ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2368 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2368 ************************************ From: "Sara L Friedemann" 16 Oct 2001 Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked for help creating an authentic Viking feminine name with spelled with a 'thorn' as your given name, and an appropriate form of as your surname. Here is the information we have found. Your choice of given name is excellent. <{TH}o/ra> was a common feminine name in one 11th century record of people from 9th century Iceland. (The {TH} represents the letter thorn, and the slash represents an accent over the previous letter). [1,3] The modern surname is from a byname originally meaning "son of Ole." in turn is a Danish form of that came into use in Norway around the 17th century. [2] In the Viking era, the standard form of was . [1] <{TH}o/ra O/la/fsdo/ttir>, "{TH}o/ra daughter of O/la/fr" would be an excellent name. The entire name would have been pronounced \THOA-r@ OA-lahfs DOAT-teer\, with \TH\ as in , \OA\ as in , and \@\ being the sound of in or . You can write this name in several ways. The genuine Norse representation for your period is in runes. You can find several versions of the futhark, or runic alphabet, on the web: http://www.arild-hauge.com/enruner.htm The futhark labeled Norwegian-Danish Runes from the 800's is a good choice. 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. {TH} represents the rune labeled with the letter thorn, which looks like a 'p' with the vertical stroke continued upperward. {a,} represents the rune labeled with an 'a' with a hook below it. We should stress that this is a modern scholarly convention, not a notation that would have been used in our period. Based on spellings that we found in runic inscriptions, we believe <{TH}o/ra O/la/fsdo/ttir> would have been written in runes as <{th}ura ulafs tutiR> or <{th}{a,}ra {a,}lafs t{a,}tiR>. Note that the vowel could have been expressed in runes as either or <{a,}>; we found evidence of both. [4,5] If you would like a byname that is more similar to , we can recommend some options that would be appropriate for the 14th and 15th centuries in Norway or Iceland. <{TH}ora> or was a reasonably common name in that time period. [3] A masculine name unrelated to but similar in spelling was also used in this time: , a variant of . [3] A woman named <{Th}ora> daughter of could have been known as <{TH}ora O/la do/ttir> (pronounced \OA-l@ DOAT-teer\). We hope that this letter has been useful to you, and that you will not hesitate to write again if any part was unclear or if you have further questions. Research and commentary on this letter were provided by Talan Gwynek, Arval Benicoeur, Lindorm Eriksson, Gunnora Hallakarva, Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, Will Dekne, Juliana la Camiante de Navarra, Juliana de Luna, Hartmann Rogge, and Adelaide de Beaumont. For the Academy, ~Aryanhwy merch Catmael, 16Oct01 --------------------------------------- References: [1] Aryanhwy merch Catmael, "Viking Names found in the Landna/mabo/k" (WWW: privately published, 1998) http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/landnamabok.html [2] Kruken, Kristoffer, ed. _Norsk personnamnleksikon_, 2nd ed. (Oslo: Det Norske Samlaget, 1995). s.n. Ole [3] 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. A/li, {TH}o/ra [4] Lena Peterson. Nordisk runnamnslexikon. (Dictionary of Names from Old Norse Runic Inscriptions). Sprak- och folkminnes-institutet (Institute for Dialectology, Onomastics and Folklore Research). http:\\grimnir.dal.lu.se\runlex\index.htm Accessed 15 August 2001. [5] Lena Peterson, 1994: "Svenskt runordsregister", 2:nd revised ed. 1:st ed. 1989. (Runron 2.) VIII+79 pp., Uppsala. ISBN 91-506-1065-1. s.n. "d{o_}ttiR", p. 9-10. [6] was pronounced \OA-lahfr\, with the final only lightly pronounced.