ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 3253 http://www.s-gabriel.org/3253 ************************************ 28 Feb 2007 From: Aryanhwy merch Catmael Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You asked for help developing an authentic 11th century Old English feminine name, using either or as your given name and a byname based on a place in the south of England, such as Oxford or Wallingford. Here is what we have found. is the standard Old English spelling of a feminine name whose only example we known of is in the _Liber Vitae_ of St Gallen. St Gallen is in Switzerland, and the spelling in this source, , has been influenced by the Old High German dialect spoken in the area in this time. This example is found in a reference to a visit of Cenwald, bishop of Worcester, to Germany in 929; as this is the only example we have, we do not recommend as a good choice for the 11th century. [1,5] Instead, we can recommend a similarly-spelled name, or , which we find in a charter dating sometime between circa 990 and 1001. [2] While this is also the only example we have, it is much closer to your desired period, and the initial element was fairly common, whereas in was fairly rare. Your second choice, , was more common. In a charter from between 990 and 992 the name is spelled [9], and the inflected form occurs in the same charter as our example of . [2] Additionally, the unusual spelling occurs in a charter from between 1022 and 1034, and the Latinized spelling occurs in 966. [6] You'll note that we have examples of the second elemen of these names spelled both <-wynn> and <-wyn>. The <-wynn> forms tend to be older, but by the 10th century the second <-n> was occassionally dropped. We have records of both and from your period, so either is a fine choice to base a byname on. The standard Old English name of is . In the A-version of the Anglo-Saxon chronicle, written ca. 925, the annal entry for 911 or 912 mentions that "Eadweard cyng feng to Lundenbyrg 7 to Oxnaforda", that is 'king Eadweard seized London and Oxford'. [3,7] Additionally, a Latin charter dating from 1058 or 1059 mentions something "in territorio et comitatu urbis que Oxenaforda dicitur", that is, 'in the territory and county of the city which is called Oxenaforda'. [3,8] In both of these cases, the change from <-ford> to <-forda> is a result of Old English and Latin grammatical requirements. And finally, the town is recorded as in Domesday Book. [3] Likewise we found various references to . In a 10th century copy of a text from ca. 895, the city is called . In a 12th century copy of a charter from between 879 and 899, the phrase <{ae}t Welingaforda> 'at Welingaford' occurs (where {ae} represents the a-e ligature), and in a 16th century copy of a charter from ca. 915, we have 'to Wealingford'. The phrases and <{ae}t Wealingforda> occur in different versions of the Anglo-Saxon chronicle, one written ca. 1050 in the entry for 1013, and another written ca. 110 in the entry for 1006. The version written ca. 1100 also has in the annal entry for 1013. [4] Lastly, we even found an example of this place name in a byname. A 13th century copy of a charter from between 1065 and 1066 says: [4,10] Nu grete ic wel mine leofne m{ae}i Wigod on Wallingeforde 'Now I greet well my dear kinsman Wigod of (or at) Wallingford' Like above, the <-forda> and <-forde> spellings are a result of requirements of Old English grammar; the standard form of the name is just <-ford>. For your period, appears to be the most typical spelling. In Old English, locative bynames (bynames based on place names) were most commonly formed with or <{ae}t>. The preposition appears to be a bit more common, so we can recommend a byname such as or . 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 and Adelaide de Beaumont. For the Academy, -Aryanhwy merch Catmael, 28 February 2007 -- References: [1] "Cenwynn", in _Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England_ (WWW: PASE, no date) http://www.pase.ac.uk, accessed 02 February 2007 [2] Miller, Sean, "Anglo-Saxon Charters" (WWW: Anglo-Saxons.net, no date), charter S 1497. http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=show&page=Charters [3] _Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names, Based on the Collections of the English Place-Name Society_, Edited by Victor Watts, Edited in association with John Insley, Margaret Gelling (Cambridge University Press: January 2004), s.n. Oxford. [4] ibid., s.n. Wallingford. [5] "St Gallen.Liber Vitae", factoid in _Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England_ (WWW: PASE, no date), accessed 21 February 2007 http://eagle.cch.kcl.ac.uk:8080/pase/Sources/DisplaySourceFactoids.jsp?sourceKey=1351 [6] Marieke van de Dal, "Anglo-Saxon Women's Names from Royal Charters" (WWW: Academy of S. Gabriel, 2001). http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/marieke/anglosaxonfem/ [7] Jebson, Tony, "The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle" (WWW: Self-published, 1996-2006). http://asc.jebbo.co.uk/ [8] Miller, op. cit., charter S 1028. [9] ibid., charter S 1454. [10] ibid., charter S 1148.