ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1094 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1094 ************************************ ************************************************* * * * NOTE: Later research turned up additional * * information relevant to this report. * * See the end of the letter for details. * * * ************************************************* 27 Jul 1998 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked for our opinion of the name which you believe means "Sarah, the oldest daughter of Frasure of the Glen" in Scottish Gaelic. Here is what we have found. Unfortunately, this name is not a correct period Gaelic name. There are a number of issues which we will discuss in detail in this letter, but the basic problem is that names don't simply translate from one language to another. Different languages and cultures formed names in different ways, containing different information. Even if you started with a perfectly correct 14th century English name, its exact translation into Gaelic would rarely be a correct Gaelic name. Before you read the rest of this letter, we suggest that you review these articles on our website: Scottish Names 101 http://www.stanford.edu/~skrossa/medievalscotland/scot_names_101.html Quick and Easy Gaelic Bynames http://www.stanford.edu/~skrossa/medievalscotland/scot_names_101.html A Simple Guide to Constructing 12th Century Scottish Gaelic Names http://www.stanford.edu/~skrossa/medievalscotland/simple_sc_gaelic_names_12.html Although the last article is based on 12th century data, many of the general principles discussed there are applicable to Scottish Gaelic names through the end of our period. is a Gaelic name used in modern Scotland, but we have found no evidence that it was used in our period. It was probably originally a diminutive of the name , which was the most popular Gaelic name in late-medieval Ireland [1, 2]. We also don't have evidence that was used in Gaelic Scotland -- it is rare there today [3] -- but it may have been in use in late period and it might perhaps have given rise to the diminutive form , pronounced \MORE-ahk\. Another diminutive form is , pronounced \MORE-een\. [2] We don't know that this name was used in Scotland either, but it's also possible. (The slashes in the names represent accents on the preceding letters.) In fact, we know very few Gaelic women's names that were used in Scotland, because unlike in Ireland, very few records were written in Gaelic in Scotland. We have a short list of feminine names that we have been able to place in Scottish Gaelic; it is appended to this letter. The name has been associated with , possibly because derives from a Gaelic word that means "tall, great" and derives from a Hebrew word that means "princess" [4, 5]. Some pairs of Gaelic and English names can reasonably be thought of as translations of one another, either because one derives from the other, like and , or because they derive from a common root, like and . and are only related by custom, and as far as we can tell the connection is modern. If we understand your intent correctly, you translated as . Unfortunately, this is incorrect. does not mean "oldest", although it is loosely connected with a Gaelic word that means "old". is the English form of the name of a river in Ireland, and also an English phonetic spelling of the masculine given name . The latter name is ultimately derived from a Gaelic root "old" [2]. It is entirely correct for a Scottish Gaelic woman in our period to be known as her father's daughter, but we have never seen anyone in period named as an _oldest_ daughter or son. For more information on the construction of Gaelic patronymics (surnames that identify you as your father's child), please see "Quick and Easy Gaelic Bynames", mentioned above. The word doesn't mean "daughter"; it is a post-period contraction of the Gaelic phrase "daughter of the son". The daughter of a man called could have been called . The phrase was pronounced \IN-yen vick\ in early medieval Gaelic, but that became \NEE-yen vick\ in late-period Scottish Gaelic, and later contracted to \NICK\. The spelling eventually followed the pronunciation. is a Scots family name. Scots was one of the languages spoken in Scotland in our period. It is closely related to English, and is distinct from Gaelic. Scots and Gaelic were often spoken side-by-side, and some names were adopted from one language into the other. The same person's name might be written or spoken in a Gaelic form in some circumstances and in a Scots form in others, but the two languages were never mixed together. is a perfectly fine period Scots family name, but it is not Gaelic and would not have been used in a Gaelic name. The modern Scottish Gaelic form of is , and there is an adjective which means "of the Frasers" [6]. A name like "Mo/r of the Frasers" is correct in modern Scottish Gaelic, and might be appropriate for late-period Gaelic as well. is pronounced \FRISH-ahl-ahkh\ or \FRISH-ehl-ahkh\ , but when used in a woman's