The Icelandicized equivalent of the diminutive ending -án in Irish personal names was mostly -an (Feilan, Kjaran) or in a few examples as -án (Brjánn, Koðrán). Ryan is constructed from Irish Rí and the diminutive suffix án (compare the similarly constructed Bríán (meaning 'little hill', from brí (hill) + án (diminutive) which was icelandicized as Brjánn). In the case of Ryan, we have a completely similar construction: Irish Rí + án = Rjánn.
No comments:
Post a Comment