ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2292 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2292 ************************************ 11 May 2001 From: Judith Phillips Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked us whether , meaning "bear-keeper", is an authentic German name for the period between 900 and 1600. Here is the information we found. Choosing a name by its meaning is a minefield. Most names derive from very ancient roots which had no apparent meaning to anyone by the Middle Ages. Consider the name , for example. It derives from an Aramaic root that meant "twin", but one would hardly expect a man named today to be a twin. That was equally true in the medieval world. There are some exceptions, names that were created late enough that their meanings would have been apparent to people in your period; but even these names quickly lost their "meaning" and were just used as names. It's obvious to us, for example, that the name is identical to the word , but we don't expect a woman named to be grey-green and bushy. We can certainly tell you the etymological roots of most names, but it's a mistake to think that they would have had any significance to the people who used those names in the Middle Ages. is a compound name formed from the name elements and <-wald>. These are historically related to Germanic words for 'bear' and 'leader, commander', respectively. It is likely that the prehistoric ancestor of this name actually meant something like 'bear-like leader', but by your period the name was simply a name. , also spelled , appears to have existed as a German given name very early in your period [1]. During most of your period, the had largely dropped out, and the typical spelling was something like . We found the following examples: Bernaldus 890 [2] Barnoaldus 899 [2] Bernoldus 1102 [2] Bernoldus von Staufen 1208 [1] Bernolt von Bernhausen 1420 [1] Hugo dictus Bernoltz pellifex 1242 [3] Heinr. dictus Bernold 1256 [1] dictus Bernolt textor 1290 (or early 14th c.) [3] Ulr. Pernolt v. dem Berg 1404 [1] Irmendrut uxor Bernoldi 1289 [3] There is a similar name whose etymology is much closer to your desired meaning of "bear-keeper", although it would not have been understood that way in your period. Our examples include: Bernewardus 855 [2] Bernoardus 952 [2] Bernwardus 1271 [3] Berwardus 1272 [3] Barwardus> 1291 [3] Berwart (probably 13th c.) [3] Johannes dictus Bernwart 1265 [3] J. dictus Berward (late 13th or 14th c.) [3] Quite a number of other names were constructed from the element in the various Germanic languages. , which you mentioned in your letter, originated as an Old French form of another of them, [4]. I hope that this letter has been useful to you. Please feel free to contact us again if any part of it has been unclear or if you have any further questions. I was assisted in writing this letter by Maridonna Benvenuti, Arval Benicoeur, Talan Gwynek, Dietmar von Straubing, Adelaide de Beaumont, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Julie Stampnitzky, Hartmann Rogge and Juliana de Luna. For the Academy, Adeliza de Saviniaco 11 May 2001 --------------------------------- References: [1] Brechenmacher, Josef Karlmann, _Etymologisches Woerterbuch der deutschen Familiennamen_ (Limburg a. d. Lahn, C. A. Starke-Verlag, 1957-1960).s.n. Bern(h)old. [2] 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). v. I p. 54a. [3] Socin, Adolf, _Mittelhochdeutsches Namenbuch. Nach oberrheinischen Quellen des 12. und 13. Jahrhunderts_ (Basel: Helbing & Lichtenhahn, 1903; Hildesheim: Georg Olms Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1966). p. 132. [4] Withycombe, E.G., _The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names_, 3rd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988). s.n. Bernard.