[antir-heralds] Assistance with Name requested

[Jillian Bower]

 -------------- Original message ----------------------
From: Rosemary Underhill <cocinera at shaw.ca>
> Hello
> 
> I have a client who is requesting assistance with a Welsh by-name.  Welsh is
> not my strong suit, so I'm seeking aid on this one.   Here is her info.
> 
> " The byname I have  chosen is Duy Maes (Black Field).  In the course of my
> research I
> could not figure out what form the byname should take.  That is,  would it
> be "Duy-Maes," "Duymaes," "Duy Maes," or "DuyMaes"?
> 
>  "I have found some precedence for combining names in Old Irish.  The
> Kildare's name was derived from Cell Dara in Old Irish, meaning "Church of
> the Oak."  In that case the combination of two words pulled them together
> and eliminated some of the extra consonants.  Based on that would you say
> that "Duy Maes" could appropriately be "Dumaes"? "
> 
> Thanks,
> Theocharista

Welsh is a tricky animal. I couldn't find any justification in their naming practices for combining two descriptive words to create a byname at all. There is evidence of "Duy", which means black, but not of "Maes".

I started with Tangwystl's 13th century Welsh document:
http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/tangwystyl/welsh13.html

Her other two exceedingly useful articles on Welsh names:
http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/tangwystyl/british1000/part2.html#oldwelsh1
http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/tangwystyl/welsh16.html

Locative bynames in Welsh seem to be all proper places rather than descriptive things. Your client may want to look around at the other examples in the Welsh section of the Medieval Names Archive:
http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/pceltic.shtml

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