ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2287
http://www.s-gabriel.org/2287
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30 Apr 2001
From:  (Josh Mittleman)


Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!

You wanted to know if the name <Engelhardt> was used in Germany between 900
and 1300, and also what it meant and what sort of people were likely to use
it.  Here is the information we have found.

<Engelhardt> derives from ancient Germanic roots, but apparently developed
first in the western dialects spoken in what is now France before spreading
eastward into Germany proper.  The earliest examples we've found are in
France and western Germany, along the Rhein in the vicinity of Koblenz and
Trier.  It appears in various forms in 9th and 10th century Latin records
from France and western Germany [1]:

  Ingalhardus     before the 9th c.
  Ingalardus      before the 9th c.
  Ingelhardus     918
  Ingelardus      866, 949, 955
  Ingillardus     893
  Ingilardus      984

The example <Ingillardus> was recorded in the general vicinity of Koblenz.
The particular spelling <Engelhardt> is unlikely to have been used in your
period: The use of <-dt> is a later development.

We found examples further east in Germany toward the end of your period and
beyond.  One instance is recorded in an uncertain spelling at Lanckheim,
probably in northern Bavaria, in the 12th century [2, 3]; another is in
Latin form, <Joh. Engelhardi>, in 1363 [7].  In the latter case,
<Engelhard> was the name of the man's father.  We've also found evidence
that a pet form of the name, <Engel>, was not uncommon [7].

In summary, we're fairly confident that <Engelhard> or <Engelhart> was used
at least occasionally in Germany in the last couple centuries of your
period.  It was pronounced \ENG-el-hart\, with secondary stress on the last
syllable.  In the early part of your period, 900-1100, <Ingelhard> is most
plausible in the west, along the middle Rhein.  It would have been
pronounced \ING-el-hart\.


The idea that names have meanings is fundamentally incorrect.  Almost all
names derived ultimately from regular words in some (often ancient)
language, but that etymology is irrelevent to its use as a name.  Indeed,
what distinguishes a name from a regular word is the fact that it is simply
a label, without meaning.  For example, the word <heather> and the name
<Heather> are obviously related, but one does not expect a woman named
<Heather> to share any attributes with the plant.  Her name doesn't mean "a
certain type of plant" -- it doesn't _mean_ anything.  It's just a label to
identify a particular person.  Modern writers of name dictionaries like to
emphasize the "meanings" of names to help parents choose names for their
babies, but in your period almost no one would have been aware of the
etymological roots of a name like <Engelhardt>.

We have found no indication that the name <Engelhardt> was associated with
any particular social class or trade.  Social status was more clearly
reflected in surnames.  If you'd like our help choosing a surname to fit
your persona, please let us know what sort of person you're trying to
re-create and we'll do our best to assist you.


We hope that this letter has been useful to you, and that you won't
hesitate to write again if any part was unclear or if you have further
questions.  Research and commentary on this letter was provided by Talan
Gwynek, AElfwyn aet Gyrwum, Juliana de Luna, Adelaide de Beaumont, and
Diemtar von Straubing.

For the Academy,
  Aryanhwy merch Catmael and Arval Benicoeur
  30 Apr 2001

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References:

[1] Morlet, Marie-Therese, _Les Noms de Personne sur le Territoire de
l'Ancienne Gaule du VIe au XIIe Siecle_, three volumes (Paris: Centre
National de la Recherche Scientifique, 1972), I:145b.  

[2] Searle, William George, _Onomasticon Anglo-Saxonicum_ (Cambridge
University Press: Cambridge, 1897), p.227.  He lists an abbot <Engelheard>
at <Lanckheim> in the 12th century.  This author is known to have some bad
scholarly habits, including mis-interpreting examples of Continental
Germanic names that appear in English records as if they were Old English.
Therefore, the spelling of this example is not reliable.

[3] We do not know the identity of Searle's <Lanckheim>, but we did find
another reference to a place of that name in Bavaria.  In 1777, <Herr
Pfarrer von Gro{sz}en Lanckheim" attended festivities in the village of
Mo"nchsondheim, now part of the city of Iphofen [4].  Iphofen is in the
Kitzingen region [5], which is in northern Bavaria, on the Main River [6].

[4] "?...die von dem H. Cantor zu Mainstockheim selbst combinirte Music,
welche 1 1/2 Stunden dauerte...?" (WWW: Johann-Heinrich-Zang-Gesellschaft
e.V., 1988-2000).
http://www.kitzingen.de/jhzang/mitteilungen/4/mittl89_2.htm

[5] "Meine Stadt Iphofen im Internet" (WWW: allesklar.com AG, 1999-2001).
http://www.meinestadt.de/Iphofen

[6] Bethel, John P., ed., _Webster's Geographical Dictionary_ (Springfield,
Massachusetts: G. & C. Merriam Co., 1969).

[7] Brechenmacher, Josef Karlmann, _Etymologisches Woerterbuch der
deutschen Familiennamen_ (Limburg a. d. Lahn, C. A. Starke-Verlag,
1957-1960), s.nn. Engelhar(d)t, Engel.