ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 3282 http://www.s-gabriel.org/3282 ************************************ 4 Jun 2007 From: Aryanhwy merch Catmael Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You wanted to know if is an authentic name for a woman living before 1600, and if it was, what culture it is authentic for. You also noted that you'd found the spelling in a dictionary of Norwegian names. Here is what we have found. Unfortunately, we haven't found any given name which sounds like or is spelled in any pre-1600 European language or culture. We specifically checked our Scandinavian sources, and found nothing remotely like . [1,7,8,9,10,11] Without knowing more about the source where you originally found , we cannot say for sure that it is not an appropriate choice, but based on the lack of examples that we found, we recommend that you pick a different given name if you want to develop an authentic medieval European name. The only example of that we found is the name of four different cities in England. These cities gave rise to a locative byname (byname based on place of residence), of which we find the following forms: [2,3,4] de Litton 1175, 1273, 1332 de Lideton' 1212 de Lytton 1327, 1379 Lytton 1403 Litton 1583 If you want to develop an English persona, any of these would be a suitable choice to use as your byname, but they would not be appropriate as a given name. The most similar Scandinavian name that we found is the Old Norse feminine name (where the slash represents an acute accent over the previous article). This name was pronounced roughly \LYOA-toon\, with \Y\ as in and \oo\ as in . We found one instance of this name in the early Viking era, from around 900. The woman was a sister of an original settler of Iceland, and the settling of Iceland occurred largely between 870 and 930. [5,6] We find a few examples of the name again in the late 15th and 16th centuries, including four women born around 1475, in the 1490s, around 1530, and around 1590. [12,13,14,15] We do not know whether the name was in continuous use between the 10th and 16th centuries, or whether these late-period examples are evidence that the name fell out of use and was then revived. In any case, we only recommend for the periods in which we have examples: The late 9th and early 10th centuries, and the late 15th and 16th centuries. We were unable to find any examples of used as given name or as a surname in any pre-1600 European culture. Again, if you can tell us where you found the name, we may perhaps be able to give you more information. We're sorry that we weren't able to find further information, and hope that this letter was still useful to you. If you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to write us again. Research and commentary on this letter was provided by Talan Gwynek, Wenyeva atte Grene, and Adelaide de Beaumont For the Academy, -Aryanhwy merch Catmael, 04 June 2007 -- References: [1] --, _Diplomatarium Norvegicum_, searching for and . http://www.dokpro.uio.no/dipl_norv/diplom_field_eng.html [2] Reaney, P. H., & R. M. Wilson, _A Dictionary of English Surnames_ (London: Routledge, 1991; Oxford University Press, 1995), s.n. Litton. [3] Bardsley, Charles, _A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames_ (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1980), s.n. Litton. [4] Curtis, Margaret, "The London lay subsidy of 1332" in George Unwin, ed., Finance and trade under Edward III (Manchester: University Press; London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1918). [5] Fleck, G. (aka Geirr Bassi Haraldsson), _The Old Norse Name_, Studia Marklandica (series) (Olney, Maryland: Yggsalr Press, 1977). [6] Sverrir Jakobsson, "What is the source value of _Landna/mabo/k? And when is it thought to have been used?", _Vi/sindavefurinn_ 2.12.2005. (cited 20.6.2006). http://visindavefur.hi.is/svar.asp?id=5451 [7] Lind, E.H., _Norsk-Isla"ndska Dopnamn ock Fingerade Namn fra*n Medeltiden_ (Uppsala & Leipzig: 1905-1915, sup. Oslo, Uppsala and Kobenhavn: 1931). [8] Insley, John, _Scandinavian personal names in Norfolk: a survey based on medieval records and place-names_ (Uppsala: Royal Gustavus Adolphus Academy; Stockholm: Distributor, Almqvist & Wiksell International, 1994). [9] Fellows Jensen, Gillian, _Scandinavian Personal Names in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire_ (Copenhagen: 1968). [10] Knudsen Gunnar, Marius Kristiansen, & Rikard Hornby, _Danmarks Gamle Personnavne_, Vol. I: Fornavne (Copenhagen: 1936-48). [11] Kruken, Kristoffer, ed. _Norsk personnamnleksikon_, 2nd ed. (Oslo: Det Norske Samlaget, 1995) [12] "Fo"{dh}ur{ae}tt {TH}o/ru" = "{TH}o/ra's paternal ancestry" (WWW: Angelfire.com, no date), sections 235, 246, 325, 326, 409 http://www.angelfire.com/nb/peturstef/thorafa.html [13] Oddur {TH}. Vilhelmsson, "Hvurra manna er e/g",no date. http://staff.unak.is/not/oddurv/ats_fyrir_vef/Sigridur_12G.htm#i310 section 3169 [14] Oddur {TH}. Vilhelmsson, "Hvurra manna er e/g", no date. http://staff.unak.is/not/oddurv/ats_fyrir_vef/Jon_Jons_12G.htm section 2028 [15] Untitled (WWW: Tripod.com, no date), section 5 http://members.tripod.com/genealogy14/SteingrimurSteinthorsson.html