ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 3074 http://www.s-gabriel.org/3074 ************************************ 25 Jul 2005 From: Gunnvor Silfraharr Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether is appropriate as a name for a Danish woman living ca. 1100-1400. Here is what we found. As we explained in an earlier report, we found instances of in use in Scandinavia from the 11th century to the 15th century [1], but there are only a very few of these. There are eight women of that name in Norwegian documents between 1407 and 1522 and two undated examples that come from manuscripts which are dated to the first half of the 14th c. and one from ca.1400 [2]. In Iceland, we also find women named , including one in Landna/mabo/k (the Icelandic Book of Settlements) who married one of the settlers and was the granddaughter of a man who lived in the first half of the 9th c. One of her granddaughters was another , and there was another in the late 12th c. Yet another died ca.1350, and the last lived in the second half of the 15th c. [2]. In Denmark, we found several women named or in your period [3]: Vna 12th c.; the same person also appears (undated) as and . Vn{ae} 1177x1201 (at which time she was dead); she also appears as and [4] Una 1st half of the 13th c. Unn{ae} 2nd half of the 13th c. (a nun at Lund) Una 2nd half of the 13th c. (a nun at Lund) Vn{ae} 1291 Vn{ae} 1332 Un{ae} 1346 Unna 2nd half of the 14th c.; this is in the genitive, but that doesn't seem to have changed the form. Une 1391; this is in the dative, so the nominative is almost certainly . The notation {ae} represents an a-e ligature, which looks like the letters and pushed together. In Uppland, Sweden, we found two runic inscriptions which represent or , one ca. 1050-1100, the other dated only to the Viking Age [5, 6]. Clearly, is much the better choice for your name, though there are two Danish examples of forms with <-nn->, making it possible in your period as well. The name is pronounced roughly \OO-nah\, with \OO\ as in . may well represent a slightly different pronunciation, with the \n\ prolonged a little and the vowel more like that of ; we might represent this roughly as \OON-nah\. The earliest instance of any form of the surname that we found was for a Danish knight in 1326 [7]. , to use the modern Swedish, Norwegian, and Danish spelling, literally means "rose-wreath, rose-garland", but from an early date it has meant "rosary". (Modern Swedish preserves both senses, but in Norwegian and Danish "rosary" appears to be either the only or at least the primary sense) [8, 9, 10, 11]. The most likely spelling of this name ca. 1400 is likely , and is at least a possibility; either would be pronounced roughly \ROE-sen-krahnts\, with \s\ as in English \see\ and secondary stress on the last syllable. It appears that the 14th c. byname recorded for was not adopted as an inherited surname until 1524, when King Frederick I of Denmark required the noble families of Denmark to adopt a family name [12]. In Denmark in the 16th century, we found mentions of 1559, 1561, and 1562 and 1567, though these spellings are normalized and don't necessarily represent medieval spellings of the name [13, 14, 15, 16]. The notation represents the character o-slash, the letter with a slash through the letter. As Norway increasingly came under Danish control in the early 16th century, Norwegian charters begin to list the names of several men bearing forms of the name [17]. These men apparently were all from one family, serving as officers of the Danish crown, and the spellings shown below reflect the various spellings in the manuscripts: Holgierd Rosennkrantz 1528 (Holger Holgersson Rosenkranz) Hollgerd Rwossenkrantz 1529 Holger Roszenkrans 1529 Holgerd Rosenkrandts 1529 Holgerdt Rosenkrantz 1530 Holgher Rossenkrantz 1530 Holger Roszenkranssz 1533 Holger Rosenkrantz 1534 Holgierdt Rossenkrands 