ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 3115 http://www.s-gabriel.org/3115 ************************************ 27 Jun 2006 From: Aryanhwy merch Catmael Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You wanted to know if is an appropriate name and "Vert, semy of acorns proper, a coney courant contourney Or, orbed sable" appropriate arms for a Gaelic woman living between 750 and 1050. Unfortunately, we cannot recommend either your name or your arms for this period. is a modern spelling of a name which was spelled , , or during your period. (Here, the period represents a dot above the previous letter). [1,4] was a fairly rare name; the only example that we've found is a queen of Leinster who died in 754. [1,2] We therefore recommend that you do not use the spelling , and that if you are interested in using one of the documented forms of that you consider placing your persona in the 8th century. This name was pronounced roughly \TOO-@th-lahth\ in your period, where \@\ is the sound of in or , and where there is secondary stress on the last syllable. Descriptive bynames such as '[of] the Oak-grove/Oak-wood' were very rare in women's bynames throughout our period; during your period, they are even more rare. As the earliest example that we have found of is from 1249, five hundred years after our date for , we recommend that you do not use . [2] During your period, virtuallly all women had a patronymic byname, e.g., one indicating the bearer's father's given name. [3] If you would like to chose an 8th century name for your father, we recommend that you pick a name from this list: "Index of Names in Irish Annals: Masculine Given Names: 701-800" http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/mari/AnnalsIndex/Masculine/701-800.shtml Once you've chosen a name for your father, if you have any questions about how to form a patronymic byname, please don't hesitate to write us again. Gaelic grammar can be a bit tricky, and we'd be happy to help. Heraldic arms began appearing in several parts of Western Europe in the early to mid-12th century; by the last quarter of the century they were widely used, especially in England, NW France, and the Low Countries. We have found evidence that the Gaelic Irish chiefs started to use heraldry in the mid-14th century, but most examples of heraldic use by the Gaelic Irish chiefs are from the 16th century or later. [5] Since your persona is much earlier than this, you obviously would not have used armory. That doesn't mean you shouldn't use arms in the Society: Many Societyfolk use arms even though their personas would not have done so. Whether you use arms or not depends on how you think about authenticity and your persona. You can find a few thoughts on this issue in an article we've posted on the web: "What Do I Use for Arms if my Persona Wouldn't Have Used Arms?" http://www.s-gabriel.org/faq/nonheraldic.html 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 had further questions. Research and commentary on this letter was provided by Talan Gwynek and Mari neyn Brian. For the Academy, -Aryanhwy merch Catmael 27 June 2006 -- [1] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990). s.n. Tuathflaith [2] 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/ [3] Krossa, Sharon L. (Effric neyn Kenyeoch vc Ralte), "Quick and Easy Gaelic Names (3rd Edition)" (WWW: Privately published, 22 Jun 2001) http://www.MedievalScotland.org/scotnames/quickgaelicbynames/. [4] Thurneysen, Rudolf, _A Grammar of Old Irish_, trans. by D.A. Binchy & Osborn Bergin (Dublin: The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1975), section 231 [5] "When did the Irish Chiefs Adopt Heraldry?", John J FitzPatrick Kennedy, Genealogica and Heraldica ed Auguste Vachon, Claire Boudreau, David Cogne/, University of Ottawa Press, 1998, ISBN 0-7766-0472-4.