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Is it just my imagination or is every third client Gaelic?

We're not quite sure why this is true. Irish and Scottish personas are certainly popular, but they don't account for a full third of the Society. My theory is that many people think that they know what medieval names look like in most of the other popular period cultures -- English, French, German, Norse, and so on -- but Gaelic names are more obviously mysterious. Since our clients are only those people who know that they need help, the proportion of Gaelic personas is higher than in the general public.

On the other hand, it may just be something in the water.

Since they are so common, we have some special advice on writing about Irish and Scottish names.

Grammatical Cases

Advice to letter writers

You are the client's advocate.

The letter writer makes sure that the client receives an answer. Usually, this involves understanding and explaining the Academy's research, and prompting the Academy to find out more when necessary. Letter writers organize, draft, and clarify. Other Academy members may make suggestions about letter form, style, order, and content; they may write entire sections or paragraphs. But only the letter writer can ensure that a final report is sent.

Don't hesitate for ask for help

The letter-writer's primary job is to organize the research and comments into a clear, logical explanation that a novice can understand. Though of course it is always appropriate for the letter writer to contribute their own knowledge, this is not the primary contribution of the letter writer. If you think something's missing or unclear, ask for help and keep asking until you are convinced that you can explain the issue clearly. You don't need to wait until you post a draft of your letter; just send out your questions. On the flip side, it is perfectly okay to include questions in your drafts: preparing a draft is a good way to determine what the open questions are. If you do include your questions in your letter, put them at the top of the letter so that everyone will see them immediately. A question buried inside the text may be obvious to someone who reads the letter, but the person who can answer your question may not have time to read the letter.

Don't be afraid to keep asking the same questions. Sometimes questions go unanswered because the person who can answer them was too busy to do so when the question came. If you keep asking, eventually the question will arrive when the person who can answer them has time to do so.

You can post incomplete drafts. Often, posting a draft with gaps or holes will show the rest of the Academy where further research is needed.

Arms vs. Devices

In the Society, device is used to describe someone's arms before he receives his Award of Arms. There is no functional difference between arms and devices; it's just terminology. This distinction is a Society invention. There is some evidence of a similar distinction in renaissance Italy, but there is little evidence in history for differentiating arms on the basis of personal rank and a great deal for treating them the same regardless of rank. In Academy letters, we prefer to avoid the word device and use arms instead. Device is a less precise word, describing all manner of personal insignia. In most of our period, device meant badge or motto rather than arms.

Give the facts, don't cite documentation

Our clients are not normally interested in where we found information, just in the information itself. Don't discuss the references unless they are themselves very relevent to the client's question. Don't tell the client that we have documented a name; just do it. It reads better that way, and it shifts the focus from documenting a name to understanding the historical usage of the name.

Avoid criticizing the client's persona

Many of our clients have persona stories that are historically impossible, but criticizing the client's persona is a good way to annoy him and disincline him from taking our advice. We should avoid discussing persona except to the extent that it effects the construction of the name or arms. There's no clear-cut rule for where to draw the line; you have to use your best judgement and get input from the Academy. For example, if a client wants a Hungarian given name and an Irish patronymic, we have to explain that the combination is impossible partly because there was very limited contact, if any, between Hungarian and Irish culture; but we don't need to say explicitly that the persona itself is absurd.

Irish and Scottish names are tricky

As a non-exhaustive guide, here are the basic issues that letter writers need to keep in mind when writing about Irish and Scottish names:

1. The language is Gaelic; it was spoken in both Ireland and parts of Scotland.
   1. Early is before 900.
   2. Middle is between 900 - 1200, and (oversimplified) both Early and Common Classical spellings are found here. Think of it as a transitional period.
   3. Common Classical (in our relative setup, late period) is after 1200.

2. While the language was the same, the naming practices did have some differences.
   1. If a given name was used in Gaelic Ireland, it may have been used in Gaelic Scotland, but unless we have Scottish evidence for it, it is speculation. The same goes for Scottish Gaelic names in Ireland.
   2. Starting in the 10th century, Irish Gaels commonly used ancestral bynames (ó X, inghean uí X) as well as true simple patronymics (mac X, inghean X). Scottish Gaels only very rarely used ancestral bynames (apparently only in cases with strong, known Irish links).
   3. In general, evidence for something in Ireland is not necessarily evidence for it in Scotland, and vice versa.

3. In both Ireland and Scotland, Gaelic was not the only language used.
   1. Records were often (but not always, especially in Ireland) kept in Latin or later English (in Ireland) and Scots (in Scotland). Keep the distinctions between spellings clear.
   2. Always in Scotland (and to a certain extent in later period Ireland) you must address the issue of language and culture. Not all Scots were Gaels! At the very least you must deal with it due to 3.a. above, considering that so much of our information about Scottish Gaelic naming comes from Scots or Latin documents, often created by non-Gaelic speaking clerics. There are standard explanations available that ought to be used.
   3. Always in Scotland (and sometimes in later period Ireland), at least two forms of a Gaelic-culture name must be discussed: Gaelic (for what the Gael would use when speaking Gaelic) and the likely written form[s] (which was for most of period Latin and in the 15th -16th century could also be Scots). Again, this is just as much because of the sources we have for Scottish Gaelic names as anything.

