ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 3198
http://www.s-gabriel.org/3198
************************************

15 Nov 2006
From: Aryanhwy merch Catmael 

Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel!

You wanted to know if <Hrafnvina Hrossdo/ttir af Reyni> is an
authentic name for an Icelandic woman living between 800 and 1050. 
(In this letter, we're using the / to represent an acute accent over
the previous letter.)  You also asked if we could give you the runic
spelling of this name.  Here is what we have found.

We'll first discuss given names which include the elements <Hrafn> and
<vina> and the plausibility of the compound name <Hrafnvina>.  Next
we'll turn to the byname <Hrossdo/ttir>, and then to the byname <af
Reyni>.  Finally, after we've made our recommendations, we'll offer
suitable runic forms for these recommendations at the end of the letter.

Unfortunately, <Hrafnvina> does not appear to be a good choice for a
constructed Old Norse name.  The biggest problem is <-vina>, the
second element.  We've found only one name containing this element,
and only one instance of that name: a <Liu/fvina do/ttir Biarma
konungs> 'Liu/fvina daughter of the king of the Perms' who is
elsewhere called <Hagny/ Haka do/ttir> 'Hagny/ Haki's daughter'.  (The
Perms were a people within the Russian empire.)  This is the only
known instance of the name <Hagny/> as well, and she is taken to be a
fictional character. [7]

The related masculine element <-vini> is also found in only one name,
<Liu/fvini>, the name of a priest ca. 1160, but he was apparently a
foreigner. [8] Most likely the bearer was from Germany, and the name
is a rendering into Old Norse of Frankish <Liubwin> or its cognate in
one of the other German dialects. [9]

The only other native Old Norse names that we've found that definitely
contain derivatives of <-vinr> as second elements are <Alfvin> and
<Au{dh}un> (with its variant <Au{dh}in>). (The <{dh}> represents the
letter edh, which looks like a backwards '6' with a cross-bar.) [10]

The element <Hrafn-> is a little better represented in the extant Old
Norse name stock, but not much.  Besides the masculine name <Hrafn>,
which was common in Iceland, we have found the following names
containing this element: [11]

    Hrafnagu{dh}
    Hrafna/ss
    Hrafnfreista{dh}r
    Hrafnsteinn
    Hr{ae}fningR [12]
    Hrafni
    Hrafnhildr
    Hrafnketill
    Hrafnkell
    Hrafnsvartr

The first three of these are known only as bynames of Odin, and
<Hrafnsteinn> is known only as the name of a fictional character. 
<Hr{ae}fningR> may actually have been a byname.  <Hrafni> is a rare
derivative or pet form of <Hrafn>.  (Moreover, neither of these is a
true two-element name like the proposed <Hrafnvina>: each is just
<Hrafn> plus a derivational suffix rather than a compound of two
independent name elements.)  <Hrafnketill> is simply an earlier form
of <Hrafnkell>.  Thus, we have evidence of real human use of only
three two-element names containing <Hrafn->, the feminine name
<Hrafnhildr> and the masculine names <Hrafnke(ti)ll> and
<Hrafnsvartr>, of which the last seems to have been very rare. [11,13,14] 

If <-vina> were a very well attested second element in Old Norse
naming, there might be just enough evidence for <Hrafn-> to justify a
hypothetical <Hrafnvina>, though it still wouldn't be the best
historical re-creation.  As it stands, however, <Hrafnvina> really
doesn't look very plausible, as it combines a first element that seems
not to have entered freely into compound names with a second element
that may not appear in any native Old Norse names. [5]  If you'd like
to use name containing the element <hrafn>, we recommend <Hrafnhildr>.

Turning to your first byname, we haven't found any examples of the
Norse word <hross> 'horse' being used as a given name.  However, we've
found examples of two masculine names which use this element:
<Hrosskell>, and its earlier form <Hrossketill>, and <Hrossbio,rn>. 
<Hrosskell> was the name of two settlers of Iceland, and we found one
<Hrossbio,rn> who was the father of a 10th century man, and one who
was the great-great-grandfather of a settler. [1]  (Here, the <o,>
represents the o-ogonek, an <o> with a reverse comma tail.)  The first
initial settlement of Iceland by the Norse took place largely between
870 and 930. [2]  Any of <Hrosskels do/ttir>, <Hrossketils do/ttir>,
or <Hrossbiarnar do/ttir> is a fine choice for your byname.

You said you intended <af Reyni> to mean 'from Rowan', and
specifically that you wished to indicate that you lived on a farm or
estate named <Rowan>, rather than in a town named <Rowan> or near a
grove of rowan trees.  When a farm-name was identical to a common noun
for a topographical feature, the same preposition was normally used
for both.  There were some inconsistencies, but in general the choice
of preposition was determined by the nature of the topographical
feature.  In particular, when the feature implies the notion of 'by
the side of', as in the case of a river, a rock, a mountain, a stand
of trees, or the like, the usual preposition is <at>. [15]  The
passage from Landna/mabo/k that you found tends to confirm this choice
[3,4], and we recommend that you use <at Reyni> rather than <af
Reyni>.  You also wanted to know whether forms which put the place
name before the given name, such as <Reyni-Hrafnhildr>, were common in
Old Norse.  From what we know, it appears that this type of
construction was quite common, and so this is suitable as well.

