ÆTHELMEARC
COLLEGE OF HERALDS - commentary archive
Letter of Intent #117 Myfanwy ferch Rhiannon
Feast of St. Osburga 30 March AS XLIII
Greetings from Myfanwy!
Herein pray find commentary on Æ # 117. The armory was
conflict-checked through the December ‘08 LoAR. I tried to get
everything done early because it was a short letter [for a change :-)
], but Gulf War prep and post-Gulf Wars laundry got in the way. In
addition, I got pegged this past weekend to draw some last minute
April Fools OSCAR submissions for Lady -- soon to be Mistress --
Juliana de Luna, formerly of this kingdom.
I remain your servant and the Society’s.
Lady Myfanwy ferch Rhiannon
Ruth Morrisson
myfanwy@nauticom.net
1. Einarr Blæingarson
The docs for both name elements are as cited. However, I am uncertain
as to whether the patronymic is constructed correctly, or whether the
name should be <Blæringsson>.
2. Iain Ard mac an Bhaird (badge) -- (Fieldless) On a griffin’s head
erased contourny sable a triquetra argent.
no conflicts found
3. Iain Ard mac an Bhaird (household name Teulu Trobwll and badge) --
Per bend sinister sable and argent, a wolf’s tooth issuant from chief
and a wolf’s tooth issuant from base counterchanged.
According to InterTran [URL:
http://www.tranexp.com:2000/Translate/result.shtml] the direct
translation for <Teulu Trobwll> is “family whirlpool”, with
alternative direct translations for the toponymic element being
<eddy>, not “vortex” for which Intertran gives
<fôr-gerwyn>,
<llynclyn> and <môr-gerwyn>; back-translating
<llynclyn> also
gives the meaning of “a gulf”, while
<fôr-gerwyn>/<môr-gerwyn> also
gives the meaning of “an abyss”). There is no alternative for the
other element related to <warband>, but given that this is a
modern
translation website it isn’t all that surprising.
I’m not sure that the name is particularly authentic (the cited
Precedent notwithstanding). This registration and Precedent is more
than a decade old at this point, and there is only one other
registration using the element <Teulu>, for <Teulu
Prenaur>,
registered to Tanarian Brenaur ferch Owain fab Bran (1/94 Trimaris).
RfS III.2.b.iv. states “Household names must follow the patterns of
period names of organized groups of people.” [URL:
http://heraldry.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/rfs.html] and it isn’t clear
whether this does.
This appears to be obtrusively modern/op art. Part of the problem is
is the orientation of the of the two wolf’s teeth. As emblazoned, one
appears to be reversed; as blazoned, I would expect them to both curve
in the same direction:
)
)
instead of the way they’re oriented/arranged, which is like this:
(
)
A very early Precedent says:
Wolf's teeth are like little curved piles. When issuant from the
sides
of a shield they conventionally point downward. (HB, 20 Sep 71 [47],
p. 5) [sic]
An additional problem is with the wolves teeth themselves: there is a
Precedent from Shauna’s tenure as Laurel which states in part:
[Per pale azure and argent, three wolf's teeth issuant from
dexter and another
two issuant from sinister counterchanged] [sic] This is
being returned for
improper drawing and non-period style, stemming from improper use
of wolf's teeth.....
Furthermore, wolf's teeth appear in groups of three or more; barring
evidence of wolf's teeth appearing singly or in pairs, there should
be
three or more teeth issuing from the same side. The use of fewer
than
three teeth is a step from period practice.... [Dubhagán mac
Ruairc, 05/04 [sic], R-Meridies]
Given the orientation issues and the cited Precedent, this may not be
registrable.
Possible reblazon: Per bend sinister sable and argent, a wolf’s tooth
reversed issuant from chief and [conjoined to] a wolf’s tooth issuant
from base counterchanged.
no conflicts found
4. Solveig Throndardottir (alternate name Sugawara Miyuki)
The docs for both name elements are as cited. Additional information
for the uji [sic] (clan name) can be found in the
cited source: in a footnote to the section on “Ancient and
Mediæval
Clans” [p. 390], it says in part:
An entry is noted as Extant [sic] if it appears as an
uji [sic] in Kamon Katei
Jiten [sic] by Yoshida (1979). This generally means that
modern families
are claiming descent from this lineage.
<Miyuki> is also found [op. cit., pp. 227, 230] as a female name
dated to 1600: the kanji readings are for <MI> “Beautiful”, with
the
added meanings of “Purpose + Rejoice”; and <KI> “Precious”, with
the
added meanings of “Beauty + Purpose”.
What is happening with the previous alternate name <Kitahama
Miyuki>? Is it being kept or released?