Giolla nó freagrach
Is it possible that 'Gilli ni fregrach ni Kaulai' was mistakenly understood and translated as 'the
servants of the answers to the-Sisters'. The Irish words might be a garbling of 'Giolla nó
freagrach na gComhlaí' (servant or response to 'the Sisters'). In other words, the term 'giolla'
may have actually duplicated the function of the term 'freagrach'.
The use of the word 'freagrach' here brings to mind the ancient verb 'frecor' (attend to) and it
may be worthwhile suggesting that the word is a mistake for ancient 'frecorthid', which only
otherwise appears as part of a compound but which has the potential to have meant 'attendant'.
This hypothesis would present 'giolla na gcomhlaí' and 'freagrach/freagraí na gcomhlaí'
(answer/attendant of 'the sisters') as the same string. The absence of the term 'giolla an
chrónáin' from Bunting's charts would also be explained and there would be no need for concern
over the rationale behind the existence of a name such as Byrne's 'giolla freagrach na còmhlaí'
or a Bunting-style 'freagrach giolla na gcomhlái' instead of a more straightforward appellation of
'giolla an chrónáin'.
The significance of the term dófhreagrach is that it ensures that names of strings in the treble
and bass are not duplicate, eg, dófhreagrach téad na feola versus freagrach téad na feola. In
connection with tuning, giving each and every string a name distinct from other strings might not
have been a concern of the harpers however, especially as they are likely to have had
customary recourse to alphabetical letter names for the notes.