ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2908 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2908 ************************************ 19 Oct 2004 From: Aryanhwy merch Catmael Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You wanted to know how an Italian man named from Trieste would have been known in an Austrian German dialect between 1520 and 1560, and wondered if German forms of or 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 in Breslau in 1350 [1], and one man recorded as 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 could easily have been known as in Germany throughout your period. The modern German name for is [2] and there is evidence of a modern surname . [4,5,6] We do not know if the Germans called the city in your period, but if they did, a man from Triest might have been known as . 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 (noun) and (adjective). We also found 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. , [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