ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 865 http://www.s-gabriel.org/865 *********************************** ************************************************* * * * NOTE: Some of the Academy's early reports * * contain errors that we haven't yet * * corrected. Please use it with caution. * * * ************************************************* 30 Mar 1998 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether the Gaelic masculine given name was used on the island of Mull in Scotland in the 9th through 12th century. You also asked if we could provide a Gaelic name that means "mouse". Here is what we have found. As you will have read in your source, was used in Munster in Ireland [1]. It was pronounced \KAHDH-la\ in the early half of your period and \KIGH-la\ by the end (where \KIGH\ rhymes with "high"). It is possible that this name was also used in Gaelic Scotland: Scottish and Irish Gaelic were the same language in period, and there was considerable commerce and immigration between the two countries; but we found no evidence that was adopted in Scotland. There is a fairly similar Gaelic name which apparently was used on Mull. The surname was found on Mull in the 17th century. It derives from Gaelic "son of Cellach". , pronounced \KYAHL-lahkh\, was reasonably common among Gaels in both Ireland and Scotland [1, 2]. (\kh\ represents the harsh, rasping sound in Scottish or German .) Gaelic-speaking men of your period were known primarily as their father's sons. If your father were named , for example, you could be called . (The added in is a grammatical change, equivalent to the <-'s> in the English .) They also occasionally used descriptive nicknames, but these were typically fairly straightforward: "bald", "red", "young". (The slash represents an accent on the vowel.) We did find one example of an animal-word used as a nickname in early Irish: "the fox". We did not find an equivalent use of "the mouse", nor did we find this kind of nickname in Scottish records, but it seems plausible [3]. 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. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990). [2] Black, George F., _The Surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and History_, (New York: The New York Public Library, 1986). [3] Royal Irish Academy, _Dictionary of the Irish Language: based mainly on Old and Middle Irish materials_ (Dublin : Royal Irish Academy, 1983). - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -