Æthelmearc Letter of Intent Æ103
April 15, 2007 (AS 41)

1: Gytha Oggesdohtor - New Name & New Device

Per chevron inverted azure and vert, a cat dormant Or and three wolf's teeth issuant from dexter base argent.

Submitter desires a female name.
Sound (Gytha Oggsdottir) most important.

The byname was originally submitted as <Oggasdohtor> and was changed at kingdom to correct the grammar of the genitive stem of the byname. In commentary, Albion directed our attention to the following examples from G. Tengvik, Old English Bynames (Uppsala, 1938) which would suggest that the correct genitive of <Ogga> would be either <Ogges-> or <Oggan->.

We have changed the byname at kingdom to <Oggesdohtor>, because, of the two forms, it is closer to the submitted spelling, and we ask Pelican for clarification on which of the two forms would more correct.

Gytha - Withycombe, p. 135, s.n. Githa, states that this Norse name is found in England in the 11th century and cites Countess Gytha, the Danish wife of Godwin, Earl of Wessex, c. 1054.

Ogga - Reaney and Wilson, p. 328, s.n. Ogg, list Ogge filius Adam, 1199, and Ralph filius Ogg, 13th century and gives the origin of the name as the Old English Oga, Ogga.

dohtor - Reaney & Wilson, p. 127, s.n. Daughters, give the Old English form as "dohtor".

Mari Elspeth nic Bryan, "Period Name Construction, v. 2.1" (Kathleen M. O'Brien, 1999-2003) states that the expected form of a woman's patronymic byname would be <Old Engish given name> <Old English father's given name (genitive form)> dohtor. The accompanying examples of men's patronymic bynames include both compound-word bynames (ex. Treddasunu) and two-word byname phrases (ex. Haroldes sunu). We would suspect that women's patronymic bynames might also adopt either pattern.

More than one commentator raised concern that the name was obtrusively modern by referring to the fictional character Gytha "Nanny Ogg" in novels by Terry Pratchett. We quote the Heronter Heralds commentary letter:

Author Terry Pratchett writes a fantasy series set in Discworld, a flat Earth. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Pratchett#Discworld) He has three witches in his series, Magrat "Maggie" Garlick, Gytha "Nanny" Ogg, and Esme "Granny" Weatherwax who represent the archtype concepts of maiden, mother and crone respectively. The middle character immediately came to mind for all of us upon hearing the name.

Terry Pratchett has five books in the top 100 of BBC's "Big Read" list of authors, a distinction he shares only with Dickens. He has 15 books in the top 200, a distinction he shares with no one. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread)

The witches appear seven of his novels, _Equal Rites_, _Wyrd Sisters_, _Witches Abroad_, _Lords and Ladies_, _Maskerade_, _A Hat Full of Sky_ and _Wintersmith_, most of which made the NYT Best-seller lists. Gytha even has her own wikipedia entry: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanny_Ogg).

Since this sentiment was not unanimous, and is a subjective "scruff of the neck" call, we think it best to give the submitter the benefit of the doubt and ask Pelican for guidance.

2: Halldórr bíldr - New Name & New Device

Argent, two Thor's hammers in saltire gules.

Submitter desires a male name.
Meaning (Halldórr the axe) most important.

Halldórr - Geirr Bassi, p. 10 lists this as a male given name

bíldr - Geirr Bassi, p. 20 lists this as a byname meaning "ax, ax-blade"

3: Julianna Woolworth - New Name & New Device

Argent, a sheep couchant sable, within a bordure gules ermined argent.

Submitter desires a female name.
No major changes.
Language (Englsih) most important.
Culture (English) most important.

Woolworth - The submitter provided the following citation:

'The 1541 Orphans' Book', Two Tudor subsidy rolls for the city of London: 1541 and 1582 (1993), pp. 298-315. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=36146&strquery=Wollworth. Date accessed: 11 October 2005.

This appears to be a listing of persons who paid assessments on London orphans. Item no. 401 lists:

Robert Wollworth, grocer

I do not find Woolworth in either Reaney & Wilson or Bardsley.

The Woll- to Wool- shift is supported by Bardsley, s.n. Woolmer, which lists:

Reaney and Wilson [p. 498] corroborate Bardsley, listing the header form <Wollmer> as a variant of <Woolmer>, as well as -- on both that page and the next -- other like shifts in spelling such as <Woller/Wooler> and <Wollaston/Woolaston/Wolston>

Julianna - The submitter provided the following citation:

'Index: A-J', The Rulers of London 1660-1689: A biographical record of the Aldermen and Common Councilment of the City of London (1966), pp. 168-81. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=31900&strquery=BURLINGTON. Date accessed: 11 October 2005.

