Thanks for the voluntary linguistic services! Fortunately, my Latin is good enough that I can pass with the Roman aspects of this novel, and I'm using Latin thinking as a sort of basis. When something has been Anglicized, it's basically been Latinized

Moira is the transliteration of the Greek for fate, the singular for the Moirai (the Fates). Basically, Moira has the actual Greek word for fate as her name. The Virgin Mary doesn't exist in this world, and certainly wouldn't be of any import to the people of Eire, who live under the control and auspices of the Goddess. The story actually takes place in about the 2nd-3rd century AD...or, at least, the technological equivalent. The Celts, of course, didn't have their own written alphabet, so they adopted the Greek and Latin alphabets, with the Latin being more prevalent in the Western Celtic lands (where the Romans were more prevalent). So her name would be written using Latin letters, which are similar to modern English. Then again, Moira can't really read or write, so it hardly matters.

Her family traded extensively in the East for many years. Basically, I'm arguing that Moira's mother heard the word, liked it, and gave it to her daughter. They also stylized themselves in a far more Eastern manner (given name, family name, no cognomen) in order to make it easier for the Tiberians to pronounce it. Hence, her name is Moira Tiernay instead of Moira Ni Tighearnaigh (Moira, daughter of a descendant of Tighearnaigh). I'm arguing that Moira Tiernay is the Latin version of the Greek Μοιρα and Gaelic Tighearnaigh. In the former, it's more literal; in the latter, it's a bit Anglicized, but as English uses the Latin alphabet (for the most part, of course), I figure it's OK.

Heck, I'd write the novel using Cyrillic letters and the classical Latin alphabet if I could, but I suppose I need to make myself understood to my audience...
-Quaddy

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