ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2787 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2787 ************************************ From: "Lisa and Ken Theriot" 19 Nov 2003 Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether is an appropriate name for an Irish woman living between 500 and 900. You also asked about pronouncing the name. Here is the information we have found. You've asked about a range of time during which the Irish language underwent significant changes. The earliest surviving written form of Irish dates from around the 4th century. It was written on stone in the alphabet called "Ogham". When this writing tradition developed, the Irish language was very different from the medieval form -- about as different as Latin is from French. This stage of the language is variously called "Primitive Irish", "Ogham Irish", or "Oghamic Irish". This writing system continued in active use into the 7th century, and while it was in active use, its users tended to write a conservative form of the language corresponding to what was spoken when the system was developed. The spoken language, however, was undergoing considerable change. 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 problem with reconstructing names used before the Old Irish period is that the only written forms that we know are the Oghamic forms in the Primitive Irish language, and yet we also know that by the 6th century this written Primitive Irish must have been quite different from the way the language was actually spoken. It takes a good deal of specialized knowledge to put the pieces together and come up with a likely reconstruction of both the written name and its pronunciation. We can try to reconstruct precursors to the names you chose which might have been used at the beginning of the 7th century, or we can suggest names we know were in use during this period. It is a difficult and speculative task, and we might not be able to do it at all; so we'll hold off on it in case you're happy with a later-period name. If you'd like us to try, please let us know. The feminine name was relatively common in medieval Ireland and has remained in use to modern times [1]. We find it recorded in 1500 and 1530 [2]. We have no evidence that any form of the name was used during the Oghamic period or the Old Irish period, so we can't recommend it as a good recreation for your timeframe. If your period is of primary importance to you, we recommend that you choose a different name. If you'd like to look at more possible given names, we recommend this article: Index of Names in Irish Annals: Feminine Given Names http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/mari/AnnalsIndex/Feminine/ Since you mentioned that the given name is important to you, you might want to place your persona in a later time period. Though our only examples are from the 16th century, we believe the name was in use much earlier; we're just not sure how much earlier. The name is identical with the word 'bright, radiant', so at least as a word it was familiar from a very early date [3]. We believe it is appropriate at least to the 13th century, possibly even the 11th or 12th century, but we would not recommend it any earlier. was pronounced \SOR-kh@\, where \kh\ represents the rasping sound in the Scottish word or German , and \@\ stands for schwa, the sound of the in and . The byname 'daughter of Conn' is a patronymic, or a name identifying your father. These bynames were used literally in Irish Gaelic throughout our period and beyond. This spelling is not quite correct, and the correct form will vary depending on the period you choose to recreate. We've found examples of and its earlier spelling from the 8th century and possibly from the 6th century [4, 5, 6]. The <-nn> spelling first appeared around 800 but supplanted <-nd> at the ends of the words quite slowly [7]. We find examples of through 1600, so it is an excellent name for your father in virtually any period [8]. In the Old Irish period, from the late 7th century to the mid-10th century, the appropriate spelling for your byname is . (The change of to involves two grammatical alterations: the change of to is a softening of initial consonants that sometimes occurs in Gaelic naming called lenition; the other changes place the name in the genitive, or possessive, case and function much like changing to [9].) It was pronounced roughly \EEN-y@n KHWIN~\, where \N~\ represents the sound of in Spanish and in French . In the 11th or 12th century, the appropriate spelling is , and for the 13th-16th centuries, we recommend the spelling [10]. If you'd like an Oghamic form of the byname, 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, Effrick neyn Kenneoch, Juliana de Luna, Mari neyn Brian, Talan Gwynek and Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn. For the Academy, Adelaide de Beaumont 19 November 2003 References: [1] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990), s.n. Sorcha. [2] 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/ [3] Royal Irish Academy, _Dictionary of the Irish Language: based mainly on Old and Middle Irish materials_ (Dublin: Royal Irish Academy, 1983), s.v. sorchae. [4] Donnchadh O/ Corra/in & Mavis Cournane, "The Annals of Ulster" (WWW: CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts: a project of University College, Cork, Ireland, 1997), entry U954.3. http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100001/ [5] Mavis Cournane, "Annals of the Four Masters, vol. 1", six volumes (WWW: CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts: a project of University College, Cork, Ireland, 1997-98), entries M790.8 , M807.18 . http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100005A/ [6] We found a possible example of even earlier. A man said to have lived in 563 is recorded as in one Annal, in another. His father's name might have been an early form of . However, it's important to note that these names appear in forms appropriate only many centuries after the attributed dates. Annals of Ulster, entry U563.1. O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh, ed., "Annals of Tigernach" (WWW: CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts: a project of University College, Cork, Ireland, 1996), entry T563.2. http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100002/ [7] Thurneysen, Rudolf, _A Grammar of Old Irish_, translated by D.A. Binchy & Osborn Bergin (Dublin: The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1975), p.93. [8] Mari Elspeth nic Bryan, "Index of Names in Irish Annals: Masculine Given Names" (WWW: Academy of S. Gabriel, 2001-2002). http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/mari/AnnalsIndex/Masculine [9] If you are interested in the specifics of lenition, we recommend this article: "The Spelling of Lenited Consonants in Gaelic" http://www.medievalscotland.org/scotlang/lenition.shtml [10] Gaelic spelling conventions underwent more significant alteration around 1200, when among other changes the spelling 'daughter' changed to .