ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2216 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2216 ************************************ From: (Josh Mittleman) 18 Dec 2000 Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether is an appropriate name for a 13th century Welshman. This letter is a brief answer to your question. In order to understand how names were written in 13th century Wales, you need to understand a little of the cultural and linguistic context. In that period, Wales was inhabited by a mixture of Welsh, English, and Anglo-Norman speakers. Documents were sometimes written in Welsh, sometimes in French, but usually in Latin. The English and the Welsh had different naming customs, and scribes tended to apply those customs to names that they recorded, even in Latin. Thus, we see different patterns of name formation in Welsh and English, and different patterns again in Latin documents written by Welsh speakers and English speakers. Some of these differences are relevent to your name. As you noted, is the name of a character in the collection of Welsh legends and mythology, the Mabinogion. We know of only one instance of this name used by a historical person in our period, recorded in 1308 [1]. It is therefore not the best choice for historical re-creation. If you'd like to consider other names, you can find several lists of appropriate names on the web in the Welsh section of this index: http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/pceltic.shtml You might be interested in the name , which was quite common in your period, also spelled , , and [6]. In your period, would have been pronounced with only two syllables, \GW@D-yon\. \@\ represents the sound of the 'a' in or . was pronounced \GWIN\. is a fine choice for your father's name; it was common throughout much of Wales in the medieval ages. This spelling is modern; the most typical spelling in medieval Welsh documents is [2]. In 13th century Latin records from Wales it usually appears as , but also as , , ; and it was sometimes abbreviated, most often as or [3]. The name was pronounced very much as you thought, \K@N-wrik\ or perhaps \K@N-@-wrik\. The place name appears in this spelling in at least one 13th century Welsh source [2]. An Anglo-Latin document records it as in 1232 [4]. However, locative bynames (surnamed based on placenames) are quite rare in Welsh. We find some examples of such bynames added to Welsh names by English scribes writing Latin documents, but even in that context it was unusual [5]. Locatives tended to be used most often for people who had moved away from their homes. In Aberystwyth, it wasn't particularly useful to identify someone as being from Aberystwyth; but in another part of Wales it would have been very useful indeed. As we explained above, the way your name was written would depend on the language in which it was written and the language of the writer. is an excellent 13th century Welsh name. In a Latin document written by an English or French speaker, particularly one written far from Aberystwyth, it might have appeared as . 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, Antonio Miguel Santos de Borja, Talan Gwynek, and Adelaide de Beaumont. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 18 Dec 2000 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Morgan, T.J. and Prys Morgan, _Welsh Surnames_ (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1985), s.n. Boly. [2] Jones, Thomas ed., _Brut y Tyysogyon or The Chronicle of the Princes_ (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1952). [3] Jones, Heather Rose (aka Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn), "Names and Naming Practices in the Merioneth Lay Subsidy Roll 1292-3", in Known World Heraldic Symposium Proceedings, 1991 (SCA: Laurel, Maryland, 1991). [4] Owen, Hywel Wyn, _The Place-Names of Wales_ (University of Wales Press, 1998). [5] Sanders, I.J. "The Boroughs of Aberystwyth and Cardigan in the Early Fourteenth Century" in BBCS Vol.15 Part 4 (May 1954) pp.282-292. For a general understanding of the rarity of locatives in Welsh names, reference Williams-Jones, Keith, _The Merioneth Lay Subsidy Roll 1292-3_ (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1976). [6] Jones, Heather Rose (aka Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn), "A Simple Guide to Constructing 13th Century Welsh Names" (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1996). http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/tangwystyl/welsh13.html