name variants

[sheena58]

Hi,
Does anyone know if Aeneas is a Gaelic forename, and if so what the likely anglicised form is? Not being a Gaelic speaker I can't guess at this one. Any suggestions?
Thanks

Sheena

[AndrewP]

Hi Sheena,

Aeneas is a name of Greek origin. The Scots variant of it is Angus.

Sheena - anglicised variant of Sine [pronounced as Sheena]; Sine - Gaelic form of Jane.

All the best,

AndrewP

[sheena58]

Thanks Andrew,
I was aware that my name was Gaelic for Jane but didn't know it was Sine; something new learned for today.
I came across an Aeneas MacKay born c 1775 who I thought may have been one of mine, but probably not. I didn't think it looked Gaelic but it definitely says Aeneas... How strange!

Sheena

[Muriel]

The Gaelic pronunciation of Angus doesn't use the hard g - it is something like Ann-yus so was often transcribed by non-Gaelic speakers (registrars & Session Clerks etc) as Aeneas - a name with which they, as educated people, were more familiar.

Muriel

[sheena58]

Ah, that makes sense!
Thanks Muriel
Doesn't look like there's any real hope that he might be my Kenneth though. Oh well, onwards and upwards, or something like that........

Sheena

[eilthireach]

"The Gaelic pronunciation of Angus doesn't use the hard g - it is something like Ann-yus" .... No, it's not, - the pronunciation is nothing like that - and "Angus" is not a "Scottish variant" of the Greek Aeneas. These are two separate names from two separate cultures and with no connection whatsoever between the two names, but you will occasionally find, as has been said, an Angus recorded in the older historical records as Aeneas. Sine (Jean/Jane) is not pronounced as Sheena (that's close) but as if it were Sheene, the final 'e' in that case being pronounced as the indistinct 'e' in the definite article 'the' and I won't go into the question of vowel length and phonology ....

[SarahND]

No, it's not, - the pronunciation is nothing like that -

How IS it pronounced in Gaelic? I would suppose it all depends on the particular locality, but if there is a standard pronunciation, then please walk me through it, all gory details intact. For instance, the English pronunciation of the name has a velar nasal + stop sequence in the middle. What place of articulation is/are the medial consonant/s in the Gaelic pronunciation?

Sine (Jean/Jane) is not pronounced as Sheena (that's close) but as if it were Sheene, the final 'e' in that case being pronounced as the indistinct 'e' in the definite article 'the' and I won't go into the question of vowel length and phonology ....

Vowel length and phonology are no problem for many of us and it might help to clarify what you mean. If you're talking about a "schwa" vowel at the end, I would think that the final vowel in Sheena would be pronounced exactly like that these days.

Regards,
Sarah