ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2094 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2094 ************************************ 1 Aug 2000 From: Julie Stampnitzky Greetings! You asked us about the name , which your client wanted to use as the name of an Estonian smith or merchant from the time of the Hanseatic League. Unfortunately, we have not found evidence that either or would have been used by an Estonian man during the 13th to 15th centuries. We have assembled a list of alternate names that your client might like to consider. We have very little evidence about early Estonian personal names, and what we do know is subject to various distortions. The Estonian language, together with Livonian, Votic, and a part of western Finnish, forms the southwestern branch of the Finnic (or Balto-Finnic) language group [1]. No Estonian written records exist from before the 13th century. After the conquest of the country and the baptizing of the people, records of the 13th and following centuries, written in languages other than Estonian, contain numerous personal names of that period. Since in older times Estonian was recorded by foreigners, mainly German, it is understandable that the older spelling mostly followed German spelling convention, in particular Low German, but at the earliest period also Latin and Scandinavian. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the spelling was still quite unsystematic, just as its foremost model, German spelling, was at that time [2]. (or ) is the name of a giant in a series of Estonian legends; his name is believed to have come from a fellowship of ancient seafarers and mariners [3]. The name has been revived in Estonia in modern times, but we have not found evidence that this name was ever used by real people in the Middle Ages, so using the name of the legendary character would not be the best re-creation [4]. We suggest that your client choose a name known to have been used by real people. The surname you asked about, , is the modern Estonian word for "blacksmith." We don't know whether it would be an appropriate medieval byname. We do know that , meaning "smith," was used as a byname in the 17th or 18th century. , a 14th-century byname meaning 'stonecutter' or 'stone-smith,' contains an early form of this word [5]. The earliest source we know of for Estonian names is the 13th-century Chronicle of Henry of Livonia, written in Latin. The spellings are probably based partly on Latin and partly on German (mainly Low German) usage [2]. The following names are found in the Chronicle [6,7]. Note that while some of these names derive from the Estonian language, others were borrowed from other sources such as German or Latin. Please write again if you would like more information on a particular name. (Names ending in <-us> were Latinized in the original text. The vernacular name was probably just the root without the <-us>. Multiple forms on the same line are variants occurring for the same individual.) This man was identified as Estonian. Tabelinus, Tabellinus, Thabelinus These men were identified as "Saccalian," which may indicate that they were Estonian. Lembitu, Lambite, Lambito, Lembitus, Lembito Maniwalde Unnepewe Vytamas Wottele This man was identified as from Wierland, which may indicate that he was Estonian. Kyriawanus The following men were identified as Livonian, lived in areas identified as Livonian, or can otherwise be assumed to be Livonian from context. We include them here because the Livonian and Estonian languages were closely related and therefore Livonian names may be a useful approximation of Estonian names. Ako Alo Anno Asso, Asse Bertholdus Dabrelus, Dobrelus Eylardus Gerweder Kulewene Kyrianus Layanus Lembewalde Ninnus Uldenago Uldewene Vesike Vetseke, Vesceka, Viesceka, Wetseke Vietzo, Viezo Viewaldus Wade Waldeko Wane Ylo Ymaut The following names are found in records of the thirteenth and following centuries. They have been transcribed and interpreted from the point of view of modern Estonian [5]. Some of these names include special characters used in modern written Estonian; here {o~} represents the o-tilde and {a"} represents the a-umlaut. >From the thirteenth century: Aulembi ('Honor + Love') Clemens Hermann Lemmet{o~}iv ('Love + Hope') Meeme Meelendes Meelik Meelemees ('Sense (or Mind) + Man') {O~}nnep{a"}ev ('Luck + Day') Vanevald ('Firm + Power') Viljat{o~}iv ('Grain + Hope') >From the fourteenth century: Henneke Jaan Kuldimuna ('Boar + Testicle') T{o~}ivelembi ('Hope + Love') Veelembi ('Water + Love') >From the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries: Andres Hann Hans Hinrik Jaagup Jaan Mihkel Mikk Naano Toomas The records include a number of compound names, which seem to be composed of one given name of either Christian or non-Christian origin and one surname to distinguish its bearer from his namesakes. Such surnames were purely personal; not until about the seventeenth century did the ordinary town dweller or freeman from an ancient farm bear a hereditary family name. (Another possible explanation is that some of the compounds may be a baptismal name plus the person's original non-Christian name.) The following names were placed after given names. >From the thirteenth century: 'the Estonian' 'son of Caupo' 'from Saaremaa' >From the fourteenth century: this byname seems to combine the German word for 'son' with an Estonian name meaning 'Good + Hope' 'Pikehead' 'the Stonecutter' >From the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries: 'Spruce Forest' 'Bearhead' 'native of Viljandimaa' 'the Wolf' 'Waterbelly' 'Good Bread' 'the Fly's Son' 'the Reader' Sometimes the surname was placed before the Christian name, as was the case with these examples from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries: probably 'Big' We do not know if this material is sufficient to allow your client to construct an authentic medieval Estonian name. The best approximation we can suggest is to choose one of the given names listed above and combine it with a byname from the same period. While researching, we came across some other sources you might be interested in; they cover archaeological finds and historical costume [8,9,10,11,12]. I 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 Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, Talan Gwynek, Isfael ap Briafael, Gotfrid von Schwaben, Christian de Holacombe, Blaise de Cormeilles, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Arval Benicoeur, and Amant le Marinier. For the Academy, Julie Stampnitzky 16 July 2000 ----------------------------------------------------------- References 1. Raun, Alo & Andrus Sareste. 1965. Introduction to Estonian Linguistics. Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden. pp. 56-57 2. Ibid. p. 1 3. Nirk, Endel. 1987. Estonian Literature. Perioodika, Tallinn. p. 14 4. Raun p. 54 5. Ibid. p. 51 6. Kleis, Richard trans. 1982. Heinrici Chronicon Livoniae - Henriku L{u"}vimaa Kroonika. Eesti Raamat, Tallinn. 7. Brundage, James A. trans. 1961. The Chronicle of Henry of Livonia. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison. 8. Apals, J. et mult. al. 1974. Latvijas PSR Arheolo{g,}ija. Izdevnieciba 'Zinatne', Riga. (A pretty thorough survey of Latvian archaeology from the earliest times through the medieval period. Lots of jewelry and weapons, some textiles, a few household goods. In Latvian.) 9. Eesti Rahva-R{o~}ivaid XIX Sajandist ja XX Sajandi Algult. [Estonian National Costume - 19th to early 20th century.] 1957. Eesti Riiklik Kirjastus, Tallinn. (This is primarily a book on modern "folk costume", but there is a chapter on historic development which includes a number of archaeological finds, including a semi-complete 14th c. tunic and leggings. In Estonian.) 10. Jaanits, L. et al. 1982. Eesti Esiajalugu. Kirjastus 'Eesti Raamat', Tallinn. (Has some information on archaeological textiles. In Estonian.) 11. Zarina, Anna. 1988. Libie{sv}u Ap{g,}erbs 10.-13.gs. Zinatne, Riga. (Livonian archaeological clothing and ornaments of the 10-13th century, including suggested reconstructions. In Latvian.) 12. Zarina, A. 1970. Seno Latga{l,}u Ap{g,}erbs 7.-13. gs. Izdevnieciba 'Zinatne', Riga. (Similar in contents to Zarina 1988 (above), but much more extensive. The suggested reconstructions are still not to be taken entirely uncritically. In Latvian with summaries in Russian and German.)