name, the initial softens to , which is silent; so is pronounced \MORE RISH-ahl-ahkh\. \kh\ represents the harsh, rasping sound in Scottish or German . The name has the form of a title used by a clan chieftain. Such a title would only have been used by the chieftain, not even by his close family, so it is an inappropriate model for a Society name. If you want to identify yourself as the daughter of a chieftain of some branch of the period Fraser clan, it would be most appropriate to use the appropriate form of the Gaelic "son of Simon", which is how the Gaelic Fraser chieftains styled themselves as early as the beginning of the 15th century [7]. As explained in "Quick and Easy Gaelic Bynames", the proper way to call yourself "Mo/iri/n daughter of mac Shimidh" is , pronounced \MORE-een NEE-yen vick HEE-mee\. 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, Effrick neyn Kenyeoch, and Walraven van Nijmegen. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 27 Jul 1998 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Leslie Dunkling and William Gosling, The New American Dictionary of First Names (Signet Books, 1983). [2] Donnchadh O'Corrain and Fidelma Maguire, Irish Names (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990). [3] Peadar Morgan, Ainmean Chloinne: Scottish Gaelic Names for Children (Scotland: Taigh na Teud Music Publishers, 1989). [4] Hanks, Patrick, and Flavia Hodges, _A Dictionary of First Names_ (New York: Oxford University Press, 1988, 1990). [5] Withycombe, E.G., _The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names_, 3rd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988). [6] Dwelly, Edward, _Faclair gaidhlig: A Gaelic Dictionary_ (Herne Bay [Eng.] E. Macdonald & co., 1902-[11]), p.1015. [7] Way of Plean, George, and Romilly Squire, _Scottish Clan & Family Encyclopedia_, (Glasgow: HarperCollins Publishers, 1994). - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Some Scottish Gaelic Feminine Names Because of the dearth of Gaelic records in Scotland, we have been able to find only a few Gaelic women's names that we know were used in Scotland. In some cases, we have inferred the Gaelic usage from Scots sources and re-constructed the Gaelic spelling from other references. The first column contains the standard Common Classical Gaelic spelling of the name (unless noted otherwise). The second column gives the late period pronunciation and the last column identifies our source. A name in the source is the heading in the book where we found the reference. Aifric \AHF-rick\ or \EHF-rick\ [1,3] Allasan \AHL-a-sahn\ [4] (Gaelic borrowing of ) Beathag \BAY-ahk\ [3 Beathag, 4] Caitri/ona or Caitrina \kaht-REE-nah\ [5] (Gaelic borrowing of ) Cairistiona \kah-ris-CHEE-na\ [3 Gilleduff, (Gaelic borrowing of Cristiana) 7 p.209] Deirdre \DEHR-dre\ [3 Deirdre] Ealusaid \EHL-@-s@tch\ [1,5] (Gaelic borrowing of Elizabeth or Elisot. \@\ is a schwa, like the in .) E/ua, E/va, or E/ba \AY-vah\ [3,5,6] Ete \AITCH-eh\ [6] Forbhlaith \FORV-la\ [3 Forveleth] Greudach \GREE-a-takh\ or \GREH-takh\ [3,4] Iosobail \EES-a-bell\ [2, 4] (A Gaelic form of ) Maol-Mhuire \MUL VUR-reh\, \U\ as in [3 Mackessock] ("servant of [Saint] Mary") Marsaili \MAR-se-lee\ [3, 4] (a form of ) Muirgheal \MUR-eel\, \U\ as in [3, Muriel] (a form of ) Sitheag \SHEE-ahk\ [3 Sitheag, MacKail] Tyock \TEE-ahk\ [3] (non-Gaelic spelling of an unidentified Gaelic name) Raghnailt \RU-niltch\, \U\ as in [3] [1] Woulfe, Patrick. _Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall: Irish Names and Surnames_. Kansas City : Irish Genealogical Foundation, 1992. [2] The Book of the Dean of Lismore [3] Black, George F. _The Surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning, and History_. New York : New York Public Library, 1946, s.n. Africa, Beathag, Fuktor, Muriel, Sitheag, Tock, Mackinnon. [4] Morgan, Peadar. _Ainmean Chloinne: Scottich Gaelic Names for Children_. Isle of Skye, Scotland : Taigh na Teud Music Publishers, 1989. [5] A photograph of the "1467 MS", a Gaelic genealogical manuscript, which is shelf-marked 72.1.1 in the Scottish National Library. Colm O'Boyle has kindly helped with our transcriptions from this manuscript. [6] The Book of the Deer, 12th century. See also Effrick's simple guide for 12th century Scottish Gaelic names. [7] Ewen, C. L'Estrange, _A History of Surnames of the British Isles_ (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, 1931; Detroit: Gale Research Company, 1968). - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Correction, 26 Mar 2002, Arval: Removed , a modern spelling we've not yet found in period sources. See Scottish Gaelic Given Names, http://www.medievalscotland.org/scotnames/gaelicgiven. Correction, 22 Mar 2008, Aryanhwy: Removed ; Ref. [2] s.n. Mo/irne doesn't give any evidence that this name was used during our period; it only says that the name was used in Omeath through the end of the 19th century. On re-consideration, we can't recommend it. We've also added the explicit note that is a diminutive of .