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A Brief (and Incomplete) Guide to Forming Genitives of Irish Personal Names

by Heather Rose Jones

(copyright 2003, all rights reserved)

Go directly to the flow chart — CAUTION: using the flow-chart without reading the article is likely to cause a high error rate.

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Case
• Uses of the Genitive
• Declensional Classes
• Types of Case Changes
• "Broad" and "Slender" Sounds
• Pronunciation vs. Spelling
• Old, Medieval, and Modern Irish
• The Declensional Classes
• O-Stem Nouns
• IO-Stem Nouns
• Á-Stem Nouns
• I-Stem Nouns
• U-Stem Nouns
• N-Stem Nouns
• Gutteral- or Velar-Stem Nouns
• Genitive-Compound Names
• Summary Flow-Chart
• Examples
• Bibliography

Introduction

Case

When constructing (or interpreting) an Irish name, you need to deal with several grammatical functions that will be unfamiliar to an English speaker. One is mutation, which will not be discussed in this article. (See <http://www.medievalscotland.org/scotlang/lenition.shtml> for an introduction to mutation in Gaelic names, both Irish and Scottish.) The other main grammatical issue is case, i.e., a noun or name taking different forms to indicate different grammatical functions. In languages that have grammatical case, a noun may take different forms for the subject of a verb (nominative), the object of a verb (accusative), as the subject of direct address (vocative), or when in a possessive relationship to another noun (genitive). While the vocative case occasionally becomes an issue when interpreting names, the genitive (possessive) case is the most important and will be dealt with here.

Uses of the Genitive

The most common situation when you will need to deal with the genitive case is when constructing or interpreting patronyms or clan surnames. A patronym will consist of the word <mac> "son" (for men) or <inghean> "daughter" (for women) followed by the father's given name in the genitive case. (For a woman's patronym, mutation may also be involved.) A man's clan surname will typically involve either the word <ó> or <mac> followed by the name of the clan's ancestor in the genitive. (This will usually be a given name, but may sometimes be a byname.) A woman's clan surname will typically consist of the word <inghean> followed by a full male clan surname in the genitive. (I.e., construct a male clan surname and then put the <mac> or <ó> into the genitive and place the whole thing after <inghean>.) This is an extremely oversimplified description of the process and is only meant to explain where you might find genitives being used. There are articles dealing more specifically with name construction that can explain the details of how to create these types of names, such as <http://www.medievalscotland.org/scotnames/quickgaelicbynames/>.

Declensional Classes

Names (and other nouns) in Irish belong to particular "declensions" — i.e., groups of nouns that take similar forms. The declensional class of a name, in turn, is determined by the declensional class of the last morpheme (or element) occurring in the name — whether it is a suffix such as <-án> or a deuterotheme such as <-gal>. Because the majority of Irish given names are compounds (i.e., created by combining a "protheme" or initial element with a "deuterotheme" or final element, or by adding a suffix to a root), and because certain elements are extremely common in the final position in these compounds, identifying the declensional class of a name can be much simpler than it seems at first. So, while the genitive forms of Irish names can sometimes seem wildly arbitrary, it is actually fairly simple to learn how to form the vast majority of them.

This guide aims to give you the tools to identify a typical genitive form in maybe 95-99% of the names you're likely to encounter. This article focuses on masculine given names, as those are the only ones that will normally be found in the genitive in a personal name. The last few percent would have to be covered by simply listing the names with their genitive forms, which isn't really the purpose of this article. In some cases, more than one possible genitive form is given if they appear relatively commonly — in other cases, an alternate form may appear only rarely and has not been included here. Occasionally a name will seem (based on the descriptions below) as if it should belong to one declensional class, but will actually take a different genitive form. This is a warning that you may believe you have constructed a name correctly, based on this article, and then be told that the form needs to be changed. There's no good way to avoid this bug, just be aware of it.

If the name you're interested in is one of the most popular ones, it may be included in the article "The 100 Most Popular Men's Names in Early Medieval Ireland" and listed with its genitive form here <http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/tangwystyl/irish100/>.

Types of Case Changes

If you have studied Latin or a similar language, you will be familiar with the types of case change that involve substituting one suffix for another. So, for example, in one Latin declension, nominative <-us> is changed to genitive <-i>, and in another Latin declension nominative <-a> is changed to genitive <-ae>. Irish developed from a language with a similar system, but it has lost the suffixes themselves and all that remains are the effects those suffixes had on the sounds of the root word itself. This may be easier to understand if you compare it to English plurals. Most plurals in English are created by adding a suffix <-(e)s>, but some are created by changing the sound of the word itself (e.g. man > men, goose > geese, mouse > mice). Although the history of the words is different, the Irish genitive forms are similar to these English "irregular" plurals.

