ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 3033 http://www.s-gabriel.org/3033 ************************************ 17 May 2005 From: Aryanhwy merch Catmael (no address) Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You wanted to know if is an appropriate name for a German man living between 1400 and 1600, and said you'd seen the given name spelled or . Here is what 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. High German is further subdivided into Upper German, spoken in the south, and Middle German, spoken in the center between the High and Low German regions. A map of the breakdown of these dialects can be found here: http://german.about.com/library/weekly/aa051898.htm Some names were used only in one region (and therefore only in one dialect) or another; other names were used in all dialects but spelled or pronounced differently in each dialect. Therefore, your choice of name may depend on exactly what part of Germany you want to re-create. is a modern English form the Old English name . had a dialect variant that is recorded as and in the Latinized form ; it was borne by the celebrated Northumbrian cleric and scholar usually known today as Alcuin. [3,4] In France we find the following Latinized forms of the Frankish cognate of the name: 793, 801, 11th C, and in 804, and in 948 and the late 11th C. [5] We have found no evidence that this name was used beyond the 11th century, and none at all that it was used in Germany. [4] We were unable to find any German cognate of . The closest name that we found is a modern German name , which is a shortened form of Old High German . We found no examples of after the 9th century. [6] The question, then, is when itself came into use. While we have not found a clear example of this name in German before modern times, the same shortening of to a form like occurred in Dutch. We found two Dutch men identified as in Latin in 1143-56, as well as a man named in 1174, and two examples of in the second half of the 13th century. [7,8,9] We also found examples of an Upper German surname which also is derived from . [10] Based on this we believe that is a reasonable German name by your period, though since we have not found an example of it we cannot recommend it as the best re-creation. In German, the construction is used when is the name of a city or town. is not the name of a city; it is a masculine given name. Therefore, the byname is not correctly constructed for German of your period. In 1495, we found this given name spelled in Baden-Wuerttemberg, in southern Germany. [2] One common type of byname during your period was the patronymic byname, which indicated the bearer's father's given name. We found three examples of forms of in patronymic bynames in your period: 1441, 1443 and 1447. The first is from Rottweil, in Baden-Wuerttemberg, and the second two are both from south-eastern Germany, where several dialects of High German were spoken. [1,11] Using any of these four forms is a fine choice for your byname. In the early part of your period, any of these surnames would likely have implied that your father's given name was . By the end of your period, it would have been a family surname inherited from your father. 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 Walraven van Nijmegen, Arval Benicoeur, Talan Gwynek, Gunnvor silfraharr, Juliana de Luna, Adelaide de Beaumont, and Barak Raz. For the Academy, -Aryanhwy merch Catmael, 17 May 2005 -- References: [1] Schwarz, Ernst. _Sudetendeutsche Familiennamen des 15. und 16. Jahrhunderts_ (Mu"nchen: Robert Lerche, 1973), s.n. Hillebrand [2] Uckelman, Sara L., "German Given Names from 1495" (WWW: privately published, 2003-2005) http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/german/german1495.html [3] Burns, J.A., Tinkler Michael C., trans., "Alcuin" (WWW: Catholic Encyclopedia, 2003) http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01276a.htm [4] Searle, William George, _Onomasticon Anglo-Saxonicum_ (Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 1897). p. 207 [5] Morlet, Marie-The/re\se, _Les Noms de Personne sur le Territoire de l'Ancienne Gaule du VIe au XIIe Sie\cle_, three volumes (Paris: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 1972). I:28b [6] Drosdowski, Guenther, _Duden Lexikon der Vornamen_, 2nd ed. (Mannheim: Dudenverlag, 1974). s.n. Alwin [7] "Namenregister 1 (Uit boek Historische Sprokkelingen 3)" http://bronnen.lansingh.net/namenregister-1.htm [8] Tavernier-Vereecken, C., _Gentse Naamkunde van ca. 1000 tot 1253: een bijdrage tot de kennis van het oudste middelnederlands_ (Belguim: 1968). p. 11 [9] Kees Nieuwenhuijsen "Given names in the Low Lands" (WWW: Self-published, 2003) http://www.keesn.nl/name13/ [10] Bahlow, Hans, _Dictionary of German Names_, tr. Edda Gentry (German-American Cultural Society, 1994 ISBN: 0924119357). s.n. Allwein [11] Mack, Eugen, _Das Rottweiler Steuerbuch von 1441. Ko"nigsfestgabe des Rottweiler Geschichts und Altertumsvereins unter der chirmherrschaft Seiner Majesta"t Ko"nig Wilhelms II von Wu"rttemberg._ (Tu"bingen, H. Laupp, 1917.), pp. 126-151