Dear rcia-ga,
I have searched extensively and I have only found one possible
reference which I believe is the answer. It appears in A Treasury of
Irish Myth, Legend and Folklore: Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish
Peasantry. Edited and selected by W.B.Yeats. One of the stories in the
anthology is The Witches Excursion featuring a character named Shamus.
In a footnote it is noted that the Celtic pronunciation of John is
Shon or Shawn and James as Shamus. The story is only about Shamus,
Shon is not mentioned.
?The Celtic organs are unable to pronounce the letter j, hence they
make Shon or Shawn of John, or Shamus of James, etc.?
The story with the footnote appears here
http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/yeats/fip/fip49.htm
Index to the book
http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/yeats/fip/index.htm
You can also view the relevant page by going to amazon.com and using
their ?search inside feature?.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/051748904X/ref=sib_rdr_dp/002-3308184-2068800?%5Fencoding=UTF8&no=283155&me=ATVPDKIKX0DER&st=books
After registration, search for the word: shon. The footnote should
appear on Page 168.
A paperback version appears here.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0812968557/amzna9-1-20/ref=nosim/002-3308184-2068800?dev-t=D26XECQVNV6NDQ%26camp=2025%26link_code=xm2
I hope this answers your question. If it does not, or the answer is
unclear, then please ask for clarification of this research before
rating the answer. I shall respond to the clarification request as
soon as I receive it.
Thank you
answerfinder
Search strategy
Search on Google, Yahoo A9 and All the Web
Shamus Shon
http://a9.com/Shamus%20%20Shon
john Shon celtic
http://a9.com/john%20Shon%20celtic?pw=3 |
