ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2828 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2828 ************************************ 11 Apr 2004 From: Aryanhwy merch Catmael Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You wanted to know if is an appropriate name for an Irish man living between 1300 and 1400, and whether you should include the patronymic . You also wanted to know if is an appropriate name for your daughter. Here is the information that we have found. We'd like to compliment you on the research that you've already done; your name is just about perfect and we'll be recommending only minor changes. In this letter, we will be using the / to represent an acute accent over the previous letter. We find (note the placement of the acute accent) in 1337 and 1342, and in 1311, 1325, 1341, and 1345. is also a fine choice for this period; we find it in 1316, 1319, 1325, 1329, 1381, and 1386.[1] was pronounced roughly \AAH-n~@\, where \@\ represents the sound of in and , and \n~\ represents the sound of in . [4] We were unable to find (more properly , with a space between the two words) in our sources. We believe that it is either a variant of or an error for , which was in use in various forms from as early as the 12th century and on into the 16th century. [2] The word which is the root of this byname is Early Irish 'a marauder, a plunderer, a pirate'. We have found evidence of this word also being spelled , though not in the context of a name. [3] Given this, we believe that is a possible alternate spelling, though is more likely. In your period, we would not be surprised to see a man recorded with both a patronymic and a clan byname, thus is a fine choice. (The change from to is a result of Gaelic grammar). It would have been pronounced roughly \TOH-maahs mak BREE-@n~ wee OHGH-l@-dh@\, where \GH\ is voiced version of \kh\, the sound of in Scottish and German , and \dh\ is the sound of in . [6] Your daughter, too, could have been known by a patronymic and a clan byname. As you noted, the appropriate byname for a daughter of Toma/s is . Thus, both and are fine. In an extremely formal document, she might have been recorded as 'A/ine, daughter of Toma/s, son of Brian, of the Foghladha clan'. (Again, the changes from to are a result of putting the byname into the genitive case). This would have been pronounced \AAH-n~@ EEN-y@n TOH-maahs veek VREE-@n~ wee OHGH-l@-dh@\, where all instances of \ee\ and \EE\ are short in duration, except the one in \wee\. [7] 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 Talan Gwynek, Arval Benicoeur, Adelaide de Beaumont, and Mari neyn Brian. For the Academy, -Aryanhwy merch Catmael, 11 Apr 2004 -- References: [1] Mari Elspeth nic Bryan, "Index of Names in Irish Annals" (WWW: Academy of S. Gabriel, 2001-2002). http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/mari/AnnalsIndex/ [2] Woulfe, Patrick, _Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall: Irish Names and Surnames_ (Kansas City: Irish Genealogical Foundation). s.n. O/ Foghladha [3] Royal Irish Academy, _Dictionary of the Irish Language: based mainly on Old and Middle Irish materials_ (Dublin : Royal Irish Academy, 1983). s.v. foglaid [4] In Kirschenbaum ASCII IPA, this can be represented as ['a:n^@] [5]. [5] Blaheta, Don, "Representation of IPA with ASCII" (WWW: Blahedo.org) http://www.blahedo.org/ascii-ipa.html [6] In Kirschenbaum ASCII IPA, this can be represented as ['toma:s mak 'bri@n^ wi: 'oGl@D@] [5]. [7] In Kirschenbaum ASCII IPA, this can be represented as ['a:n^@ 'inj@n 'toma:s^ vik 'vri@n^ wi: 'oGl@D@] [5].