ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2505 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2505 ************************************ 26 Feb 2002 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! Following up on our previous report [1], you asked how to construct a name for an 9th century Frankish woman that means "Alia, also known as" , , or . You asked how to pronounce these names and what they meant. This letter is a brief answer to your question. Any of the formulas for compounding two names that we gave in our previous report has essentially the meaning that you want: Alia quae et Adalgardis "Alia who [is] also Adalgardis" Alia alias Ermengardis "Alia also known as Ermengardis" Alia quae cognominabatur Ermensindis "Alia who was called Ermensindis" Alia sive Adalgardis "Alia, or Adalgardis" You could use any one of them, or all of them interchangeably. These formulas are Latin. Latin was the written language of your culture; but it was rarely used in speech. To give pronunciations for these names, we have to determine the Frankish forms. The name was probably the same in Latin and Frankish. It was pronounced \AH-lee-ah\, where the final \ah\ is short in duration. The Latin corresponds to the Frankish forms 885, 816, 896 [2]. This name was pronounced \AH-dhal-gart\, where \dh\ stands for the sound of the in and there is a secondary stress on the last syllable. similarly corresponds to the Frankish 895, 1000, 867, 9th-10th C [3]. These names represent pronunciations ranging from \AIR-men-gart\ to \EER-men-gart\, also with a secondary stress on the last syllable. The first pronunciation is probably more typical of the areas where Romance influence was strongest. The analysis of is less clear. The forms we found of that name all include the Latin grammatical ending [3]: Ermensendis 959, 1087 Ermensindis 899, 1075 Irminsindis 834 Ermensenda 910-11, 980 Hyrmensinda 758 Hermensendis 919, 1102 Latinizations of names were often conservative, so we always have to consider that the Frankish name may have changed without that change being reflected in Latin records. In this case, there is some question how the element <-sind> was pronounced in your period. In some names, the Frankish form appears to be straightforward, suggesting that we can just drop the Latin ending. For example [4]: Adalsind 857 (18a) Engilsind 837 (38a) Bersent 964 (52b) Blidsind 807 (59a) Herkensend 966 (80b) Heilsent 9th-10th c. (121b) Thiodsind 861 (70a) Cotasind 824 (113a) Hildesint 9th-10th c. (131b) Ingelsent 937 (146a) Meginsind 816 (166a) Ratsind 803 (182a) Rahtsind 803 (182a) Rainsend 1113 (185b) This suggests Frankish , , etc., and a range of pronunciations from \AIR-men-sent\ to \EER-men-sint\, once again with a secondary stress on the last syllable. However, we also find these examples [4]: Adalsinna 909, 965-7 (18a) Albessenna 918 (30a) Blitsinna 855 (59a) Teutsinna 909, 943 (70a) Eversinna 943 (77b) Erkensenna 856 (80b) Flozsinna 945 (133b) Ingelsinna 909 (146a) Leosen 895 (160b) Ricsenna 870 (189b) Richisenna ca.1045 (189b) Here the final \d\ or \t\ has disappeared. In some cases, the final <-a> may have become part of the vernacular name; but the example suggests that the last syllable was pronounced \sinn\ or \senn\. Therefore, in some regions it is possible that was pronounced \AIR-men-senn\ or \EER-men-sinn\. Note that the compound form, , would only have been used in writing or perhaps in very formal ceremonies. In speech, you should use one name or the other, not both. Many people today are concerned with the meanings of the names they choose for themselves or their children; but this was not the case in our period. Although nearly all names derived from normal words at some point, those etymologies were rarely relevant to the use of names by real people. In Germanic languages of your period, it's clear that etymology played at most a minor role in the choice of names [5]. Names were probably chosen based on family, social, or religious associations. We can probably tell you the etymology of any of the names we've discussed here, but a woman of your culture would probably not have been aware that her name had any relation to normal, meaningful words. 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 Talan Gwynek, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Ursula Georges, Angharat vz Reynulf, Will Dekne, and Julie Stampnitzky. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 26 Feb 2002 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Academy of Saint Gabriel report 2397 [2] Morlet, Marie-Therese, _Les Noms de Personne sur le Territoire de l'Ancienne Gaule du VIe au XIIe Siecle_, three volumes (Paris: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 1972), I:16a. [3] Morlet, I:83a. [4] The references are all to Morlet vol.I. [5] Stro:m, Hilmer, _Old English Personal Names in Bede's History: An Etymological-Phonological Investigation_, Lund Studies in English 8, (Lund: C.W.K. Gleerup, 1939), pp. XXXIv-XXXVII.