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ArchivesArgantael and the Old Breton “hael”
Question about the second half of this lovely name.
Copied from the Argantael name meaning:
Derived from Old Breton argant "silver" (arc'hant in Modern Breton), and by extension "bright; shining; resplendent", and Old Breton hael "generous; prince". Argantael was the wife of Nevenoe, the first Duke of Brittany.
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In this citation, “hael” means “generous; prince.”
In the case of this name, borne by a woman, was it assumed that “hael” meant princess? As in, is that Old Breton name non-gender specific? Or— if it is not, did they just roll with it being a male-origin word but not really care? Or— in this name, is it entirely likely that the “hael” would be taken to mean “generous” in this female name? Thank you.
Copied from the Argantael name meaning:
Derived from Old Breton argant "silver" (arc'hant in Modern Breton), and by extension "bright; shining; resplendent", and Old Breton hael "generous; prince". Argantael was the wife of Nevenoe, the first Duke of Brittany.
—————-
In this citation, “hael” means “generous; prince.”
In the case of this name, borne by a woman, was it assumed that “hael” meant princess? As in, is that Old Breton name non-gender specific? Or— if it is not, did they just roll with it being a male-origin word but not really care? Or— in this name, is it entirely likely that the “hael” would be taken to mean “generous” in this female name? Thank you.
This message was edited 9/26/2024, 7:02 PM
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Replies
Generous is an adjective, Prince is a noun. Not the same word. As an adjective hael is modern Welsh. As a name element it is cognate with Gallic -sagilos. The root sag- seg- and ablaut variants produces a large number of elements relating to strength and victory (not only in Celtic but Germanic and Greek). And yes many are feminine.
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Thank you!!
I think I understand what you're saying...
I am not educated about these old societies and their languages, and would be grateful for some more conversation on it.
I'm aware that languages from older times can sometimes have pronunciations that seem pretty counterintuitive to a modern reader.
So... -Sagilos, sag-, seg- seem like a very far cry from -hael. But they are cognates? How did they pronounce these?
Thank you again!!
I think I understand what you're saying...
I am not educated about these old societies and their languages, and would be grateful for some more conversation on it.
I'm aware that languages from older times can sometimes have pronunciations that seem pretty counterintuitive to a modern reader.
So... -Sagilos, sag-, seg- seem like a very far cry from -hael. But they are cognates? How did they pronounce these?
Thank you again!!
1
Older Indo European languages have nouns and adjectives with many cases ending in -s. So words beginning with s were prone to rebracketing. -s sagilos becomes -s agilos and the h is added to restore an initial consonant. More recently rebracketing results in a nadder and a napron becoming an adder and an apron, and an eft becoming a newt.
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