ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1467 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1467 ************************************ 25 Feb 1999 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether could have been used by a Norse woman in the 700s or early 800s. You also asked our opinion of your design for your arms. Here is what we have found. Most of your period is a difficult choice for re-creating names. We have very little evidence of names in the 8th century. We know a great deal about names of the Viking period (9th to 11th century); earlier names were considerably different and far fewer inscriptions survive. We have not found in our references. The woman's name or was apparently rather common in the Viking period; our sources include several 11th century examples. The slash represents an accent on the previous letter. The version of the name with final <-a> is probably a much later variant; we only find in the early 14th century [1, 2, 3]. would be a fine choice for a woman in 9th to 12th century Iceland, Norway, or the northern British Isles. We can't guess what the 8th century precursor of this name might have been. If you are more interested in having a 8th century name than in using , please write us again and we'll try to put together a short list of possibilities. We didn't find . We're guessing it's a mis-spelling of , the name of a serving-woman of the god Thor in Norse mythology [2]. We found no evidence that was ever used by real people, so we recommend that you choose another name for your mother or father. If you'd like to consider other possibilities, you can find lists of Viking men's and women's names on the web: Viking Names found in the Landna/mabo/k http://www.wctc.net/~randomsf/landmanabok.htm The comma in represents a backward comma hanging from the bottom of the . It indicates that the is pronounced as the vowel in [1]. The Norse word for "daughter" is . It was spelled in various ways in various times and places in the Middle Ages, but is incorrect. In the Viking period, Jo/runn, the daughter of , would most often have been known as . If you choose a name for your father or mother and you'd like to verify the correct form of your surname, write us and we'll be happy to check it for you. Heraldic arms were invented in northwestern France in the late 12th century. Since your persona is earlier than that, you obviously would not have used armory. That doesn't mean you shouldn't use arms in the Society: Many Societyfolk use arms even though their personas would not have done so. Whether you use arms or not depends on how you think about authenticity and your persona. You can find a few thoughts on this issue in an article we've posted on the web: What Do I Use for Arms if my Persona Wouldn't Have Used Arms? http://www.itd.umich.edu/~ximenez/s.gabriel/faq/nonheraldic.html We're not sure exactly what design you have in mind for your arms. You said you have a green field with a silver "bend wavy" and "a unicorn rampant sable armed, crined, and unguled argent". It's not clear to us where the unicorn is placed on the field: Does the bend cross over the unicorn, or does the unicorn overlap the bend, or is the unicorn placed to one side of the bend? Unfortunately, whichever way you've composed your design, the mostly-black unicorn placed on the green background is a problem. It is "color-on-color", to use the heraldic phrase. That means that there isn't enough contrast between the colors of the unicorn and the background. Heraldic colorations are divided into two classes: dark (red, blue, black, and green, called "colors") and light (white/silver and yellow/gold, called "metals"), and one of the basic rules of heraldic design is that a color charge can be placed on a metal background, or vice versa, but color cannot be placed on color, nor metal or metal. This rule is followed pretty consistently by medieval heraldry, so we recommend you follow it in your designs. If you let us know which elements of your design are most important, we may be able to suggest some more authentic designs. We hope this letter has been useful. Please write us again if any part of it has been unclear or if you have other questions. I was assisted in researching and writing this letter by Talan Gwynek, Walraven van Nijmegen, Rouland Carre, Alan Fairfax, Lindorm Eriksson, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, and Jehan fitz Gilbert. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 25 Feb 1999 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Fleck, G. (aka Geirr Bassi Haraldsson), _The Old Norse Name_, Studia Marklandica (series) (Olney, Maryland: Yggsalr Press, 1977). [2] Lind, E.H., _Norsk-Isla:ndska Dopnamn ock Fingerade Namn fra*n Medeltiden_ (Uppsala & Leipzig: 1905-1915, sup. Oslo, Uppsala and Kobenhavn: 1931). [3] Uppsala University Department for Scandinavian Languages, _Rundata_, software pre-release version 8.84 (test) (Uppsala, Sweden: Uppsala universitet, 1990).