ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2416 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2416 ************************************ 15 Jan 2002 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether is an appropriate given name and is an appropriate last name for a Scandinavian woman in our period. Here is what we have found. Unfortunately, or is a modern name, probably coined in the 19th century. It is related to the name of a pre-Christian god, but only very indirectly [1]. The most similar Old Norse name that we found is , a feminine name used in Iceland from the Viking age to the end of our period [2]. The slash represents an acute accent mark on the preceding letter. was pronounced \HAIR-dees\. The modern surname derives from more than one source. One of them is the Scandinavian name . is a short form of , variously spelled 1393, c.1420, 1468, 1466, 1420, among others. Note that this short form didn't appear until the end of the 14th century [3, 4]. A woman named who was the daughter of a man called would often have been known as . It would have been pronounced \HAIR-dees NEE-@ls-DOHT-t@r\, where \@\ represents the sound of the 'a' in and \OH\ stands for the vowel in . This name would be a fine choice for Iceland or the Shetlands from about 1400 on. If you are interested in an earlier-period name, you might consider , pronounced \HAIR-dees NYAHLS DOAT-teer\, which means "Herdi/s daughter of Nia/ll" [5]. is an Old Norse name, sometimes also written . It isn't related to , but we thought it might appeal to you. We hope this letter has been useful. Please write us again if any part of it has been unclear or if you have other questions. I was assisted in researching and writing this letter by Gunnvor Silfraharr, Talan Gwynek, Lindorm Eriksson, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Ursula Georges, Hartmann Rogge, and Eoin Caimbeul. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 15 Jan 2002 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Kruken, Kristoffer, ed. _Norsk personnamnleksikon_, 2nd ed. (Oslo: Det Norske Samlaget, 1995), s.n. Hertha. is a modern name based on a misunderstanding of the written form of the name of the god that appears in ancient Latin writings by Tacitus. It has been little used in Norway since the second half of the 1800s, when there was a fashion for re-inventing Viking Age names and using the names of Norse gods for people. represents an 'o' with a backward-comma-shaped hook hanging from the bottom, and {dh} stands for the letter edh, written as a backward '6' with a crossbar on the upper limb. [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.n. Herdi/s. It was used in Iceland, but was rare in Norway. He notes one Norwegian instance in the later 10th century, another in Bergen 1299, and in the Shetlands who died in 1363. {TH} stands for the letter thorn, written as a lower-case 'b' with the vertical stroke extending downward as far as it extends upward. [3] Lind, s.n. Nikola/s. [4] Knudsen Gunnar, Marius Kristiansen, & Rikard Hornby, _Danmarks Gamle Personnavne_, Vol. I: Fornavne (Copenhagen: 1936-48), s.n. Nicolaus. The short form developed in the mid-14th century in Denmark. [5] Lind, s.n. Nia/ll.