ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1623 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1623 ************************************ From: "Brian M. Scott" 25 Apr 1999 Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You said that you wanted to use the given name , preferably in that spelling, with or some other surname beginning with , to form a period German name of no particular date. is a late, possibly even modern form of an old Germanic given name. In Latin records of the 12th and 13th centuries the name appears as , probably representing a vernacular . This was pronounced something like \SIH-y@-frit\, where \@\ stands for the schwa sound of in and . At an early date, however, the ceased to be pronounced in most dialects, as may be seen from the following selection of typical medieval spellings. [1, 2, 3, 4] 1240, 1288, 1316, 1398 1310, 1326 1278, 1280, 1283, 1287, 1298, 1299 1293 1328-46, 1345 1351 (Note that while the forms with single are found throughout our period, those with first appear in the 14th century.) These represent a pronunciation something like \SEE-frit\ in Middle High German. As Middle High German gave way to New High German in the later Middle Ages, the vowel in the first syllable came to be pronounced like the English word , making the name as a whole \SEYE-frit\. Occasionally this change is reflected in the spelling, as in 1436. [3, 5] If the name had continued to develop normally with the rest of the German language, the usual modern form would probably be . Indeed, surnames derived from the given name generally do show the expected dialect developments. But at some point something rather remarkable happened to the given name itself: it was refashioned as if the ancient had undergone all of the historical changes except loss of the . This resulted in the familiar form ; however, the earliest instance of this form that we have found is from a 17th century version of one of the classic German heroic tales. [6] This seems likely to have been a deliberate attempt at archaism to match the subject matter, much as the late 16th century English poet Edmund Spenser used deliberately archaic language in 'The Faerie Queen'. [7] It appears likely that non-literary use of is part of the revival of old Germanic names that began during the Reformation but is most noticeable only beginning in the 18th century. [8, 13] We therefore cannot recommend as a period form of the name. is perhaps the most typical version for most of the Middle Ages, with and the like appearing in the 14th and 15th centuries alongside spellings like and . [9] is a Latin written form that is suitable at least for the 12th and 13th centuries, but it's unlikely that the spoken form had a hard \g\ sound. Similarly, is a possible (though unlikely) written form for the 13th century, but it probably represents a pronunciation something like \SEE-frit\. There is place named ; it is the source of the 1495 byname 'man from Schwarzburg'. [10] Although this particular example adds the suffix <-er> to form the byname, in most parts of Germany it was more common to use the unmodified place-name. [11] Middle High German spelling was of course quite variable, but for most of the Middle Ages is a typical spelling of the first element. The modern spelling is found in some dialect areas as early as the 14th century, but in general it's a much later spelling, more likely to be found in the 16th century (and later). [12] In sum, would be an excellent medieval German name. By about 1500 forms like and would also be quite unsurprising. Pedro de Alcazar, Arval Benicoeur, and Hartmann Rogge also contributed to this letter. We hope that it has been useful and that you'll not hesitate to write again if you have any further questions. For the Academy, Talan Gwynek 25 April 1999 ===== References and Notes: [1] Socin, Adolf. Mittelhochdeutsches Namenbuch nach Oberrheinischen Quellen des Zwoelften und Dreizehnten Jahrhunderts (Hildesheim: Georg Olms Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1966); p. 35. [2] Brechenmacher, Josef Karlmann. Etymologisches Woerterbuch der Deutschen Familiennamen (Limburg a. d. Lahn: C. A. Starke-Verlag, 1957-60); s.n. Siegfried. [3] Talan Gwynek. 'Medieval German Given Names from Silesia' (WWW: SCA, Inc., 1998). http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/bahlow_v.htm [4] We did find one non-Latinized example of from 1310 [3], but at that late date it is very likely that is just an archaic spelling of the sound \ee\. [5] Walshe, M. O'C. A Middle High German Reader (New York: Oxford University Press, 1984); Ch. I. [6] Gillespie, George T. A Catalogue of Persons Names in German Heroic Literature (700-1600) (Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, 1973); p. xix. [7] Bene/t, William Rose. The Reader's Encyclopedia. 2nd ed. (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1967); s.n. Spenser. [8] Schwarz, Ernst. Deutsche Namenforschung I: Ruf- und Familiennamen (Goettingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1949); p. 52. [9] Mulch, Roland. Arnsburger Personennamen: Untersuchungen zum Namenmaterial aus Arnsburger Urkunden vom 13. - 16. Jahrhundert (Darmstadt & Marburg: Hessischen Historischen Kommission Darmstadt and the Historischen Kommission fuer Hessen, 1974); pp. 36-7. [10] Brechenmacher, op. cit., s.n. Schwarzburg(er). [11] Schwarz, op. cit., p. 105. [12] Brechenmacher, op. cit., Vol. II, p. 580 passim. [13] We did find a very little evidence that this revival may have occurred around 1600: in Denmark, where the usual medieval forms resemble those found in Germany, we found 1610, which may perhaps represent a pronunciation something like \ZEEG-fret\. [14] [14] Knudsen, G., M. Kristiansen, & R. Hornby. Danmarks Gamle Personnavne, Vol. I: Fornavne (Ko|benhavn: 1936-48); s.n. Sighfrith. (The stands for an with a diagonal slash through it.)