ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 3037
http://www.s-gabriel.org/3037
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18 Aug 2005
From: Mor inghean Chathail 

Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel!

You wanted to know if there was an authentic way of incorporating a
phrase meaning 'father of Connor' into your medieval Irish Gaelic
name <Eoin mac Lochlainn>.  Here is the information that we have
found.

The Gaelic word for 'father' is <athair>.  Out of a very large body
of medieval Irish documents, we found two examples of men described
as their son's fathers in a single 12th-century document, a
collection of lives of saints: [1]

   Muiredach athair Bresail  'Muiredach, Bresal's father'

   Calpurnus mac Potaidhe athair Patraic  'Calpurnus son of
   Potaidhe, Patrick's father'

Both of these refer to very early, and perhaps legendary, saints.
The document was written long after these men are said to have lived;
so it can't be taken as reflecting anything about language or naming
practices during their lives, only during the lives of the
chroniclers (who lived sometime between the 12th and 15th centuries).

We also found several examples of men described as their sons'
fathers in a 17th century genealogy. [3]

   Oilill athair Cind  'Oilill, Cind's father'

   Maol caindigh (athair Loingsechain) et Ainfeith (athair Maol
   ruanaidh).  'Maol caindigh (Loingsecan's father) and Ainfeith
   (Maol ruanaidh's father)'

   Riagalach ..., athair Gille  'Riagalach ..., Gille's father'

   Dunchad ..., athair Mhaoile tuile.  'Dunchad ..., Mhaoile
   tuile's father'

   Maol brighde, athair Diermada  'Maol brighde, Dermod's father'

   As e an t-Ailgenach sin athair Mael rubha.  'From the rare-marked
   ones was Mael rubha's father'

   Muinecan mac Conaing mic Mael colaim mic Conaill a quo athair
   Mael brighde ...  'Muinecan, son of Conan, son of Mael colaim,
   son of Conal who was also Mael brighde's father ...'

The grammatical construct <athair X> was used through a significant
part of our period. However, it seems the phrase was used as a
description of the person, not as part of the man's name.

At some point after or around the 13th century, the Gaelic form of
<Connor> is <Conchobhar>, and the appropriate phrase meaning 'father
of Conchobar' for this period is <athair Conchobhair>. [2]  While
you can certainly describe yourself as <athair Conchobhair>, this
would not generally have been considered part of your name.

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, Talan Gwynek, Adelaide de Beaumont,
and Barak Raz.

For the Academy,

-Aryanhwy merch Catmael and Mor inghean Chathail--
18 AUG 2005

References:

[1] "Lives of the Saints from the Book of Lismore" (12th century),
ed.Whitley Stokes (Oxford, 1890), web edition Elva Johnston (WWW:
CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts: a project of University College,
Cork,Ireland, 1995), lines 47-48, 137, 2598
http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/G201001/

[2] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_
(Dublin:The Lilliput Press, 1990). s.n. Conchobar

[3] "The O'Clery Book of Genealogies Translations from Sir William
Betham's 'Linea Antiqua'". Sections 4 and 5, items 414, 599, 605-607,
and 630. http://members.aol.com/Mlochlan/ocleryms.htm