|
Greetings! You asked about "Ingeborg Thorsdatter" or "Thorstensdatter" for a 9th century female Icelandic persona. You also asked about the validity of any arms for such a person.
Ninth century Icleand certainly did not have heraldry. One approach is to put together arms and not worry about their authenticity at all, though it is better to make them authentic at least for _some_ period rather than for no period, since they will then add to the general medieval atmosphere of the Society even if they don't enhance your own persona.
You can find a more compleat text on the heraldic options for personae from non-heraldic cultures on our web page at
http://www.itd.umich.edu/~ximenez/s.gabriel/faq/nonheraldic.html
"Ingeborg" is found (with some variation of spelling) in Iceland. In the sagas (which were written down from ca 1200) it's most commonly spelled "Ingibio,rg" (1). In this name (and throughout this letter) "o," refers to the letter "o" with a "hook" under it.
"Thorsten" is also found on Iceland, but spelled "Thorsteinn", with "Thorsteinsdo'ttir" as the patronymic ("o'" refers to the letter "o" with an accent mark above) (2). This however is also from 13th century sagas, so the correct spelling for your time might be different. Note that "ei" in "Thorstein" changed to "e" in some Scandinavian languages but not in Icelandic. So the complete 13th century form of the name would be "Ingibio,rg Thorsteinsdo'ttir".
We don't have any sources for the 9th century Icelandic language, but Iceland was settled mostly from Norway starting ca 870 (3). The language of your persona would be almost the same as the language spoken in Norway. It might be posible to construct the correct spelling and pronunciation from Norwegian rune stones from this time (4).
It's not clear from your letter if you'd prefer the byname "Thorsdatter" or "Thorsteinsdo'ttir". These names would indicate your ancestry and you shouldn't use a name that would imply that you're the daughter of the God "Thor". There's however some indications that the Vikings that settled on the Brittish Isles used "Thor" as a name of ordinary humans (5). We have no evidence that it was used other than as the name of the God in Iceland or in Scandinavia. We haven't researched if the rest of your name would fit a Viking in Britain. Your options are to either go with "Thorsteinsdo'ttir" and an Icleandic persona or "Thorsdatter" and a Scandinavian persona from the Brittish Isles (and posibly adjusting the rest of the name to the relocated persona - the Anglo-Scandinavian version of yor forename might, for instance, be something like "Ingebarg").
Alan Fairfax, myself, Hartmann Rogge, Talan Gwynek and Arval d'Espas Nord all contributed to this letter.
Please don't hesitate to call as with further questions. We'd be happy to help with your arms and your name if you tell us if you want "Thorsteinsdo'ttir" or "Thorsdatter". We can also try researching the runic spelling that your persona would have used, at least if you settle on the Icelandic persona.
In service,
Lindorm Eriksson
Academy of S. Gabriel
(1) Lind, E. H.: "Norsk-islandska dopnamn ock fingerade namn fran medeltiden", col. 631-632, sub Ingibiorg. Uppsala, Leipzig 1905-15.
(2) Haraldsson, G. B. (pseudonym for Fleck, H.): "The old Norse Name", p. 16, sub Thorsteinn, privately published 1977.
(3) Hallberg, P.: Efterskrift, p.283. In "Njals Saga", transl. by Alving, H., Bokforlaget Fabel, Trondheim 1st ed 1943, 3rd ed 1988.
(4) Olsen, M.: 'Norges Innskrifter med de Yngre Runer utgitt for kjeldeskriftfondet med hjelp i forarbeider av Sophus Bugge, Oluf Rygh og Ingvald Undset ved Magnus Olsen under medvirkning av Aslak Liestol' (Norges Indskrifter indtil reformationen, anden afdeling Norges innskrifter med de yngre runer), vol. 1-5, Oslo 1941-1960.
(5) Fellows Jensen, G.: "Scandinavian Personal Names in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire"