ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 920 http://www.s-gabriel.org/920 *********************************** ************************************************* * * * NOTE: Some of the Academy's early reports * * contain errors that we haven't yet * * corrected. Please use it with caution. * * * ************************************************* 22 Apr 1998 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked for help choosing a name for a persona from Lugo, Spain between the 10th and 14th centuries. You wrote that you want to use as your given name, and that you are considering several surnames. Here is what we have found. The names you've chosen are fairly appropriate to your period. Before I get to the details, I'd like to offer a few thoughts on the background information you provided. You wrote that you want your persona to be "Celt-Iberian", son of a "true Galician" woman from "Celt stock" and a man of "Iberian stock". Unfortunately, these distinctions are not meaningful for your period. The Celtic language disappeared during the Roman rule of Iberia, and by the 10th century, after the replacement of the Romans by the Visigoths and Spanish Christians, any remaining Celtic identity was long since lost. The Basques retained a separate identity, but they did not live in the part of Spain where you want to set your persona. A man living in Lugo, in northeastern Galicia, in your period would simply have considered himself Galician [1]. The name was quite popular in much of Christian Spain throughout your period, but this is not the most common spelling in our sources. The most common form from the 10th to the early 13th century is ; is second, and other forms include , , . The name appears to have been common in both Castile and Leon [2, 3, 8], and we found one example in Lugo itself in the 12th century, [9]. ( is an abbreviation for the Latin .) seems to be more common toward the end of your period; we find several examples in Leon around the year 1300 [10]. The surname derives from the name of a place in Pontevedra, the southwestern part of Galicia (which doesn't include Lugo). It is recorded in 1145 as [5]. was a mid-13th century Galician minstrel [6]. was the surname of Miguel de Cervantes, late 16th century author of _Don Quixote_. We found it in the form between 1477 and 1504. It is certainly a period name, but we have not found it in use any closer to your period and without further information, we do not recommend it for your persona. We have not found any evidence of the name . If you tell us where you found it, we may be able to follow up on your research and discover more. In your period, the Spanish did not use fixed or inherited surnames. Instead, they used various kinds of descriptive bynames, chosen to fit their immediate circumstances. Most men were known as their father's sons, by the places where they lived, by their occupations, or by some simple physical characteristic. The name fits one of these patterns and was definitely in use in Galicia in your period. It is an unlikely name for a man born in Lugo, though. If your persona no longer lives in Lugo, you might take that place name as your byname. We found a recorded in 1059 [5], in 1193 [9]. is an adjective meaning "of Lugo", and this general form of location-based byname seems to be the most common written form in your period. It could also have been written in a vernacular form [2]. The spoken form was probably . Putting it all together, would be a fine name for your period; it might be written or . I hope this letter has been useful. Please write 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 AElfwyn aet Gyrwum, Pedro de Alcazar, Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, Juliana de Luna, Talan Gwynek, and Antonio Miguel Santos de Borja. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 15 Apr 1998 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Cantarino, Vicente, _Civilizacio/n y cultura de Espan~a_. 2nd ed. (New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1988). [2] Herrero de la Fuente, Marta, _Coleccio/n diploma/tica del monasterio de Sahagu/n (957-1230): Vol. III (1073-1109)_. Leo/n, Spain: Centro de Estudios e Investigacio/n "San Isidoro", Caja de Ahorros y Monte de Piedad, & Archivo Histo/rico Diocesano, 1988. Documents #863, 1019-1068. #863 has (Pedro bishop of Leo/n), (Osmundo of Asturia). [3] Sopena, Pascual Marti/nez, "La antroponimia leonesa: Un estudio del Archivo de la Catedral de Leo/n (876-1200)" in _Antroponimia y Sociedad_: Sistemas de identificacio/n hispano-cristianos en los siglos IX a XIII_ (Valladolid, Spain: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela and Universidad de Valladolid, 1995). [5] Di/ez Melco/n, R. P. Gonzalo, _Apellidos Castellano-Leoneses: Siglos IX-XIII, ambos inclusive_ (Universidad de Granada, 1957), p.239. [6] Fowler, Barbara Hughes, _Songs of a Friend: Love Lyrics of Medieval Portugal_, (Univ. of North Carolina Press, 1996). [7] De la Torre, Antonio and E.A. de la Torre, _Cuentas de Gonzalo de Baeza, Tesorero de Isabel la Cato/lica_ (Madrid: Biblioteca Reyes Catolicaos, 1956). [8] Talan Gwynek, "A Glossary of the Personal Names in Di/ez Melco/n's _Apellidos Castellano-Leoneses_", Known World Heraldic Symposium Proceedings (SCA: Chicago, 1993). [9] A photocopy of a document from the Cathedral of Lugo, 1231 of the Spanish era (1193 CE). Provided by Antonio Miguel Santos de Borja. [10] Ferna/ndez Flo/rez, Jose/ A. _Coleccio/n diploma/tica del monasterio de Sahagu/n (857-1300): Vol. V (1200-1300)_. Leo/n, Spain: Centro de Estudios e Investigacio/n "San Isidoro", Caja Espan~a de Inversiones, Caja de Ahorros y Monte de Piedad, & Archivo Histo/rico Diocesano, 1994. Documents #1882, 1895, 1874, 1889, 1872, 1852, 1885, 1886, & 1894. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -