ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 3235 http://www.s-gabriel.org/3235 ************************************ 3 Dec 2006 From: Aryanhwy merch Catmael Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You asked for information about the name . Here is what we have found. You described as a "Celtic" name. That's technically correct: It is a Gaulish name, and Gaulish was one member the Celtic family of languages. Gaulish was spoken by the people of Gaul, covering most of the area of modern France plus a large part of northern Italy, from roughly the 4th century BC through the early centuries CE. Saying that Gaulish is a Celtic language is analogous to saying that French is a Romance language or that Norwegian is a Germanic language: It's true, but it is far too broad to tell us anything useful about names and naming customs. Names in different Celtic languages were very different; a name from one Celtic language cannot be assumed to be appropriate for another. We have found only one person named in historical records. He was a chieftain of the Gallic tribe of the Arverni, whose formidable rebellion against Roman rule was crushed by Julius Caesar. He died in 46 B.C. [1] Lacking evidence that is not a unique name, we don't recommend it as good re-creation. However, we can offer an alternative. The name is a compound of , probably an intensive prefix, and an independent name . is itself a compound of , from Proto-Celtic <*kengeto-> 'a warrior', and <-rix>, from Proto-Celtic <*ri:g-s> 'a king'; its original meaning was probably 'leader of warriors'. This name was borne by at least two people mentioned by Julius Caesar in his Commentaries on the Gallic War and is a fine choice for a Gallic persona. [2,3] We believe that was pronounced roughly \KING-geh-toh-reeks\, with secondary stress on \reeks\. [4] We have some information on the types of bynames used by Gauls, which you can read in the following article: "Name Constructions In Gaulish" http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/tangwystyl/gaulish/ The most common type of byname is a patronymic byname, one indicating your father's given name. There are a number of different ways that a patronymic byname can be constructed; if you would like information on suitable names for your father and correct patronymics based on these names, please write us again. If you have a particular sound or letter that you'd like the name to include, we can try to find names meeting that criteria. 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 you have further questions. Research and commentary on this letter was provided by Maridonna Benvenuti, Ursula Georges, Talan Gwynek, Arval Benicoeur, Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, and Adelaide de Beaumont. For the Academy, -Aryanhwy merch Catmael, 03 December 2006 -- References: [1] "Vercingetorix," _Encyclopaedia Britannica_ (WWW: Encyclopaedia Britannica Online, 2006) accessed 19 Nov. 2006 http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9075076 [2] Ranko Matasovic/, 'An Etymological Glossary of Proto-Celtic' (WWW: IEED, 2006); s.r. *kengeto-, *ri:g-. (The colon represents a macron over the preceding vowel.) http://www.ieed.nl/cgi-bin/startq.cgi?flags=endnnnl&root=leiden&basename=%5Cdata%5Cie%5Cceltic>, [3] Evans, D. Ellis, _Gaulish Personal Names: A Study of some Continental Celtic Formations_ (Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, 1967), pp. 73, 177ff, 243ff.