Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 615

Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 615

This report is available at http://www.s-gabriel.org/615

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

Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel!

You asked whether the name <Nesta filia Cynan> is historically accurate for the period 1150-1250.

You've made an excellent choice: the name elements are indeed appropriate for that period. One of the most famous bearers of the name Nest, the grandmother of Giraldus Cambrensis, flourished around 1100, and men named Cynan can be found throughout the medieval period. [1] <Nest verch Cynan> is a pretty typical Welsh feminine name for your period.

As you probably know, it was customary to Latinize names when they were written in Latin contexts. <Nesta> is the normal Latinization of <Nest>, and of course <filia> 'daughter' is standard. <Cynan> appears in a variety of Latinized forms. The Latin version of the Welsh Annals includes such forms as <Kinan>, <Cinan>, <Conanus>, <Kenan>, <Cananus>, and <Canan>, and the 12th century Book of Llan Dav has <Cinan>, <Conan>, <Canan>. [2, 3] As you can see from these forms, the letter <y> tended not to be used in Latinizations. <Cynan> would have been very unlikely a century before your period; in your period <Nesta filia Cinan> is slightly more likely than <Nesta filia Cynan>, but the latter is quite possible. Other degrees of Latinization are also found in your period. At one extreme you could add the appropriate inflectional ending to the patronymic to get <Nesta filia Cinani>; at the other, you could leave both names in their Welsh forms to get <Nest filia Cynan>.

Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn provided the research for this letter. We hope that it has been helpful and that we can continue to be of assistance if you have further questions.

For the Academy,

Talan Gwynek


[1] Jones, Thomas, _Brut Y Tywysogyon_ (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1941).

[2] Williams ab Ithel, John, _Annales Cambriae_ (London: Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts, 1860). (In the series 'Chronicles and Memorials of Great Britain and Ireland During the Middle Ages'.)

[3] Evans, J. Gwenogvryn, _The Text of the Book of Llan Dav_ (Aberystwyth: National Library of Wales, 1979). (Facsimile of the 1893 Oxford edition.)