Translation help: Female elk in Scottish Gaelic

[writersaurusrex]

Hello.  I'm working on a character for an on-line role-playing game I'm in.  The character is basically a shape-shifter (a Bjornaer maga, for anyone who plays Ars Magica), and has taken the name of the animal that she becomes for everyday use

Comments

[saigh_allaidh]

Keep in mind that gender of a word doesn't always relate to gender of what it is. But my first question is are you actually wanting her to be a European Elk which would be the same as a Moose (and extinct in the Isles for a very long time) or a Red Deer which is closely related to the American Elk?

If you're looking for the actual word for a female European Elk, I can't help you. However a Scots Gaelic (may not be the only one, it's the one I know) for a hind, a female Red Deer, is "eilid."

[writersaurusrex]

I was definitely hoping for the European elk (Alces alces), but I hadn't realized it had died out there (quick search shows maybe no later than 900 AD?), which is too bad because the game setting is early 13th century, and the character was born in the early 12th century, and would have taken her name around 1250-ish.

I guess the red deer would do, though.

Thank you.

[saigh_allaidh]

Actually, if memory serves it was more like at least 5,000 years ago, although they would have been known to some of hte people due to interactions with the people of Scandinavia hence them having a name for them, lon, in the language.

[muckefuck]

The world of Ars Magica has fairies and angels. Don't you think they could also have elk living in Scotland?

[muckefuck]

You do know that in languages with grammatical gender, there's generally no rule which requires that the gender of a noun used as a name coincides with the gender of its bearer, right? For instance, the traditional Irish name Lasair was given to males even though lasair "flame" is a feminine noun. On the other hand, Rós is a female name even thought rós "rose" is grammatically masculine.

In some cases, a gendered suffix is affixed to a noun to yield a personal name. I can't speak to Scottish Gaelic, but -nait/-naid was used this way in earlier Irish, so we have bláth (masc.) "flower" but Bláthnaid "[fem. name]", os (masc., orig. neut.) "beast; deer" but Osnait "[fem. name]", etc.

[embryomystic]

Curious! I've never run across the name Osnait before. Is it old-fashioned to modern Irish folks, or something?

[muckefuck]

I imagine so; I can't find any attestations for a living person named "Osnait" or "Osnaid" (the latter being the normalised modern form). The name of the eponymous 6th-century saint is anglicised as "Osnatt", which invites confusion with a contemporary Hebrew name often written "Osnat". (In Biblical Hebrew, אָסְנַת, transliterated as "Asenath".)