ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2684 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2684 ************************************ 05 Apr 2003 From: Sara L Friedemann Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You wanted to know if a name meaning "Fidelma, daughter of the judge" is appropriate for an Irish woman living sometime before 1600. As we've written to you before, is a Latin and English form of the Gaelic name , which we found in 931. [1] This spelling is inappropriate for a Gaelic-language name. , however, is a fine choice for your given name. The standard Early Irish word for 'judge' is , from the Old Irish . For the period when was in use, the appropriate byname meaning 'daughter of a judge' is . [3] While we have not found examples of this byname used for women, the masculine forms are recorded in 1230, 1463, and 1438. [4,5,6] The modern family name derives from the later Gaelic . [2] Based on these examples, we believe is not an unreasonable byname for your period. was pronounced roughly \F(y)AY-dhelm EEN-y@n in BHREE-th@-bh~ohn\. In this pronunciation, \(y)\ is a very slight consonantal \y\ sound combined with the consonant directly preceding it into a single sound. This sound is not found in English. \dh\ stands for the voiced sound of in , , and , while \th\ stands for the unvoiced sound in , , and . \@\ represents the sound of in or , \bh\ is the sound of or in Spanish 'wolf' or 'grape.' [7], and \bh~\ is the same sound, except with some of the air escaping through the nose as well as between the lips. We hope that this brief 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. I was assisted in researching and writing this letter by Arval Benicoeur, Mari neyn Brian, Adelaide de Beaumont, and Talan Gwynek. For the Academy, -Argantgui filia Catmaili, 05Apr03 -- References & Notes: [1] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990) s.n. Fedelm [2] MacLysaght, Edward, _The Surnames of Ireland_ (Dublin: Irish Academic Press Ltd., 1985, ISBN 0-7165-2366-3) s.n. (Mac) Brehany [3] Royal Irish Academy, _Dictionary of the Irish Language: based mainly on Old and Middle Irish materials_ (Dublin : Royal Irish Academy, 1983). s.v. Breithem [4] Cournane, Mavis, Vibeke Dijkman, and Ivonne Tummers, "Annals of Connacht" (WWW: CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts: a project of University College, Cork, Ireland, 1997) http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100011. Co 1230.7 Eachtigern mac an brethiman h. Minachan Co 1463.9 clann Meic an Brethemnaig [5] Stephen Beechinor, Beatrix Fa"rber, Daithi/ O/ Corra/in, ed., "Annals of the Four Masters, Volume 3" (WWW: CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts: a project of University College, Cork, Ireland, 2000), entries M1172-M1372. http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100005C/ C M1230.5 Eichtighearn mac an Bhre_ithe_main i/ Mhionachain [8] [6] Stephen Beechinor, Eoin Dunford, Beatrix Fa"rber, Philip Irwin, Elva Johnston, Julianne Nyhan, ed., "Annals of the Four Masters, Volume 4" (WWW: CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts: a project of University College, Cork, Ireland, 2000), entries M1373-M1493. http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100005D/ D M1483.9 Concobhar mac an Bre_ithe_mhan adhbhar ollamhan Muintire Maol Ruain [8] [7] This sound is made by putting the lips together as if to say \p\ or \b\, and then relax them slightly so that air can escape between them. The resulting sound is \bh\ if you simultaneously hum (i.e., vibrate your vocal cords). [8] represents a "long e" character in Gaelic. Depending upon context, this is rendered either as or as when using English characters to represent Gaelic words.