ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2648 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2648 ************************************ 1 Mar 2003 From: Josh Mittleman Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether "Frederick the Old One" is an appropriate name for a 15th or 16th century German man living near the Black Forest. This letter is a brief answer to your question. is the standard English spelling of this name. It appears as and in an early 15th century document from Constance [1]. Constance is southeast of the southern end of the Black Forest. A little north of the Black Forest, the name appears in 15th century sources as [2]. This seems to be the appropriate spelling for the dialects of German spoken in your region. The name was pronounced \FREE-d@-rikh\. \@\ represents the sound of the in or , and \kh\ is the raspy sound in the German word or Scottish . By the 15th century, most Germans used inherited family names, much as we do today. For the most part, literal descriptive epithets had dropped out of formal use. We would not expect a man to be identified simply as "the old one" except perhaps in very informal contexts. The particular form is grammatically incorrect: The standard masculine nominative form is . A man named lived in Gmuend, a bit east of the Black Forest, in 1321 [5]. We found several examples of names from your period and approximate region with appended after the family name, like , [4]. This was roughly analogous to adding to a modern American name, i.e. could have been the father, brother, or uncle of a younger . One option, therefore, is for you to choose a surname and add to it. Another possibility is to use as a surname, without the article, e.g. [4]. In this case, would have been understood as an inherited family name rather than a literal description. 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 Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Falk vom Weserbogen, Talan Gwynek, Adelaide de Beaumont. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 1 Mar 2003 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Richental, Ulrich, _Das Konzil zu Konstanze_, 1414-1418, facsimile edition (Konstanz: Jan Thorbecke Verlag, 1964), pp.268-275. [2] Mulch, Roland, _Arnsburger Personennamen: Untersuchungen zum Namenmaterial aus anrsburger Urkunden vom 13. - 16. Jahrhundert_ (Darmstadt & Marburg: Hessischen Historischen Kommission Darmstadt and the Historischen Kommission fu:r Hessen, 1974). [3] Schmid, Peter, _Der Deutsche Orden und die Reichssteuer des Gemeinen Pfennigs von 1495: Die Grundherrschaft des Deutschen Ordens im Reich an der Wende vom 15. zum 16 Jahrhundert_ (Neustadt: Degener in Kommission, 2000). [4] Bahlow, Hans, _Dictionary of German Names_, tr. Edda Gentry (German-American Cultural Society, 1994 ISBN: 0924119357), s.n. Alt(er). [5] Brechenmacher, Josef Karlmann, _Etymologisches Woerterbuch der deutschen Familiennamen_ (Limburg a. d. Lahn, C. A. Starke-Verlag, 1957-1960), s.n. Alt.