ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2852 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2852 ************************************ 18 Apr 2004 From: Aryanhwy merch Catmael Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You wanted to know if we could help you form an authentic name for a 13th century Irish Gaelic woman named who was the daughter of , of the clan. Here is a brief letter with the information we've found. We'd like to commend you on your search; the name you've chosen is just about perfect, and we'll only be recommending minor changes. is a fine choice for your given name; we find it recorded in 1066, 1104, 1115, and 1252. [1] In this letter, we'll be using the slash to represent an acute accent over the previous letter. is also a fairly popular man's name. We find it recorded as early as 971 and as late as 1611; in your period, we find it in 1201 and 1261. [1] is a descriptive nickname meaning 'great, large'. It is one of the most common men's bynames. In your period, we find it recorded in 1231, 1241, 1244, 1282, 1289, and 1292; and we have examples of it as late as 1562. [1] A daughter of a man named Niall Mo/r would be known as , where the changes to and are requirements of Gaelic grammar. We have found examples of women having patronymic bynames (ones identifying their father) which include their father's descriptive byname, including: [1] Mo/r inghen Aodha mic Pilib na Tuaighe, 1449 as well as examples of the specific byname you're interested in: [1] Gormlaidh inghen Ne/ill Mho/ir, 1416 Gormlaith ingen Neill Moir, 1416 Grainne inghen Neill Mho/ir, 1429 The O/ Ceallacha/in clan dates from at least the 11th century [2,3], and was prominent until at least the 17th century. [4] The feminine form of a byname meaning "member of the O/ Ceallacha/in" clan is ; the changes are results of requirements of Gaelic grammar. In sum, 'O/rlaith, daughter of Niall Mo/r, of the O/ Ceallacha/in clan', is a fine name for your period. It would have been pronounced roughly \OAR-l@ EEN- y@n N~AYL~ BH~OAR wee CHAH-l@-khahn~\. [5] We've used a number of special symbols and letter combiniations to represent certain sounds in this pronunciation: \@\ is the sound of in or . \N~\ is the sound of in . \l~\ is the sound of
  • in Italian 'of the'. \BH\ stands for the sound of in Spanish 'a wolf' and of in Spanish 'a grape'. To make this sound, set yourself to say \b\, but relax your lips slightly so that the air can escape between them with a sort of buzzing sound. (It's rather like blowing out a candle, except that your vocal cords are vibrating.) \BH~\ stands for a nasalized version of the same sound; this just means that the air escapes through your nose as well as between your lips. \ch\ is the soft German of and . \kh\ is the sound of Scottish 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 Iuliana de Luna, Maria filia Brian, Adelaidis de Bello Monte, and Aroaldus Corbenedictum. For the Academy, -Arianuia filia Catmaili -- 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] Donnchadh O/ Corra/in & Mavis Cournane, "Annals of the Four Masters, vol. 2", six volumes (WWW: CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts: a project of University College, Cork, Ireland, 1997-98), entries M903-M1171. http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/G100005B M1053.7 Donnchadh Ua Ceallachain, ri/ogh-dhamhna Caisil [3] Woulfe, Patrick, _Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall: Irish Names and Surnames_ (Kansas City: Irish Genealogical Foundation). s.n. O/ Ceallaca/in [4] MacLysaght, Edward, _The Surnames of Ireland_ (Dublin: Irish Academic Press Ltd., 1985, ISBN 0-7165-2366-3). s.n. (O) Callaghan [5] In Kirschenbaum ASCII IPA this can be represented as ['o:rl@ ,inj@n 'n^e:l^ 'B~o:r^ ui: 'Cal@xa:n^]. [6] [6] Blaheta, Don, "Representation of IPA with ASCII" (WWW: Blahedo.org) http://www.blahedo.org/ascii-ipa.html