ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2027 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2027 ************************************ 24 Mar 2000 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether we could suggest a name that means "trouble" or "mischief-maker", perhaps appropriate for a man born in 10th century Scotland. This letter is a brief answer to your question. The first step in choosing an authentic name is decide where and when your persona was born. That choice determines the naming customs and language in which his parents would have chosen his given name (first name). It also determines how else he might have been identified at home. Of course, if he traveled later in life, he might well have been identified in different ways by members of the cultures he visited; but in order to figure out what those people might have called him, we have to start by knowing what he was called originally. Scotland in the 10th century was home to more than one culture and more than one language. There were speakers of Old English in the south, Old Norse in the far north and western isles, something similar to Welsh in the southwest, and Gaelic throughout the country. Each of these cultures had its own names and naming customs; which one you choose will determine what sort of name is appropriate. For more background on Scottish names in our period, we recommend you read "Scottish Names 101", on the web at: http://www.stanford.edu/~skrossa/medievalscotland/scotnames/scotnames101.html There's a rough draft of the next edition of that article on the web, too: http://www.stanford.edu/~skrossa/medievalscotland/scotnames/scotnames101-3rded.shtml In most cultures within the scope of the Society, given names didn't have meanings. Nearly all names ultimately derived from normal words in some language, but it was very rare for people to continue to associate a given name with meaning of those ancient root words. Once these words came to be used as names, they were merely names and no longer had a deeper meaning. In modern English, we know that the word is related to the name , but in normal use, we don't expect the plant to have anything to do with a person who uses the name. If the connection is less obvious, the meaning is completely irrelevant. For example, derives from an Aramaic word that means "twin", but we hardly expect every Thomas today to be a twin. Similarly, while there are given names which derive from words that mean "raven" in one language or another, the connection was rarely recognized and almost never relevant. By contrast, names in many languages in our period included a "byname" as well as a given name. A byname is any extra word or phrase added to the given name to further identify an individual. In modern naming, we have fixed, inherited surnames; we call medieval surnames "bynames" to emphasize that they were usually neither fixed nor inherited. In much of our period, people used various kinds of descriptive bynames, often using several different bynames in different circumstances. A man might be identified as his father's son one day, by his profession the next day, and by some physical characteristic a third day. When traveling abroad, he might be known by the town or region from which he came. Among the cultures of 10th century Scotland, the one which had the greatest variety of descriptive bynames was Old Norse; and in that language, we found a few bynames that might interest you. To form a correct Old Norse name for your period, you'll need to choose a given name to combine with one of these bynames. You can find a list of appropriate given names on the web: Viking Names found in the Landna/mabo/k http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/landnamabok.html We found one byname recorded in your period that has the sort of meaning you want: "person in trouble or disgrace" [1]. In 12th century records, we found other possibilities [1, 2]. bo,sull "troublesome person, bother" sturla "disorder, rumpus" vandr{ae}{dh}a "troublesome" The symbol indicates an 'o' with a small hook dangling from it; it is pronounced like the vowel in . {ae} represents the Norse letter aesc, written like an 'a' and 'e' squashed together, and pronounced like the 'e' in , but with longer duration. {dh} represents the letter edh, written like a backward '6' with a crossbar on the upright, and pronounced here like the in . In Old Norse, bynames could be placed before or after the given name (though in slightly different grammatical forms). You might consider a name like "Thorsteinn the Troublemaker", or "Troublesome Thorsteinn, Thorvald's son". If you'd prefer to choose a name in one of the other languages of Scotland, you may find help in the articles on Scottish names available at: Scottish Names Resources http://www.stanford.edu/~skrossa/medievalscotland/scotnames/ We hope this brief letter has been useful. Please write us again if you have any questions. I was assisted in researching and writing this letter by Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, Raquel Buenaventura, Margaret Makafee, Mari nic Bryan, Teceangl Bach, Maridonna Benevenuti, Adelaide de Beaumont, Talan Gwynek, and Effrick neyn Kenneoch. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 24 Mar 2000 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Fleck, G. (aka Geirr Bassi Haraldsson), _The Old Norse Name_, Studia Marklandica (series) (Olney, Maryland: Yggsalr Press, 1977). [2] Lind, E.H., _Norsk-Isla:ndska Dopnamn ock Fingerade Namn fra*n Medeltiden_ (Uppsala & Leipzig: 1905-1915, sup. Oslo, Uppsala and Kobenhavn: 1931).