ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2793 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2793 ************************************ 27 Nov 2003 From: Aryanhwy merch Catmael Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You wanted to know if 'Sam the Tree' is an appropriate name for a man living in northern Germany around 1400. Here is the information that we have 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. Because you said you are interested in a northern German name, we will be recommending Low German forms. was quite common in Germany during the Middle Ages. [1] We find two examples of from 1177 and 1295 in Mecklenburg, in the north part of Germany. [2] We have no reason to doubt that it was also used in your period. 'tree' is the standard High German, i.e. southern, form of the word. [2] The corresponding Low German word was pronounced roughly \boam\, where \oa\ is the vowel in , and was therefore typically spelled , with such variants as and . We found the following northern examples of bynames based on the Low German word: [2,3,4] prope Bom 1275 'near the tree' dictus Bom 1300 'called 'Tree'' (likely used by someone who lived near a tree) Bom 1496 'Tree' an genn Boem 1581 'by the tree' Based on these examples, we believe would be the most appropriate spelling for your period. It would be pronounced \BOAM\, where \OA\ is the vowel in . This is a fine choice for your byname, but we would like to emphasis that would not be a byname for someone who was like a tree, but rather for someone who lived near a noteworthy tree. We hope that this letter has been useful to you and that you won't hesitate to write us again if any part was unclear or if you have further questions. Research and commentary on this letter was provided by Talan Gwynek, Maridonna Benvenuti, Arval Benicoeur, and Juliana de Luna. For the Academy, -Argantgui filia Catmail, 27Nov03 -- References: [1] Drosdowski, Guenther, _Duden Lexikon der Vornamen_, 2nd ed. (Mannheim: Dudenverlag, 1974). s.n. Samuel [2] Bahlow, Hans, _Dictionary of German Names_, tr. Edda Gentry (German-American Cultural Society, 1994 ISBN: 0924119357). s.nn. Baum, Bohm, Samuel [3] Brechenmacher, Josef Karlmann, _Etymologisches Woerterbuch der deutschen Familiennamen_ (Limburg a. d. Lahn, C. A. Starke-Verlag, 1957-1960. s.n. Bohm [4] Engel, Franz, _Die Mecklenburgischen Kaiserbederegister von 1496_, Mitteldeutsche Forschungen 56 (Koeln: Boehlau Verlag, 1968). p. 83