ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2948 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2948 ************************************ 14 Jan 2005 From: Ursula Whitcher Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether we could help you choose a byname for a Hungarian woman living between 950 and 1100 AD. In a previous letter, we offered some suggestions for a given name based on Hungarian records written in Latin at the beginning of the thirteenth century. We made the following comment on bynames [1]: In your period, almost everyone in Hungary used only one name. In the 13th century legal record that is our source for many of the names above, however, this single name is sometimes amended with a Latin phrase describing a relationship, occupation, or location, like 1220 ("Jacob of village Giontoy, son of Forcos"), 1219 ("bailiff Pentek of village Ratolt"), or 1213 ("Lady Paulia wife of Perrus") [13]. If you are interested in finding an appropriate descriptive phrase to use as a byname, please write to us again and we'll be happy to list some suggestions. Of course, the thirteenth-century record which we used as evidence was written more than a century after the end of your period. It's possible that an eleventh-century Hungarian woman might have been identified by a simple descriptive phrase in a Latin document; we've found some examples of men from this period identified by descriptive Latin phrases, and we'll discuss this evidence in more detail below. Since the Magyars did not use Latin as a written language until they adopted Christianity in the eleventh century, we cannot recommend more than a single given name for an earlier Hungarian woman. [2, 3] We found several Hungarian men identified in eleventh-century charters as their father's sons using the Latin word for son, . Examples include "Apa son of Chycha", "Demka son of Turuuoc", and "Count Laurence son of Count Besa". [4, 5] It's possible that an eleventh-century Hungarian woman could have been described as her father's daughter using the equivalent Latin word for daughter, . For instance, a woman named whose father's name was recorded in a Latin document as could have been described as , "Bibura daughter of Stephan". Note that changes to the genitive form , which means "of Stephan", in the phrase . This change is required by Latin grammar. Here is a list of Hungarian men's names in Latin forms, from a charter written circa 1067: [4] Alexius Apa Dersy Dersynus Erney Fygudy Heche Hetey Ilya Jeronimus Ladizlaus Magnus Markuch Martinus Michael Pethe Petrus Rodowan Salamon Stephanus Wefa Wydus Note that some of these names will change form when used as a father's name, according to the rules of Latin grammar. If you'd like to use one of the above names as your father's name, please write to us and we'll provide the correct form. We have a few other sources of eleventh-century men's names, so if you're interested in a name for your father which begins with a particular letter or sound, we may be able to provide some further options. If any part of this report has been unclear, or if you have more questions, please don't hesitate to write to us again. I was assisted in researching and writing this letter by Walraven van Nijmegen, Arval Benicoeur, Talan Gwynek, Richenda du Jardin, Gunnvor Silfraharr, and Kolozsvari Arpadne Julia. For the Academy, Ursula Georges 13 January 2005 References: [1] Academy of Saint Gabriel report 2854 (WWW: Academy of Saint Gabriel, 2004). http://www.s-gabriel.org/2854 [2] Robert Paul Magocsi, _Historical Atlas of East Central Europe_, Vol. I (Seattle: Univ. of Washingtom Press, paperback 1995), p12. [3] "History of Hungary" (WWW: Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia, last modified 19 Dec. 2004). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Hungary [4] Wenzel Guszta/v, _Codex Diplom. Arpadianus Continuatus_. Pest: Magyar Tudoma/nyos Akade/mia, 1860. Vol. I: 1001-1235. (WWW: Hungarian National Archives (Magyar Orsza/gos Leve/lta/r).) 244, "A zazty-i apa/tsa/g alapi/to/ levele: 1067" ["The charter of the abbey at Zasty"] http://www.arcanum.hu/mol/lpext.dll/wenzel/1/2/7 (We have used the slash / to indicate an acute accent over the preceding letter.) [5] Wenzel Guszta/v, _Codex Diplom_, Arpadianus Continuatus. Pest: Magyar Tudoma/nyos Akade/mia, 1860. Vol. I: 1001-1235. (WWW: Hungarian National Archives (Magyar Orsza/gos Leve/lta/r).) 318, "A bakonbe/li apa/tsa/g jo/sza/gainak e/s vagyona/nak o:sszei/ra/sa: 1086" ["Inventory of the goods and chattels of the abbey at Bakonbe/l"] http://www.arcanum.hu/mol/lpext.dll/wenzel/1/2/b (The colon following 'o' in o:sszei/ra/sa represents an umlaut over the 'o'.)