ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1578 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1578 ************************************ 06 Apr 1999 From: Jodi McMaster Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You asked about the name , possibly a masculine Finnish name from between the 4th and 6th century meaning either "strength" or "bear." Although the Finns were alive and well in Finland of the 4th to the 6th century, they kept no written records. Written Finnish is a 16th century invention, so any knowledge of Finnish names comes indirectly from records in other languages, mostly Swedish. Modern scholars have discovered essentially nothing about Finnish names in your period. We do have a few examples of much earlier Finnish names, from around the 1st century BC, but we don't even know which of them are masculine and which feminine. This information is included in the notes for a course on Finnish names taught at the Known World Heraldic Symposium a couple of years ago. We'll be happy to mail you a copy, but we have to warn you that it isn't going to provide any basis for re-creation of early medieval Finnish names. We were unable to find or any name similar to it in Finnish or any related languages. [1] We did not find as a common noun; the closest ones in spelling were , meaning 'hot', and , having something to do with oddness or strangeness. We're sorry this letter hasn't been more helpful. Please write us again if any part of it has been unclear or if you have other questions. Talan Gwynek, Alan Fairfax, Hartmann Rogge, Arval d'Espas Nord, Lindorm Eriksson, Solveig Throndardottir, Walraven van Nijmegen, and Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn contributed comments and/or research for this letter. For the Academy, AElfwyn aet Gyrwum April 6, 1999 __________________ References: [1] Correspondence with Paul Wickenden, Feb. 10, 1999.