ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 924 http://www.s-gabriel.org/924 *********************************** ************************************************* * * * NOTE: Some of the Academy's early reports * * contain errors that we haven't yet * * corrected. Please use it with caution. * * * ************************************************* From: 4 May 1998 Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked us for advice on a Scottish masculine name from the 6th-9th centuries. Specifically you were looking for a common name for a townsperson of Pictish origin from the southwestern part of Scotland (Strathclyde), preferrably begining with one of the letters 'a, ae, d, r, s, t'. You also wanted to know what the closest translation to "son of Charles" would be. Firstly, there were not really any "towns" for the period you asked about. Early Scotland did have settlements or people clustered together, but not anything that could properly be called a town. So we cannot recommend a name for a townsperson, per se. Second, the known Pictish sites are pretty much confined to the area north of the Forth (river and firth) and east of Drumalban (the watershed formed by the hills and mountains extending from south to north, roughly from Loch Lomond to Cape Wrath). There is a single Pictish-style memorial stone in Strathclyde, but for your period, the region is basically a British (i.e., Brythonic-speaking) kingdom through at least the 10th century [1]. If you are truly interested in Strathclyde, then your predominent cultural context is going to be that of the northern British kingdoms. For a Pictish culture, you will want to consider regions to the northeast [2]. The peoples of Strathclyde spoke Cumbric, a Brythonic language closely related to Welsh. As such, a name meaning "son of Charles" would not be possible this early in this region, since is the English form of a French name derived from a Germanic origin. The name is not possible in Scotland before the 12th century. A patronymic in this language and period would be constructed using , folowed by the father's name without any grammatical change in spelling. Even though the culture of Strathclyde was not Pictish, many of the names recorded in association with Picts of your era are linguistically Brythonic, so chances are they are valid for the Strathclyde region as well. Here are some names we found fitting your criteria [2]: Drust or Drest Drosten Donuel Talorc Talorcan or Talorcen Taran We also found the following additional names in literature of individuals who would have lived in the 6th century [3]: Adonwy Aedan Affrei Aneirin Arthur Athrwys Dinogat Dwywei Dyvynwal Ruvawn Run Rys Senyllt Syvno Tavloyw Tecvann Teithvyw Tutvwlch Tyngyr We hope this has been helpful, and that we can continue to assist you. Heather Rose Jones, Sharon Krossa, Brian M. Scott, and Josh Mittleman contributed to this letter. In service, --Brian R. Speer Academy of S. Gabriel [1] John Morris, _The Age of Arthur_ [2] Heather Rose Jones, _A Consideration of Pictish Names_ (WWW, 1996) http://www.us.itd.umich.edu/~ximenez/s.gabriel/docs/pictnames.html [3] These are the spellings found in the Book of Aneirin (the Gododdin). Spellings are partially those of the 13th century (the date of the manuscript) and partially those of an older exemplar on which it was based. These are all given names of human beings mentioned in poetry attributed (in origin) to the 6th century. Our sources were: -Jarman, A.O.H. "Aneirin: Y Gododdin" (Llandysul: Gomer Press, 1990) -Ifor Williams, "Canu Aneirin" (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1978)