Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 738

Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 738

This report is available at http://www.s-gabriel.org/738

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 Saint Gabriel.

You asked whether <Tiecia Ringuar> would be a reasonably historical name, and you also asked about the names <Tyffayne> and <Tinnet>. Finally, you asked how a dragon was depicted in medieval armory. Here's what we found.

As you discovered, <Tiecia> and <Ringuar'> are feminine given names recorded in England in the early 13th century. [1]. The apostrophe in <Ringuar'> indicates a scribal abbreviation; written out in full the name would probably have been <Ringuare> or, possibly, <Ringuara>. Because double given names were not used in the 13th century, the name <Tiecia Ringuare> would have meant "Tiecia, daughter of Ringuare". The name is probably pronounced \TEET-sa RING-wahr(a)\.

You had also asked about the name <Tyffayne>. This is a 13th century form of the name <Theofania>; in the 20th century, the name is usually spelled <Tiffany>. We found the form <Tyffayne> as a surname in 1288, but believe it is also a reasonable given name form [1]. We also found <Theffania> in 1205, and <Tyffany> in the 15th century [2]. It is likely that these names were pronounced \THEF-fa-nee\ or \TEF-fa-nee\, including <Thefania>. The <-ia> ending indicates a Latinized spelling and was probably not pronounced.

Finally, you asked about the name <Tinnet>. We were unable to find <Tinnet> as either a given name or a surname.

In 13th century England, the most common dragon-like charge was the wyvern. A wyvern is a two-legged dragon. A likely stylization for the 13th century is a creature with a dog-like head and erect ears, bird-like wings, lion-like feet, and a serpent's body and tail. Bat-winged wyverns appear a little later; we found an example of a bat-winged, eagle-footed wyvern in 1360 [3]. The usual posture for a wyvern is statant (standing), with wings displayed. Please note, though, that dragons of any sort are rare in period English armory.

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. Zenobia Naphtali, Talan Gwynek, and Arval d'Espas Nord aided in researching and writing this letter.

In Service,
Margaret Makafee


References

[1] Talan Gwynek. Feminine Given Names in "A Dictionary of English Surnames". (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1994)

[2] Withycombe, E.G. The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names. 3rd edition. Oxford University Press, 1977

[3] Foster, Joseph. A Dictionary of Heraldry. Arch Cape Press, New York, 1989.