In sum, we cannot recommend <Hrafnvina> as a plausible constructed
given name, and suggest <Hranfhildr> instead.  We did not find any
Norse masculine name <Hross>, but instead can recommend any of
<Hrosskels do/ttir>, <Hrossketils do/ttir>, or <Hrossbiarnar do/ttir>
for first byname.  Lastly, we recommend either <at Reyni> or <Reyni->
as a prefixed byname instead of <af Reyni>.  So, for example, the
following names would both be reasonable:

   Hrafnhildr Hrosskels do/ttir at Reyni
   Reyni-Hrafnhildr Hrossbiarnar do/ttir

You can find several versions of the futhark, or runic alphabet, on
the web:

      http://www.arild-hauge.com/enruner.htm

The futhark labeled Norwegian-Danish Runes from the 800's is a good
choice.  Notice that these tables identify each rune with a Roman
letter; we will use that labeling in this letter to give you the runic
spelling of your name.  We should stress that this is a modern
scholarly convention, not a notation that would have been used in our
period.

The most likely runic spelling of the word for 'daughter' in your
period is <tutir>.

As we noted above, <Hrosskell> is a shortened form of the name
<Hrossketill>.  <Hrossketill> is recorded in a Manx runic inscription
as <roskitil>. [1]  We believe that in your period, the initial <h>
would've been retained, and so we recommend <hroskils tutir> and
<hroskitils tutir> as plausible runic spellings of <Hrosskels do/ttir>
and <Hrossketils do/ttir>, respectively.  <Hrossbiarnar> we expect
would be rendered in runes simple as <hrosbiarnar>.

A runic form of <at Reyni> is a bit more tricky, but we believe that
the most plausible spellings are <at rauni>, when using the 9th and
10th century runes, and <at rayni> when using the early 11th century
runes.  (In both cases <a> is the 10th rune, not the 4th.)

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 Talan Gwynek, Arval Benicoeur, and Eleyne de Comnocke.

For the Academy,
-Aryanhwy merch Catmael, 15 November 2006

--
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. Hrossbio,rn, Hrosskell

[2] Uckelman, Sara L., "Viking Names found in the Landna/mabo/k" (WWW:
privately published, 2005-2006). 
http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/norse/landnamabok.html

[3] Ellwood, T., trans. _The Book of the Settlement of Iceland_
(Kendal: T. Wilson, Printer and Publisher, 28, Highgate, 1898; WWW:
Northvegr.org, 2004-2005)
http://www.northvegr.org/lore/landnamabok/

[4] Eiri/kr Ro"gnvaldssyn, ed., "Landna/mabo/k (Sturlubo/k)" (WWW:
Heimasi/{dh}a Netu/tga/funnar, 1998)
http://www.snerpa.is/net/snorri/landnama.htm

[5] There is a feminine name <Hrefna>; however, we are not
recommending this name as an alternative because we have only one
example (of a woman who died in 1003). [6]

[6] Lind, op. cit., Hrefna.

[7] ibid., s.n. Liu/fvina.

[8] ibid., s.n. Liu/fvini.

[9] De Vries, Jan, _Altnordisches Etymologisches Wo"rterbuch_, 2nd
edn. (Boston: Brill, 2000), s.v. lju/fr

[10] Peterson, Lena, "Nordiskt runnamnslexikon" (WWW: Institute for
Dialectology, Onomastics and Folklore Research, 2001), s.nn. Alfvin,
Au{dh}in.
http://www.sofi.se/SOFIU/runlex/

[11] Lind, op. cit., s.nn. Hrafn, Hrafnagu{dh}, Hrafna/ss,
Hrafnfreista{dh}r, Hrafnhildr, Hrafnkell, Hrafnsteinn, Hrafnsvartr.

[12]  Here, the <{ae}> represents the a-e ligature, and the capital
<R> at the end of the name represents a rune distinct from the <r>; at
the beginning of your period the <r> and <R> runes still represented
different sound.

[13] Peterson, op. cit., s.nn. Hrafn, Hrafni, Hr{ae}fningR.

[14] Fellows Jensen, Gillian, _Scandinavian Personal Names in
Lincolnshire and Yorkshire_ (Copenhagen: 1968), s.nn. Rafn, Rafnhildr,
Rafnketill, Rafnsvartr.

[15] Cleasby, R., G. Vigfusson, & W. Craigie, _An Icelandic-English
Dictionary_ (Oxford: At the University Press, 1975), s.v. at, WITH
DAT., A.II.6