ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1919 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1919 ************************************ 31 Jan 2000 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether , which you believed to mean "north of the river", is an appropriate surname for a Norse man and woman living between 950 and 1050. Here is what we have found. Surnames based on the places where people lived (called "locative bynames") are the second most common type of surname in names recorded in Viking Age runes [1]. The most common type is patronymic bynames, i.e. surnames that identify the person's father. Since nearly everyone in your period would have known his father's name, you may want to choose it and perhaps use a patronymic byname in some circumstances. You can find some help on constructing a correct Norse patronymic in this article on the web: A Simple Guide to Creating Old Norse Names http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/sg-viking.html It was very uncommon for a husband and wife to share a surname in your period. A woman did not adopt her husband's surname upon marriage, so she would have the same surname only if it were a correct description of her as well as of him. On the other hand, a locative surname is probably the most plausible type of name to be shared by two people living together. In the rest of this letter, we're going to use some special notation to represent letters in the Norse alphabet that don't have simple English equivalents. The symbol {dh} represents the letter "edh", which is pronounced like the in and written like a backward "6" with a crossbar across the upright. The symbol {th} represents the letter thorn, pronounced like the in and written like a "p" and a "b" superimposed so that they share one loop on a single vertical stroke. {ae} represents the letter aesc, pronounced like the in , only longer in duration, and written like an "a" and "e" squashed together side-by-side. A slash represents an accent on the preceding letter. The word doesn't mean "north of the river" in Old Norse or any Scandinavian language, as far as we can tell. A fjord isn't a river: It's a long, narrow bay, often bounded by steep cliffs. We've found examples of surnames with meanings analogous to "from north of the river", but not until the 14th century: 1312 "Far{th}egn from west of the river" and 1348 "Svein from east of the river" [3]. Because these examples are much later than your period, we can't recommend it as your best choice. However, the analogous name with the meaning you want is . Another approach would be to take a name that means "at North River". There was a river called "north river". We found a man identified in a Viking source as "A/sgeirr at A/sgeirr's river" and another called [4]. Following the same pattern, you could construct the surname "at North River". If you want to identify yourselves as being "from the north fjord", then we recommend you use the surname . We've found a similar surname in use in your period: <{TH}orbrandr i/ A/lftafir{dh}i> [2]. The form of this locative is one common in runic inscriptions, so it is the best suited for your period [1]. In your period, the Norse used the runic alphabet. If you'd like to know how to write your names in runes, please write us again. 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 Talan Gwynek, Hartmann Rogge, Lindorm Eriksson, Blaise de Cormeilles, Juliana de Luna, and Aryanhwy merch Catmael. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 31 Jan 2000 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Lindorm Eriksson (aka Christer Romson), _The Bynames of the Viking Age Runic Inscriptions_ in proceedings of the Known World Heraldic Symposium June 11-13, 1999 (College of Arms of the Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc. 1999), pp.50-60. Re-published on the web (WWW: J. Mittleman, 2000) http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/lindorm/runicbynames [2] Cleasby, R., G. Vigfusson, & W. Craigie, _An Icelandic-English Dictionary_ (Oxford: At the University Press, 1975), s.v. i/. [3] Lind, E.H., _Norsk-Isla:ndska Personbinamn fra*n Medeltiden_ (Uppsala: 1920-21), s.vv. VEstan a/r, Austan a/r. [4] Arno/rsson, Einar, ed. _Landna/mabo/k I/slands_ (Reykjavi/k: Helgafell, 1948), pp.76, 90, 192.