|
Gaelic
May 2, 2024 2:44:01 GMT
Post by Pacifica on May 2, 2024 2:44:01 GMT
I'm most likely to just ask random work-related questions here, but any discussion about any form of Gaelic is welcome. I've been translating Latin lives of Irish saints for a while, and I occasionally come across a Gaelic reference that I need to figure out. This below is from the life of Saint Flannan, but refers to another saint he met. terentiusfaber, do you have any idea about the etymology alluded to here (of the name Bracanus)? Lingua Scotica can refer to Irish in these old texts, not necessarily Scottish. I can't swear which one it is here as I couldn't identify this Bracanus or his origin with certainty, but given the context it seems more likely to be Irish.
|
|
|
Post by terentiusfaber on May 2, 2024 9:59:50 GMT
I have no certain knowledge of Bracanus. A quick internet search throws up this: www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclare/history/clare_churches/spread_of_christianity.htmIf the text is referring to the time of St Flannan, then there is no doubt that the language is specifically Old Irish (the Middle Irish period not having begun until about a century and a half after Flannan). It was Old Irish that was taken to Caledonia by the Irish and the two Gaelic-speaking communities developed as a single cultural unit right up to the middle of the Modern period c. 17th century.
|
|
|
Gaelic
May 2, 2024 10:20:33 GMT
Post by Pacifica on May 2, 2024 10:20:33 GMT
Any idea what Irish word the author may be referring to? Can you think of any word that sounds something like "bracan" with a meaning along the lines of tears or grieving?
The author may be referring to the time of St Flannan but I suppose there's also a chance that he's on about a later reinterpretation. As far as I could gather, the text is probably from the late 12th century, and at any rate no earlier (it refers at one point to an event that took place in 1162 as "recent").
|
|
|
Post by terentiusfaber on May 11, 2024 21:57:37 GMT
I've been looking into this, and can find no link anywhere. All etymologies lead to 'speckled'. 'can' might be related to 'caoineadh' crying, but I really doubt it very much, and I haven't found anyone who says it is.
Regarding the manuscript: That is a big issue in dating early Irish texts. Scribes copying earlier texts tended to 'update' the language as they go along.
|
|
|
Post by Etaoin Shrdlu on May 12, 2024 0:15:09 GMT
'can' might be related to 'caoineadh' crying, but I really doubt it very much, and I haven't found anyone who says it is. It might not be related, but there were lots of fanciful etymologies around in the centuries before the scientific study of linguistics. For that matter, there are plenty that are still around, and new ones are born every day.
|
|
|
Post by Pacifica on May 12, 2024 0:22:16 GMT
Yeah, the etymology doesn't have to be real. Anything that sounds vaguely similar may be what the author had in mind.
|
|