This is an index to the work The Rulers of London 1660-1689: A biographical record of the Aldermen and Common Councilment of the City of London (1966) and lists, s.n. Burlington:

BURLINGTON Chas, Julianna,

However, the same website at this citation:

'Waad - Wymondseld', The Rulers of London 1660-1689: A biographical record of the Aldermen and Common Councilment of the City of London (1966), pp. 168-81. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=31898&strquery=BURLINGTON. Date accessed: 02 March 2007.

s.n. Wale, William, gives the text of the entry in which Charles and Julian(n)a are mentioned:

Ald Farringdon Without, 27 Oct 1659-18 Jun 1661, disch, F £820 (1) The 'Antwerp' tavern, Exchange, 1641-50, St Michael Cornhill, 1638, Throgmorton Street, 1660, North Luffenham, Rut (2) VIN, fr, 1636, L, 1645 (3) d 20 Nov 1676, bur North Luffenham, Rut (4) PCC Admon, 6 Nov 1676 f William Wale of -, Leic, mar 1638, at Great Stanmore, Middx, Margaret, da of Priamus Spark of London (4) Vintner, Purveyor of Wines to the King, 1660 (5) Kt, 26 May 1660 Sheriff of Leic, 1671-2 (6) Col Yellow Regt, 1659-60, White Regt, 1660-1, Commsr for Lieut, 1660 An important City figure in the making of the Restoration General Monck lodged with him (7) Da Margaret mar Edward Seymour, later Bt and Speaker of the House of Commons Da Elizabeth mar Hon Henry Noel, their da, Juliana, mar Charles, 2nd Earl Burlington (8) [emphasis mine]

So it would seem that the index had normalized the spelling to Julianna. That said, the same work, with the following citation:

'Railey - Ryves', The Rulers of London 1660-1689: A biographical record of the Aldermen and Common Councilment of the City of London (1966), pp. 134-43. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=31893&strquery=Julianna. Date accessed: 02 March 2007.

s.n. Rodbard, Thomas gives the following entry:

Ald Aldgate, 12 Aug 1687-3 Oct 1688 superseded on restoration of Charter (1) St Botolph Billingsgate, 1663, 1675, Clapham, Surr, 1713 (2) FISH, appr, 1653, to Thomas Rodbard, PW, 1692 (3) b 1636, d 1713 (4) Will PCC 169 Leeds pr, 6 Jul 1713 f William Rodbard of Norton under Hampton, Som, yeo, mar 1663, Julianna Napier of Norton under Hampton (5) Cheese- monger (6) Land Som, Suff (7) Commsr for Lieut, 1688 [emphasis mine]

Additionally, Albion directed us to her article as follows:

Aryanhwy merch Catmael, "Index of Names in the 1381 Suffolk Poll Tax" (WWW: Sara L. Uckelman, 2007) [URL: http://www.ellipsis.cx/%7Eliana/names/english/suffolk1381.html] counts 7 occurrences of <Juliana> and one occurrence of <Julianna> in a Latin setting.

4: Maria Caterina da Rauvenna - New Name

Submitter desires a female name.
No major changes.
Client requests authenticity for Italian Renaissance.
Sound (keeping the element <cat>) most important.
Language (Italian) most important.
Culture (Italian) most important.

Maria - Arval Benicoeur and Talan Gwynek, "Fourteenth Century Venetian Personal Names: Tables of Given Names" (WWW: Brian M. Scott and Josh Mittleman, 1999, 2003) [http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/arval/venice14/venice14given.html#table] list <Maria> as a women's name.

Caterina - Arval Benicoeur and Talan Gwynek, "Fourteenth Century Venetian Personal Names: Tables of Given Names" (WWW: Brian M. Scott and Josh Mittleman, 1999, 2003) [http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/arval/venice14/venice14given.html#table] list <Catarina> as a women's name.

Arval Benicoeur, "Feminine Given Names from the Online Catasto of Florence of 1427" (WWW: Josh Mittleman, 1998) [http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/arval/catasto/] lists <Caterina> as the single most frequently used women's name (9.5% of the data set).

Use of a double given name in this period is supported by Academy of Saint Gabriel report no. 3061, which states in part:

Compound given names (double given names, middle names) were common in some parts of Italy in your period and later. [7,8]

...

