From: cockburn@edieng.enet.dec.com (Craig Cockburn)
Newsgroups: rec.music.folk,soc.culture.celtic
Subject: Re: Maire Ni Bhraonain
Date: 19 Nov 92 16:00:03 GMT
Organization: Digital Equipment Co. Ltd., Reading, England


In article <1eg89tINNj17@huon.itd.adelaide.edu.au>, asmith@iti.org (Andrew Smith) writes...
>In article <1992Nov17.150126.10196@vax.oxford.ac.uk> chappell@vax.oxford.ac.uk writes:
>>In reply to the question about Maire Ni Bhraonain - she is indeed Eithne's
>>sister, who sang with Clannad. I gather that Maire decided to persue a solo
>>career - hence the new album. Whether this means that Clannad will continue
>>recording without her, or whether they will split up, I'm not sure. The Ui
>>Bhraonain clan must be pretty big. As well as the two "sisters" who backed her
>>on Maire there are two "brothers" who are in Clannad.
> 
>I've been meaning to ask this for ages: what is the correct way to pronounce
>the Gaelic versions of the names of the members of Clannad?  Also, what is
>the significance of the menfolk being called O Braonain and the women being
>Ni Bhraonain?  These are the spellings (minus the accents) used on the cover
>of "Fuaim" and other early albums.
> 

Can't help you much with pronounciation, however I can assist with the Gaelic.

There are three adjectives used in front of Gaelic surnames (that I know of!)

O/ = male descendent of  (not used in Scotland)
Mac = son of	(used in Scotland and Ireland, sometimes appreviated to Mc)
Ni  = daughter of  (Used in Scotland and Ireland)

When speaking in Gaelic "Mac" is never used with a woman's surname as
is simply doesn't make sense. It might be used when saying "she's the
wife of mac so and so", however. 

The significance of "Braonain" Vs "Bhraonain" is than in Gaelic, adjectives
agree with nouns, and female nouns cause aspiration in nouns which directly
qualify them. The aspiration is usually indicated by inserting an "h" as the
second letter of the adjective. In the case above, this will change the "b"
sound to a "bh", which is pronounced "v" (Scottish Gaelic). It's a very 
important change - aspiration also signifies the difference between the
present and past tense.

Other notes:

The word for "surname" in Scottish Gaelic can mean two things:
 1) The surname in the English sense
 2) The person's geneology going back three generations

Also, virtually everyone in Gaelic speaking areas has a nickname. The 
nicknames are extremely important. So much so, that British Telecom have
produced telephone directories based on the nicknames. With so many people
sharing the same surname and even first name, nicknames and geneology 
become the main ways of identifing people. I tried to find someone in
Lewis once, and though I was on the street they lived on, and almost 
outside their door, noone knew who it was I was after until I mentioned
what they did and their geneology !!

Some surnames have two forms. Eg.
Mac Donald in Gaelic can be written "Mac Domhnall" but the form "Domhnallach"
(ie Of the Donald) is also used, probably even more so than "Mac Domhnall"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Craig Cockburn, Digital Equipment Co. Ltd, Reading, England.     Suas
  Internet: cockburn@edieng.enet.dec.com                           leis
  UUCP:..!decwrl!edieng.enet.dec.com!cockburn                      a'
                                                                   Gha\idhlig!
  Views here are my own, and are not necessarily those of Digital