Scottish word for “female wolf” / “huntress?”

Summonere

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Hi, all. Friend of mine is writing a story in which the main character is Scottish, and the aim is to draw upon Celtic mythology, thus she'd like to know the proper Scottish words for “female wolf” and/or “huntress.”

Any ideas? Online translators and other resources encountered thus far seem not especially helpful.
 

Drachen Jager

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Wolf(f, Wou(l)f(f, n. Also: wolf(f)e, volf(f, volfe, uolf, woulfe, voulf, wowlf(e, vowlf, woolf(e, wlf, wowf(e, wofe, woif, woll, (wulf). Pl. and possess. also wollffis, uolfes, wolvys, -is, voluis, wolwys, voffis, wowis, -es, vowis.

Can't find anything for Huntress, and I don't know how to make a word feminine.
 

flyingtart

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This site might help.

There is no word in Scots for huntress but there is an ancient Celtic goddess called Nicevenn, whose Scots incarnation is Gyre-Carling.
 

gothicangel

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thus she'd like to know the proper Scottish words for “female wolf”.”

Why not just 'she-wolf', Rosemary Sutcliffe used the term in her Roman Britain novels.

Also, I advise her to be careful with the term 'Scottish.' Scotland doesn't appear until the medieval period.
 

Deleted member 42

This site might help.

There is no word in Scots for huntress but there is an ancient Celtic goddess called Nicevenn, whose Scots incarnation is Gyre-Carling.

Nicevenn is an actual surname; not an ancient Celtic goddess. It's first used in 16th century poetry Scots poetry, and was later popularized by Walter Scott. The word/name is in fact phonologically Germanic, and not Celtic at all. Gyre-Carling is Norse and Northern OE, and also, post 1400.
 

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Hi, all. Friend of mine is writing a story in which the main character is Scottish, and the aim is to draw upon Celtic mythology, thus she'd like to know the proper Scottish words for “female wolf” and/or “huntress.”

Do you mean in Scots, a Germanic language just as English is a Germanic language, or do you mean Scottish Gaelic/Erse, a Celtic language?
 

cornie

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I don't know much Celtic myth, but I do know some Norse. This may be a bit off for your purposes, but perhaps it will help. Norse mythology (and let's be honest, the Vikings were all over the northern European countries for a while there) has a wolf called Fenrir. That's where JK Rowling pulled Fenrir Greyback, I'm betting.

The wolf had two wolf babies, named Skoll and Hati. These two wolves chase the sun and moon to make them come up/go down.

Maybe she could use these names as a jumping off point, like Rowling?
 

Summonere

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Thanks for the replies, and my apologies for not following-up promptly.

Why not just 'she-wolf', Rosemary Sutcliffe used the term in her Roman Britain novels.

Hmm. I'm not sure. Maybe she hasn't thought of that. I'll run it past her, though. I suspect she's after something that sounds cooler than “wolf" or "she-wolf," and since the character is of Scottish/Gaelic heritage...

Do you mean in Scots, a Germanic language just as English is a Germanic language, or do you mean Scottish Gaelic/Erse, a Celtic language?

...my understanding is that she's looking for the Scottish Gaelic/Erse, Celtic version of the words.