ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2229 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2229 ************************************ 14 Mar 2001 From: Judith Phillips [Annotated 22 Mar 2001] Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked us for help constructing a name meaning "Dar-Ca/rthaind, daughter of Ca/irthen, ancestor of Curra/in or Corra/in" for a 12th century Irish woman. We assume you meant "descendent of Curra/in", rather than "ancestor of Curra/in"; it would be very strange for you to be known as someone's ancestor! Here is the information we found. The feminine Gaelic name appears in a genealogical document from the 12th century [1, 2]. The person named is supposed to have lived in the 6th century, but this form of her name has been significantly modified to fit the 12th century language. Etymologically, probably means "daughter of Ca/irthenn" [3, 4]. ( appears to be a genitive, or possessive, form of a name similar to ; Gaelic uses the genitive form the way English uses instead of in some contexts. The slash mark represents an accent over the preceding letter.) There were several similar early Irish Gaelic feminine names constructed along the pattern [3]. However, the meaning was usually figurative or allegorical rather than literal, and was usually the name of a legendary figure or devotional saint rather than that of the woman's actual father. So a woman named was not necessarily the daughter of a man named ; in fact, to the best of our knowledge, a daughter of a man named was neither more nor less likely to be named than the daughter of a man named [5]. While some of the names, such as and , became popular and remained in use through your period [6], most were only found very early. We were not able to find any example of later than the 6th century, so we cannot recommend it as the best possible recreation for the 12th century. However, we also don't recommend simply shifting your persona to the 6th century: Irish language and naming customs were radically different that early in our period. If you want to consider a very early period persona, we can help, but that's a topic for another letter. We'll assume in this letter that you want to stick with a 12th century name; if so, we recommend that you choose another name entirely. The following articles may be helpful: "Dated Names found in Ó Corráin and Maguire's _Irish Names_" [http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/mari/ocm/] "Women's Names in the Annals of Connacht: 1244-1544" [http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/mari/AnnalsConnacht/] We recommend that you focus on names dated close to your own period. If you choose a few names, we'll be happy to give you their pronunciations in your period. If you have a specific criterion for your name, like the initial letter or sound, we may be able to provide you a list of possibilities. You wrote that you wanted your name to mean "daughter of Ca/irthen." was a relatively common early Gaelic masculine name, especially in the south of Ireland [7]. We found forms of Ca/irthenn as early as the 6th century and as late as the early 12th century, so it is a fine choice for your own period [8, 9]. In your period, the Gaelic phrase meaning "daughter of Ca/irthenn" would have been , where is put into the genitive case and lenited [10, 11]. ( means "daughter," and lenition is a softening of the initial sound which is required by Gaelic grammar in some contexts and which is indicated in writing by inserting an after the initial consonant.) A woman named whose father's name was would have been called . In your period, was pronounced \EEN-y@n KHAHR-hin~\, although some may still have said \EEN-y@n KHAHR-thin~\, especially in the early 12th century. (The notation \@\ represents the sound of in or . \KH\ represents the harsh rasping sound in Scottish or German , and \n~\ represents the sound of in French or Italian or the in Spanish .) You also said you wanted to identify yourself as a descendant of Curra/in. There is a modern Irish surname , earlier spelled [12, 13]. In Gaelic, means "descendent of Curra/in." The origins of this surname are not known, but we believe that it is quite old. We weren't able to find any example of in your period, so we aren't able to offer a specific spelling for your period. Based on our observations of similar names, we believe that the most likely form for you would be , pronounced \(w)ee KHOOR-ahn~\. By your period, this sort of name was used to indicate clan membership rather than literal ancestry. For example, Derba/il the daughter of Cairthenn mac A/eda who was a member of Clan hui/ Curra/in would have been named . She might have been called either or for short. In summary, the name was probably no longer used in your period. If the meaning "daughter of Ca/irthenn" is important to you, then the byname is a fine choice. We were unable to find an example of the clan name from your period, although we believe the name existed in the 12th century. If you choose a given name that was used in the 12th century, such as , then the resulting name is plausible for your period. We hope that this letter has been useful to you. Please contact us again if any part of it has been unclear or if you have any further questions. I was assisted in writing this letter by Adelaide de Beaumont, Talan Gwynek, Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, Arval Benicoeur, Mari neyn Brian, Dietmar von Straubing, and Aryanhwy merch Catmael. For the Academy, Adeliza de Saviniaco 14 March 2001 ----------------------------------------------- References: [1] O'Brien, M. A., ed., _Corpus Genealogiarum Hiberniae_ (Dublin: The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1976). [2] Dowling, Brian, "Ancient Dowlings - O'Toole (No.1) Line - Fiacha Baicheda O'Toole-No.1 to Eanna Ceannsalach MacMorough" (WWW: Privately published, 1998) [http://fp.dowling.f9.co.uk/a6_0220.htm] [3] Royal Irish Academy, _Dictionary of the Irish Language: based mainly on Old and Middle Irish materials_ (Dublin : Royal Irish Academy, 1983). s.v. der. [4] Both and the root of appear to be derived from , "rowan tree," so they may be forms of the same name. Royal Irish Academy, op. cit., s.v. ca/erthann. [5] We found only one example of a woman named ; her father's name was [1]. We don't know whom or what her given name referred to. In all of our examples of names, we've found only one, [3], in which the given name might actually refer to the woman's father; even in that case we aren't sure whether referred to her father or to a legendary . [6] Mari Elspeth nic Bryan, "Women's Names in the Annals of Connacht: 1224-1544" (WWW: J. Mittleman, 2000) [http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/mari/AnnalsConnacht/]. [7] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990). s.n. Ca/irthenn. [8] Donnchadh O/ Corra/in & Mavis Cournane, "Annals of the Four Masters", six volumes (WWW: CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts: a project of University College, Cork, Ireland, 1997-98) v. 2 M1096.11, M1101.7. URL: http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100005B (v.2, M903-M1171). [9] Donnchadh O/ Corra/in & Mavis Cournane, "The Annals of Ulster" (WWW: CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts: a project of University College, Cork, Ireland, 1997) [URL: http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100001/] U506.1, U791.5, U1096.2. [10] Jones, Heather Rose (aka Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn), "100 Most Popular Men's Names in Early Medieval Ireland" (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1998) [URL: http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/tangwystyl/irish100]. [11] Krossa, Sharon L. (Effirc neyn Kenyeoch vc Ralte), "Lenition in Gaelic Orthography". (WWW: Privately published, 27 August 2000) [URL: http://www.medievalscotland.org/scotlang/lenition.shtml] [12] MacLysaght, Edward, _The Surnames of Ireland_ (Dublin: Irish Academic Press Ltd., 1985, ISBN 0-7165-2366-3). s.n. (O) Curran [13] Woulfe, Patrick, _Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall: Irish Names and Surnames_ (Kansas City: Irish Genealogical Foundation). s.nn. O/ Corra/in, O/ Curra/in. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The client followed up our suggestions and chose the name . Based on report 1877, we gave her the pronunciation \KAHSH-een~\. Arval, 22 Mar 2001