ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2522 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2522 ************************************ 13 Apr 2002 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether and are appropriate names for a 16th century Hungarian woman and man, respectively. Here is what we have found. was a short form of , recorded in 1568. It is an excellent choice. is a fine name, but this is a Latinized form that would have been used only in writing. The Hungarian form of the name was 1569 or 1589 [1]. The names were pronounced \DUR-ko\ and \MIHK-lohsh\. The syllable \DUR\ rhymes with , and \oh\ represents the vowel in . The byname (or surname) "hunter" was recorded in 1575. Another spelling, was recorded in 1597 [2]. This is a fine surname, pronounced \VAW-daahs\ or \VAW-daahsh\ [7], but we're not certain whether it would have been used for a woman. A surname based on the place name (modern Romanian [3]) is also an excellent choice; it appears in 16th century Hungarian documents as 1521 and 1568 [4]. The <-y> ending is equivalent to the <-i>, but some names were consistently written with one rather than the other; we recommend you use <-y> in this name. It was pronounced \TEHM-esh-vahr-ee\. In our period, Hungarian names were constructed with the given name either first or last; so it is equally correct to call yourselves and or and [5]. You also asked whether animal-names were used as bynames in 16th century Hungarian. They were indeed, typically either to describe a physical or other personal characteristic or to identify a person's occupation. Here are some examples that occur in the 14th century or earlier. We listed them in modern spellings; if you are interested in a particular name, we can provide spellings from your period [6]. The slash in some names represents an acute accent mark on the preceding letter. Csuka pike fisherman Farkas wolf also a given name, and thus possibly a surname for a person whose father's name was Fogas pike-perch refers to prominent teeth Galamb pigeon pigeon-breeder Harcsa catfish fisherman, or possibly "moustached" Kakas rooster arrogant, quarrelsome Ka/nya kite passionate. The slash represents an acute accent mark on the preceding letter Macska cat loiterer, nosy Medve bear big and burly Patka/ny rat Po/k spider Pozsa/r carp Ravasz fox sly So/lyom falcon/hawk Szarka magpie Szu/nyog gnat pest Tyu/k hen poultryman Varju/ crow 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 Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Talan Gwynek, Walraven van Nijmegen, Juliana de Luna, Ursula Georges, Blaise de Cormeilles, and Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 13 Apr 2002 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Ka/zme/r Miklo/s, "Re/gi Magyar Csala/dnevek Szo/ta/ra: XIV-XVII Sza/zad" (Budapest, 1993), s.nn. Feje/rva/ri, Miklo/s. [2] Ka/zme/r s.nn. Vadas, Vada/sz. [3] See http://www.bogardi.com/had/hadwish4.shtml and http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/ro-timis.html. The city is first mentioned in the early 13th century. Its name means "castle on the Temes River". [4] Ka/zme/r s.n. Temesva/ri. [5] Walraven van Nijmegen, "Hungarian Names 101" (WWW: Brian R. Speer, Privately published, 1998). http://www.geocities.com/Athens/1336/magyarnames101.html [6] Ka/zme/r. Each name listed is a headword. [7] Hungarian adjectives do not have different forms for masculine and feminine, so could theoretically have been used for men or women.