ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2716 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2716 ************************************ 30 Mar 2003 From: Josh Mittleman Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether a name meaning either "Margarethe of the Black Forest" or "Margarethe the archer" is appropriate for a German woman between 1250 and 1500. Here is what we've found. In our period, there wasn't a uniform German language, but rather a collection of dialects that varied from one region to the next. These dialects fall into two major groups: Low German in the north and High German in the south, including Bavaria and Austria [1]. The Black Forest was in a High German region; we will focus on forms appropriate for that area. The name appears in various forms around Germany: and in southeastern Germany in 1495 [2], in 15th century Arnsburg [3], and in 15th century Silesia, in the east [4], among others. The final <-a> in may be a partial Latinization of the name, so we don't recommend using that form. The spelling most appropriate to your region is probably , pronounced \MAHR-gah-REH-t@\, where \@\ represents the sound of the in and . The earliest examples we find of surnames that identify people as coming from the Black Forest as 1350 with a Low German form of the name, and 1443 with a High German form [5]. The latter fit your period and region; is a fine choice. The surname was pronounced \SHVAHRTS-vahlt\. The German masculine word for "archer" is , which was used as a surname in the 15th century: 1435, 1499 [6]. The symbol represents u-umlaut, i.e. a 'u' with two dots over it. You would need the feminine form of this byname: is another fine choice. The byname was pronounced \BOW-gen-SHU"-tsin\, where \U"\ stands for the sound of the u-umlaut in the modern German word "to feel". We hope this letter has been useful. Please write us again if you have any questions. I was assisted in researching and writing this letter by Maridonna Benvenuti, Talan Gwynek, Adelaide de Beaumont, and Aryanhwy merch Catmael. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 30 Mar 2003 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] There is a map of German dialects at http://www.serve.com/shea/germusa/dialkart.jpg, and a simpler one at http://german.about.com/library/weekly/aa051898.htm, along with a concise discussion of the major dialects. [2] Aryanhwy merch Catmael (Sara L. Friedemann), "German Given Names from 1495" (WWW: privately published, 2003). http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/german1495.html [3] Talan Gwynek, "15th-Century German Women's Names" (WWW: Academy of Saint Gabriel, 1997). http://www.s-gabriel.org/docs/german15f.html [4] Talan Gwynek, "Medieval German Given Names from Silesia", revised edition (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1999). http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/talan/bahlow/ [5] Brechenmacher, Josef Karlmann, _Etymologisches Woerterbuch der deutschen Familiennamen_ (Limburg a. d. Lahn, C. A. Starke-Verlag, 1957-1960), s.n. Schwarzwald. [6] Brechenmacher s.n. Bogenschu"tz.