ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2908
http://www.s-gabriel.org/2908
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19 Oct 2004
From: Aryanhwy merch Catmael 

Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel!

You wanted to know how an Italian man named <Domenego> from Trieste 
would have been known in an Austrian German dialect between 1520 and 
1560, and wondered if German forms of <Dominic of Trieste> or 
<Dominic the Italian> would be appropriate.  You also asked about 
arms using a field divided by maunches (akin to the German line of 
division using linden leaves) with one half being red and the other 
gold, perhaps with gold comets on the red half and red comets on the 
gold half.  Here is the information we have found.

As we noted in one of our intial replies, Trieste was ruled by 
Austria in the 16th century.  It seems likely that the Venetian 
language was used there, but we do not know what the primary language 
was.  We suspect that the Austrian dialect of German was used, too, 
as well as some of the southern Slavic languages.

We found a man named <Dominik Dominiks> in Breslau in 1350 [1], and 
one man recorded as <Dominicus> in a Latin document from 1525. [3]  
This example is from the Czech border region in southern Germany, not 
too far from Austria.  An Italian man from Trieste named <Domenego> 
could easily have been known as <Dominik> in Germany throughout your 
period.

The modern German name for <Trieste> is <Triest> [2] and there is
evidence of a modern surname <Triester>. [4,5,6]  We do not know 
if the Germans called the city <Triest> in your period, but if they
did, a man from Triest might have been known as <Triester>.  However,
we have not found examples of this surname from your period and so
cannot recommend it as the best recreation.

The modern German words for "an Italian man" are <Italiener> (noun)
and <Italienisch> (adjective).  We also found <Italiener> as a modern
German surname. [7,8]  While this is a plausible medieval byname, we 
do not recommend it for your persona: We have no reason to think that 
someone from Trieste would have been identified as Italian.

We cannot recommend your armory design.  We have found no evidence
that the division with linden leaves was used with any charges 
other than leaves.  We also have not found any evidence that maunches
were used in German heraldry, making it doubly unlikely.  If you would
like help in finding a design that is more appropriate, please write
us again and we'll be happy to help.

We hope that this letter has been useful to you and that you won't
hesitate to write us again if you have any further questions.  
Research and commentary on this letter was provided by Walraven van 
Nijmegen, Arval Benicoeur, Leonor Martin, Ursula Georges, Maridonna
Benvenuti, Kolozsvari Arpadne Julia, and Gunnvor silfrafarr.

For the Academy,
-Aryanhwy merch Catmael, 19 Oct 2004

--
References:

[1] Bahlow, Hans, _Dictionary of German Names_, tr. Edda Gentry 
(German-American Cultural Society, 1994 ISBN: 0924119357). s.n. 
<Dominck>, <Dominik(us)

[2] "Trieste" (WWW: Wikipedia) 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trieste

[3] Schwarz, Ernst. _Sudetendeutsche Familiennamen des 15. und 16. 
Jahrhunderts_ (Muenchen: Robert Lerche, 1973). s.n. <Flenner>

[4] "Swirz Surnames 1877-1897" (WWW: JRI-Poland, no date)
http://www.jewishgen.org/jri-pl/psa/swirz_surn.htm

[5] Crick, Phyllis, "Surname folders in the Garst Museum files" (WWW:
Darke County Websites, 2004)
http://www.dcoweb.org/gsnf/listt.htm

[6] "Surname Finder: Genealogy and Family Resources" (WWW:
Surnamefinder.com, no date)
http://www.surnamefinder.com/search/T051713.html

[7] "Surname Finder: Italiener Genealogy and Family Resources" (WWW:
Genealogy Today, no date)
http://www.genealogytoday.com/surname/finder.mv?Surname=Italiener

[8] Schaap, Eli "Genealogy Data Page 19 (Family Pages)" (WWW:
Self-published, 2002)
http://shum.huji.ac.il/~dutchjew/genealog/ndbeli/f_12.html