ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2786 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2786 ************************************ 8 Jun 2004 From: "Brian M. Scott" Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You asked about the suitability of the forenames , , and and the bynames meaning 'of Eltnon', 'of Duisburg', or 'of the Valkhof' for someone born ca. 1020 into a family of ministeriales in Duisburg and now living in a city or crown castle in Lower Lorraine, e.g., the Valkhof in Nijmegen. You wanted to know how these names would have been written both in the local vernacular (everyday spoken language) and in Latin, and how they would have been pronounced. Let me begin by apologizing for having taken so long to answer; I hope that the information is still of use. I'll begin by outlining the linguistic situation, then discuss the forenames, then the bynames, and finish up with a summary. Lower Lorraine is for the most part within the area in which Old Low Franconian was spoken, though in the eastern part of the region there was probably some influence from Old Saxon as well. Unfortunately, very little Old Low Franconian survives: the language is known mostly from four manuscripts that all derive from a single work probably written early in the 10th century. Fortunately, this work was written in an eastern dialect of Old Low Franconian ancestral to the Limburg dialect of Dutch, so it probably gives a fairly good picture of the language of your area about a century before your period. [1] You were especially interested in the forename , but you also mentioned and . All three of these names were used in your approximate region and period, though not necessarily in those exact forms. We found the following examples; all are from Belgium unless otherwise noted. For each name we give first the 11th century citations, then those from the 10th century. If we found more than one example of a particular spelling, the number of instances is give in parentheses; e.g., '(4x)' means that we found four examples of the spelling in question. [2, 3] THEBOLT: Thietboldus (4x) Thieboldus (Luxemburg) Thietbaldus Tietbaldus (Luxemburg) Thitboldus Tiebaldus Tedbaldus Theboldus (Reims, France) Theobaldus (Amiens, France) Tietboldus 980 Thietbaldus 964 Teutboldus 946 Tiebolt 9th-10th c. (Remiremont, France) Thiotpoldus 9th-10th c. (Remiremont, France) LUTHARD: Lietardus Liettardus Litardus Littardus Litardus 995-1012 Littardus 986-95 Lietardus 9th-10th c. (Remiremont, France) RUTGER: Rodgerus (3x) Rotgerus (2x) Rotgerus 938 Rodgerus 979-90, 981-85, 988-94 Rodgerius 971 All of these except have been Latinized, but most of them still show some influence from the local vernacular. By putting them together with what we know about West Germanic dialects, especially Old Low Franconian and Old Saxon, we can get a pretty good idea of the actual spoken forms of these names in your period and region. Here I'll give just our conclusions; the linguistic details are quite technical, so I've relegated them to a footnote. [4] THEBOLT: Although you found the Latinized spelling on an 11th century gravestone in Kalkar, Nordrhein-Westfalen, we do not think that this is a good representation of typical vernacular forms. We recommend instead the forms and , with corresponding Latin forms and , respectively. However, there seems to have been considerable variation even within the region, and we think that and , Latinized and , respectively, are probably also reasonable choices. I'll give the pronunciations in IPA notation as modified by Evan Kirshenbaum for use in an ASCII environment; this system (along with several others) is shown at . In particular, [@] (IPA schwa) stands for the sound of the in German or of in English and , [O] (IPA reversed-c) stands for the sound of in German or English , and [D] (IPA edh) stands for the sound of in English and (but not ). The third column gives approximate pronunciations in the English-based notation used in most Academy letters; \oh\ stands for the vowel of , and \DH\ for the sound of in and . Thietbalt ['Di@tbalt] \DHEE@t-bahlt\ Thietbolt ['Di@tbOlt] \DHEE@t-bohlt\ Thiebalt ['Di@balt] \DHEE@-bahlt\ Thiebolt ['Di@bOlt] \DHEE@-bohlt\ The initial consonant was in the process of becoming [d] in your period, so it may well also be correct to say ['di@tbalt] (\DEE@T-bahlt\), etc. LUTHARD: We think that this name would most likely have been written or in the vernacular; very likely both spellings were possible. Both would have been pronounced roughly ['li@tart] (\LEE@-tart\). The likeliest Latin form is . RUTGER: We recommend , Latinized and probably pronounced roughly ['ro:tge:r] (\ROAT-gayr\), though may also be fine. You were interested in bynames meaning 'of Eltnon', 'of Duisburg', and 'of the Valkhof', and in particular in what preposition would have been used to form such names. I'll start with general information and then discuss the specific place-names. Bynames of this type were still quite rare in your period and were mostly confined to the old nobility; in general they did not spread to the ministeriales until a bit later, though there are a very few 11th century examples. Most of the early examples are of course Latinized and use the Latin preposition ; the place-name