ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1641 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1641 ************************************ 21 Jul 1999 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked for help choosing a 10th-12th century Galician masculine name with Celtic/Germanic influences. You also asked for a name that could be written in Galician. Here is the information we have found. In your period, Portuguese and Galician were practically indistinguishable; but neither was a written language. The earliest surviving texts in Castilian and Leonese date from your period, but Portuguese texts did not appear until the late 12th century. In your period in Galicia, records were written in Latin. It is fashionable these days to emphasize the Celtic heritage of Galicia, but that heritage had no practical effect on Galician names or culture in the Middle Ages. Iberia was an integral part of the Roman Empire from the 3rd century BCE until the arrival of the Swabians and Visigoths in the 4th century CE [4]. Most Iberian Christian names of your period were derived from Germanic or Latin roots. A few were adopted from Basque, but we have found none that originated in a Celtic language. Some of the Germanic names derived from Gothic names; others were Iberian versions of Frankish names. The Latin names were mostly names of saints. The 10th to 12th centuries was a time of transition in the naming system of Galicia. At the beginning of that period, most people in Galicia had only a single given name, without any surname at all. Most had names of Germanic origin. Over the next few centuries, Germanic names were gradually supplanted by Christian names, and the practice of using some kind of surname slowly gained favor. In general, Germanic names predominated in the 10th and 11th century, while Christian names began to be popular in the 11th century and predominanted from the 12th century on. One-element names were the rule before the mid-11th century, with two-elements names becoming common in the late 11th century and gradually supplanting one-element names after 1100. All these changes happened faster among the nobility and clergy than among the lower classes, and faster in the cities than in the countryside [2]. If you choose a surname, then we recommend you choose either a patronymic (a byname that identifies you as your father's son) like "son of Pero" or "son of Sancho", or a simple descriptive nickname like "white" or "bald". These were the most common types of surname used in your period [2]. Our sources for early Portuguese names are fairly slim, but we have put together a short list of names from three of the earliest Portuguese texts, dated between 1192 and 1214 [1]. The code in the second column identifies the origin of each name: (G)othic, (L)atin, or (B)asque. For two-element names, we've marked each element. Note that many of the names, regardless of origin, were recorded in Latinized forms, even in Portuguese texts. The last column contains the name from which the patronymic surname is derived. Afonso G A popular name Gil Diaz LL Didaco/Diego Go~cauo Ramiric, GG or was Ramiro Gonsaluu Vermuiz GG the name of a 9th century Vermuu Gonsaluus Diaz GL Galician saint [3]. Didaco/Diego Gonsaluus Petri GL Pero Iohannes Menendi LG Menendo Laurencius Ferna~dic, LG was a popular name. Fernando Lourenco Ferrna~ndic, LG Ferrna~ndo Marti~ Go~caluic, LG Go~caluu Martim Periz LL Pero Martio L Meen Fanrripas G? is a contracted form ? Meen Sanchiz GL of . Sancho Menendus Sanchez GL Sancho Rodrigo Sanchiz GL was a popular name. Sancho Sancho L Sancho Diaz LL Didaco/Diego Stepham Suariz L? Also recorded as Suaro Vaasco Sanchiz BL Sancho Vaasco Suariz B? The origin of is obscure. Suaro Vermuu Ordoniz GL Ordono The 'u' in and the first 'u' in represent a \v\ sound. The letter 'u' was often used by medieval scribes to represent \v\. In , on the other hand, both u's are pronounced the same: \vair-MOO-oo\. The symbol <~> in a name represents a tilde ("reflexo" in Portuguese) over the preceding letter. It indicates that the vowel has a nasal pronunciation, as in the French words or . represents a c-cedilla, i.e. a 'c' with a reverse hook underneath it. It was pronounced \ts\ in your period. We hope that this letter has been useful to you, and that you will not hesitate to write again if any part was unclear or if you have further questions. Research and commentary on this letter was provided by Juliana de Luna, Talan Gwynek, Antonio Miguel Santos de Borja, Tangywystl verch Morgant Glasvryn, Pedro de Alcazar, Walraven van Nijmegen, and Jehan fitz Gilbert. For the Academy, Aryanhwy merch Catmael and Arval Benicoeur 21 Jul 1999 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References: [1] Sampson, Rodney, _Early Romance Texts: An Anthology_. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984) [2] Portelo, Ermelindo and Mari'a Carmen Pallares. "El sistema antroponi'mico en Galicia. Tumbos del Monasterio de Sobrado. Siglos IX a XIII." _Antroponimia y sociedad: Sistemas de identificacio'n hispano-cristianos en los siglos IX a XIII_. Coordinator, Pascual Marti'nez Sopena. Santiago de Compostela: University of Santiago de Compostela; Valladolid: University of Valladolid. 1995. [3] Piel, Joseph M., and Kremer, Dieter, _Hispano-gotisches Namenbuch_ (Heidelberg: Carl Winter Universita:tsverlag, 1976), p.169. [4] O'Callaghan, Joseph F., _A_History_of_Medieval_Spain_ (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1975).