The types of sound changes used in creating genitive forms are of two types: those affecting consonants and those affecting vowels. The major change affecting consonants will be to change them from non-palatalized (or "broad") to palatalized (or "slender"), or vice versa (see the following section). This is normally indicated by a letter <i> placed directly before the palatalized consonant. In some cases, it will change the way the consonant itself is written, especially in the case of <ch> which is written <gh> when palatalized.

Changes affecting vowels may be of several types, either "raising" the vowel (e.g., changing <e> to <i> or <o> to <u>) or changing the vowel entirely.

A genitive form may also add a suffix to the nominative form.

"Broad" and "Slender" Sounds

To follow the instructions in this article, you need to understand how the concept of "broad" and "slender" is used in Irish phonology. All consonant sounds have a "broad" version (the "regular" or non-palatalized sound) and a "slender" or palatalized version. (To see the differences between the palatalized and non-palatalized versions of consonants, compare the English words "booty and "beauty", "coot" and "cute", "canon" and "canyon".) These two versions of the consonants are created by proximity to a "broad" or "slender" vowel. In modern Irish spelling, you can always tell whether a consonant is broad or slender from the spelling — it will be flanked on both sides by vowels of the corresponding group. In the earlier spellings, this isn't always the case. Normally, a final consonant (the only ones we really need to identify here) will belong to the group of the vowel that immediately precedes it. Rarely, the preceding vowel may be slender but the final consonant will actually be broad. If you have access to a modern spelling of the name, you can use this to double-check the question. The historic development (and rules for spelling at different time-periods) are too complex to go into here. What you need to know is that <i> and <e> (and diphthongs ending in them) are "slender" vowels while <a>, <o>, and <u> (and diphthongs ending in them) are "broad" vowels.

Pronunciation vs. Spelling

By necessity, this article deals with the written form of names, and descriptions of the above "broad" and "slender" groups should be interpreted as refering to the name as written. Interpreting the pronunciation of medieval Irish spelling is an entirely separate and much larger issue and I don't really touch on it at all. There is a discussion of Old Irish spelling and pronunciation at <http://www.smo.uhi.ac.uk/old-irish/labhairt.html>, although it is somewhat technical.

Old, Medieval, and Modern Irish

Like all languages, Irish has changed over time, and both the spellings of names and in some cases the declensional class they belong to have changed. A thumbnail history of the language can be found at <http://www.lincolnu.edu/~focal/docs/focaltl.htm> for those interested in the details. This article simplifies the issue of historic changes by reducing this to two periods: Early Irish (covering the periods known as Old Irish, roughly the 8-9th c., and Medieval Irish, roughly the 10-12th c.) and Later Irish (using the forms typical of Modern Irish, which begins around the 13th century). "Early" and "Later" aren't intended as technical terms, but simply to give examples from both ends of the time-span covered here. The reality is much more messy, with spelling changes taking place piecemeal over several centuries. The forms given here are selected to be representative and typical, but other variants occur historically.

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The Declensional Classes

There are seven major declensional classes covered here, plus another group that behaves in an unusual but consistent fashion: o-stem, io-stem, á stem, i-stem, u-stem, n-stem, gutteral or velar-stem, and the "genitive compound" names. The names of the classes are based on the history of the sounds involved but by the Irish period the connection isn't obvious, so they appear fairly arbitrary. You may notice certain parallels between some classes, but this article has leaned towards the side of practicality rather than theory and treated them all separately.

O-Stem Nouns

The largest masculine declensional class in Medieval Irish is the "o-stem" nouns. The nominative form of these ends in a "broad" (i.e., non palatalized) consonant. In practice, what this means is that the name ends in a consonant or group of consonants, and that the last vowel before that is an <a>, <o>, or <u>. The major sign of the genitive for this class is to palatalize the final consonant (or consonant group), indicated in writing by placing <i> before it. If the final consonant is <ch> it will change to <gh> (<g> in Early Irish). More rarely, there can also be a change in the vowel of the final syllable (see the examples).

Most of the extremely common suffixes fall in this declension, including < án>, <-ach>, and <-all>. The following tables also include a number of very common uncompounded names which take this declension.