[7] Klapisch-Zuber, Christiane, _Women, Family and Ritual in Renaissance Italy_, translated by Lydia G. Cochrane (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1985), pp. 255-258. The author notes, "Approximately 60% of the nine hundred children of Florentine bourgeois families studied by means of familial documentation bear a second given name in the period 1360-1530."

[8] Lyneya Fairbowe, unpublished research based on a baptismal register from Palermo 1561-3 that is available from the research library of the Church of the Latter Day Saints. Her data shows many examples of double and triple given names.

da - Italian preposition meaning "of" for locative bynames

Rauvenna - Maridonna Benvenuti, "Mercator's Place Names of Italy in 1554: Northern Italy" (WWW: Andrea Hicks, 2001, 2005) [http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/maridonna/mercator/north.html] gives this spelling for the modern form Ravenna.

5: Niccola di Cristiano - New Badge

Per pale Or and sable, a Maltese cross counterchanged.

Her name was registered in May 2005 via AEthelmearc.

6: Serena Finn - New Name & New Device

Azure, a unicorn head couped argent, in chief three scimitars inverted reversed Or.

Submitter desires a female name.
No changes.
Language (submitter states,) most important.
Culture most important.

Serena - Withycombe states "This name has been noted once in the 13th C, again in Notts in 1761, and in New England in 1830."

Cateline de la Mor, "Names from Fourteenth Century Foix" [http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/cateline/foix.html] (WWW: Triste Elliot, 1998, 2001) lists <Serena> as occurring in the source documents, but notes that the source material has modernized the 14th-century spellings. Foix is located in the Midi-Pyrénées region of southern France. The article also gives probable Occitan spellings, and for <Serena>, the suggested Occitan spelling is the same.

Serena is also the submitter's middle name.

Finn - The submission form refers to the previous registration of <Aoife Finn> (reg April 1989 via the East), however, this Letter of Intent is not available on the East Kingdom's website and so we do not have easy access to the documentation that was used for that submission. The submission also includes Academy of Saint Gabriel report no. 1730, which states that <Finn> is an Irish Gaelic descriptive byname meaning "fair" and was used in this spelling prior to 1200, but suggests <Find> as more appropriate for the 8th-9th centuries. The report is for a male client, and does not address whether <Finn> would be the form for a woman.

In addition, we find:

Mari Elspeth nic Bryan, "Index of Names in Irish Annals: Descriptive Bynames: Finn/Fionn" [http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/mari/AnnalsIndex/DescriptiveBynames/Fionn.shtml] (WWW: Kathleen M. O'Brien, 2000-2006) lists <Find> and <Finn> as the two normalized Middle Irish Gaelic (c900-c1200) nominative and genitive forms. <Finn> is list as the Early Modern Irish Gaelic (c1200-c1700) genitive form, with <Fionn> as the Early Modern Irish Gaelic (c1200-c1700) nominative form.

Reany & Wilson, p. 169, s.n. Finn list <Hugo Fin> 1178-9

Bardsley, p. 288, s.n. Finn lists:

Julie Kahan , "Surnames in Durham and Northumberland, 1521-1615" [http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/juetta/ parish/surnames_ef.html] (WWW: Julie Kahan, 2007) lists <Finn> dated to 1595

Regarding the device, it was noted that the scimitars appear to lean somewhat toward bendwise sinister, rather than being truly palewise inverted. Since a scimitar has a noticeable curve (see PicDic 719b), and since the handles of the scimitars here are clearly palewise, we chose to leave the blazon as submitted and we defer to Wreath's judgement as to how to blazon the orientation of the scimitars.

7: Yang SuGyong - New Name Change & Resub Device

Per pale gules and argent, a pair of wings conjoined in lure counterchanged and on the honor point overall a trillium purpure barbed vert.

Old Item: Ann of THanet , to be released.
Submitter desires a female name.
Sound (yahng soo gyong) most important.

Her old name <Ann of Thanet> was registered in June 2004 via the East. Her previous submission, Per pale gules and argent, on a pair of wings counterchanged a trillium purpure barbed vert, was returned for redraw in June of 2004 with the following commentary:

The charges here are not drawn such that they are "recognizable solely from their appearance" and thus must be returned for a redraw per RfS VII.7.a, Identification Requirement. The petals of a trillium should be significantly larger than the barbs; the wings need to be drawn in a form readily recognizable as wings.

The previous submission may be viewed at http://ech.eastkingdom.org/xLoI/XLoI_2004-Feb-29.pdf. This redrawing uses more conventional representations of the charges.

