ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2180 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2180 ************************************ From: Dietmar 18 Jan 2001 Greetings on behalf of the Academy of St. Gabriel. You asked us to research whether would be an appropriate name for a sea captain of the Hanseatic League based out of the free city of Lu"beck between the years 1350-1370. In later correspondence, you asked about the epithets , , and . (Here {sz} stands for the German letter eszett, which looks very much like the lower-case Greek letter beta. The <"> represents an umlaut over the preceding letter.) You also wanted to know whether a sea captain during this period would have a coat of arms or a standard, and if so where to start looking for a simple standard. In later correspondence, you specifically asked about the design "Per chevron Or and sable, in base a wolf rampant Or". Here is what we have found. The name was popular from at least one hundred years before your period, but we believe a different form of the name is more appropriate for your region. The Low German dialects spoken in the north of Germany were quite different from the High German dialects spoken in the south. The name element that commonly appears as in High German in the later Middle Ages is generally found as in Low German names of the same period. Dated examples for your region include 1272, 1140, 1240, 1276 and 1272/1330. [1] All of these except the last have been given Latin grammatical endings to match the language of the documents in which they appear. The actual German name is in the first case and in the others. The same dialect split which results in the exchange of for also affects the spelling of the second syllable of your name. The sound spelled in the High German of that period corresponds to the Low German sound spelled or sometimes . Thus, for instance, in Low German we typically find and for the names whose modern High German forms are and . [2] Therefore we recommend as the most typical Low German spelling for your period. The locative byname is a correct way to identify a person from Lu"beck, but the name probably took a different form in your period. We have found the forms 1318, 1406, 1411, and 1462. In the dialect of Old Low German, the name of the city was usually . [3, 4] The most common preposition used for writing Low German names of this type in your period was ; (the Low German equivalent of High German ) was just coming into use. We expect the spoken form of the name was . The most common preposition used in writing Low German names of this type for your period was . Thus the written vernacular form was . We expect the formal Latin documentary form to be , which is a Latin adjectival form of . [5] The vernacular form might have occurred in a German document (or even in a Latin document, since names were sometimes left alone). It's unlikely that this byname would have been used to identify you while you were in Lu"beck. Bynames were used in your period for their identification value; and in Lu"beck, nearly everyone is . However, a traveler like a sea captain might very well have been identified this way when away from home. Around Lu"beck he would have been known by some other appropriate descriptive byname. We cannot recommend any of the other epithets you chose as good re-creation for your culture. We did find bynames based on words related to two of your choices, but we found them only in High German and their meanings in the medieval language were different from their modern meanings. We found 1135 and 1170. This byname was usually latinized and meant "unseemly, immoderate". [3] Similarly, was a fairly common nickname early on in its medieval form, "uncouth, monstrous, repulsive; heathen"; an example is 1284. [3] Unfortunately, these are all High German forms, and we're not sure what their Low German equivalents would have been. If you're interested in one of them, let us know, and we'll see what we can find out. Descriptive bynames tended to be much simpler than what you've chosen. Although modern German means "tall" in this connection, Middle High German meant both "tall" and "fat". The Low German form is , as in the example 1375. [3] We found many names describing the body, such as "thickset, heavy", with examples: 1332 and (and ) 1344; 1342, whose byname is a variant of "belly"; [3] and 1342 "fill-belly". [6] These are all nicknames for a person of large size. If you are interested in more choices with a related meaning, we may be able to offer you nicknames for heavy eaters. Let us know if this interests you and we will see what we can find. The other epithet you chose, , has the modern German meaning of "pirate". The concept of swashbuckling piracy is much later than your chosen period. We don't know whether the word existed in Middle German and found no evidence that it was ever used as a byname. If you are a merchant captain in the Hansa, we can't imagine that calling yourself a pirate would be good for business. If you want to use a job description, we recommend a simpler byname, such as "sailor". [4] In your time period, many non-noble people were assuming arms in the German States, and a ship's captain could very well have been one of them. However your terminology is a little inaccurate. A standard is a particular type of flag used by armies during battle. For more information on flags and their use, have a look at the following website: Medieval Flags and Banners http://www.kwantlen.bc.ca/~donna/sca/flags/ The best way to explain the kinds of heraldic designs that are appropriate for your culture is to show you a number of pictures from your chosen time period. We can recommend two armorials on the web. They are from a different area than your persona, but we think you can safely use them as a guide to the appropriate style. The Manesse Codex gives examples of arms from c.1300-30. The index is only available in German: http://www.tempora-nostra.de/manesse/manesse_start.shtml Or, you can go straight to the images: http://www.tempora-nostra.de/manesse/manesse0-9.shtml The Manesse Codex was produced in the