ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 3051
http://www.s-gabriel.org/3051
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13 Apr 2005
From: Aryanhwy merch Catmael (no address)

Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel!

You wanted to know if a name meaning 'Kolfinna, daughter of Ari' is
appropriate for a Norwegian woman living between 900 and 1250, and
wondered whether it would be <Kolfinna Arisdotter> or <Kolfinna
Arasdotter>.  Here is what we have found.

Unfortunately, your name is not a good choice for an early-period
Norwegian woman.  Though <Kolfinna> is found in Iceland from the 11th
century on, the earliest that we have found the name <Kolfinna> in
Norway is the 15th century. [1]

<Ari> is a better choice; this name was common in Iceland from the
earliest periods, and we found a few early examples of <Ari> in
Norway, though it seems to have then died out until about 1300. [2]  A
woman who was the daughter of <Ari> could have been known as <Ara
do/ttir>, where the slash represents an acute accent over the previous
letter.  <Ara> is the possessive (genitive) form of <Ari>, analogous
to <John's> in English.  The genitive forms of some Norse names end in
<s>, but not when the nominative form ends in <i>.

So while we can't recommend this name for a woman from Norway during
your period, we can recommend <Kolfinna Ara do/ttir> as a reasonable
name for an Icelandic woman in the 11th century.  This would have been
pronounced roughly \KOHL-fin-nah AH-rah-DOAT-teer\, with \OH\ being
the vowel of <corn> and \OA\ the vowel of <oat>.

In your period, your name would have been written in runes.  If you
are interested in the runic spelling of your name, please write us
again and we can research that for you.

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 Arval Benicoeur, Gunnvor silfraharr, and Talan Gwynek.

For the Academy,
-Aryanhwy merch Catmael, 13 April 2005

--
References:

[1] Lind, E.H., _Norsk-Isla:ndska Dopnamn ock Fingerade Namn fra*n
Medeltiden_ (Uppsala & Leipzig: 1905-1915, sup. Oslo, Uppsala and
Kobenhavn: 1931). s.n. Kolfinna

[2] ibid., s.n. Ari