ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 3341 http://www.s-gabriel.org/3341 ************************************ 10 Aug 2007 From: Aryanhwy merch Catmael Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You wanted to know if is an authentic name for an Irish Gaelic man living between 1350 and 1450. Here is what we have found. With a few minor changes, you've chosen an excellent name. As you found in one of our previous reports, is a variant of the name . [1,2] was one of the most popular names in early Ireland, probably because of the legendary hero of that name. [3] It was certainly still popular in Ireland in the 13th century; we find several examples of the name from Irish Gaelic records. [1] The variant spelling with the dates to at least the Early Irish period (c. 700-c. 1200), and both remained in use, though the spelling was more typical. [2] In your period, both and were pronounced roughly \DJEE@r-m@dj\, where \@\ is the sound of in or . is a fine choice for your father's name; we find many examples of the name in the 13th and mid 15th centuries, and believe it was also in use during your period. The correct byname meaning 'son of Tadhg' for your period is . [1] The change from to is a result of putting the name in the genitive (possessive) case, analogous to the change in English from to . The byname would have been pronounced roughly \mahk TAYG\ in your period. We find examples of people identified as members of the O Cearbhaill clan from the middle of the 13th century on. [4] Following a patronymic byname, however, changes to , for grammatical reasons. (Here, the / represents an acute accent over the previous letter). [5] The byname would have been pronounced roughly \ee CHAR-bh@l^\ in your period, where \CH\ is the soft German of , \bh\ is the sound of and in Spanish 'wolf' and 'grape', and \l^\ is a palatalized , the sound of in the French word 'million' and Italian 'of the'. [6] In conclusion, is a fine name for a Gaelic man of your period. 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 Maridonna Benvenuti, Mari neyn Brian, Brian Dorcha ua Connail, and Talan Gwynek. For the Academy, -Aryanhwy merch Catmael, 10 August 2007 -- References: [1] Mari Elspeth nic Bryan, "Index of Names in Irish Annals" (WWW: Academy of S. Gabriel, 2001-2006). http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/mari/AnnalsIndex/ [2] Royal Irish Academy, _Dictionary of the Irish Language: based mainly on Old and Middle Irish materials_ (Dublin: Royal Irish Academy, 1983), s.n. Di/armait. [3] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990), s.n. Diarmait. The authors note, "Despite the many suggestions that have been made, we can attach no definite meaning to this old name which is one of the twenty or so most popular names in early Ireland." [4] Beechinor, Stephen, Beatrix Fa"rber, Daithi/ O/ Corra/in, ed., "Annals of the Four Masters, Volume 3" (WWW: CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts: a project of University College, Cork, Ireland, 2000), entries M1172-M1372. http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/G100005C/ M1251.12 Flaithbe_rtach Ua Ce_rbaill toiseach Calraighe M1252.6 Giollu Isu Ua Ce_rbaill toiseach Calroighi Droma Cliabh M1265.7 Muireadhach Ua Cearbaill taoiseach Calroighi M1328.13 an Caoch O/ Ce_rbaill, .i. Maol Ruanaidh, aon-rogha tiompanach Ereann, & Alban [5] 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/ [6] A decent approximation of \ch\ can be gotten by pronouncing \hy\ (with consonantal \y\ as in \yes\) with a lot of friction. \bh\ is the sound made by positioning your lips to say a \b\, but relaxing them slightly so that the air escapes. And many Americans find \l^\ similar to \ly\; however, it is a single sound that cannot be split between two syllables.