Sorley and Somerled are masculine given names in the English language, Anglicizations of Scottish Gaelic Somhairle and Norse Sumarlidi.
Etymology
Sorley is an Anglicised form of (modern ), a name mutual to the Irish, Manx, and Scottish Gaelic languages, which means "summer warrior". The Gaelic name is a form of the English Somerled, and both names are ultimately derived from the Old Norse Old Norse .Hanks, Hardcastle & Hodges 2006, pp. 356, 409; Hanks, & Hodges 1997, pp. ix, 230. A variant form of is .Fellows-Jensen 1995, p. 400. A variant form of Somerled is Summerlad, a name altered by folk etymology, derived from the words "summer" and "lad".Hanks, Hardcastle & Hodges 2006, p. 409; Hanks, & Hodges 1997, p. 230, 233. is sometimes Anglicised as Samuel,Mark 2003, p. 716. although these two names are etymologically unrelated (the latter being ultimately of Hebrew origin).Hanks, Hardcastle & Hodges 2006, pp. 240–241; Hanks, & Hodges 1997, p. 220.
The Old Norse personal name likely originated as a byname, meaning "summer-traveller",Abrams 2008, pp. 183–184; Hanks, Hardcastle & Hodges 2006, pp. 356, 409; Hanks, & Hodges 1997, p. 230; Fellows-Jensen 1995, p. 398. "summer-warrior",McDonald & McLean 1992, pp. 5–7. in reference to a Viking,Abrams 2008, pp. 183–184; Fellows-Jensen 1995, p. 398; McDonald & McLean 1992, pp. 5–7. or men who took to raiding during the summer months as opposed to full-time raiders.Woolf 2007, p. 194; Fellows-Jensen 1995, p. 398. An early occurrence of the term is Woolf 2007, p. 194. (, perhaps meaning "fleet"),Fellows-Jensen 1995, p. 399. recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle under the year 871.Woolf 2007, p. 194; Fellows-Jensen 1995, p. 399. Another early occurrence of the term is ,McDonald & McLean 1992, p. 7 n. 1; Anderson 1922, pp. 468–469. meaning "fleet of the ", which is recorded in the 12th-century Chronicle of the Kings of Alba, in an account of an attack on Buchan in the mid-10th century.McDonald & McLean 1992, p. 7 n. 1. Possibly the earliest record of the personal name occurs in a grant of land in Nottinghamshire by Edgar the Peaceful in 958.Abrams 2008, pp. 183–184. Several men with the name are recorded in early Icelandic sources, such as the 10th-century , and his son , Icelanders said to have been of Scottish and Hebridean ancestry.Fellows-Jensen 1995, p. 399; McDonald & McLean 1992, p. 7 n. 1. The first historical personage in Orkney with the name was , Earl of Orkney, eldest son of , Earl of Orkney (d. 1014).Fellows-Jensen 1995, p. 398.
List of persons with the given name Somerled Somerled (died 1164), Lord of Argyll, King of the Hebrides, Isle of Man and Kintyre
, 17th-century Irish soldier
Sorley Sorley Boy MacDonnell, (died 1590), Scottish/Irish chieftain Sorley MacLean, (, 1911–1996), one of the most significant Scottish poets of the 20th century
, 11th-century Earl of Orkney
See also Sorley (surname)
Citations
References
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