ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 977 http://www.s-gabriel.org/977 *********************************** ************************************************* * * * NOTE: Some of the Academy's early reports * * contain errors that we haven't yet * * corrected. Please use it with caution. * * * ************************************************* From: "S Friedemann" 8 Jun 1998 Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked about the masculine Old Norse given name and a patronymic formed from , and wanted to know what the correct spellings for both would be. Here is the information we have found. is the standard spelling of a name also seen as , , Havcr>, , and . [1] (The slash represents an accent over the previous letter.) In these spellings, the is just another way to write . These are all pronounced approximately \HOWKr\, with the almost silent. The common spelling of appears in the Landnamabo/k, which was written around 1200 but deals with events of some 200 years earlier. There was no single correct spelling for the name. Spelling was a system for writing sounds, and it is completely unsurprising that there were many ways to write the same sequence of sounds. Any of the spellings above would be a correct way to spell your name. is a root word meaning "evening," and is a given name meaning "wolf." The compound can mean "werewolf," though it does not necessarily have to. We find this used twice, once in the 9th century and once in 1528 [1]. You were interested in using this byname as a descriptive of your father. The patronym formed from this byname would be . The standard Old Norse spelling for "Haukr, son of the one called 'Kveld-U/lfr'" would be . You will note that is, while similar, different from the spellings you had listed in your message. The forms you suggested, and , are incorrect because they used the wrong word forms, rather like the difference between and . When you see , is the subject of the sentence (the nominative case). For the name to indicate his son (the possessive case), it must be . If your persona was from the Viking age (to circa 1100), your name would probably have been written in runes. If you'd like, we'd be happy to research what the runic form would be; please write again if you are interested. We hope that this letter has been useful to you, and that you will not hesitate to write again if any part was unclear or if you have further questions. Additonal research and commentary on this letter was provided by AElfwyn aet Gyrwum, Arval Benicoeur, Lindorm Eriksson, Rouland Carre, and Talan Gwynek. For the Academy, Aryanhwy Prytydes merch Catmael Caermyrdin -------------------------------------------------------- References: [1] Lind, E.H., _Norsk-Isla:ndska Personbinamn fra*n Medeltiden_ (Uppsala: 1920-21). s.n., Kveld-U/lfr