ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2312 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2312 ************************************ 03 Jul 2001 From: Judith Phillips Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked us whether would be an appropriate name for a Norseman living in the year 975. Here is the information we found. The name is derived from the identical noun meaning "boy, lad, servant". Forms of this name were common in Norway from the 10th century on [1]; best approximates the form used in your period. The usual Latin spelling was . is a form of , a Norse byname derived from the verb "to singe, burn, roast; to smart, as a wound." [2, 3] The notation represents an with an acute accent, while {dh} stands for the letter . The final <-a> in your form is not a variant spelling but a case ending that appears only when required by Norse grammar [4]; the byname itself is . is most often translated as "(earth) scorcher", presumably referring to a person who burns off vegetation to clear land for farming [5, 6]. The name was found in a Viking Age runic inscription [6], making it a fine choice for your period. You can write these names in several ways. The genuine Norse representation for your period is in runes. You can find five versions of the futhark, or runic alphabet, at the following site: http://www.algonet.se/~tanprod/zerunes1.htm Either version of the younger futhark (with sixteen runes each) would be appropriate. Notice that these tables identify each rune with a Roman letter; we will use that labeling in this letter to give you the runic spelling of your name. We should stress that this is a modern scholarly convention, not a notation that would have been used in our period. You'll notice, however, that there are no runes corresponding to some of the letters in the name, like the and the {dh}. Just as our letter represents different sounds in the words and , the Norse used one rune to represent more than one sound. In your period, the runic spelling of was probably something like . You may want to write the name as if you have to explain it to someone who doesn't read runes, since this is the standard scholarly form. When special characters are inconvenient you might write , which is a standard Anglicization of the name. In your period, was probably pronounced \SWINE SWEE-dhahn-dee\, where represents the sound of in . However, the Norse language changed somewhat over the years, and we aren't sure of the best 10th century pronunciation. [7] If you wish to register this name with the SCA College of Arms, you should be aware that there was a Danish king whom some sources name as who died in 1157 [4]. The College may decide to protect this version of his name and refuse to register yours because it is too similar. 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 Lindorm Eriksson, Arval Benicoeur, Adelaide de Beaumont, Talan Gwynek, Hartmann Rogge, Dietmar von Straubing, Juliana de Luna, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, and Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn. For the Academy, Adeliza de Saviniaco 3 July 2001 ------------------------------------- References: [1] Fellows Jensen, Gillian, _Scandinavian Personal Names in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire_ (Copenhagen: 1968). p. 281 [2] Fleck, G. (aka Geirr Bassi Haraldsson), _The Old Norse Name_, Studia Marklandica (series) (Olney, Maryland: Yggsalr Press, 1977). s.n. svi/{dh}andi. [3] The ending <-a> denotes a noun in the accusative (objective) case; the nominative case (here ending in <-i>) is generally used to give a person's name. [4] Lind, E.H., _Norsk-Isla:ndska Personbinamn fra*n Medeltiden_ (Uppsala: 1920-21). s.n. svi/{dh}andi. [5] Uppsala University Department for Scandinavian Languages, "Samnordisk runtextdatabas" (WWW: Uppsala universitet, 29 Oct 1997) http://www.nordiska.uu.se/forskn/samnord.htm [6] Norges Innskrifter med de Yngre Runer, Bind 4, Oslo 1957, inscription 273. Grindheim Kirke, p. 7-11. [7] Eventually the pronunciation of the given name changed from \SWINE\ to \SVAYN\ (with \AY\ as in ), but this change was not completed during your period. We aren't sure of the exact timing of the changes, but it's quite possible that by the end of your period the usual pronunciation had reached a sort of halfway point. This is a bit hard to describe, since it involves two sounds not normally used in English, but we'll try. One change involves the vowel sound in the middle. The name started out with the vowel of and ended up with the vowel of . Both of these are diphthongs. The first starts out as \ah\ and finishes as \ee\, while the second starts out as \eh\ and finishes as \ee\. In between these is a diphthong that starts out with the vowel of and finishes with \ee\; this is the pronunciation that we think might have been reached toward the end of your period. The other change involves the preceding consonant, which eventually changed from \W\ to \V\. The intermediate stage was a sound like that of the in the Spanish pronunciation of . You can produce it by setting your lips to say \b\ but opening and relaxing them slightly to let some of the air 'buzz' out between them.