ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2745 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2745 ************************************ 8 Jun 2003 From: "Brian M. Scott" Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You asked whether there was any evidence of the use of names from Germanic mythology by real people, especially women in the period from 500 to 1150 CE. You asked specifically about , , and , the names of the Rhinemaidens in Wagner's Ring Cycle. We'll deal with the more specific question first: so far as we can tell, Wagner invented the names , , and for his Ring Cycle. Although the elements <-hilde>, <-linde>, and <-gunde> are modern German versions of <-hilt>, <-lint>, and <-gunt>, which are attested second elements of old feminine Germanic names, we have found no evidence that , , or was used at all in Germanic naming. [1, 2] In fact it's clear that Wagner chose them specifically for their meanings: is 'a fin', and and are both 'a wave'. These meanings are quite different in kind from those of attested Germanic name elements. [3, 4, 5] To answer the more general question, names occurring in the early heroic sagas were indeed used by real people in your period, though of course we have no way to know how often a reference to the sagas was actually intended. To judge by surviving records, such names were moderately frequent in the 8th and 9th centuries, less frequent in the 10th century, very rare in the 11th century except in Bavaria, and moderately frequent again in the 12th and 13th centuries. Actual examples of such names include: [6] Brunihilda* 774 Brunnihilt 855 Prunhilt ca.1140 Cremhildis* 796 Chrimhilt 806 Chriemhilt 881, ca.1140 Chutrun 9th century Gudrun ca.1100 Swanahilt 803, 807 Swanehilda* 10th/11th century * These versions are Latinized and are therefore suitable for use only in Latin documents. These names may be more familiar in their modern forms: Brunhild or Brunhilde, Kriemhild, Gudrun, and Svanhild or Svanhilde. We did not find any water-nymphs associated with the Rhine in the heroic literature. We did, however, find two water-nymphs associated with the Danube, sisters named Sigelint and Hadeburc. Both names were used by real people; we know of an 8th century citation for and a 9th century citation for , though our source does not give the exact spellings of these citations. [7] The spellings and themselves are the standardized Old High German spellings commonly used by scholars; they are based on typical examples of careful Old High German usage, though actual practice was of course quite variable. We would not be surprised to see either or in an 8th or 9th century Old High German record. [8] Arval Benicoeur, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, and Adelaide de Beaumont also contributed to this letter. We hope that it is helpful and that you'll not hesitate to write again if you have any further questions. For the Academy, Brian M. Scott 7 June 2003 ===== References and Notes: [1] Morlet, Marie-The/re\se. Les Noms de Personne sur le Territoire de l'Ancienne Gaule du VIe au XIIe Sie\cle. Three vols. (Paris: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 1968, 1972, 1985); III:484-5. (The slash and backslash stand respectively for acute and grave accents over the preceding letter.) [2] Ibid., vol. I passim. Morlet's data show a majority of the attested first elements of Germanic names. [3] also suggests , a past tense form of the verb 'to flow'. [4] Sonderegger, Stefan. 'Prinzipien germanischer Personennmengebung'. In _Nomen et Gens_, Dieter Geuenich, Wolfgang Haubrichs, & Joerg Jarnut, eds. (New York: Walter de Gruyter, 1997); Section 2.3. [5] , the name of a witch in a comic strip, is a modern example of the same kind of creation. [6] Socin, Adolf. Mittelhochdeutsches Namenbuch nach Oberrheinischen Quellen des Zwoelften und Dreizehnten Jahrhunderts (Hildesheim: Georg Olms Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1966); p. 571ff. [7] Gillespie, George T. A Catalogue of Persons Names in German Heroic Literature (700-1600) (Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, 1973); s.nn. , . [8] Although these nymphs appear in the Nibelungenlied and interact with Hagen, one of the major characters, they are themselves minor characters, and we doubt that people named and were actually named after them. If any instances of the name were inspired by the Germanic heroic sagas, for instance, the reference is much likelier to be to Siegfried's mother, who appears in several of them. [7] This of course does not make their names any less suitable for historical re-creation.