ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 3027
http://www.s-gabriel.org/3027
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07 Jun 2006
From: Ursula Whitcher 

Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!

You asked whether <Tgetgel>, a name from the Romansch language of
southeastern Switzerland, was used before 1600.  You also asked what
other names might have been used with <Tgetgel>.  You were especially
interested in Romansch forms of <Stephen>; in particular, you asked
about the name <Stiafen>.

Before we begin, we'd like to apologize for the amount of time this
letter has taken.  We hope this information is still useful to you.

First we'll discuss Romansch forms of <Stephen>, and then forms of the
byname <Tgetgel>.  We'll end by suggesting forms of the full name, and
discussing possible pronunciations.

We found forms of <Stephen> used as both a given name and a byname
before 1600. [1] (In the following list, <"> represents an umlaut or
pair of dots over the previous letter.)

      Stevanus 1310
      Stephanus 1326
      Stefanus 1358
      Stefannus 1378, 1380
      Stefenus 1382
      Ulricus dictus Stephan 1418
      Uli dicti Stephanin 1418
      Pedrus f. q. Stefani del Borzia 1451
      Magdalena Steffan 1456
      Ulrich Steffen 1485
      Blasinus Steffanus 1427
      Henricus Steffani de Chur 1432
      Peter Steffan 1496
      Nuttal Stefan 1499
      Petter Sta"ffan 1513
      an Hanns Steffans guot 1515
      Crist Jacob Steffan 1517
      Tresch Steffant 1525
      Moretzi Steffen 1526
      N. Steiwan 1527
      Martino de Stefano 1542
      Hans Steffan 1544
      an Gutscha Steffans guot 1545
      Casper de Stephen 1551
      Jan Steffan 1556
      Urschletta Steffen 1564
      Giov. de Steveno 1576
      Jacob del Sta"ffan 1581
      Anna lg Steivan 1594
      Thieny Hans Steffen 16c.
      Jannet dilg Steffen 1609

Many of these forms come from documents written in Latin.  The endings
<-us>, <-o>, and <-i> are requirements of Latin grammar.  However, the
Latin form <Stephanus> may also have had more subtle influences on the
name's spelling.  The 1527 <Steiwan> and 1594 <Steivan> forms may be the
best representations of the way the name was pronounced in the sixteenth
century.  We also found <Maria Stiaffen> in 1640 and <Jacobus Stiaffen
(de Pigiano)> in 1655, so a pronunciation close to modern <Stiafen> may
have been possible by the end of our period.

The modern name <Tgetgel> derives from the Middle High German <go"ggel>
'clown, joker'.  The form <Tgetgel> comes from the Oberland and Surselva
regions of Switzerland; other regional variants include <Gichilli> and
<Go"ggeli>. [2]  We found the following forms prior to 1600 [3]:

      dictus Go"ggelli 15c
      Go"gglinen guot 1444
      nepotes q. Michaelis Go"ggelin 1460
      Batrumia Gickhilgla 1527

We found <Thoman, Ulrich, Hans Tgietgiel> c. 1600.  We also found
several seventeenth-century forms similar to <Tgetgel> [4]:

      Paulus Tgietgel 1653
      Joannes Theighel 1681
      Leonardus Thiechel 1690

A name such as <Steffen Tgietgiel> or <Steivan Tgietgiel> is possible
around 1600.

We don't have sources which discuss historical pronunciation of
Romansch, but we can extrapolate based on the modern pronunciation.  We
believe <Steffen Tgietgiel> would have been pronounced roughly \STEF-en
TCHEH-tchel\.  However, the sound represented by <tgi> isn't exactly
English \tch\: it's made with the tip of the tongue turned down behind
the lower front teeth.  <Steivan Tgietgiel> could have been pronounced
\STAY-vahn TCHEH-tchel\.

I hope this letter has been useful to you.  If any part is unclear, or
if you have further questions, please don't hesitate to write to us
again.  Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, Modar Neznanich, Arval
Benicoeur, Aelfwynn Leoflaede dohtor, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Talan
Gwynek, and Athenais Bryennissa assisted in researching and writing this
report.

For the Academy,

Ursula Georges
7 June 2006

References:

[1] Robert von Planta, Andrea Schorta, and Konrad Huber, eds.
_Ra"tisches Namenbuch_, vol. 3, Die Personennamen Graubu"ndens mit
Ausblicken auf Nachbargebiete, Bern, 1986, Dictionary of Surnames
s.n. <Stephanus>.

[2] von Planta et al. part 2, "Die Bezeichnung nach der
Wesensart".

[3] von Planta et al. Dictionary of Surnames s.n. <Gichilli>.

[4] von Planta et al. Dictionary of Surnames s.n. <Tgetgel>.