ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1650 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1650 ************************************ 10 May 1999 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether is an appropriate name for a Norse woman between 750 and 1400. Here is what we have found. The timespan you've asked about is quite long. The languages spoken in Scandinavia were very different at the beginning and end of that 650 year period, and naming practices changed significantly, too. In order to choose an authentic name, you'll need to narrow down the range. We'll suggest some possibilities. Forms of <{TH}o/runn> were used across the entire period. We found this spelling in the Viking period (8th-11th century). Later in period, we found 14th-15th C, and <{TH}orunn> 1408 [1, 2, 3]. {TH} represents the letter thorn, which is pronounced like the in . The slash represents an accent on the previous letter. We found as a late-period Swedish masculine name. In late-period Danish, it appears as , , , ; and as 1507 [3]. There is an older name that appears in Viking-period runic inscriptions, and is also recorded around 1300 as , , , , and . We found examples of the name in patronymics, too: 1466 and 1345 [2, 5]. If you want a Viking-age name, we suggest <{TH}o/runn Vi/gado/ttir> "daughter of Vi/gi", pronounced \THOR-un VEE-ga-DOH-teer\. The syllable \un\ is pronounced with the vowel in , not the one in . If you specifically want your name to mean "daughter of Viggo", then we recommend you choose a late-period Danish name, since that's the only place we found the spelling . You might use . If your question you wrote that means "Thor + secret lore", and that is form of the name of the god of war. Neither is correct. It really isn't correct to speak of a name as having a meaning at all. Nearly all names originally derived from words in some language, but once they were used as names, the meanings quickly became irrelevant. Consider, for example, how infrequently it is relevant to a woman named that her name is identical to that of a plant. Her name is simply an identifier, not a description. Its root meaning is irrelevant. In addition, most names are centuries removed from their roots, so that the meanings are not apparent to most people. derived from the name of the god and from <-un>, an element of uncertain origin [4]. and are related to the word "war", but was probably understood to be nothing more than a short form of some name like or . Neither name was likely to have been understood as having a meaning in your period; they were just names. 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 Lindorm Eriksson, Hartmann Rogge, and Talan Gwynek. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 10 May 1999 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Aryanhwy Prytydes merch Catmael Caermyrdin, "Viking Names found in the Landna/mabo/k" (WWW: Private published, 1998). http://www.wctc.net/~randomsf/landnamabok.htm [2] Lind, E.H., _Norsk-Isla:ndska Dopnamn ock Fingerade Namn fra*n Medeltiden_ (Uppsala & Leipzig: 1905-1915, sup. Oslo, Uppsala and Kobenhavn: 1931), s.nn. {TH}o/runnr, Vi/gi. [3] Knudsen Gunnar, Marius Kristiansen, & Rikard Hornby, _Danmarks Gamle Personnavne_, Vol. I: Fornavne (Copenhagen: 1936-48), s.nn. Thorunn, Wiggi. [4] <-un> may derive from Old Norse "allow" or "love", or from "struggle, war" [5]. It may also derive from Old Norse "friend" [6]. [5] Mode/er, Ivar, _Svenska Personnamn: Handbok fo:r universitetsbruk och sja:lvstudier av Ivar Mode/er utgiven av Roger Sundqvist och Carl-Erik Thors med en bibliografi av Roland Otterbjo:rk som kompletterats och omarbetats av Sigurd Fries_, 3rd ed., Anthroponymica Suecana 5 (Lund: Studentlitteratur 1989, ISBN 91-44-29033-0), pp.23, 30. [6] Fellows Jensen, Gillian, _Scandinavian Personal Names in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire_ (Copenhagen: 1968).