Hello,

Request from the States ... found the phrase "Conn - Gan - An" on a family crest or coat of arms ... we're of Scots-Irish ancestry and have been on this side of the pond for almost 200-yrs ... can anyone help with a translation?

Thanks -- Tom

Interesting request. Can you give any more detail? What makes you think it is someone's coat of arms? How old is it? What condition is it in? Any idea who the crest was bestowed upon and in what circumstances, and when? Can we even be certain that part of the crest is not missing and that you have the full phrase? Are those hyphens or dots in the original?

If its in reasonably modern Irish Conn could be the individual's personal name or even the name of his ancestor and 'gan' could just have the meaning of 'without'. 'An' is most often the definite article used with a noun ( but that seems not to be the case here?). "Conn without the ...." ?

It might be Scots Gaelic or it might be Old Irish. One of the regular subscribers will know.

Seanfhear

A picture would be helpful.

http://users.winshop.com.au/merv/mottos.htm

This site lists "Conn gan an" as the Concannon family motto, and gives the meaning as "wisdom without guile"

DIL (http://www.dil.ie) gives
(d) intelligence, good sense; reason:
as a meaning for CONN

http://www.dil.ie/results-list.asp?Fuzzy=0&cv=1&searchtext=(id%20contains%20C)%20and%20(column%20contains%20450)&sortField=ID&sortDIR=65602 &respage=0&resperpage=10&bhcp=1


"an" can be a prefix meaning either extremely good or bad; but I'm not sure how guile comes into it!

Appreciate the help ... I've made a scan of a photo that was taken of a painting of the Coat of Arms that my Grand-Father had ... I'm not sure how to upload the picture here ...

Regards -- Tom

It needs to be hosted on the Internet somewhere (Photobucket, Flickr, etc.) and then you can paste the URL here.

Thanks Abigail ...

Here's the link: http://s221.photobucket.com/albums/dd241/tcmcmullen/

Thanks for that. I think we can eliminate any questions of transcription accuracy - or at least move them off your shoulders to those of whoever did the painting!
It seems to be an illustration or reconstruction, rather than a painting copied from an actual shield or escutcheon or what-have-you.


Unfortunately, even with the DIL I can't match "an" up to anything remotely like "guile." I'll check the modern dictionaries too when I get home, just to be safe, but at this point my best guess is that "an" was mistranscribed or truncated at some point.

I think Abigail is right, unless there is some kind of heraldic abbreviation going on.

I find it curious that the name I found the motto belonged to was Concannon (which suggests Heraldic Punning).

I posted another copy of the Coat of Arms I found in a Google search ... was in an article about 7 brothers that settled Clearwater/Largo area of Florida (who are my ancestors) ... in this black and white drawing, they use "Con" in stead of "Conn" ...

Thanks -- Tom
http://s221.photobucket.com/albums/dd241/tcmcmullen/

This is fascinating, to watch the combined knowledge of the forum regulars get to work. This is why I joined and keep coming back!

Seanfhear.

Ar scáth a chéile a mhaireann na scoláirí!


Tom,

I don't think I have anything to add. I am almost certain that some kind of literary pun is involved in the slogan.

But I don't know how they got from "an" to "guile"

'Con cen on' a bhí ann a chairde, .i. 'cú gan smál'.

Bhraith an té a chéadchum ar ndóigh, a chosúlacht sin, 'Con cen on' leis an sloinne (Ó) 'Concheanain'.

Other translations of this motto (courtesy of Mr. Google):
"wisdom without blemish"
"wisdom without spot"
"wisdom without reproach"
"wisdom without pride"

The nearest thing I can come up with is "áin", which could conceivably be interpreted as "ambition." But even that's a bit of a stretch.

If I were you, I'd look and see is there a piece of old Concannon silverware lying around in a museum somewhere, or (better yet!) an official record of when, and to whom, the arms were originally granted. (I've no idea who keeps track of this sort of thing, but there should be some sort of registry for it, and if they don't have the documentation themselves they should at least be able to point you in a promising direction...)

Abigail must have missed Seosamh's post.

For the benefit of Tom, what Seosamh wrote is:

'Con cen on' a bhí ann a chairde, .i. 'cú gan smál'.
Friends, it was "Con cen on", "hound without blemish"

(And a pun on the surname (Ó) 'Concheanain').

From www.dil.ie again:

on [o,n.] np. tri on, ZCP xii 363.1 .
55 A blemish or disfigurement; in early sagas used of a blister (?) raised by a poet's satire on the face of his victim, and hence fig. a blot or stain on one's reputation, a social disgrace or disqualification (always in this sense in Laws text, save once); an early word, confined to poetic usage and legal texts.

Abigail must have missed Seosamh's post.

I did indeed. Thanks for catching that.

Ós ag caint ar cú ~ con agus on atá sibh, tá comhfhocal againn, sa tSean-Ghaelge agus in FGB araon, a bhfuil an dá fhocal seo ann, mar atá onchú.

Is fíor duit a Dennis, rud nár rith liom, grma.
Bhí a leithéid ar an saol. An-spéisiúil.

Sin ceann maith don duine atá ag iarraidh an tiontú go 'leagan Béarla' ainm a sheachaint.

Focal thar a bheith suimiúil onchú!

I appreciate the help here ... and will see if I can't find something in the attic the next time I visit the folks ... will keep you all posted on what I find out ... I happened upon this site by accident, but am happy I did ... it's very interesting here ...

Best Regards

Tom

Tá fáilte romhat isteach a Tom -

You're welcome aboard Tom.

Tháinig mé féin ar an suíomh seo don cheád uair an tseachtain seo caite, agus aontaím le Tom thuas! Tá cuma dheas ar an suíomh seo, agus measaim go bhfuil na daoine anseo an-chairdiuil. Is é seo an chéad uair agus mé ag scríobh i ngaeilge ar an idirlíon!

Do chéad fáilte isteach - agus nárab í an uair dheireanach í!

Brilliant! now I can sleep! :-)

Seanfhear