I assume that you've ruled out Rioch being a house, farm, hamlet etc. ----- Original Message ----- From: <ScotHeritage@aol.com> To: <SCT-INVERNESS-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, September 10, 2000 4:30 AM Subject: Re: [SCT-INV-L] Translation of Gaelic name - help requested > In a message dated 09/09/00 6:53:53 PM Central Daylight Time, > shawa@fastlink.com.au writes: > > << In the Inverness court records for 1790 Donald Kennedy was also shown with > an alias of "Donald in Rioch". i imagine this was phonetically translated by > the English clerk of the court at the time and was obviously an attempt to > record the Gaellic name of Donald. > > I would doubt that anyone in Inverness at that time in history was not fluent > in the Gaelic and an educated man like a clark would also have the Soct's > English . A rioch in this context would likely be either a scar from a wound. > he could have a birth mark or a scar thus Donald in Rioch, donald with the > scar, "IN " is simply a prefix in the Gaelic. > > Eion or Iain or Ian, (John), would never be shortened to ie, is pronounced, > depending on the dialect s Eee yow nie sort of. I am quite dyslexic so trying > to write in phonetics is not my strong suite I am sorry. The Donald although > spellt in the English would of been pronounced Dhon auld, even today if one > had a strong Unvarneeziun accent mun. > Hope this helps. I would say the record, or name at least is written in > Gaelic and not English. Even as a youngster Inverness was not a stranger to > the Gaelic on market day, and there was a considerable community of Gaels at > the bottom of Stephen's Brae, (and more down near O'Connel st. I think it is, > down near the baths, or where the baths used to be. > DaveM. > > Alistair Macleod kindly suggested to me some years ago that this probably > translates as "Domhnall Iain Riabhaich" (Donald, son of tawnyhaired or > brindlehaired John). > My question is : could the "in" possibly be Ewen or Evan ? a Gaellic grammar > book I have states "Eoin" can be spoken as "En", is this correct or am I way > off track ? > Any assistance would be greatly appreciated as I have unsuccessfully > searched for Donald's background for some 13 years. > > Cheers from Downunder, > Alan Shaw > >> > >