ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2383 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2383 ************************************ From: "Sara L Friedemann" 4 Nov 2001 Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You wanted to know if <Jost von Eichstadt> would be an appropriate name for a medieval German man of gentle birth. Here is the information we have found. We would like to commend you on your name; it is an excellent choice and we can only suggest a few minor changes because of dialectal differences. <Jost> is a form of the name of the Breton Saint Jodocus that is found in several German dialects. The name entered Germany from Picardy in the 11th century, and pilgrimage to St. Josse was very popular. We find <Jost> in 1294, 1298, 1346, and 1508, in Franconian, Low Saxon, and Alemannic dialects. [1,2,3] It appears to be particularly common in southwestern, High German dialects. [5] We found three places in Germany whose modern names are similar to <Eichstadt>. These are: <Eichsta"dt> in Brandenburg, <Eichsta"tt> in Bavaria, and <Eichstetten> in Baden. [2] (The <"> represents an umlaut on the <a>.) Because <Jost> is primarily a southwestern form, it is most compatible with a surname derived from the town in Baden or Bavaria. Based on 15th century Swiss records, we believe that appropriates spelling would be <Aichstetten> for the Baden town, and <Aichstett> or <Aichstatt> in Bavaria. [4] <Jost von Aichstatt> is a fine name, and would have been pronounced \YOAST fohn EYKH-shtaht\, where \oh\ is the sound of <o> in <more>, \ey\ is the sound of <y> in <fly>, and \kh\ is the sound of <ch> in Scottish <loch> or German <Bach>. 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 Pedro de Alcazar, Dietmar von Straubing, Talan Gwynek, Arval Benicoeur, Ursula Georges, and Walraven van Nijmegen. For the Academy, ~Aryanhwy merch Catmael --------------------------------------- References: [1] Bahlow, Hans, _Deutsches Namenlexikon : Familien- und Vornamen nach Ursprung und Sinn erklaert_ (Frankfurt am Main : Suhrkamp Taschenbuch Verlag, 1985, 1990). s.n. Jost [2] Brechenmacher, Josef Karlmann, _Etymologisches Woerterbuch der deutschen Familiennamen_ (Limburg a. d. Lahn, C. A. Starke-Verlag, 1957-1960). s.nn. Eichstett(er), Jo(o)s, Jost [3] Socin, Adolf, _Mittelhochdeutsches Namenbuch. Nach oberrheinischen Quellen des 12. und 13. Jahrhunderts_ (Basel: Helbing & Lichtenhahn, 1903; Hildesheim: Georg Olms Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1966). p. 25 [4] Richental, Ulrich. Das Konzil zu Konstanz, 1414-1418, facsimile edition (Konstanz: Jan Thorbecke Verlag, 1964). In the first half of the 15th c. Ulrich (von) Richental reported on the heraldry of the Council of Constance (1414-1418). Our impression is that he was native to Constance or at least to that general area. He wrote <Hainrich von Hattstatt> (p.274), <Cunrat Aichelberg> (276), and <Westerstetten> (277). He rather consistently uses <ai> for modern <ei> spellings. He would probably have written <Aichstett> for the places in Brandenburg and Bavaria, and <Aichstetten> for the town in Baden. [5] If you would prefer a Low German (northern) name, please write us again, and we will see what other information we can find.