1541 Holgierdt Rosennkrandtz 1541 Holgierdt Rosendkrandz 1541 Olleff Rossenkranses 1529 Oluff Rossenkrans 1529 Oluff Rosenkrantz 1531 Oluff Roszenkrandz 1531 Oluff Roszenkrands 1531 Oluff Rosennkrantz 1532 Oluff Roszenkrantz 1532 Oluf Rosenkrants 1533 Olwff Roszenkrants 1533 Oluff Rosenkrantz 1534, 1536 Oluff Roszenkrantzs 1534 Hennrich Rosenkrantzs 1532 Henrich Rosenkranttzs 1532 Erick Rosszennkrandtz 1542 (grandson of Holger) Erick Rosszenkrandzis 1542 Erick Roszennkrandtz 1544 Eriich Rosenkrantz 1547 (x3) Eriic Rosenkrantz 1547 Erich Rosenkrantz 1548, 1565 Eriich Roszenkrantz 1548 Eriik Roszennkrannts Ottesso|nn 1552 Erich Rosenkrans 1554 Erick Rosennkranntzs 1556 Erick Rosenkrantz 1561 Erich Rosennkrandts 1562 Erick Roesennkrands 1563 Erich Rosenkrantzs 1565 Erich Rosenkrands 1566 Peder Roszenkrandzs 1551 Peder Rosenkrantz 1554 Per Rossenkrantz 1551 Although there is no evidence for the byname before the 14th c., it seems possible that in the 14th century a person known for her reverence for the Virgin Mary might have been given the byname , especially if she carried a notable rosary. This would not, however, have been an inherited surname. I hope this letter has been useful. Please write us again if any part of it has been unclear or if you have other questions. I was assisted in researching and writing this letter by Talan Gwynek and Arval Benicoeur. For the Academy, Gunnvor Silfraharr 25 July 2005 ----------------------------------------------------- References [1] Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 132 http://www.s-gabriel.org/132 [2] 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. . [3] Knudsen Gunnar, Marius Kristiansen, & Rikard Hornby, _Danmarks Gamle Personnavne_, Vol. I: Fornavne (Copenhagen: 1936-48). S.nn. , . [4] The notation 1177x1201 indicates that the name appeared once sometime in the period between 1177 and 1201. [5] Lena Peterson. Nordiskt runnamnslexikon. (WWW: Spra*k- och folkminnes-institutet). http://www.sofi.se/SOFIU/runlex/ S.nn. , . [6] Samnordisk runtextdatabas. (WWW: Uppsala universitet, 2004). http://home.swipnet.se/~w-61277/rundata/1.htm Signa U107, U613. [7] Zenz, Helmut. "Geschichte des Rosenkranzes als Gebet und Gebetskette". (WWW: Das Rosenkranzgebet. 2003). http://www.helmut-zenz.de/rosenkranz.html [8] Vinterberg, Hermann and Jens Axelsen. _Dansk-Engelesk Ordbog_. Copenhagen: Gyldendalske Boghandel. 1979. p. 358 s.v. . [9] _Prisma's Abridged English-Swedish and Swedish-English Dictionary). (Minneapolis: Univ. of Minnesota Press, 1995 [1993]). [10] Harlock, Walter E. _Svensk-Engelsk Ordbok, Skolupplaga_. With the assistance of Arvid Gabrielson, John Holmberg, Margareta A*ngstro"m and others. 2nd edn. (Stockholm: Svenska Bokfo"rlaget, 1947). [11] Scavenius, H. & B. Berulfsen. _McKay's Modern Norwegian-English English-Norwegian Dictionary (Gyldendal's)_. 5th edn. (New York: David McKay Company, Inc., n.d. (but post-1945)). [12] Rosenkrans, Allen. The Rosenkrans Family In Europe And America. (Newton NJ: New Jersey Herald Press. 1900. WWW: Rosenkrans Family Genealogy. 1997-2002). http://www.rosedalesoftware.com/genealogy/book.htm [13] "Rosenholms Historie". (WWW: Strejf af Historien, set fra O|stjylland. 2001). http://home19.inet.tele.dk/strejf/Herred/Randers_AMT/OsterLisbjergHerred/hornslet.htm [14] "Strejf af tiden: 1550-1600". (WWW: Strejf af Historien, set fra O|stjylland. 2001). http://home19.inet.tele.dk/strejf/tid/1550-1600.htm [15] "King Christian IV of Denmark-Norway and Helpers in Norway". (WWW: Jan Waage's Genealogy & History Homepage. 2005) http://home.online.no/~jawaage/Christian.htm [16] Brill, E.V.K. "Bothwell, Hemelingk and the Pelikan". (WWW: Shetland Today Magazine. March 1996). http://www.shetlandtoday.co.uk/magazine/index.asp?stories/bothwell.htm~main [17] Diplomatarium Norvegicum (WWW: Dokumentasjonsprosjektet. 1998). http://www.dokpro.uio.no/dipl_norv/diplom_field_eng.html