itself, however, is usually not Latinized or specially inflected. We were never the less also able to find a few 11th century vernacular examples in Low Saxon from the monastery at Freckenhorst in Westfalen: Alverik van Hotnon Wizo van Variti Azelin van Hlacbergon Vokko van Gronhurst ende Boio van Teltingthorpa Attiko van Uuerst Hizel ende Jezo van Faretharpa (Here is 'and'.) [5, 6] The Old Low Franconian preposition corresponding to Old Saxon appears as in the early 10th century; it governs the dative case, so it will be necessary to determine how the place-names of interest were inflected. [1] DUISBURG: The earliest documentary mention of the city is in 883, as . [7] The name appears in its modern form by the end of the 12th century, in the name . [8] Between them these two citations establish as a likely spelling of the first element in your period, though we were unable to discover its etymology in order to confirm this. The second element was spelled in a variety of ways. From a little further to the west, in Belgium, we have the following examples, all spellings of the place-name : [9] Ostburg 1014, 11th c. in Osburg 11th c. terra in Osburg 955-80, 11th c. in Ostburgh 1038 Ostburch 941, 11th c. As an independent word the second element was and in Middle Dutch, a bit later than your period, and in Old Saxon. [10, 11] In all likelihood and are both reasonable vernacular spellings for your period, both probably pronounced roughly ['duIs,burx] (\DOO-iss-boorkh\), much as it is today. The dative case of Old Low Franconian appears as , , and at least once as ; the dative of Old Saxon appears both as and, rarely, as . [12, 11] We recommend the forms and or, with Old Saxon influence, and , though , for instance, is probably an acceptable alternative; is a likely Latinization. ELTNON: As you mentioned, modern Elten (or Hochelten) was recorded as in 944; specifically, it appears in the prepositional phrase . Other early citations include the following: cuius nomen loci Eltena 968 in monte, qui dicitur Altina 970 in predicto monte Altinensi 970 in loco, qui dicitur Heltnon 973 in quodam loco Altenis dicto 996 Heltnon 996 abbaciam Altene 1083 abbatium aliam Eltene 1085 The dates are those of the original documents; the 10th century citations are known only from late 15th century copies, and the 1083 citation is from an early 14th century copy. [13] These data suggest that the name was originally something like . The place is on a hill, and the forms, all of which are from later copies, may show the influence of Latin 'high'. This developed through an intermediate into modern . Most likely was the dative case. [14] (The in is most likely a scribal addition.) If this interpretation is correct, and perhaps should be appropriate 11th century forms, pronounced approximately [fan 'EltnOn] (\fahn ELT-nohn\). (Here [E] in the first guide stands for IPA epsilon.) It seems likely that more than one Latinized form is possible; seems likely to be among the possible forms. VALKHOF: We have not been able to find an early mention of the place-name and therefore are not sure how old the modern form is. Indeed, we are not even sure how early the name (in some form) was applied to the place. The second element is clearly the common Germanic place-name element 'yard, court, courtyard; manor; palace'. If the name goes back to your period, its first element comes either from the masculine name or from the word meaning 'falcon'. Both are found in place-names from the right general dialect area: Valkum (a farm near Winsum in Groningen) is from a 10th or 11th century 'Falco's home', and Valkenburg (Limburg), recorded in 1041 as and in a 17th century copy of a document of 1075 as , was originally 'falcons' mount', as may be seen from the Latin ca. 1122. [15] If the name has one of these origins, it has obviously undergone the same sort of simplification as . On the other hand, could be a much later formation, directly from Dutch 'falcon'. In view of this uncertainty, we do not recommend using to form a byname. To sum up, , , , , , , , and are probably all reasonable choices for the forename; appropriate Latinized forms are , , , , , , and . Both and are probably fine forms of a byname meaning 'of or from Duisburg', being the more conservative spelling; is a likely Latinization. We think that and are also correctly formed, but there is a little more uncertainty about these, owing to the wide variety of early forms; should then be at least one possible Latinization. We do not recommend a byname based on , because we are unable to determine what forms, if any, are appropriate to your period. Arval Benicoeur, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, and Jillian Saint Andre also contributed to this letter. We hope that it has been useful and that you'll not hesitate to write again if you have any further questions, and once again we apologize for having taken so long with it. For the Academy, Talan Gwynek 7 June 2004 ===== References and Notes: [1] Robinson, Orrin W. Old English and Its Closest Relatives (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1992); Ch. 8 passim. [2] Tavernier-Vereecken, C. Gentse Naamkunde van ca. 1000 tot 1253: een bijdrage tot de kennis van het oudste middelnederlands (Belgium: 