early 7th that are written in an alphabet called Ogham. While this writing system was in use, its users tended to write a conservative form of the language corresponding to what was spoken when the system was originally developed. The spoken language, however, was undergoing considerable change, with the result that the written form of a name often did not correspond very well to the spoken form. When a new writing system using Roman letters was developed in the 6th century, its users broke with tradition and wrote a language much closer to what was actually being spoken. This stage of the language, as recorded from the late 7th century to the mid-10th century, is called Old Irish. The name is the standard Old Irish form of a name of a woman recorded as living in the 7th century. [1] (The slash represents an acute accent over the previous letter). It is also the name of three early Irish saints. [5] This name is identical to an Old Irish word, and we have enough information about that word to hazard a guess that the equivalent Oghamic name would have been , pronounced \KAY-rah\ [2]. The Oghamic word means 'daughter'; the Old Irish form is . Over the course of time when Ogham was used, the pronunciation of this element changed. Earlier it would have been pronounced \EEN-y@-n@\, but by your period it was probably closer to \EEN-y@n\, where \@\ is the sound of in or , and the \y\ is strongly voiced and articulated, so that it sounds a bit like \zh\, the sound of in . is the genitive (possessive) form of , an Oghamic masculine name whose Old Irish counterpart is . [3] The byname means 'daughter of Talagnas', and it is a fine choice for your period. The pronunciation of is more difficult to ascertain. By the end of your period, it was probably pronounced much like the Old Irish , e.g. \TAHL-ahn~\. Earlier, it might have been either \TAHL-ah-n~@\ or \TAHL-ah-n~ee\. In these pronunciations, \GH\ is the voiced version of \kh\, which is the sound of in Scottish or German , and \n~\ is the sound of in French 'mountain' and Italian . You also asked about the meanings of these names. In many cases we can tell you their etymological roots, but it is unlikely that these played a major role in the choice of names. When a word becomes a personal name, it becomes a label. This label then acquires associations which are usually stronger than and often quite different from the original meaning, even when that is still readily apparent. [4] The name , for instance, might have been associated primarily with an early saint or one of the early poets of that name rather than with its etymological base, 'blind'. [6] As we noted above is identical with an Old Irish word, . This means 'dark, murky, black'. [7] The etymology of or is much more uncertain. There are a few different words in Old Irish and Old Cornish/Welsh that could have given rise to ; we do not have enough information to say which source is the correct one. We hope that this letter has been useful to you and that you won't hesitate to write us again if any part was unclear or if you have further questions. Research and commentary on this letter was provided by Arval Benicoeur, Mari neyn Brian, Adelaide de Beaumont, Talan Gwynek, Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, and Anplica dell'Isola. For the Academy, -Aryanhwy merch Catmael, 04Jun03 -- References: [1] Mari Elspeth nic Bryan, "Index of Names in Irish Annals: Feminine Names" (WWW: Academy of S. Gabriel, 2001). http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/mari/AnnalsIndex/Feminine/ [2] The word derives from an unattested Common Celtic . The would appear in Ogham as and the as . The diphthong doesn't appear in Ogham names in our experience; we believe it would have developed to (and hence the pronunciation \AY\). If so, that suggests an Ogham form . This is grammatically masculine. It might also have been used as a feminine name, but it's also possible that the feminine form of the adjective would have been used as a feminine name; that would have been , since nominative singular masculine <-os> corresponds to feminine <-a:>. (The colon indicates that the is a long vowel). Macbain, s.v. ciar. Thurneysen, Rudolf, _A Grammar of Old Irish_, trans. by D.A. Binchy & Osborn Bergin (Dublin: The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1975), p.36. [3] Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, "Some Masculine Ogham Names" (WWW: Academy of S. Gabriel, 1999, 2001) http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/tangwystyl/ogham/ [4] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990). p. 4 [5] O/ Riain, Pa/draig, ed., _Corpus Genealogiarum Sanctorum Hiberniae_ (Dublin: The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1985), index. [6] O/ Corra/in & Maguire, op cit. s.n. Dalla/n [7] Macbain, Alexander, _Etymological Dictionary of Scottish-Gaelic_, 2nd ed. (Orig. publ 1907(?); reprint New York: Hippocrene, 1998).