early 14th century, but many of the people represented lived over a hundred years earlier or more. It is possible that they did not actually bear the arms shown during their lifetimes. For examples of arms from c.1340, see the Zu"rich Roll of Arms: http://people.delphi.com/ivanor/zroaen0.htm Note that the Zu"rich roll starts with a collection of flags and then a catalogue of the arms of royalty (some of them fictional). The material you'll find most useful starts on the second row of arms on the front of Strip II. Arms in your time period were very simple. The colors you've chosen, sable and or, were very popular in Germany, and the wolf was a popular charge in your region. [7, 8] However, the per chevron field division was rarely found there, and when it was used, we find no charges on the field. The chevron as a charge is even more rare; and in the the examples we found, it was alone on the field, without other charges. [9] In early heraldry, when a beast was borne on the shield alone, it was usually rampant. When two or three beasts were borne, it was much more common to see them arranged in pale (vertically) in a passant (walking) posture. [10] If you don't mind switching the tinctures, you might try "Or, in pale three wolves passant sable" or "Or, in pale two wolves passant sable." [11] These very simple designs follow the common style of your period. If you would prefer to keep the wolves rampant and leave the tinctures as they are, we can also recommend "Sable, two wolves rampant addorsed or". [12] Another option is "Sable, a bend between two wolves rampant or." While the latter is a much less common style, it is also one found in your period. Either of these strikingly simple arms appears to be clear of conflict and should be registerable with the SCA. You may also wish to use one of the following designs: "Per pale sable and or, a wolf rampant counterchanged", "Per pale sable and or, two wolves rampant addorsed counterchanged" or "Per pale sable and or, three wolves courant in pale counterchanged". We do not find examples exactly like these in the two period manuscripts, but they are each only a small step away from attested designs. [13] In summary, would make a fine spoken form for a name in your chosen period. In your period it was pronounced \OHL-reek vahn LUB-bek-@\, with \U\ as in . The vowels in \-reek\ and \vahn\ are short in duration. We recommend as a partially Latinized form and as a fully Latinized form used in written documents. The designs "Or, three wolves in pale passant sable" or perhaps "Sable, two wolves rampant addorsed or" would make very nice arms. 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 Adelaide de Beaumont, Adeliza de Saviniaco, Arval Benicoeur, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Blaise de Cormeilles, Elsbeth Anne Roth, Hartmann Rogge, Juliana de Luna, Julie Stampnitzky, Rouland Carre, Talan Gwynek, Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, Walraven van Nijmegen, Ysfael ap Briafael, and Zenobia Naphtali. For the Academy, Dietmar von Straubing 18 January, 2001 [1] Zoder, R., _Familiennamen in Ostfalen_. 2 vols. (Hildesheim: 1968) pp. 27, 46, 56. [2] Zoder, pp.25-143 passim. [3] Brechenmacher, Josef Karlmann, _Etymologisches Woerterbuch der deutschen Familiennamen_ (Limburg a. d. Lahn, C. A. Starke-Verlag, 1957-1960). s.nn. Bauch, Grot(h)e, Lu"beck(er), Lubbeke, Ungeheuer, Ungema{sz}. [4] Bahlow, Hans, _Deutsches Namenlexikon: Familien- und Vornamen nach Ursprung und Sinn erklaert_ (Frankfurt am Main : Suhrkamp Taschenbuch Verlag, 1985, 1990). s.nn. Lu"bbe, Schiffmann. [5] Maxwell, Robert L. and Larson, Karen, "Bibliographic Standards Committee: Latin Place Names found in the imprints of books printed before 1801 and their vernacular equivalents in AACR2 (Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules) form" (WWW: Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, 14 March 2000) [URL: http://www.lib.byu.edu/~catalog/people/rlm/latin/l/lubecae.htm] [6] Schwarz, Ernst, _Deutsche Namenforschung. I: Ruf- und Familiennamen_ (Goettingen: Vandenhoek & Ruprecht, 1949) pp.133, 151. [7] Zenobia Naphtali, "Regional Style" in Proceedings of the Known World Heraldic Symposium, 1996, Montgomery, Alabama (SCA, Inc., 1996). [8] You enquired about the design "Per chevron Or and sable, in base a wolf rampant Or." We are not recommending this design as good re-creation. We would offer "Sable, a wolf rampant or", but this conflicts with "Sable, a wolf rampant gules, fimbriated argent" and "Sable, a vixen [Vulpes vulpes] rampant proper." Both of those designs differ only in the color of the wolf. Reversing the tinctures would conflict with "Or, a dog rampant sable maintaining a recorder proper, a bordure azure" because there is only one difference for removing the bordure. There is no difference between a dog and a wolf and the recorder is not significant. [9] Looking through the Manesse Codex and Zurich Roll, we only see one example of a chevron, and two examples of a chevron counterchanged per chevron. There are three examples of a per chevron field, and none of these fields are charged. [10] There are many examples of beasts alone in the two manuscripts. The examples are fairly evenly split between rampant and passant (or statant) postures, but the rampant beasts tend to be beasts of prey (wolf, lion, etc.) while the passant beasts tend to be beasts of chase (deer, goat, etc.) [11] We cannot recommend "Sable, three wolves in pale passant or" because it conflicts with "Sable, three talbots in pale courant to sinister Or;" the only difference is for reversing the canines. Using two wolves would conflict with "Azure, two wolves in pale passant or" which was recently submitted through Caid. [12] There is an example of just such a design in the Zu"rich Roll. Reversing the tinctures conflicts with "Or, two levriers rampant addorsed, tails couped, sable." [13] We found examples of a field divided per pale with a stag's attires (antlers) counterchanged and another with an eagle counterchanged. There are also examples of a field divided per pale with two simple flowers counterchanged.