ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 3367 http://www.s-gabriel.org/3367 ************************************ 11 Jan 2010 From: Gunnvor Silfraharr Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! First, we'd like to apologize for the time this letter has taken; we hope the information is still of use to you. You asked us to assist you in identifying any forms of appropriate for a man living in what is now the Black Forest region of Germany anytime between 1100 and 1500 C.E., particularly those beginning with or . You also asked for information on any locative byname or surname that referred to the stated region, and mentioned that you believe the modern name for it is . In our period, there wasn't a uniform German language, but rather a collection of dialects that varied from one region to the next. These dialects fall into two major groups: Low German in the north and High German in the south, including Switzerland and Austria. Some names were used only in one region (and therefore only in one dialect) or another; other names were used in all dialects but spelled or pronounced differently in each dialect. The Black Forest is a large mountainous region in southwestern Germany, so we will focus on High German examples in this letter. is a Greek name. It and its variants do not appear to have become popular as given names in Germany until after 1600. Similar spellings do appear in some earlier documents, but most of them seem to be Latinized forms of the German name [1, 2]. We found in this context in Silesia in 1348 [3], and instances of in 1358 and in 1551 in Bohemia [4]. A wide variety of other vernacular and Latinized forms of , most of which do not begin with or , were also seen in the Middle Ages. We went into great detail on the topic in Academy Report 2848 [2]. You were correct about the modern German name for the Black Forest region being . Furthermore, the region has apparently been known by some form of that name at least since the 9th century. [5] However, the earliest locative derived from it that we were able to find dates to 1350. This could be because the area was before then so sparsely settled that few people could be described as living or originating there, or because people considered it too large to be a useful identifier for someone who did. The earliest High German byname based on the forest itself that we could positively identify is (pronounced roughly \SHVAHRTS-vahlt\), which was recorded in 1443 [6]. There are, however, multiple earlier bynames referring to specific locations within the Schwartzwald, such as such as 1276 'of/from Villingen', 1284 'man from Rottweil', 1312 'the man from Bra"unling', 1382 '(or/from) Gengenbach', and 1383 '(of/from) Alpersbach' [7]. The double quote represents an umlaut over the preceding letter. If you would like us to help you look for a byname that relates to a particular area within the Black Forest, please let us know. However, a byname referring to the Schwarzwald in general is certainly possible by the end of your period, and in a Latinizing record we might see a . However, this would be purely a documentary form: in ordinary spoken usage and in documents written in German the man's name would have been (or something very similar). We hope this letter has been useful. Please write us again if any part of it has been unclear or if you have other questions. We were assisted in researching and writing this letter by Bronwyn ferch Gwyn ap Rhys, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Ursula Georges, Talan Gwynek, Walraven van Nijmegen, and Juliana de Luna. For the Academy, Coblaith Mhuimhneach and Gunnvor silfraharr 11 January 2010 ------------------------------------------------------- Notes and References [1] Brechenmacher, Josef Karlmann, _Etymologisches Woerterbuch der deutschen Familiennamen_ (Limburg a. d. Lahn, C. A. Starke-Verlag, 1957-1960); s.n.n. . [2] Academy of St. Gabriel Report 2848. http://www.s-gabriel.org/2848 We should perhaps add that the Germanic name began as something like <{TH}iudarikjaz>; this became something like <{TH}iudareiks> in Gothic and was the name of the great 5th and 6th century Ostrogothic king whose name the Romans represented as . A much distorted version of this historical figure was a major character in German heroic legend. In Germany this same Germanic name eventually developed into modern , but in the Middle Ages the name appears in a great variety of vernacular and Latinized forms depending on dialect. [3] Talan Gwynek, "Medieval German Given Names from Silesia", revised edition (WWW: Academy of Saint Gabriel, 2004). http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/talan/bahlow/ [4] Schwarz, Ernst. _Sudetendeutsche Familiennamen des 15. und 16. Jahrhunderts_ (Mu"nchen: Robert Lerche, Handbuch der Sudetendeutschen Kulturgeschichte, Bd. 6, 1973); s.nn. , . [5] Schwarz, Ernst, _Deutsche Namenforschung. II: Orts- und Flurnamen_ (Go"ttingen: Vandenhoek & Ruprecht, 1950); p. 180. [6] Brechenmacher, op. cit.; s.n. Schwarzwald. [7] Brechenmacher, op. cit.; s.nn. , , , , .