ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1774 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1774 ************************************ From: "Brian M. Scott" 30 Jun 1999 Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You asked for help in determining and documenting the authenticity of as a feminine Norwegian name in the period 1250-1400, especially for the area around Oslo. You noted that the names and had been written with initial thorn (i.e., <{TH}ora> and <{TH}orarin>) in Old Norse, but you thought that by 1250 the spellings were becoming common. The Old Norse name <{TH}o/ra> was in general use in both Norway and Iceland from the 9th century on through the Middle Ages. (The slash stands for an acute accent over the preceding vowel.) [1] It is common in runic inscriptions as well as documents. In particular, it occurs in a medieval runic inscription from Gamlebyen in Oslo. [2] However, we found no recorded instances with initial until the early 15th century. [1] It appears that the spelling might have been used just at the very end of your period, in the late 14th century; before that, however, it would have been very unusual. In fact, it appears that before about 1450 any spelling would have been the result of Danish or Swedish influence. The change in pronunciation from stressed initial \th\ (the sound represented by initial thorn, as in English ) to \t\ appears from about 1300 in Danish, about 1400 in Swedish, and only from about 1450 in Norwegian. [3] Even then, the old spelling was often retained, so that even in Denmark the name first appears with in the early 15th century. [4, 5] We therefore recommend that you use the spellings <{TH}ora> and rather than . The Old Norse masculine name <{TH}o/rarinn> was quite common in Iceland from the 10th century throughout the Middle Ages, but in Norway it was very rare until the 20th century, when it appears occasionally as . [6, 7] However, we did manage to find one Norwegian example from the mid-14th century: a Norwegian named <{TH}o/rarinn Sigur{dh}sson> was Bishop of Ska/lholt in Iceland in 1363-64. [8] Your chosen patronymic would clearly have been unusual and might have suggested that your father was from Iceland, but it certainly isn't impossible for a Norwegian of your period. However, like the name <{TH}o/ra>, it would almost certainly have been spelled with thorn or in your period. This brings us to the last element of the name, the word for 'daughter'. As you may know, this was in Old Norse and is now in Danish and Bokma*l and in Swedish and Nynorsk. [9, 10] (Here stands for the letter a-ring.) The Bokma*l is undoubtedly the result of Danish influence, the Nynorsk representing the normal Norwegian development. More precisely, the Nynorsk form represents especially the normal development in the western dialects. But since Swedish also has , it seems likely that this was the normal development in the eastern dialects as well. Finally, though modern Danish has , we found the word given as in an edition of the _Gesta Danorum_. According to the notes, the selection is in the Old Danish dialect of Seeland and reflects the language of the early 14th century. [11] From this we conclude that in your period the vowel of the first syllable was normally written (and probably still pronounced) as . We don't know exactly when the unstressed vowel of the second syllable was lowered from to or <{ae}>. However, a selection from _Fagrskinna_ based on two Old Norwegian manuscripts written c.1250 and at the beginning of the 14th century uses instead of the older . [12] Moreover, there was a general tendency in 13th century Old Norwegian to replace by in unstressed syllables following stressed . [13] On the other hand, actual Norwegian documents show the following forms from the 13th and early 14th centuries [14]: dottor: 1225 (Nidaros), 1255 (Nidaros), 1270 (Stavanger?), 1292 (Eikeland), late 13th c. (Voss?), 1305 (Bergen), 1306 (Bergen), 1309 (Bergen) dotor: 1307 (Oslo) dottir: 1285 (Bergen), 1282 (Bergen), 1288 (Bergen?), 1290 (Bergen?), 1295 (Bergen), 1296 (Bergen), 1299 (Hjaltland), c.1300 (Bergen?), 1302 (Oslo), c.1303 (?), 1306 (Bergen), 1309 (Bergen?) dotter: 1272-76 (Stavanger), 1292 (Eikeland), 1298 (Teigar), c.1300 (Voss), 1304 (To"nsberg), 1308 (Bergen), 1309 (Hallingdal), c.1310 (?) doter: c.1200 (Nidaros) dottur: 1308 (Tunsberg) datter: 1309 (Bergen) daatter: 1309 (Bergen) (The last two occur in the same record and probably represent a sound similar to that of in 'eight'.) Clearly there was considerable variation. At the beginning of your period the older is clearly still possible, along with , , and some minor variants. Judging by later developments, however, we think it likely that by the end of your period was the most common form. Finally, we note that in most of the documentary citations the word for 'daughter' is separated from the father's name, e.g., 1308 (Bergen). There are a few examples of the joined form, including one from Oslo, 1302. The more copious data for masculine patronymics show a similar variation, though with a higher proportion of joined forms. Combining the pieces, we think that the most typical forms of the name for the whole of your period are <{TH}ora {TH}orarins dotter> and <{TH}ora {TH}orarinsdotter>. occasionally replaces the thorn, especially later in your period, and we've already discussed possible variations in the 'daughter' element. Lindorm Eriksson also contributed to this letter. We hope that it has been useful; if anything is unclear, or if you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to write us again. For the Academy, Talan Gwynek 30 June 1999 ===== References and Notes: [1] Lind, E.H. Norsk-Isla"ndska Dopnamn ock Fingerade Namn fra*n Medeltiden (Uppsala & Leipzig: 1905-1915, suppl. Oslo, Uppsala and Copenhagen: 1931); s.n. <{TH}o/ra>. [2] Uppsala University Department for Scandinavian Languages. Rundata, software pre-release version 8.84 (test) (Uppsala: Uppsala universitet, 1990); N A36 M. Accessible at: http://www.nordiska.uu.se/samnord.html [3] Haugen, Einar. Scandinavian Language Structures: A Comparative Historical Survey (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1982); p.66. [4] Gordon, E.V. An Introduction to Old Norse (Oxford: At the University Press, 1971); p.324. [5] Knudsen, G., M. Kristiansen, & R. Hornby. Danmarks Gamle Personnavne, Vol. I: Fornavne (Copenhagen: 1936-48); s.n. . [6] Lind, op. cit. s.n. <{TH}o/rarinn>. [7] Kruken, Kristoffer, ed. Norsk Personnamnleksikon. 2nd ed. (Oslo: Det Norske Samlaget, 1995); s.n. . [8] Stardal, E.J. I/slandssaga: Lesbo/k fyrir Framhaldssko/la (Reykjavik: I/safoldarprentsmi{dh}ja Hf., 1970); p.283. (The {dh} stands for the letter edh, the 'crossed-d'. The spellings used in the list of bishops from which this name is taken are modern Icelandic; in this case the spelling is probably fairly similar to those found in the original manuscript(s). [9] Cleasby, R., G. Vigfusson, & W. Craigie. An Icelandic-English Dictionary (Oxford: At the University Press, 1975); s.v. . [10] Bjo|rnskau, Kjell. Langenscheidts Praktisches Lehrbuch Norwegisch (Berlin: Langenscheidt KG, 1975; glossary. [Here stands for slashed-o.] [11] Gordon, op. cit., pp. 165, 325. The spelling has been normalized by the editor, but the normalization clearly retains characteristically Old Danish features. [12] Ibid., p. 158. The accent may be editorial, and the editor may have replaced an original thorn with an edh, but the vowels undoubtedly reflect the original. [13] Ibid., p. 319f. [14] Bjerke, Robert. A Contrastive Study of Old German and Old Norwegian Kinship Terms. Indiana University Publications in Anthropology and Linguistics, Memoir 22 of the International Journal of American Linguistics (Baltimore: Waverly Press, Inc., 1969); pp.154-6. The list includes all instances before 1310 in the Diplomatarium Norvegicum.