ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 3086
http://www.s-gabriel.org/3086
************************************

17 Aug 2005
From: Gunnvor Silfraharr 

Greetings from the Academy of St. Gabriel!

You asked whether <Avarr Skjaldersson> is appropriate as a name for a
10th-century man from the Faroe Islands, or for a name with a meaning
related to "defender".  Here is what we found.

The name <A/varr>, with the slash representing an acute accent over
the preceding letter, does not appear to be a good choice for a Viking
Age man in western Scandinavia (Norway, Iceland, and the various
colonies in the Atlantic, including the Faroes).  <A/varr> doesn't
occur in west Scandinavia until after the end of the Viking Age, with
just a few examples starting from the second half of the 14th c. [1].
 In eastern Scandinavia (Denmark, Sweden, and colonies in the Baltic),
there are likewise few instances of this name, and these come from
runic inscriptions; in Denmark, we found a man mentioned in two
inscriptions dating ca. 750-900, and another from ca. 1065-1075, and
in Sweden we found one possible instance dating to around 1050-1070
[2, 3].

We also found a similar name, <{AE}varr>, with several Icelandic
examples in the settlement period [4].  This would be a much better
choice for you.  This name is pronounced \EH-war\, where the first
vowel is roughly that of <beg>, verging towards that of <bag> rather
than towards that of <big> [5].  

<Skjaldersson>, the other name that you asked about, appears to be a
slightly misspelled form of <Skjaldarson>, which is also written
<Skialdar son>.  This is a patronymic, i.e., a name indicating who
your father was; this one means "son of Skio,ldr, Skio,ldr's son",
<Skialdar> being the possessive form of <Skio,ldr>.  This <Skio,ldr>
is a masculine name identical to the Old Norse word for "shield", but
the earliest known historical examples of the name are from the 14th
century; there are possible earlier examples, but they are found only
in legendary material and therefore may not reflect actual usage [6].
 The <o,> represents the Icelandic o-ogonek, an <o> with a
backward-comma-shaped hook hanging from the bottom.  (The o-ogonek is
the standard scholarly representation of any of several symbols used
by early Icelandic scribes to stand for a sound similar to that of the
<o> in the English word <corn>.) 

Instead of the patronymic, you might instead consider using a byname
meaning "shield".  Landna/mabo/k (the Icelandic Book of Settlements)
gives the name of one of the early settlers as <Skiallda-Biorn
Herfinnz s.>, or using a normalized spelling <Skialda-Bio,rn Herfinnz
son> [7].  Based on this example, <Skialda-{AE}varr> would be a fine
name for a Norseman in one of the Atlantic Scandinavian colonies such
as Iceland or the Faroes [8, 9].  <Skialda-> is pronounced
\SKYAHL-dah\, with \Y\ as in <yes>.

Another possibility is to adopt a byname whose meaning suggests a
defender.  One example would be <kappi> "a hero, a champion, a man of
valor"; two of the Icelandic settlers bore this name [10].  This would
result in a name such as <{AE}varr kappi>, where <kappi> is pronounced
\KAHP-pee\.

We would expect runic spellings for <{AE}varr> such as <auar>, where
<a> is the 10th rune not the 4th, and <R> is the 16th rune, not the
5th [11].  For <Skialda->, the runic spelling would be  something like
<skialta>, where both instances of <a> represent the 10th rune from
the futhark mentioned above, not the 4th.  For <kappi> we would expect
a runic spelling such as <ka,bi>, where <a,> is used to indicate the
4th rune from the futhark mentioned above.

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, Aryanhwy merch
Catmael, Mor inghean Chathail, Calybrid ine Tere, Alzbeta Michalik,
and Arval Benicoeur.

For the Academy,

Gunnvor Silfraharr
17 Auguest 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.nn. <A/varr>.  

Here <a*> represents the letter a-ring, an <a> with a small circle
over the top of the letter, and <a"> represents an a-umlaut.

[2] Peterson, Lena. Nordiskt runnamnslexikon. Spra*k- och
folkminnes-institutet.  
http://www.sofi.se/SOFIU/runlex/  S.n. <A/v{ae}iRR>.  

The notation {ae} represents an a-e ligature, which looks like the
letters <a> and <e> pushed together.

  auer DRM26 (2 ggr)
  coin from Denmark c.1065-1075

  ouaiR DR190 (same person as DR192)
  Fyn, Denmark c.750-900

  [ouAiR] DR192 (same person as DR190)
  Fyn, Denmark c.750-900

  [ayi] O"l74{41}+(?) (doubtful; acc.)
  O"land, Sweden, 1050-a generation forward

[3] Samnordisk runtextdatabas.  
http://home.swipnet.se/~w-61277/rundata/1.htm

[4] Lind, E.H., _Norsk-Isla"ndska Dopnamn ock Fingerade Namn fra*n
Medeltiden_ [see note 1, above], s.n. <{AE}varr>.

[5] It's possible that the pronunciation of <{AE}varr> was still more
like \EH-bhar\, where \bh\ is the voiced bilabial fricative used in
Spanish <lobo> "wolf" and <uva> "grape".  It is the sound made by
positioning your lips to say a \b\, but relaxing them slightly so that
the air escapes. This sound does not occur in English.

[6] Lind, E.H., _Norsk-Isla"ndska Dopnamn ock Fingerade Namn fra*n
Medeltiden_ [see note 1, above], s.n. <Skio,ldr>.

[7] Lind, E.H., _Norsk-Isla"ndska Personbinamn fra*n Medeltiden_. 
(Uppsala: 1920-21). S.n. <Skialda-Bio,rn>.

[8] <Skialda-Bio,rn> received his byname <Skialda-> because he arrived
in Iceland with an <alskialda{dh}r> ship, i.e., one lined with shields
from stem to stern, probably indicating that he had a strong
complement of warriors with him.

[9] Lind, E.H., _Norsk-Isla"ndska Personbinamn fra*n Medeltiden_ [see
note 7, above], s.n. <Klakka-Ormr>.

The 10th c. <Klakka-Ormr> shows that the final <-a> is not required to
drop before a personal name beginning with a vowel. 

[10] Lind, E.H., _Norsk-Isla"ndska Personbinamn fra*n Medeltiden_ [see
note 7, above], s.n. <Kappi>.

[11] The runic spelling we've suggested for <{AE}varr> is more
speculative than usual, since it's based partly on our conjectures
about the name's etymology.  The spelling we've provided takes into
account what is known about the possible etymology of the name, and
how that etymology would have effected pronunciation over time as the
language developed and changed.