Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 638

Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 638

This report is available at http://www.s-gabriel.org/638

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 Saint Gabriel!

You asked for our opinion of "Aeronwen" as an early medieval Welsh name. Here is what we have found.

<Aeronwen> is a modern Welsh name [1], and we have no evidence that it existed in our period.

There is a similar name, <Arianwen>, which did exist in period [2], but this spelling would not have been used until much later than the dates that interest you, 600 to 900. We have very little information about Welsh feminine names from that early period. The majority of examples we have for that period are filtered through traditional genealogies, which come down to us in forms recorded by much later scribes and are therefore are prone to corruption and misinterpretation. One such source does list a 5th century woman named <Arianwen>; our best guess at the form that might have been in use between the 7th and 10th centuries is <Argantguenn>, pronounced something like \ar-YANH-wenn\. The guess is based on historic forms of other names found in inscriptions and in the Book of Llan Dav [3].

In closing, I'd like to clear up a possible misconception. In your letter, you referred to the name as possibly being "Celtic". The word "Celtic" refers to a group of languages, including Gaelic, Welsh, Cornish, and Breton. These languages are related to one another is the same way that French is related to Spanish: They share some features, but are different languages. The cultures which spoke these languages in our period are related in the same ways as the French and the Spanish: They shared many elements of their cultures, but were still quite separate. There was no pan-Celtic identity in our period. A name belongs to a language and to a culture. One can speak of medieval Irish names, Welsh names, or Cornish names, but "Celtic names" has no useful meaning.

I hope this letter has been useful. Please write us again if any part of it has been unclear or if you have other questions. I was assisted in researching and writing this letter by Talan Gwynek and Tangwystyl vz. Morgant Glasvryn.

For the Academy,

Arval Benicoeur


References

[1] Gruffudd, Heini. Enwau i'r Cymry/Welsh Personal Names (Talybont: Y

Lolfa, 1984).

[2] Bartrum, P.C., _Early Welsh Genealogical Tracts_ (Cardiff: University

of Wales Press, 1966).

[3] Evans, J. Gwenogvryn, The Text of the Book of Llan Dav (Aberystwyth:

National Library of Wales, 1979, Facsimile of the 1893 Oxford edition).