by Mari Elspeth nic Bryan (Kathleen M. O'Brien)
© 2000-2002 by Kathleen M. O'Brien. All rights reserved.
Version 2.1, updated 25 April 2002
"Small"
What we know as a set of Irish Annals are manuscripts that were each compiled during a particular time period, usually using older material as sources. For example, when the Annals of the Four Masters were written from 1632 to 1636, they covered events that occurred centuries and millenia before (including legendary history). So, when an entry in this set of annals refers to a person who lived in the year 738, the spelling used for that person's name is very likely not using the spelling that would have been used in 738.
Standard forms of this name (based on spelling systems of different periods) would be:
| Old Irish Gaelic (c700-c900) nominative form: | Becc |
| Old Irish Gaelic (c700-c900) genitive form: | |
| Middle Irish Gaelic (c900-c1200) nominative form: | Becc |
| Middle Irish Gaelic (c900-c1200) genitive form: | |
| Early Modern Irish Gaelic (c1200-c1700) nominative form: | Beag |
| Early Modern Irish Gaelic (c1200-c1700) genitive form: | |
| Number of men found in the annals with this name: | 10 |
| Found in Years: | 568, 593, 725, 738, 995, 1170, 1184, 1189, 1201, 1259, 1260, 1584 |
Woulfe (p. 228 s.n. Beag) gives the meaning of this byname as "little, small".
[Answering a question about the meaning of becc:]
OIr becc "small"; now beag. [email from Talan Gwynek - 15 Jul 2001]
Further information about the byname Becc/Beag, may be found in:
The Sources page lists the Annals referenced below. Information on secondary sources are included on that page as well.
In the table below, I have separated individuals with a blank line. That is, when there are multiple entries in the annals that refer to a single person, those entries are grouped together.
Within the list of entries refering to a single person, I have sorted the entries primarily by orthography when it is obvious that what I am seeing is the same entry showing up in multiple annals. The entries that tend to use older spellings are listed first.
Special factors which may affect name usage are marked in the context column.
| AN | indicates a member of an Anglo-Norman family |
| E | indicates an Englishman |
| N | indicates a Norseman |
| R | indicates a person holding a religious office |
| S | indicates a person from Scotland |
NOTE: The Annals referenced below under the code letters A, B, C, E, & F tend to use later spellings than the other Annals. In some cases, the spellings listed in these Annals may not be appropriate for the year referenced in the Annal entry.
In some Gaelic scripts, there is a character that looks approximately like a lowercase f,
but without the crossbar. This character (represented by an underscored
Published by Arval Benicoeur.
[Standardized form of this man's name] Annals Entry Citation (formatting preserved) [Áed Becc Mac Canai] U U1170.1 Aedh Bic Mac Canae ["Aedh Mac Cana the Little"] [Art Beag Ua Ruairc] Co 1259.4 Art Becc mac Airt h. Ruairc C M1259.4 Art Beacc mac Airt Uí Ruairc Co 1260.11 Art Bec mac Airt h. Ruairc C M1260.9 Art Beacc mac Airt Ui Ruairc (d. ?) T T738.7 Bran Becc mac Murchada [Colman Becc mac Ailella mec Comgaill] I I568.1 Colmán Bec mc. Ailella m. Comgaill [Colman Becc mac Diarmada] C U593.3 Colman Beag mc. Diarmoda [Concobhar Beag Mac Lachlain] U U1201.6 Mac Lachlainn .i.,Conchubhar Beacc [Donnchadh Beag mac Taidhg mhic Donnchaidh Uí Bhriain] E M1584.7 Donnchadh Beacc, mac Taidhcc, mic Donnchaidh Uí Briain [Faeldobhar Becc] A M725.6 S. Faeldobhar Becc, eccnaidh Fobhair ["St. Faeldobhar Beg the Wise, of Fobhar"] [Maolsechlainn Becc] C M1184.4 Maoil Seachlainn Beacc C M1189.8 Mael Seachlainn Beg ri Temra [Muirchertach Becc ua Congalaig] C M995.10 Muircheartach Beag ua Conghalaigh