ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2604
http://www.s-gabriel.org/2604
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18 Dec 2002
From: Ursula Whitcher 


Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!

You asked whether <Brynja> is an appropriate name for a woman living 
somewhere in Scandinavia before the year 1400.  You also asked about a 
byname meaning "cunning" or "intelligent".  Here is what we have found.

We found <Brynia> used as the name of a troll-woman, and as a 
fifteenth-century masculine name. [1, 2]  However, we did not find any 
evidence that <Brynia> or <Brynja> was used as the name of a real woman at 
any time during your period.

We did find several other feminine names beginning with <Bryn->.  For 
example, <Brynger{dh}r> and <Brynhildr> are Old Norse names.  (Here {dh} 
represents the letter edh, which looks like a backward '6' with a crossbar 
on the upper limb.  The letter edh was pronounced like the <th> in the word 
<this>.)  We believe either <Brynger{dh}r> or <Brynhildr> is appropriate 
for a woman living between the ninth and eleventh centuries.  However, 
these exact forms may not be appropriate for the entire period, so we 
encourage you to write to us again once you choose a name. [4]  We also 
found the names <Brynildir>, <Brynilder>, and <Brynilla> used in Sweden or 
Norway at the end of the fourteenth century and beginning of the fifteenth 
century. [5]

It's conceivable that <Brynja> or <Brynia> might have been used as a pet 
form of any of these names, but we have not found an actual example, and we 
don't have enough information about medieval Scandinavian naming practices 
to say whether this is really at all likely.  Therefore we cannot recommend 
<Brynja> as the best historical re-creation. [3]

We believe the following Old Norse bynames meaning "wise" or "cunning" are 
appropriate for a woman.  (In the following list, the slash '/' represents 
an acute accent on the preceding letter):

      <in spaka>          "the wise"
      <in fro/{dh}a>      "learned, wise"
      <in dju/pu/{dh}ga>  "deep, subtle, wise"
      <in fullspaka>      "fully wise, very wise"
      <in vi/sa>          "wise, knowing, learned"
      <in allspaka>       "very wise, very gentle"

Any of these bynames could appear after the Old Norse names <Brynger{dh}r> 
and <Brynhildr>.  For example, a woman might be known as <Brynhildr in 
spaka>, "Brynhildr the wise".  We also found the byname <Spak->, meaning 
"wise-", or "gentle-", which would appear before a name.  For instance, 
<Spak-Brynhildr> means "Wise-Brynhildr". [6, 7]

Descriptive bynames were used through the end of your period, but the forms 
were not always the same.  We believe that <spake>, "wise" or "gentle", is 
an appropriate byname for a fourteenth-century woman.  For example, a 
fourteenth-century woman might have been known as <Brynilla spake>, 
"Brynilla the wise".  The byname <spake> was pronounced \SPAH-k@\, where 
the symbol \@\ represents the sound of the sound of the letter 'a' in 
<about> and <soda>. [8]

Old Norse names were written using runes.  If you decide to use an Old 
Norse name such as <Brynger{dh}r> or <Brynhildr> and would like to know the 
appropriate runic spelling, please write to us again.  Also, please write 
to us if you would like to know more about different forms of a particular 
name and when those forms were in use, or if you are curious about the 
pronunciation of a name.  Finally, we'd like to note that the pronunciation 
of Old Norse and medieval Scandinavian names is not always obvious.  Once 
you have chosen a name, we will be very happy to provide you with the 
correct pronunciation.

I hope this letter has been useful.  I was assisted in researching and 
writing this letter by Talan Gwynek, Lindorm Eriksson, Aryanhwy merch 
Catmael, Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, Adelaide de Beaumont, and Arval 
Benicoeur.

For the Academy,
Ursula Georges
18 Dec. 2002.

References:

[1]  E.H. Lind, _Norsk-Isla:ndska Dopnamn ock Fingerade Namn fra*n 
Medeltiden_ (Uppsala & Leipzig: 1905-1915, sup. Oslo, Uppsala and 
Kobenhavn: 1931) s.n. <Brynia>.  <Brynia> is cross-referenced to <Bry/ia>, 
which turns out to be mythological, the name of a troll-woman; it appears 
variously as <Bryia>, <Bryla>, and <Brynia>.

[2]  _Sveriges Medeltida Personnamn_, Vol. 1- (Uppsala: 1967-.) s.n. 
<Brynia>.  <Jo|nis Brynioson> 1402.

[3]  The prototheme <Ragn->, for instance, gave rise to masc. and fem. 
short forms <Ragni> and <Ragna>, respectively, and <Brynja> is probably the 
expected feminine short form from <Bryn(j)->.

[4]  Sara L. Friedemann, "Viking Bynames found in the Landna/mabo/k" (WWW: 
privately published, 1999) 
http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/vikbynames.html.

[5]  _Sveriges Medeltida Personnamn_.  h.4 s.n. Brynhild: <Brynildir> 1389 
(Norwegian), <Brynilder> 1394 (Norwegian), Brynilla 1434.

[6]  Friedemann.

      Forms we found (some masculine):

      <inn spaki>         "wise" 8
      <inn fro/{dh}i>     "learned, wise" 6
      <in spaka>          "wise" 2
      <in dju/pu/{dh}ga>  "deep, subtle, wise" 1
      <fullspakr>         "fully wise, very wise" 1
      <Spak->             "Wise-, Gentle-" 1
      <vi/ss>             "wise, knowing, learned" 1

[7]  Lind, E.H., _Norsk-Isla:ndska Personbinamn fra*n Medeltiden_ (Uppsala: 
1920-21) s.v. <allspakr>

[8]  Cleasby, R., G. Vigfusson, & W. Craigie, _An Icelandic-English 
Dictionary_ (Oxford: At the University Press, 1975) s.v. <spakr>.