Item 1: Evidence of contact between Europe and Korea prior to 1650.

Savenije, Henny, "Korea through western cartographic eyes," Korean Culture, Vol. 21 No. 1 Spring 2000 pp. 4-19. (Los Angeles: Korean Cultural Center, 2000) reprinted online at http://www.cartography.henny-savenije.pe.kr/ states that Gregorio de Céspedes (1550-1611), a Jesuit, visited Korea from Dec. 27, 1593 until April 1594 on the invitation of one of the three leading generals of the Japanese invasion army and is generally believed to be the first westerner to visit Korea, despite evidence of a brief earlier visit by an unnamed western in 1582.

According to Savenije, a letter of one Father Luis Frois (1532-1597) tells of 300,000 Korean prisoners of war being brought to Nagasaki, Japan as part of a slave trade.

Savenije quotes Francesco Carletti's Discourses, in which Carletti describes his purchase in 1597 of five Korean slaves, and further states that one of Carletti's Korean pupils accompanied him back to Europe, visiting Holland and eventually residing in Italy. This Korean student was known by the European name of Antonio Correa (1578?-1626) and was sent to Manchuria by the Vatican in the 1610s as a missionary.

Item 2: Evidence of Korea on European maps

"Western Maps and Korea" at http://www.korea.net/news/issues/html/eastsea_world_2.html (WWW: The Republic of Korea, 2007) states in part:

The map created in 1594 by Petro Plancio of the Netherlands is known to be the oldest existing map in Europe that made reference to Korea with the marking "Corea." (There are two earlier maps, drawn by Bartholomeu Velho in 1562 and by Abraham Ortelius in the 1580s that show the Korean Peninsula but they gave no specific name to the peninsula.) In 1646, Sir Robert Dudley's hydrographic chart Dell'Arcano del Mare, (The Mysteries of the Sea), referred to Regno di Corai (the Kingdom of Korea).

Item 3: Structure of Korean names

"Korean Name" Wikipedia (WWW: Wikipedia, 2007) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_name

To briefly summarize, Korean names are generally comprised of a one-syllable family name, often of Chinese origin or influence, followed by a two-syllable given name. Currently, only about 250 family names are in use.

Korean names were traditionally written using hanja, Chinese characters in Korean pronounciation - analogous to the kanji used in Japanese naming practices. Korean names are written in modern times using hangul, the national phonetic writing system of modern Korea. Both hanja and hangul are used in modern official documents.

Hangul was invented and promoted in the mid-15th century, but its use was banned in 1504. Its use in the 15th century was limited to women and the uneducated. Hangul was revived in the 19th century under nationalist sentiment, and was made the official writing system in 1894. (Wikipedia, "Hangul" [URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hangul] )

Two systems of romanization are in general use. The McCune-Reischauer system was invented in 1937 and a variation of it was the official system in South Korea from 1984-2000. The Revised Romanization of Korea system was made the official system of South Korea in 2000. Other popular spellings of names may differ from either system. (Wikipedia, "Mc-Cune-Reischauer" [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCune-Reischauer] and Wikipedia, "Revised Romaniszation of Korean" [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revised_Romanization_of_Korean] )

Item 4: Evidence of Yang as a Korean family name

Wikipedia, “List of Korean family names”, s.n. ieung [7th Hangul letter] lists the name Yang and gives the following information concerning it:

Hangul:
Hangul spelling:  ieung [null initial],  ya [“ya”], ieung [“ng”]
Hanja:
South Korean Romanization: Yang
McCune-Reischauer: Yang
2000 South Korean population: 486,645

“Writing as Art: A Brush with the Past,” Korea Now, January 13, 2001 (WWW: The Korea Herald) http://kn.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2001/01/13/200101130043.aspis an overview of the development of Korean calligraphy and references <Yang Sa-on> as a 16th century master of the cursive or “grass” style of Korean calligraphy.

Item 5: Component syllables of the given name

Su:

Wikipedia, “List of Korean family names”, s.n. siot [6th Hangul letter] lists the name Su and gives the following information concerning it:

Hangul:
Hangul spelling:  siot [“s”],  u [long “u”]
Hanja:
South Korean Romanization: Su
McCume-Reischauer: Su
2000 South Korean population: 199

Although this does not provide evidence for <Su> as a given name, or part of a given name, it does provide us with the hangul spelling and choices for romanization of this syllable.

