ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2262 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2262 ************************************ ************************************************* * * * NOTE: Later research turned up additional * * information relevant to this report. * * See the end of the letter for details. * * * ************************************************* 18 Apr 2001 From: Judith Phillips Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked us whether the name would be appropriate for an Irishman living between 1350 and 1450. Here is the information we found. is an early spelling of , a Gaelic masculine name later eventually Anglicized as [1]. While there were a few early Irish saints named , we haven't found any evidence that the name was still in use in your period. However, the masculine given names and , "devotee of Caoimhi/n" and "servant of Caoimhi/n", were used much later than itself. It was a common Gaelic naming practice to create new given names in this fashion when the actual name of a saint was considered too holy for ordinary people to use. These are the latest dated examples that we found: Gilla Caemgen 1134, 1135, 1159 [2] Giolla Caoimhghin 1135, 1159, 1215 [3] Maol Caoimhgin 1224 [3] While we didn't find any examples of or used in your period, we believe that either is plausible based on the above examples and the continued use of other, similarly-constructed names [4]. Gaelic spelling conventions changed significantly around 1200, when the examples we found were recorded. By your period, we would expect these two names to be spelled and . is an Irish byname literally meaning "son of the Ulsterman" [5]. We found the spelling in 1431 [6]; this represents , the in being required by the grammar of the sentence in which it appears. It is an excellent choice for your period. We're not sure how the name was used in your period. It might have been a literal patronymic byname, a name identifying you as your father's son -- in your case, the son of an Ulsterman. However, our sole example appears to be a clan affiliation byname, understood to mean "member of Clan Mac an Ulltaigh". Either way, the name or is a fine choice for your period. These names would have been pronounced \MEL KHIV-yeen mahk ahn OOL-tee\ and \GILL-@ KHIV-yeen mahk ahn OOL-tee\. Here, the notation \@\ represents the sound of in or . \KH\ represents the harsh, rasping sound of \ch\ in Scottish or German . The \ee\ sound is fairly short in \KHIV-yeen\ and somewhat longer in \OOL-tee\. was pronounced \MEL\, perhaps verging towards \MAYL\. I hope that this letter has been useful to you. Please feel free to 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 Talan Gwynek, Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, Mari neyn Brian, Maridonna Benvenuti, and Dietmar von Straubing. For the Academy, Adeliza de Saviniaco 18 April 2001 -------------------------------------------------- References: [1] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990). s.n. Ca/emgen [2] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh, ed., "Annals of Tigernach" (WWW: CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts: a project of University College, Cork, Ireland, 1996) Entries T1134.5, T1135.10, T1159.3 http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100002/ [3] 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, entries M1135.19, M1159.3, v. 3 entries M1215.11, M1224.5. http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100005B (v.2) http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100005C (v.3) [4] O/ Corra/in and Maguire, op. cit., s.nn. Gilla Cellaig, Ma/el Morda, Ma/el Muad, Ma/el Ruanaid, Ma/el Sechnaill [5] Woulfe, Patrick, _Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall: Irish Names and Surnames_ (Kansas City: Irish Genealogical Foundation). s.n. Mac an Ultaigh [6] O/ Corra/in and Cournane, op. cit., v. 4 entry M1431.23 http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100005D (v.4) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Arval, 6 Jun 2001: Corrected several editing errors in the pronunciations.