De-Anglicisation of Names

[slohairt]

I guess the translator I used was wrong: Scottish
Aidmheil, Mòralach, Misneach

Faith, Honour, Courage

If you could assist me I'll change my signature.
Is there a Scottish Gaelic word for Chivalry?
as in "Chivalry above all" like a motto.

I wouldn't say they're really incorrect, just a result of the difficulty in translating two unrelated languages.

According to my handy Scottish Gaelic dictionary:

Aidmheil really means profession or persuasion.
Mòralach means greatness or dignity.
Misneach does mean courage, spirit, or fortitude.

The words for 'chivalry' in Irish is cúirtéis or ridireacht. (Pronounced KOORT-AYSH and RID-ER-AKHT) I believe the corresponding Scottish Gaelic word is Cùirteas.
In Irish, I think 'Chivalry above all' would be ridireacht is tábhachtaí. (Pronounced RID-ER-AKHT ISS TAWV-AKHT-EE) Scottish Gaelic differs from Irish dramatically in terms of grammar, so I couldn't even begin to tell you what it would be in that language.

[slohairt]

Yes the local suspicions are that Tullahoma is of Am. Indian possibly of Cherokee or another Indian Nation. I just thought with the connection to
one of it's founders there might be a bit of Irish to it (long shot). We are on the Highland Rim of the Cumberland plateau. Tullahoma is a bit higher then the surrounding areas and it drops off on West side.

As for Leatherwood, is there any Welsh words (or celtic or gaelic) that may have been Anglicized that could have been miss-interpreted as Leatherwood?

I'm fascinated by word origins but Gaelic is such a unique language. The American English language has so many words that originate from other languages. But I don't know of any words we use that originate from Gaelic. Perhaps that is why it seem so difficult for me to learn.

Thank you so much for this thread.

Unfortunately, my knowledge of Welsh is rather limited. I only studied it briefly at school. I studied Irish, Scottish Gaelic (briefly), and Welsh (briefly). I wouldn't say the Gaelic languages (Irish, Scottish Gaelic, and Manx) are terribly unique. There are grammatical features it shares with French and other Romance languages in relation to word order, and there are a number of loan words found within the Gaelic languages derived from Norman-French, Norse, and English. It is still an Indo-European language. It just belongs to a different branch (Celtic) than English does (Germanic). I would say a truly unique European language would be something like Basque.

There are a few English words derived from the Gaelic languages: whisk(e)y, bog, bard, banshee, brogue, slogan, galore, clan, keen (the sound), slew, and trousers are some I can think of.

Sláinte!

[TatterDel]

Unfortunately, my knowledge of Welsh is rather limited. I only studied it briefly at school. I studied Irish, Scottish Gaelic (briefly), and Welsh (briefly).
Sláinte!

WOW! Where did you study? What school? How amazing to have such an opportunity!
I know there is a Gaelic school in Nova Scotia, Canada. They also have a number of music classes there, i.e. pipping, harp...
I would love to send my husband there some day. Maybe when I become independently wealthy (hey, a girl can dream).

Thank you again for so much help. I was wondering which dictionary you used?
I had found the words on http://www.ceantar.org/Dicts/search.html using MacBain's and Mac Farlane's dictionaries as I do not own a book.
MacFarlane's said:
"aidmheil
nf. pl.+ean, faith, religion, confession
leabhar aidmheil a' chreidimh
the book of the Confession of faith"
Not quite what I was looking for. I meant spiritual belief-faith/ trusting in God- faith.
"miadh
nm.ind. honour, esteem, respect, demand
mòralachd
nf.ind. greatness, majesty, honour"
I guess I should have used miadh according to this.

"meanmna
nm. g.v. +idh, spirit, mettle, magnanimity, bravery, courage
misneach
nm. g.v. -ich, courage, fortitude, spirit"
But here, I was referring to the courage and fortitude of the spirit.

I hope that clarifies things for others following this thread. I'm still not sure how I should correct my signature so it reads better.

[slohairt]

I took Celtic Studies at UCD, Dublin, Ireland many years ago. Also, my command of Irish is certainly not as great as it may appear. A hodge-podge of differing instructions in the three main dialects, parents who are reluctant to use the language, and a general lack of anyone to converse with has resulted in my Irish stagnating over the past decade. I still have a relatively good vocabulary, but my grammatical and conversational skills are very rusty.

The Scottish Gaelic dictionary I used was Edward Dwelly's. A bit antiquated, I suppose but it's the one I used in school. I believe they publish reprints of it every few years so it shouldn't be hard to find. If one wanted to learn to speak, read, and write modern Scottish Gaelic I wouldn't recommend it.

[Rob]

As for Leatherwood, is there any Welsh words (or celtic or gaelic) that may have been Anglicized that could have been miss-interpreted as Leatherwood?

There is a Welsh word "llethr", which means "steep", if that is any help, but I am not sure about the "wood" part of the name.

Rob

[bjproc]

hi slohairt, do you have anything for Alan (first name)


thanks

[highlander_Daz]

Its strange you say your parents were reluctant to speak the language, My Grandfather would get into serious trouble for speaking Scots Gaelic at school, and he also had a good command of Irish Gaelic, he would often use a word that sounded like

ALI - COO- SAH (ali as in ali baba, coo as in shoe, and sah as in bar) Ive no idea what it means but i suspect in maybe slang or profanity

can you shed any light?

[slohairt]

hi slohairt, do you have anything for Alan (first name)


thanks

Alan (or Allen, Allan, Alain, etc.) is a personal name which occurs in all six Celtic languages. Various etymologies abound, but many believe it means noble one.

The Scottish Gaelic version is Ailean.

[slohairt]

Its strange you say your parents were reluctant to speak the language, My Grandfather would get into serious trouble for speaking Scots Gaelic at school, and he also had a good command of Irish Gaelic, he would often use a word that sounded like

ALI - COO- SAH (ali as in ali baba, coo as in shoe, and sah as in bar) Ive no idea what it means but i suspect in maybe slang or profanity

can you shed any light?

Not so strange, really. A fairly common attitude in Ireland, especially among their age-group. They are very fluent Ulster dialect speakers and, in fact, my mother could not speaker English until she went to school. They were mainly reluctant to teach it to my sister and I, as they felt it would be of little use here in Canada. It was of little use to them in Ireland as well. Despite the numerous attempts to restore Irish as a practical language, English is, and will always be, the language of business and economic opportunity. We are from a Gaeltacht region, and those areas were especially deprived during the 1940s and 1950s. Once you left the Gaeltacht, you had to speak English 99% of the time.

As for your suspected Irish profanity: I'm not really sure. I can't think of any terms that would remotely resemble that in sound. I'd have to see it written.

[bjproc]

Alan (or Allen, Allan, Alain, etc.) is a personal name which occurs in all six Celtic languages. Various etymologies abound, but many believe it means noble one.

The Scottish Gaelic version is Ailean.

thanks solhairt, just now googling it