Gyeong/Kyong/Gyong:

Wikipedia, “List of Korean family names”, s.n. giyeok [1st Hangul letter] lists the name Gyeong and gives the following information concerning it:

Hangul:
Hangul spelling:  giyeok [“g”],  yeo [“yo” (with long o)],  eung [“ng”]
Hanja:
South Korean Romanization: Gyeong
McCume-Reischauer: Kyŏng [the vowel is an o with a breve]
2000 South Korean population: 199

Although this does not provide evidence for <Gyong> as a given name, or part of a given name, it does provide us with the hangul spelling and choices for romanization of this syllable.

Item 6: Evidence of the given name in period

Lee, Sung-Il, The Moonlit Pond : Korean Classical Poems in Chinese, (Copper Canyon Pr, 1998, 2003) pp. 61-62, includes two poems by <Shim Su-Kyong> (1516-1599). Note that the 16th century written form of <Shim Su-Kyong> would have been in Hanja. Thus, the romanization given here is a modern choice, and does not imply that the given name was romanized as <Su-Kyong> in period.

Item 7: Possible romanizations of the given name

For purposes of SCA registration, a modern romanization must be imposed on the name. The Revised Romanization of Korea system would yield <Yang Su-Gyeong>. The McClune-Reischauer system would yield <Yang Su- Kyŏng>.

Other possible popular romanizations include <Su-Gyong> and <Su-Gyŏng>:

In support of <Su-Gyong> as a possible popular romanization of the given name, "Ch'oyongmu: An Ancient Dance Survives" (WWW: Hyundae Bulkyo Media Center, 2005) [http://eng.buddhapia.com/_Service/_ContentView/ETC_CONTENT_2.ASP?PK=0000593891&danrak_no=&clss_cd=&top_menu_cd=0000000808] informs us of one <Yi Su-Gyong> (1882-1955), a noted Korean court singer, who aided in the reconstruction of the dance that is the focus of the article.

Van Zile, Judy, Perspectives on Korean Dance, (Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press), p. 70, mentions this sameYi Su-Gyŏng, and in the glossary, p. 307 lists the name written in hangul as 수 경 [see hangul for Su and Gyong above] and romanized as <Yi Su-Gyŏng>.

In order to assess the relative popularity of five different romanizations of the given name, I compared the number of hits in Google searches on each spelling:

In Google, a hyphen is treated as a space.

Thus <Su Gyeong> is equivalent to <Su-Gyeong>. Because the submitter is active in SCA web publishing, I searched her preferred spelling with the search terms "SCA" and "Lady" subtracted. Note that the hyphenization of given names appears to be optional, and an un-hyphenated form may be written as two separate name elements or a singe two-syllable name element.

Hyphenated or two-word romanizations:

One-word romanizations:

Thus, although the Revised Romanization of Korea system's spelling of <Su-Gyeong> is clearly the most prevalent romanization, <SuGyong> appears to be reasonable alternate popular romanization of this name. The submitter strongly prefers the spelling <SuGyong>, but will accept another romanization.

The question was raised as to whether the trillium was on the honor point, noting that available references differ as to its location. Quoting the Internal Commentary of Myfanwy ferch Rhiannon:

Parker [p. 468, sn Point] shows the honor point a little further down; Woodward [p. 59, Fig. 15], von volborth [p. 12, fig. 106], and Brooke-Little [p. 167] show it roughly the same spot as on the submission; and Friar [p. 143] shows it much higher on the field.

In addition, we are uncertain as to whether the trillium should be blazoned as overall, or should be blazoned as conjoined to the wings in some way. Myfanwy ferch Rhiannon drew our attention to this ruling:

[a fret surmounted by a badger statant ] An overall charge should lie mostly on the field. Here the badger lies almost entirely on the fret. This is not stylistically acceptable by long-standing precedent. [ Muirgheal inghean Raghailligh mhic Seachnasaigh ,08/01 , R-Atenveldt]

We defer to Wreath's judgement as to the registerability of this design.

8: Ysabeau Tiercelin - New Name & New Device

Azure, a horse rampant Or within a bordure Or semy of pommes.

Submitter desires a female name.
Sound (Tercelyn) most important.

Ysabeau - Aryanhwy merch Catmael, "Late Period French Feminine Names" [http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/french/latefrench.html] (WWW: Sara Uckelman, 2005) lists eight occurrences of <Ysabeau> dated from 1468 - 1618.

Tiercelin - Aryanhwy merch Catmael, "Late Period French Surnames (used by women)" [http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/french/latefrenchsurnames.html] (WWW: Sara Uckelman, 2005-2006) lists one occurrence of <Tiercelin> dated 1579.