ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1520
http://www.s-gabriel.org/1520
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From: "Brian M. Scott" 
7 Mar 1999

Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel!

You asked about the suitability of <Torbjorn Ragnarsson> as a
Scandinavian man's name before 1050.  You also mentioned that you
understood <Torbjorn> to mean 'Bear of Thorr'.

With minor changes this name is eminently suitable for your period.
The given (first) name was common in both Norway and Iceland
throughout the Middle Ages, but it wasn't spelled <Torbjorn> until
long after your period.  The standard scholarly form of the name,
which is based on Old Icelandic spellings from the later 13th
century, is <{TH}orbio,rn> or <{TH}orbjo,rn>. [1]   (Here {TH}
stands for the letter thorn, written like a superimposed <b> and <p>
sharing a single loop; it's pronounced like the <th> in <thin>.  The 
sequence <o,> stands for an <o> with a backwards comma hanging from 
it; in your period <o,r> was pronounced much like the English word 
<or>.)

The name <Ragnarr> wasn't particularly common in Norway in the
Viking period, but it did occur in the royal lines, and there was a
bishop by that name at Nidaros in the middle of the 11th century. [1]
<{TH}orbjo,rn Ragnars son> or <{TH}orbjo,rn Ragnarsson> would be a
fine Old Norse name for your period.

You can write this name in several ways.  The genuine Norse
representation for your period is in runes.  You can find four 
versions of the futhark, or runic alphabet, at the following site:

     http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Olympus/1568/

Any of the last three versions, i.e., the younger futharks with
sixteen runes each, would be appropriate.

You'll notice, however, that there are no runes corresponding to some
of the letters in the name, like the <o> and the <g>.  Just as our
letter <s> represents different sounds in the words <base> and
<bays>, the Norse used one rune to represent more than one sound.
The name <{TH}orbjo,rn Ragnars son> would actually have been written
with the runes corresponding to the spellings <{th}urbiarn raknars
sun> or <{th}urbiarn raknarsun>.  You have to be a little careful
here, however, because there are two a-runes and two r-runes in the
younger futhark.  The <a>s in your name should be written with the
10th rune, and the <r> should be written with the 5th rather than the
16th rune.  (Note that this spelling is valid only when you write the
name in runes; it should not be used with Latin letters.).

You may want to write the name as <{TH}orbjo,rn Ragnars son> if you
have to explain it to someone who doesn't read runes, since this is
the standard scholarly form.  When special characters are
inconvenient you might write <Thorbjorn Ragnarsson>, the standard
Anglicization of this name.


The name <{TH}orbjo,rn> does derive from the god's name <{TH}o/rr>
and an Old Norse word for 'bear', but it isn't really correct to say
that it *means* 'bear of Thor'.  What sets given (first) names apart
from other words in a language is their lack of meaning: they are
identifiers (labels), not descriptions. [2]  Almost all names originally
derived from a regular word (sometimes compound) in some language,
but in becoming names they gained a usage separate from their normal
meanings.  Consider, for example, how often the meaning of the word
<heather> is relevant to a modern woman named <Heather>.  Just as we
recognize the connection between the name <Heather> and the common
noun <heather>, a Viking era Norseman would certainly have
recognized the elements of the name <{TH}orbjo,rn>; but like as not,
a man named <{TH}orbjo,rn> was simply named after someone.


Lindorm Eriksson and Arval Benicoeur also contributed to this
letter.  We hope that it has been helpful; if you have any further
questions, please don't hesitate to write again.

For the Academy,

Talan Gwynek
6 March 1999

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References and Notes:

[1] Lind, E.H.  Norsk-Isla"ndska Dopnamn ock Fingerade Namn fra*n
Medeltiden (Uppsala & Leipzig: 1905-1915, suppl. Oslo, Uppsala and
Copenhagen: 1931); s.nn. <{TH}orbio,rn>, <Ragnarr>.  [The <a"> is an
a-umlaut; the <a*> is an <a> with a small circle directly above it.]

[2] Epithets and nicknames are another matter: a nickname like <inn 
spaki> 'the wise' may be intended ironically rather than literally, 
but it is bestowed because of its everyday meaning.