ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 3262 http://www.s-gabriel.org/3262 ************************************ 15 May 2007 From: Guaire mac Guaire Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You asked for our evaluation of the authenticity of as a German surname in either the 14th or 16th century. You stated that you found a location by this name on a 1601 edition of Abraham Ortelius's Epitome. Here is what we determined. We found the location on the map source you referred to; however, the name appears with the spelling [1]. We have not been able to determine how far back the form was in use. The available evidence indicates that the first element was originally or some close variant thereof, but we can't document the chronological development of the name with the resources at hand. What we do see is an indication that the spelling was quite unstable in documentary sources. We find the following spellings without dates: , , , , and [2]. What's more, this instability may have persisted into the 16th century, as seems to appear as late as 1569 [2]. We cannot, with any degree of confidence, state when the spelling first appeared, let alone when it became common, so we cannot recommend it as authentic before the 16th century. We are satisfied that by the 16th century, the use of was at least one of several possible spellings. The spelling <-stein> is not a problem. Owing to changes in pronunciation over time, dialect variation, and different scribal traditions, spellings with , , and even are found from about 1300 on through at least the 16th century; sometimes a place- name appears in both <-stain> and <-stein> forms in the same source. [3,4] When literal, the toponymic locative in 'of, from' was more likely to specify where a person came from than where he or she lived; in the 16th century quite a few were inherited, not literal. In many parts of the German-speaking world, surnames with the preposition had gone or were going out of fashion in the 16th century. In others, however, they were still reasonably common, if less so than in the 14th century [5]. In short, while it would be nice to find an actual 16th century (or earlier) example of the surname, we think it very likely that is consistent with 16th century German naming practice. I hope this letter has been useful. Please write to 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 Arval Benicoeur, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Muriel filia Donaldi de Skia, Talan Gwynek, Ursula Georges, Ines Alfon, Kolosvari Arpadne Julia, and Eleyne de Comnocke. For the Academy, Guaire mac Guaire 14 May 2007 ----------- References: [1] Ortelius, Abraham. "Epitome Theatri Orbis Terrarium" (1601) [2] Horch, Peter. 'Burg Gerhardstein -- "Lo"wenburg"' (1984) appearing in Kreisverwaltung Vulkaneifel, "Heimatjahrbucharchiv Landkreis Vulkaneifel', an archive of yearbooks of local studies articles available at http://www.jahrbuch- daun.de/VT/hjb1984/hjb1984.108.htm [3] Paul, Hermann, & Walther Mitzka, "Mittelhochdeutsche Grammatik" (19th Ed.). (Tuebingen: Max Niemeyer Verlag, 1963). Section 28. [4] Uckelman, Sara L., "German Place Names from a 16th C Czech Register" (WWW: Self-published, 2004), s.nn. . http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/german/germanplace.html [5] Schwarz, Ernst. "Deutsche Namenforschung I: Ruf- und Familiennamen" (Goettingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1949); pp. 101ff.