Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 333

Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 333

This report is available at http://www.s-gabriel.org/333

Some of the Academy's early reports contain errors that we haven't yet corrected. Please use it with caution.

Greetings,

Here's the information we have on "Banfile Guth-Oir," which you would like to use as a mid-period Scottish Gaelic name.

Names are typically divided into two categories. "Given names" are names given to children at birth. "Bynames" are descriptive terms used to further identify them. Both of the names you've picked are bynames--we can find something close to both of them, but you'll need to choose one of them and a given name to have a complete name.

According to our research, neither word is correct medieval Irish. We have found words with meanings similar to what we think you intend: "banfhili" (pronounced \bahn-ee-lee\) which means "woman poet", and "órghothach," which means "golden-voiced." O/rghothach is pronounced \or-gho-huhkh\, where \gh\ is a sound not found in English which is a voiced version of the \ch\ in "loch," and means "golden-voiced." (1) Both of these words could be used as bynames, but neither of them is a period given name. To form a correct medieval name, you need a given name and a byname. We suggest you consult the book "Irish Names" by O'Corrain and Maguire (also published under the name "Gaelic Names"). It doesn't list dates, but it does give information about names and their origin. We can help clarify anything you're unsure about. You can also look at our list of Irish women's names at

http://www.itd.umich.edu/~ximenez/s.gabriel/docs/irish-obrien.html

Talan Gwynek, Arval D'Espas Nord, and Tangwystl verch Morgant Glasvryn contributed to this letter.

We hope this has been helpful, and that we can continue to assist you.

In service,
Alan Fairfax
Academy of S. Gabriel