ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2318 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2318 ************************************ 11 May 2001 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether is an appropriate name for a Norse woman living in 9th or 10th century Birka, and how it would have been written in runes. This letter is a brief answer to your question. The feminine and the masculine were both used in Iceland and Norway in your period [1, 2, 3]. The slash in the first of the names represents an acute accent mark on the preceding letter; it indicates that the vowel is pronounced with longer duration. The genitive (possessive) form of is , and the standard Roman-alphabet spelling of the name meaning "Ka/ra Atli's daughter" is . This name would have been pronounced \KAAH-rah AHT-lah DOHT-teer\. We would expect the runic spelling to be . Since we can't show you the runes themselves, we've represented them here with conventional letter labels. Note that the representation of runes with Roman letters is purely modern; it would never have been used in period. You can find a table of runes with these labels on the web: http://www.algonet.se/~tanprod/zerunes1.htm Either of the 16-rune Younger Futharks is appropriate for your period. You wondered if you could add Rus or Byzantine influence to your name. We have found no evidence that names from either of these cultures were added to the Norse namestock in your period. Since you want a name suitable for a woman living in Birka, we recommend you use a purely Norse name; is a fine choice. 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 Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Talan Gwynek, Lindorm Eriksson, and Juliana de Luna. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 11 May 2001 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Fleck, G. (aka Geirr Bassi Haraldsson), _The Old Norse Name_, Studia Marklandica (series) (Olney, Maryland: Yggsalr Press, 1977). [2] Lind, E.H., _Norsk-Isla:ndska Dopnamn ock Fingerade Namn fra*n Medeltiden_ (Uppsala & Leipzig: 1905-1915, sup. Oslo, Uppsala and Kobenhavn: 1931), s.nn. Atli, Ka/ra. [3] Kruken, Kristoffer, ed. _Norsk personnamnleksikon_, 2nd ed. (Oslo: Det Norske Samlaget, 1995), s.n. Atle.