Examples in popular names
Nominative		Genitive
Early Irish	Later Irish	Early Irish	Later Irish
Faelán	Faolán	Faeláin	Faoláin
Domnall	Domhnall	Domnaill	Domhnaill
Muiredach	Muireadhach	Muiredaig	Muireadhaigh

Non-compounded names
Nominative		Genitive
Early Irish	Later Irish	Early Irish	Later Irish
Fland	Flann	Flaind, Floind*	Flainn, Floinn*
Ercc	Earc	Eircc	Eirc
Bran	Bran	Brain	Brain
Artt	Art	Airtt	Airt
Tadc	Tadhg	Taidc	Taidhg
Columb	Colum	Coluimb	Coluim

* Rarely, names in this group may also have a vowel change — see the next table.

Examples with vowel-change
Nominative		Genitive
Early Irish	Later Irish	Early Irish	Later Irish
Corcc	Corc	Cuircc	Cuirc
Conchobor	Conchobhar	Conchobuir	Conchobhair
Cond	Conn	Cuind, Coind***	Cuinn, Coinn***
Niall	Niall	Neill*	Neill
common endings
-char	-char	-chair,- cheir**	-chair, -cheir**
-c(h)enn	-cheann, -ge(a)nn	-c(h)inn	-c(h)inn
-mac	-m(h)ac	-maic, -meic**	-m(h)aic, -m(h)eic**
as in:
Cormacc	Cormac	Cormaicc	Cormaic
Dubcenn	Duibhgenn	Dubcinn	Duibhginn

* Note: in general, if a final syllable has the vowel ia, palatalizing the following consonant will be accompanied by changing this diphthong to e. There are other examples below.

** Note: the <-chair> and <-maic> forms occur when the most immediately preceding vowel is broad; the <-cheir> and <-meic> forms occur when the most immediately preceding vowel is slender. This is a general pattern.

*** Rarely, examples without the vowel change can also be found.

IO-stem nouns

Nouns in this group end in <-e> in the nominative, which is changed to <i> in the genitive (although manuscript forms can also be found with a genitive identical to the nominative). This declension includes the very common diminutive suffixes <-íne>, <-éne>, and <-ne>. In Modern Irish, the genitive is identical to the nominative for this class, and often the final vowel has been dropped entirely in both forms.

Á-stem Nouns

This group has a non-palatalized ("broad") final consonant in the nominative, and the genitive is formed by both palatalizing this consonant (indicated by inserting <i> before it) and by suffixing <-e> after it. Although these names are men's names, the declension is grammatically feminine. There is no easy way to distinguish these from o-stem nouns purely by the nominative form, but the most common suffix in this group, <-gal>, is useful to know about. Later, many names in this class were treated as o-stem nouns.

I-stem nouns

This group can be identified by having a palatalized ("slender") final consonant in the nominative. The genitive is formed by de-palatalizing the final consonant (indicated by removing the <i> before it) and then suffixing either <-o> or <-a> (both forms are found interchangeably). The group can be distinguished in the nominative from o-stem and á-stem nouns by the palatalized final consonant, and from io-stem nouns by lacking a final vowel. In particular, this class includes the suffixes <-it>> and <-id>.

U-stem nouns

There is no good way to identify this class in the nominative, but the important members are a small number of highly productive deuterothemes (some of which can also appear as uncompounded names), specifically <-gus>, <-c(h)ad>, and <-áed>. The genitive is formed by suffixing <-a>. Later, this class was often treated as o-stem nouns (the forms marked with * below). In at least one case, a borrowed name <Magnus> sometimes seems to have been placed in this class by analogy with <-gus>, while at other times it was treated as an o-stem noun, which would be the usual process for borrowed foreign names.

N-stem nouns

In this group, the genitive is formed by suffixing <-[vowel]n> to the nominative form. Sometimes the final vowel of the nominative changes instead of adding another vowel. These names can't be identified by the general form of the nominative but must be learned as individual members of the class. The most important element in this class is the deuterotheme <-cú> (which may appear in names as <-chú>.

Gutteral- (or Velar)-stem nouns

In general, this class forms the genitive by dropping the last vowel (or diphthong) of the nominative form, then suffixing <-ech> or <-ach> depending on whether the last vowel remaining in the stem is slender or broad. For example: Lugaid > Lug-d > Lug-d-ach (because <u> is broad). Similarly: Eochu > Eoch- > Eoch-ach (because <o>is broad). Notice that if the nominative form ends in a consonant, this results in a contraction of the stem. In the later language, the genitive was sometimes identical to the nominative for this class. This class isn't easy to identify by looking at the nominative. There are a few very common uncompounded names in this class, but the only important deuterotheme is <-rí>, which is slightly irregular, taking genitive <-ríg> at a very early period, but considered indeclinable by the medieval period (i.e., it would be identical in the genitive).