4. There are some special considerations regarding language and period for Scottish clients.
   1. Gaelic-speaking Highlands and Scots-speaking Lowlands are only useful concepts from the 14th century. Avoid them for clients with starting dates before 1300.
   2. In the 12th and 13th century, in addition to Gaelic culture and Scots-speaking culture, there is also Scoto-Norman culture. Especially since we are often dealing with nobles, and many nobles were Scoto-Normans, this will come up a lot. Do not simply divide Scotland into Gaelic speakers and Scots speakers if the client has a starting and/or ending date between 1100 and 1300. If the commentary has not dealt with this, letter writers should specifically ask about it. It may be that for a particular client Scoto-Normans don't need to be addressed, but the letter must still avoid implying that Scotland was simply divided into Gaelic-speakers and Scots-speakers. Highland and Lowland should not be used.
   3. Before 1100, just dividing Scotland into Gaelic speakers and Scots speakers is even worse. In the 11th century Gaelic was the dominant language (it starts to slide after 1100, though keep in mind sliding out of major dominance doesn't happen overnight), but a number of other langauges were spoken. Scots was not spoken at all as it didn't exist, although Old English (Anglo-Saxon) was spoken in the southeast. Unless the client has asked for a specifically Gaelic name (without using non-Gaelic spellings/names to do it), if commentary hasn't dealt with the issue of language/culture, letter writers should specifically ask.
   4. All of the above are simplifications -- in all periods there were other languages going on (such as Norse and later Norn in Shetland and Orkney), with more complexity and languages the earlier you go.
   5. If a client indicates a time period that takes in more than one of the above general period divisions, letter writers must be especially carefull about how they present the cultural/linguistic situation. Don't write a letter based on only the second half of the time span requested.
   6. Always define what is meant by Scots when it is used to refer to the language. See the boilerplate on this issue. Please keep in mind when writing letters that Scots has two meanings: 1) [adjective and noun] Anyone (or thing) Scottish, whatever langauge they speak or culture they come from and 2) [adjective and noun] a particular language. Unless it is very clear from context that the language is meant, the real world default meaning of Scots is Scottish, not the Scots language. So, if you're clearly talking about the language, and you have defined that language, you can use Scots on its own. If you're talking about people or culture, etc., you need to make it clear if you mean Scots who speak Scots and not any other Scots, and so Scots-speaking. Of course, if you do mean all Scots, even those who don't speak Scots, in order to make that clear (and avoid confusion with Scots-the-language) you should avoid using Scots and use Scottish instead. It is unfortunate that Scots-speaking culture was ... and Medieval Scottish people didn't ... aren't as elegant as Scots culture was ... and Medieval Scots didn't ..., but better slightly less elegance than client confusion.
   7. Do not use Scots on its own to refer to Scots-speakers or Scots-speaking culture. It is confusing. Clients quite rightly expect Scots to include all Scottish people (including Gaelic-speakers, etc.).
   8. Also, although it is perfectly correct usage, do not use Scots Gaelic -- use Scottish Gaelic instead, as it is less confusing in a context where we have defined Scots as a language unrelated to Gaelic.
   9. In general, be very careful using Scots and Scottish to avoid unnecesary confusion. It is unfortunate that the the available terms are so messy, but we have to do our best to be clear.

5. Gaelic spelling underwent a substantial change c.1200.
   1. Many words (and names) should be spelled differently depending on whether the client wants to re-create the earlier or later period. For example: Derb-Forgaill ingen Domnaill before c.1200, Dearbhorgaill inghean Dhomnaill after c.1200.
   2. Of course, the change in spelling conventions didn't happen overnight. Indeed, the Annals of Connacht exhibits many of the earlier spellings into the 15th century. However, one can generally speak of the typical spelling before and after c.1200.
   3. These spelling changes were a systemization of the representation of Gaelic sounds that had existed for quite some time. For example, consider the word ingen/inghean. The g that became gh had been pronounced \GH\ since the early Middle Ages (that is, from around the time the Roman alphabet was adopted), but the convention of showing lenition by adding an h had not been expanded to g until c.1200. Similarly, the final n had been broad all along, but the convention of marking broad consonants by surrounding them with broad vowels was established only around 1200. In other words, the spelling changes were designed to reflect Gaelic pronunication more explicitly and systematically in a system originally based on Latin orthographic notions. This is not to say that pronunciation didn't change from early to medieval Gaelic, just that pronunciation change was apparently not a major motivation for these spelling changes.

Looking over this, I realize it is a lot to keep in mind, but if we don't, we really aren't serving our clients with the degree of historical fidelity we advertise. Keep in mind that the above is what the Academy and specifically letter writers of Irish/Scottish letters need to keep in mind, not what we have to tell every client.

On the final report archive page, the search form uses perl and grep regular expressions. Grep is a UNIX utility for searching text files for lines that match a given pattern. It is a fairly powerful language for specifying text patterns. Perl, a scripting language common in WWW programming, uses the same syntax. If you're not familiar with grep syntax, you can read the GNU Grep Minitutorial, or the Grep MAN page.

Links to us

A herald from another re-creation group wrote to ask permission to link to us. We have a standard response to requests like that, included suggested text for the link.

Emblazons for Reports

If you'd like to draw for the Academy, just speak up. The best way to do that is to reply in the thread for a particular client, so that the letter writer knows you're ready to do the work. When the report is nearly ready and the writer is confident that the list of recommendations is finalized, she'll let you know that it's time to do the emblazons.

Emblazons should be prepared in the form of a JPEG image, 196 pixels wide and as tall as you need to fit the images in a column with the blazon printed beneath each set of arms, as in this example.

When you have the image ready, you can upload it. You will need an Academy userid and password with the appropriate access; contact Aryanhwy to set that up.

Maintained by Aryanhwy; last updated 24 February 2008.