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ArchivesRe: the surname BRAGG
in reply to a message by M.SAGANI
It's from the Celtic language. It means 'Proud, arrogant; brisk; brave'. Note that the origin of the later (medieval/late medieval) word 'brag' that we use today is of 'unknown origin' (OED).
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Are you sure? Here's what I found on the McBain Gaelic Dictionary:
brag
(Lewis), a sudden creeking noise, Norse brak.
bragaireachd
vain boasting, Irish bragáireachd, from bragaire, boaster; from the English brag.
bragh
an explosion, peal, Old Irish braigim, pedo; Latin fragor, crash, fragare, English fragrant. See bram.
bràghad
neck, throat, Irish bráighid, Old Irish bráge, g. brágat, Welsh breuant, Old Breton brehant, *brâgn@.t-; English craw, German kragen, collar, Middle High German krage, neck; Greek @Gbróghos, windpipe, English bronchitis. Bezzenberger (Stokes' Dict.), refers it ot the root of Norse barki, weazand, Greek @Gfárugx, English pharynx. bràghad is really the gen. of bràighe.
bragsaidh
braxy; from Scottish, English braxy.
They all sort of look like they might have a Germanic origin ...just wondering what your sources are?
brag
(Lewis), a sudden creeking noise, Norse brak.
bragaireachd
vain boasting, Irish bragáireachd, from bragaire, boaster; from the English brag.
bragh
an explosion, peal, Old Irish braigim, pedo; Latin fragor, crash, fragare, English fragrant. See bram.
bràghad
neck, throat, Irish bráighid, Old Irish bráge, g. brágat, Welsh breuant, Old Breton brehant, *brâgn@.t-; English craw, German kragen, collar, Middle High German krage, neck; Greek @Gbróghos, windpipe, English bronchitis. Bezzenberger (Stokes' Dict.), refers it ot the root of Norse barki, weazand, Greek @Gfárugx, English pharynx. bràghad is really the gen. of bràighe.
bragsaidh
braxy; from Scottish, English braxy.
They all sort of look like they might have a Germanic origin ...just wondering what your sources are?
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Well, I agree the first part looks dubious. I got it off a surname site. It would be good to know the language (not just 'Celtic') and an authentic spelling. The second part is from the Oxford English Dictionary, so that is not for me to doubt. It is not contradicted by your post, where it says that Irish bragáireachd (the only word in your post with a similar meaning to modern 'brag'; I ignore the others for now) comes from the English language! So this Irish word is even less old than the English, medieval, 'brag'. In short, if it really is an ancient name, any simillarity between the meaning of modern 'brag' and the name 'Bragg' must be coincidental.
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Thanks! ...just wondering ...some of these things are "educated guesses" ...anyway even by the experts.
My own last name, Foley, arose in two different areas of Ireland from unrelated derivatives. I had assumed mine was the more popular in the south since most of my family is from there. It comes from 'fohglai', meaning a robber or plunderer while the other is in the west from a mistranslation of the word 'serraich' which is a small horse ...or a foal. It wasn't until I learned that the birthplace of my great grandfather was in Roscommon that I finally concluded mine must be descended from 'serraich' ...in all probability.
My own last name, Foley, arose in two different areas of Ireland from unrelated derivatives. I had assumed mine was the more popular in the south since most of my family is from there. It comes from 'fohglai', meaning a robber or plunderer while the other is in the west from a mistranslation of the word 'serraich' which is a small horse ...or a foal. It wasn't until I learned that the birthplace of my great grandfather was in Roscommon that I finally concluded mine must be descended from 'serraich' ...in all probability.
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That strikes me as very unusual, a surname with the meaning 'robber'. Got any more like that?
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I think the holders of that name would prefer 'plunderer' ...I had always guessed that since it's origins were in Waterford (a county in SE Ireland) the scene of many Viking incursion that it probably had to do with the Viking raiders themselves or perhaps the Irish who raided the Viking settlements. The Vikings were the first to actually build cities in Ireland. The Irish population was totally agrarian at the time.
If you were one of them, you’d call yourself a ‘plunderer’ and if you were the victim of the plundering, you’d call them ‘robbers’...I don't really have any others that would seem to have such obvious mixed connotations, though I suspect they exist.
If you were one of them, you’d call yourself a ‘plunderer’ and if you were the victim of the plundering, you’d call them ‘robbers’...I don't really have any others that would seem to have such obvious mixed connotations, though I suspect they exist.
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