1968); pp. 44, 34, 119. [3] Morlet, Marie-The/re\se. Les Noms de Personne sur le Territoire de l'Ancienne Gaule du VIe au XIIe Sie\cle. Three volumes (Paris: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 1968, 1972, 1985); I:67a, 160a, 136b. (The slash and backslash stand respectively for acute and grave accents over the preceding letter.) [4] The first element of derives from the same Proto-Germanic root, *theudo:, as Old Low Franconian 'people, folk'. [1, 3, 16] The same diphthong *eu is found in Proto-Germanic *leugan, the source of Old Low Franconian 'to lie, to dissemble'. [1, 16] From this we can see that Proto-Germanic *eu appears in Old Low Franconian both as and as , both pronounced roughly [i@]. The first element of is from Proto-Germanic *leudi- 'person, people', so we expect it most likely to appear as or in Old Low Franconian. [3, 16] The spelling does not occur in the available data, but is common in both names, so we conclude that it is probably the best choice for your time and place. (The existence of Middle Dutch from the same root tends to support this conclusion. [17]) The second element of is from the same Proto-Germanic root, *baltha-, as Old Saxon and Old High German 'bold, brave'. [3, 18] In Middle Dutch the word appears as . [19] This shows three phonetic changes: the original /a/ has been raised to /o/, the /l/ has been vocalized to /u/, and final /d/ has become /t/. The first of these changes can be seen in several of the citations; it seems safe to assume that the change had already begun in your period in at least some dialects. There is no evidence in the data to suggest that the vocalization of /l/ had occurred, and we think that it was a later change. We have less evidence regarding the final consonant, but it is indicative that our only non-Latinized citation, , has . (It is our experience that Latinized forms tend to be conservative in this respect and are therefore less reliable evidence.) In addition Old Low Franconian has 'with' and 'tribulation' where Old Saxon has and . [1, 20] All in all, the evidence seems somewhat to favor final here. The second element of is from the same Proto-Germanic root, *hardu-, that gave rise to English and Middle Dutch and . [21, 22] The cited forms consistently show loss of the ; we've followed their example in our recommendations. Being Latinized, they don't tell us whether the final consonant was or ; since the Middle Dutch evidence from the cognate adjective is mixed, we've chosen conservatively to suggest that both might have been in use in your period. Finally, the citations under clearly point to a vernacular or . Since the first element is from a Proto-Germanic root *hro:thi-, which, like *baltha- above, has *th, we lean towards , but may be a perfectly acceptable alternative. [5] Socin, Adolf. Mittelhochdeutsches Namenbuch nach Oberrheinischen Quellen des Zwoelften und Dreizehnten Jahrhunderts (Hildesheim: Georg Olms Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1966); Ch. XII passim, especially pp. 237, 250-51. [6] Socin dates the Freckenhorste Heberolle to the 10th century, but other sources give dates ranging from ca. 1000 to ca. 1100: ca. 1000: 1050: 11th century: 1090: ca. 1100: It seems safe to date the document generally to the 11th century. [7] 'Stadt- und Kulturhistorisches Museum Duisburg' (WWW: Verband Rheinischer Museen e.V.), accessed 30 May 2004. www.museumsverband-rheinland.de/museum/kultur-museen.html?showit=33 [8] 'Geschichte der Juedischen Gemeinde in Duisburg' (WWW: Gesellschaft fuer Christlich-Jüdische Zusammenarbeit Duisburg - Muelheim - Oberhausen e.V., 2 August 2002). www.ekir.de/cjz-du/Material/syn.html [9] Tavernier-Vereecken, op. cit., p. 476. [10] The Compact Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary (New York: Oxford University Press, 1973); s.v. . [11] von Kienle, Richard. Historische Laut- und Formenlehre des Deutschen (Tuebingen: Max Niemeyer Verlag, 1969); p. 153. [12] Koebler, Gerhard. Altniederfraenkisches Woerterbuch, 3rd edn. (WWW: 2003); s.v. . www.koeblergerhard.de/anfrkwbhinw.html [13] Derks, Paul. 'Das Burgen-, Orts- und Flurname _Altena_ und seine Verwandten', Essener Linguistische Skripte -- elektronisch, Jahrgang 0, Heft 1, 2000, pp. 31-205; pp. 60, 61 n. 170. www.elise.uni-essen.de/elise/elise_01_00/elise01_3_2000.pdf [14] Koebler, op. cit., Vorwort, shows both n-stems (so-called weak nouns) and o:-stem feminines with dative singulars in <-on>. A hypothetical would be expected to contract to . [15] Kuenzel, R.E., D.P. Blok, & J.M. Verhoeff. Lexicon van nederlandse toponiemen tot 1200 (Amsterdam: P.J. Meertens-Instituut voor Dialectologie, Volkskunde en Naamkunde, 1989); s.nn. , (Limburg). [16] Watkins, Calvert. The American Heritage Dictionary of Indo-European Roots, 2nd edn. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2000); s.rr. *teuta:-, *leugh-, *leudh-. [17] de Vries, Jan. Altnordisches Etymologisches Woerterbuch, 2nd edn. (Boston: Brill, 2000); s.v. . [18] Ibid. s.n. . [19] Oxford English Dictionary s.v. . [20] Koebler, Gerhard. Altsaechsisches Woerterbuch, 3rd edn. (WWW: 2000ff); s.vv. , , . www.koeblergerhard.de/aswbhinw.html [21] Watkins, op. cit. s.r. *kar-(1). [22] Oxford English Dictionary s.v. . [23] Watkins, op. cit. s.r. *kar-(2).