ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1615 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1615 ************************************ 04 May 1999 From: Jodi McMaster Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You wrote about the name , which the "Complete Dictionary of English and Hebrew First Names" indicated was an Old English name meaning 'battle.' Before I start, I'd like to clarify the service that the Academy offers. We try to help Societyfolk in choosing and using names that fit the historical cultures they are trying to re-create. Our research can sometimes be used to support submissions to the College of Arms, but that is not our goal and our results are often incompatible with the College's needs. If your main goal is to register a particular name, then we may not be able to help you. We're not familiar with the source to which you refer. appears to be a variant of the surname , which came from a Norman given name. [1] This name is derived from an Old German name, probably . The first half of the name, , is related to the word for 'victory' rather than 'battle'. The closest Old English names we found are , . [1, 2] These names are pronounced approximately \S&-ritch\ and \S&-red\ respectively; \&\ is the vowel of . The first half, , of these names is connected with the word meaning 'sea'. We are not aware of any Old English names beginning with "s" that are connected with the meaning 'battle'. We did find an Anglo-Norman name, rather than an Old English one, that is the root of the modern surname . We found the following 12th to 14th century spellings of the given name: [1]: Saher 1147-53 Seir 1148-52 Seherus, Seuherus c.1155 Seyr' 1205 Seer 12th C Saerus 1318 These would have a range of pronunciations like \SAH-air\, \SAY-air\, and \SAY-eer\. We hope this letter has been helpful. Please write us again if any part of it has been unclear or if you have other questions. Talan Gwynek and Arval d'Espas Nord contributed comments and/or research for this letter. For the Academy, AElfwyn aet Gyrwum May 4, 1999 __________________ References: [1] Reaney, P. H., & R. M. Wilson, _A Dictionary of English Surnames_ (London: Routledge, 1991; Oxford University Press, 1995) s.n. Sayer, Search, Sear. [2] Stro:m, Hilmer, _Old English Personal Names in Bede's History: An Etymological-Phonological Investigation_, Lund Studies in English 8, 33 (Lund: C.W.K. Gleerup, 1939).