ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2741 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2741 ************************************ 13 Sep 2003 From: Josh Mittleman Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked us to evaluate whether is an appropriate name for a 15th century Swedish merchant; and whether such a man might have used the arms you designed. Here is what we have found. Before we start, we'd like to apologize for the delay in finishing this report. is the Latin name from which derived the Swedish name , , , etc. Various forms of the name appear in Swedish records from the 14th century onward; for details, please see these Academy reports: http://www.s-gabriel.org/1606 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2296 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2532 Your choice to use different forms of your name in different contexts is entirely consistent with period usage. In a Latin document, one would certainly expect to see the Latin spelling . You wrote that you found as the name of an island in "King Valdemar's sail route". (We're using the symbol to represent o-umlaut.) We found a couple references to "Kung Valdemars segelled" on the web. They say that the original source was written c.1300 in Latin with place names in "old Norse spellings" [1, 2]. Unfortunately, neither site mentions the particular place name you've chosen. None of our sources from period Scandinavia contains an example of the place name . It may have been used in your period, but we don't know. It is quite possible that the modern name came into use after Kung Valdemars segelled was recorded: Some places mentioned in this source have significantly different modern names, while others have remained fairly constant. For example: Modern 13th century Mo"ja Myghi [12] Runmaro" Rudni [12] Dalaro" Dalernsund [12] A"vro" Aefra [13] Fo"glo" Fyghelde [14, 15] Linaebo"tae Lembo"te [15] Thiyckaekarl Ko"kar [15] Aspaesund Apso" (probably) [15] Iurma Jurmo [15] Other places mentioned in the itinerary cannot be identified with certainty [15]. The upshot is that one cannot guess the 13th century form of a place name based only on its modern form. Furthermore, we found suggestions that the names of at least a few of the places mentioned in the itinerary changed significantly between the 13th century and your period. Thus, without some period data, we can't even be sure that some form of was used in the 15th century, let alone tell you how it would have been spelled in your period. We think it is reasonable to believe that a place with roughly this name could have existed in the 15th century, whether or not the name was actually applied to the modern . From our survey of place names mentioned in one large source, we think that the more likely spelling is , where represents an 'o' cross with a vertical line [7]. In the absence of early examples, it is also impossible to say anything definite about the etymology of the name. However, we doubt it derives from a phrase meaning "Raven Island" or "Rafn's Island" -- the 'j' is an unlikely development in such a name. We found two possible origins, both very speculative. One is a phrase meaning "wild onion island". The Swedish dialect word "wild onion" is identical to a Norwegian word that may appear in the place name ; and is a cognate of a German and Danish word [3, 4, 5]. The other possibility is a compound of with . sometimes means "landing place for boats" in Norwegian [16], which could very well have been applied to an island. In this case, the first element could indeed mean "raven". The word "of" was sometimes used in Swedish locative bynames, but "in, within" was much more common, particularly in bynames that referred to islands. The word was also written , , and , but was the most common spelling [6, 7]. In summary, we don't have enough evidence to recommend any particular spelling of your byname, but our data does not rule out as a plausible 15th century Swedish name. The arms you drew can be blazoned "Gules, a chain fesswise throughout surmounted by a garb argent". Chain is a rather rare charge in period heraldry and we've seen no example of "a chain throughout" in any period source. We know no example of chain of any kind in Scandinavian arms, but as chains were used occasionally in various parts of Europe [8] and our Scandinavian sources are not extensive, we cannot rule out the possibility of their use in Sweden, too. However, we don't recommend using this charge without evidence that it was used in your culture. The garb used was in medieval English and French heraldry [9, 10]. It was moderately common in early Anglo-French armory [11], so it is not a great stretch to think that it might have appeared in Scandinavian arms by the 15th century. It would of course be better re-creation to use a charge that was definitely used in your culture. Your design as a whole, unfortunately, is also not typical of the heraldry of your culture. In particular, laying one charge across another, as your garb overlies the chain, was quite unusual; we don't recommend it. It's not unusual for a pair of identical charges to be crossed in saltire (X-wise) or for a simple stripe to cross over a complex charge; but it's quite rare for one complex charge to overlie an unrelated complex charge. If you would like to design arms more typical of late medieval Swedish heraldry, we may be able to help. 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 Talan Gwynek, Juliana la Caminante de Navarra, Adelaide de Beaumont, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, and Gunnvor Silfraharr. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 13 Sep 2003 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Per A*kesson, "King Valdemar's Sailing Route" (WWW: Nordic Underwater Archaeology, 1999). http://www.abc.se/~m10354/uwa/kingvald.htm [2] "Kung Valdemars segelled" (WWW, accessed 22 Aug 2003). http://www2.ab.lst.se/valdemar/ [3] Sandnes, J{o|}rn, and Ola Stemshaug, _Norsk Stadnamnleksikon_, 4th ed. (Oslo: Det Norske Samlaget, Oslo), s.n. Rams{o|}ya. [4] Svenska Akademiens Ordbok (WWW: OSA Projecktet,m Svenska Akademien och Spra*kdata, Go"teborgs Universitet, 2003), s.v. rams http://g3.spraakdata.gu.se/saob/ [5] Our sources do not list an Old Norse precursor to , nor can we find an obvious possible source; so the etymological information in [4] suggests that the word was adopted into the Continental Scandinavian dialects from German. Swedish would then correspond to German dialect . [6] Academy of Saint Gabriel report 1952 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1952 [7] _Sveriges Medeltida Personnamn_ (Uppsala: 1967-), bd. 1, h. 3, multiple entries. We surveyed locative bynames that ranged from the mid-14th to the early 16th centuries, most from the 15th century. [8] Woodward, John and George Burnett, _A Treatise on Heraldry British and Foreign_ (Rutland, VT: Charles E. Tuttle, 1969), pp.353-5. [9] Popoff, Michel, _Artois et Picardie_, Marche d'Armes I (Paris: Le Le/opard d'or, 1981). He shows two examples of garbs. [10] Woodward, pp.341-3. [11] Brault, Gerard J., _Early Blazon: Heraldic Terminology in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries with Special Reference to Arthurian Heraldry_, 2nd ed. (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 1997), s.v. jarbe. [12] Kung Valdemars segelled (WWW: CTO Stockholm-Ma"laren, accessed 6 Sep 2003). http://www.cto.nu/ny_sida_14.htm [13] 'A"vro"' (WWW: Kalmar l"ans museum, accessed 6 Sep 2003). http://internetserver.kalmarlansmuseum.se/byggnad/skargard/pdf/ohamn/mister/avro.pdf [14] 'Fo"glo"' (WWW: Ska"rga*rdsGuiden, accessed 6 Sep 2003) http://www.archipelago.nu/SKARGARD/SVENSKA/ALAND/foglo.htm [15] Dahlsto"rm, S., "Det danska itinerariet" (WWW: Aspo", accessed 6 Sep 2003). Other place names are discussed in this article. http://www.utskar-ulkosaaret.parnet.fi/aspo/dahlstrom.htm [16] Sandnes and Stemshaug, s.v. sjo|.