ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 877 http://www.s-gabriel.org/877 *********************************** ************************************************* * * * NOTE: Some of the Academy's early reports * * contain errors that we haven't yet * * corrected. Please use it with caution. * * * ************************************************* 9 Apr 1998 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked for information on the names and , which you want to use for a 7th to 9th century Pictish persona. Here is what we have found. Very little is known about the Pictish culture, their language, and their names. What we do know about their names is derived from second-hand sources written in other languages, so it is at best only a rough guess at what Picts might actually have called one another. With that caveat, we can say that your name is a pretty good choice, though we do want to suggest one spellings change. is the name of the father of a 6th century Pictish king , so it is a plausible name for your persona. The next entry in the chronicle on Pictish kings is , which is the same name. Most of the spelling differences between the two versions are just scribal variation, but the vs. in the middle of the name is probably a scribal error. There's no way to know for sure which spellings comes closer to the original name, but since the form is older, we're guessing that it's more likely to be correct [1]. is a Gaelic name and the Picts did borrow Gaelic names, but this spelling is too late-period for your persona. An earlier spelling would be more appropriate. The Pictish kings list includes , , and . All three given names are 8th century forms of a name related to . The sixth century form of the name might have been [1]. As you will have noticed in the article in our library, the list of Pictish kings names was taken from a Latin document, and therefore names them according to Latin conventions: . In a Gaelic context, the same name might have been recorded as [1]. No one knows how it would have been used in the Pict's own language. 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 verch Morgan Glasvryn. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, "A Consideration of Pictish Names" (Y Camamseriad, Issue 4, Summer 1996, pp.29-56; WWW: Academy of Saint Gabriel, 1996). http://www.itd.umich.edu/~ximenez/s.gabriel/pictnames.html. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -