Aengus is a masculine
given name
A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, and differentiates that person from the other members of a group (typically a ...
in
Irish
Irish may refer to:
Common meanings
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***Éire, Irish language name for the isle
** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
. It is composed of the
Celtic elements meaning "one" and "choice". It is the Irish form of the
Scottish Gaelic
Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well ...
''
Aonghas'', ''
Aonghus'' (although ''Aonghus'' is also used as an alternative spelling of ''Aengus'' in Ireland). The names are derived from the
Old Irish
Old Irish, also called Old Gaelic ( sga, Goídelc, Ogham script: ᚌᚑᚔᚇᚓᚂᚉ; ga, Sean-Ghaeilge; gd, Seann-Ghàidhlig; gv, Shenn Yernish or ), is the oldest form of the Goidelic/Gaelic language for which there are extensive writt ...
given name ''Oíngus.''
These
Gaelic names are Anglicised as ''
Angus
Angus may refer to:
Media
* ''Angus'' (film), a 1995 film
* ''Angus Og'' (comics), in the ''Daily Record''
Places Australia
* Angus, New South Wales
Canada
* Angus, Ontario, a community in Essa, Ontario
* East Angus, Quebec
Scotland
* An ...
'' or, less frequently, as ''Aeneas''.
The earliest form of these names occurs in
Adomnán's ''
Vita Columbae
The ''Life of Columba'' ( la, Vita Columbae) is a hagiography recounting the life of Columba, the founder of Iona Abbey, written a century after Columba's death by Adomnán, one of his successors as Abbot of Iona.
Adomnán (also known as Eunan), ...
'' (''Life of
Columba'') as ''Oinogusius'', ''Oinogussius''. According to historian
Alex Woolf, the early Gaelic form of the name, ''Oengus'', was borrowed from the British
Pictish
Pictish is the extinct Brittonic language spoken by the Picts, the people of eastern and northern Scotland from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages. Virtually no direct attestations of Pictish remain, short of a limited number of geographica ...
''Onuist'', which appears in
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
as ''Ungust''. However, ''Oengus'' may have been used since the 5th century in Ireland, implying that the names ''Oengus'' and ''Onuist'' could have developed independently from each other.
Woolf derived all these names from Celtic ''*Oinogustos'',
which linguist
John Kneen
John Joseph Kneen (12 September 1873 – 21 November 1938) was a Manx linguist and scholar renowned for his seminal works on Manx grammar and on the place names and personal names of the Isle of Man. He is also a significant Manx dialect play ...
analyzes as ''*oino-gustos'' meaning "one-choice".
[ which is a transcription of ] Woolf also stated that between about
AD 350 and AD 660, the
Insular Celtic dialects underwent changes which included the loss of the final syllables and unstressed vowels, transforming ''*Oinogustos'' to ''*Oingust''.
People with the given name
*
Aengus Finnan, (born 1972), Canadian folk musician
*
Aengus Finucane, (1932–2009), Roman Catholic missionary of the Spiritan Fathers order
*
Aengus Fanning, (1942–2012), Irish journalist and former editor of farming of the ''Irish Independent''
*
Aengus Mac Grianna
Aengus Mac Grianna (born 9 July 1964) is a former Irish newsreader for RTÉ. Mac Grianna was born in Raheny, a suburb in north Dublin, to an Irish-speaking family. His father was a scientist and his mother was a teacher. Mac Grianna was educated ...
(born 1964), newsreader
*
Aengus Ó Snodaigh, (born 1964), Irish Sinn Féin politician
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aengus
Irish-language masculine given names