Genitive-Compound Names (including "Devotional" Names)

There are several other declensional classes, but they don't participate enough in name formation to be worth keeping track of. There is, however, one other method of creating given names that forms the genitive in an entirely different way. This is the format sometimes referred to as "devotional names" because the most common examples in the medieval period incorporate the names of saints. These names consist of two elements, but unlike the more usual type of compound, they behave grammatically as a noun phrase: a noun followed by a noun in the genitive). The most familiar literary example is the name <Cú Chulainn>, explained in the story as meaning "Culann's hound". (<Cú>means "dog, hound".) The examples incorporating saints' names generally begin with <Mael> "tonsured (one)" or <Gilla> "servant". In these names, the second element is already in the genitive case, and the genitive form of the name is created by putting the first element in the genitive case as well. (The logic of this can be seen in considering the English form "Culann's Hound". Something possessed by "Culann's Hound" would be "Culann's Hound's thing".) These names are usually identifiable in writing by having the two elements separated by a space or hyphen (in modern or edited texts) or by recognizing one of the common formats.

The most common elements found in the initial position of this type of name are as follows.

* Note: There is confusion over the declensional class of <máel> and <gilla>. These are the forms of the genitive appearing in early records, but the variation appears to be free, rather than depending on the environment in the name.

** Note: <Maoil-> appears to be preferred when the first vowel of the following element is slender.

*** In theory, this should be <Meic-Tíre> but the only modern forms I can find are <Mic-Tíre> and the undeclined <Mac-Tíre>.

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Summary and Flow-Chart

The following flowchart can be used to try to identify an appropriate genitive form, either directly or by identifying the declensional class.

Analysis	Solution
1. Does the name appear in the "100 most popular" list?	Find the genitive form from the list.
2. Is the name borrowed from a different language?	Treat it as o-stem, if possible, or as indeclinable.
3. Does the name have a genitive-compound prefix?	Look at the table of genitive-compound forms for the common prefixes.
4. Does the name end in one of the following elements?	Look in the relevant declension.
	-áed	u-stem
	-c(h)ad	u-stem
	-chú	n-stem
	-gal	á-stem
	-gus	u-stem
	-rí	velar or gutteral-stem
5. Does the name end in <-(a)e>?	io-stem
6. Does the name end in a palatalized (slender) consonant?	i-stem
7. Does the name end in a non-palatalized (broad) consonant?	o-stem

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Examples

To test and demonstrate the system, we'll apply it to names randomly selected from Ó Corráin & Maguire's Irish Names, by virtue of selecting the first masculine name on each page ending in "5". Following OC&M's headings, the first form is an older one while the form in parentheses, if given, corresponds to our later forms. (If the first male name is found only for legendary or mythical figures, I've skipped to the next one.) If the name is found under step #1, I've still followed the other steps to see if we get the same result (and to see what modern form is produced).

So, of the 17 examples tested, we have 14 that were successful in producing forms found in the literature, one inconclusive result (because no genitive form can be found in the literature), one partial failure (the correct class is identified, but the result needs to be contracted), and one definite failure (because the name is in one of the "difficult to identify" classes and is too rare to appear in the "Top 100" list). These statistics should give you an idea of how successful you can expect to be when using these rules.

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Bibliography

Dictionary of the Irish Language (Based Mainly on Old and Middle Irish Materials) - Compact Edition. 1990. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy.

O'Brien, M. A. 1976. Corpus Genealogiarum Hiberniae Vol 1. Dublin: The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.

O'Brien, M.A. 1973. "Old Irish Personal Name" in Celtica, 10: 211-236.

Ó Corráin, Donnchadh & Maguire, Fidelma. 1990. Irish Names. Dublin: The Lilliput Press.

Ó Cuiv, Brian. 1986. "Aspects of Irish Personal Names" in Celtica, 18: 151-184.

Strachan, John. 1949. Old-Irish Paradigms and Selections from the Old Irish Glosses. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy.

Thurneysen, Rudolf. 1967. A Grammar of Old Irish. Dublin: The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.

Woulfe, Patrick. 1967. Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall - Irish Names and Surnames. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company.

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