ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2612 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2612 ************************************ From: Sara L Friedemann 11 Dec 2002 Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You wanted to know if , "Alis daughter of Ruaidri/ the arrogant," is an appropriate name for an Irishwoman living in the mid-13th century. (The slash represents an accent over the previous letter). Here is the information we have found. is a Gaelic borrowing of the English name ; we find this spelling twice in the 13th century. [1] It was pronounced \AHL~-ish\, and is a fine choice for your given name. The \L~\ represents a palatalized \L\, which is the sound of in the French word 'million' and in Italian 'of the'. This sound does not occur in native English words. [5] The earliest date that we've found is in 1302; is an earlier spelling of the name, but we have not found any examples of it. We believe that it's possible that was already in use by the middle of the 13th century, but it would be more probable for the beginning of the 14th century and onwards. [1] The byname means "proud, arrogant, overbearing." [3] We have only found it used in reference to one person, who lived in the second half of the 7th century. [2] We have no evidence that this epithet was used as late as the 13th century, so we can't recommend it as the best re-creation; but the word was in use and it strikes us as a perfectly plausible byname [3]. Bynames with similar meanings were in use just after your period [4]. , "Alis daughter of Ruaidhr/i," is an excellent name for the early 14th century. , "Alis daughter of Ruaidhri/ the arrogant," is less likely, but possible. (The change from to is required by Gaelic grammar). These would have been pronounced \AHL~-ish EEN-y@n ROO-@-ree\ or \AHL~-ish EEN-y@n ROO-@-ree HOH-tahl~\, where the \@\ is the sound of in or . We hope that this letter has been useful to you and that you won't hesitate to write us again if any part was unclear or if you have further questions. Research and commentary on this letter was provided by Talan Gwynek, Mari neyn Brian, Adelaide de Beaumont, and Arval Benicoeur. For the Academy, -Argantgui filia Catmaili, 11Dec02 -- References: [1] Mari Elspeth nic Bryan, "Index of Names in Irish Annals" (WWW: Academy of S. Gabriel, 2001-2002). http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/mari/AnnalsIndex/ [2] Mari Elspeth nic Bryan, "Dated Names Found in O/ Corra/in & Maguire's Irish Names" (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1999) http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/mari/ocm/ [3] Royal Irish Academy, _Dictionary of the Irish Language: based mainly on Old and Middle Irish materials_ (Dublin : Royal Irish Academy, 1983). s.v. Sotal [4] The following bynames support the usage of "arrogant" in the 13th and 14th centuries: [1] Meablach "deceitful, guileful/treacherous/crafty" 1348, 1363 Amhreaidh "quarrelsome, contentious" 1389, 1392, 1419 Ainsheasccar "unquiet, restless" 1472 [5] A reasonable approximation is \AHL-yish\, or, closer, \AH-lyish\, where the \y\ is pronounced as in . --