ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2780 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2780 ************************************ 15 Oct 2003 From: Aryanhwy merch Catmael Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You wanted to know if is an appropriate name for a Celtic (Gaelic) woman living in Ireland between the 12th and 14th centuries. (We're using the slash to represent an acute accent over the previous letter). Here is what we have found. Before we start, we'd just like to point out that although 'Celtic' and 'Gaelic' are often used interchangeably in casual discourse, this usage is not actually correct. The word 'Celtic' properly refers not to a specific language, but rather to a family of related languages and to the cultures that spoke those languages. Irish Gaelic is one of these Celtic languages, but so are Scottish Gaelic, Welsh, Cornish, Manx, and Breton. In medieval Ireland was primarily a masculine name, though there are examples of being used by women in the 12th century. [1,2,3] Therefore, if you wish to use this as your given name, we highly recommend that you concentrate on the 12th century. The clan was a Dalcassian family who were chiefs of the Ui Ronghaile, in the east of Thomond, until the year 1318. [4] The appropriate 12th century byname for a woman who as a member of this clan is . This literally means "daughter of an O/ Senacha/in"; the change from to and to are requirements of Gaelic grammar. is a fine name for a 12th century Gaelic woman. We do not recommend it for the later part of your period. This name would have been pronounced roughly \KAH-shay-n~@ EEN-yen (w)ee HEN-@-kh@n~\, where \(w)\ is a lightly pronounced \w\ sound, \@\ is the sound of in or , \kh\ is the sound of in Scottish , and is the sound of in French 'mountain' and Italian . We hope that this letter has been useful to you and that you won't hesitate to write again if any part was unclear or if you have further questions. Research and commentary on this letter was provided by Talan Gwynek, Arval Benicoeur, Mari neyn Brian, and Richenda de Jardin. For the Academy, -Argantguia filia Catmaili, 15Oct03 -- References: [1] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990). s.n. Caisse/ne [2] O'Brien, M. A., ed., _Corpus Genealogiarum Hiberniae_ (Dublin: The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1976). [3] O/ Riain, Pa/draig, ed., _Corpus Genealogiarum Sanctorum Hiberniae_ (Dublin: The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1985). [4] Woulfe, Patrick, _Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall: Irish Names and Surnames_ (Kansas City: Irish Genealogical Foundation). s.n. O/ Seanacha/in