Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 673

Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 673

This report is available at http://www.s-gabriel.org/673

Some of the Academy's early reports contain errors that we haven't yet corrected. Please use it with caution.

Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel!

You asked about the names <Nyneve> and <Nivienne>, which are found as variants of the name of Merlin's lover in the Arthurian tales. You also asked whether the College of Arms would accept _The Romance of Merlin_ as a source of documentation despite its character as a work of fiction. Finally, you wondered whether the name is related to that of the Irish goddess Niamh or the city Ninevah.

First let me emphasize that the purpose of the Academy is to offer assistance to people who want to choose and use names and arms appropriate to the period cultures that they are re-creating. As you realize, starting with the name and working backwards isn't the best way to get a historical name, though it occasionally succeeds. More often it results in attempts to find 'stunt documentation' sufficient for registration of a fundamentally inauthentic name. (<Nynaeve> turns out to be at best a borderline case on this score.) Similarly, we are more interested in the value of literary sources as evidence of period naming practice than in whether the College of Arms will accept them as such. However, the short answer to both questions is the same: it depends on the name and the particular source. In the present case we do not think that the literary evidence reflects actual practice; our reasoning is given below.

The name of Merlin's lover appears in an astonishing variety of forms in medieval sources. These include <Niniane>, <Ninien(n)e>, <Viviane>, <Nievenne>, <Nimane>, <Nimenche>, <Nimiane>, <Nivene>, <Niviene>, <Suniane>, <Niavienne>, <Nianienne>. [4] Much of the variation is evidently the result of 'minim confusion', i.e., improperly dividing a string of minims (short vertical strokes) in a manuscript. For example, in many manuscripts <u> and <n> are virtually indistinguishable, each consisting simply of two minim strokes. Similarly, <m> can be very easily confused with <ni> or <ui>. Thus, <Niniane> easily becomes <Niuiane> (i.e., <Niviane>), and either of these can also be read as <Nimane>.

In the face of this diversity it is difficult to determine the original source of the name, but the most likely theory seems to be that it comes from <Ninian>, the name of a 5th century British saint. [2, 6] If this is so, the forms with internal <v> or <m> are generally the result of misreading or miscopying. The one probable exception is <Viviane>. The name <Vivian> was used by both men and women in the Middle Ages. [5, 6] When recorded as a woman's name in Latin, it was written <Viviana>, and the corresponding Old French forms were <Viviane> and <Viviene>. [3] In setting down <Viviane>, therefore, some scribe was probably substituting a known name for the unfamiliar <Niniane>, <Niviane>, etc. in his source.

Both the extreme variety of attested forms and the occasional substitution of a more familiar name strongly suggest that <Niniane> (or whatever the original name may have been) was unfamiliar to the scribes who produced the extant manuscripts. This in turn makes it unlikely that the name was in actual (i.e., non-literary) use. Further doubt is cast by the nature of the character herself. It's true that the French and Anglo-Normans did name children after major characters in the medieval romances, but they seem to have used the names of positive characters, like Lancelot, rather than those of more villainous (or at least ambiguous) characters. Moreover, it was human characters whose names passed into everyday use, not clearly superhuman or magical characters like Merlin's lover. We therefore doubt that either <Nyneve> or <Nivienne> was used historically; both seem to be scribal creations.

We did, however, find a similar name that *may* have been used, though the odds are very much against it. The legendary 5th century Welsh prince Brychan is supposed to have had several dozen children, whose names appear in several early Welsh genealogies. One of his daughters is variously named <Nyuein> or <Nyven>; the first form probably dates from the 11th century, the second, from the 13th. [1] (The editor gives <Nifain> as a normalized modern spelling.) Given the interchangeability of <u> and <v> in Latin orthography, <Nyvein> would be a normal variant from this same general period.

We wish to emphasize that we have no evidence that the name <Nyvein> was in use at that time outside of the legendary genealogies. Of the roughly 60 names attributed to children of Brychan in various sources, only some 20 to 30 percent have been found elsewhere as well, and <Nyvein> isn't one of them. Moreover, a significant number of the uncorroborated names can be shown to have arisen by scribal error or misunderstanding of some kind. In the absence of any real evidence that <Nyvein> is a genuine historical name, we cannot recommend it as good historical re-creation.

Finally, neither the name of Merlin's lover nor the name of Brychan's daughter is related to either the Irish goddess name <Niamh> or the city name <Ninevah>.

Arval Benicoeur and Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn also contributed to this letter. We hope that it is helpful and that you will write again if you have any further questions.

For the Academy,

Talan Gwynek


[1] Bartrum, P.C., _Early Welsh Genealogical Tracts_ (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1966).

[2] Black, George F., _The Surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and History_ (New York: The New York Public Library, 1989).

[3] Dauzat, Albert, _Dictionnaire E/tymologique des noms de familles et des prénoms de France_ (Paris: Larousse, 1987). (The slash denotes an acute accent over the preceding vowel.)

[4] Flutre, Louis-Fernane, _Table des noms propres avec toutes leurs variantes, figurant dans les romans du Moyen Age écrits en franc,ais ou en provenc,al et actuellement publiés ou analysés_ (Poitiers: Centre d'études supérieures de civilisation médiévale, 1962). (Here <c,> denotes a c-cedilla.)

[5] Morlet, Marie-There\se, _Les Noms de Personne sur le Territoire de l'Ancienne Gaule du VIe au XIIe Sie\cle_, Vol. II (Paris: Editions du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 1968). (The backslash denotes an accent grave over the prededing vowel.)

[6] Withycombe, E. G. _The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names_ (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1984).