Index of Names in Irish Annals: Descriptive Bynames: Cléireach
by Mari Elspeth nic Bryan (Kathleen M. O'Brien)
© 2000-2001 by Kathleen M. O'Brien. All rights reserved.
Version 2.0, updated 20 December 2001
Descriptive Bynames: Cléireach
Meaning:
"[the] Cleric/Person in religious orders" also "[the] Scholar/Clerk"
Spellings:
What we know as a set of Irish Annals are manuscripts that were each compiled during a
particular time period, usually using older material as sources. For example, when
the Annals of the Four Masters were written from 1632 to 1636, they covered events
that occurred centuries and millenia before (including legendary history). So, when
an entry in this set of annals refers to a person who lived in the year 738, the
spelling used for that person's name is very likely not using the spelling that
would have been used in 738.
Standard forms of this name (based on spelling systems of different periods) would be:
| Middle Irish Gaelic (c900-c1200) nominative form: | Cléirech |
| Middle Irish Gaelic (c900-c1200) genitive form: | Cléirig |
|
| Early Modern Irish Gaelic (c1200-c1700) nominative form: | Cléireach |
| Early Modern Irish Gaelic (c1200-c1700) genitive form: | Cléirigh |
Frequency & Dates:
| Number of men found in the annals with this name: | 4 |
| Found in Years: | 1151, 1263, 1410, 1522 |
Research Notes:
Woulfe (p. 311 s.n. Mac an C.lérig.) gives the meaning of this byname as "son of the clerk".
The meaning "the Clergyman, so called probably from his having been educated for the Church" is given in regards to a man's name in 1522 (FM vol. 5, p. 1362-1363, footnote "v").
[Answering a question about the meaning of Clérech vs. Cléirech:]
They're all one byname (except the Woulfe surname, which is derived
from the same word). The DIL takes the normalized early spelling to
be cle/irech; the corresponding genitive would be cle/irich or
cle/irig, the latter leading to the modern genitive. The later spellings
are cle/ireach (nom.) and cléirigh (gen.). The meaning is "cleric,
person in orders; scholar, clerk". [email from Talan Gwynek - 01 Oct 2001]
Sources:
Further information about the byname Cléireach, may be found in:
- FM (vol. 5, p. 1362-1363, footnote "v")
The Sources page lists the Annals referenced below.
Information about secondary sources is included on that page as well.
Raw Data
In the table below, I have separated individuals with a blank line. That is, when there are multiple
entries in the annals that refer to a single person, those entries are grouped together.
Within the list of entries refering to a single person, I have sorted the entries
primarily by orthography when it is obvious that what I am seeing is the same entry
showing up in multiple annals. The entries that tend to use older spellings are listed first.
NOTE: The Annals referenced below under the code letters A, B, C, E, & F tend to use
later spellings than the other Annals. In some cases, the spellings listed in these Annals
may not be appropriate for the year referenced in the Annal entry.
In some Gaelic scripts, there is a character that looks approximately like a lowercase f,
but without the crossbar. This character (represented by an underscored , e, in
the entries below) sometimes represents e and sometimes ea depending upon the
context of the text.
| [Standardized form of this man's name] |
| Annals | Entry | Citation (formatting preserved) |
| |
| [Brian Cléirech mac Taidc Uí Mail Ruanaid] (d. 1151) |
| B | M1151.3 | Brian Cléireach, mac Taidhg Ui Maol Ruanaidh |
| |
| [Diarmaid Cléireach mac Cormaic Mhic Diarmata] (d. 1263) |
| Co | 1263.7 | Diarmaid Clerech mac Cormaic Meic Diarmata |
| |
| [Domhnall Cléireach mac Seaain mhic Aibhne uí Chathain] |
| FM | vol. 5, p. 1362, 1522 | Dom.nall (.i. dom.nall cleireac.) mac Seain uí cat.ain |
| Co | 1522.15 | Domnall Cleirech mac Seain meic Aibhne h. Chathain |
| |
| [Feidhlimidh Cléireach mac Aoidh mhic Fheidhlimidh Uí Chonchobhair] (d. 1410) |
| D | M1410.3 | Fedhlimidh Cleireach mac Aedha mic Fedhlimidh Uí Choncobhair |
Medieval Scotland | Medieval Names Archive | Index of Names in Irish Annals
Feminine Given Names | Feminine Descriptive Bynames | Masculine Given Names | Masculine Descriptive Bynames
Kathleen M. O'Brien's articles are hosted by Medieval Scotland, which is published by Sharon L. Krossa (contact). Shopping online? How you can support this site.
(Jan 2006)
© 1996-2007. All rights reserved. Copyright of individual articles belongs to their authors. Please do not copy or redistribute without proper permission!
http://MedievalScotland.org
