Æthelmearc Letter of Report Æ128
July 9, 2010 (AS 45)

This group's previous name submission, Vulcan's Forge, was returned at Kingdom, July, 2009. At that time, Lady Garnet stated the following reasons for the return:

The materials that were provided offered evidence only that late period artists depicted the Roman god Vulcan in the visual arts. This does not document use of the name of a Roman deity in the name of a human community during our period.

The submitters have shown that native gods appear in British place names. However, they have not shown that Roman gods do so, even in cases where a Roman god was considered identical with a native one. Also, they have not shown that names of the form <name of god>'s <type of place associated with that god> appear in Britain. I'd expect to see some evidence to support both these points….. Barring evidence that the construction [Roman god's name] + [type of place associated with that god] is a period construction in Britain and that it was used for places that humans actually lived in, this name is not registrable.

In this resubmission, the submitters claim that Vulcan should be allowed as a Germanic naming element based on the following arguments:

1. Vulcan was worshipped in Germany in period times. They cite Allan Menzies, History of Religion: A Sketch of Primitive Religious Beliefs and Practices, <http://books.google.com/books?id=luOZYckGidQC&pg=PA259&dq=roman+god+vulcan+german&hl=en&ei=6hv7S6TXE 4O8lQee84XqDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CEEQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=roman%20god%20vulc an%20german&f=false>, p. 259, where it says:

The Early German Gods.--There is a national god, then; and other gods of whom Tacitus tells us are national too, not local or tribal. The tribes to the south of the Baltic worship Herthus, which, Tacitus says, is their name for Terra Mater, Mother Earth. The other gods he mentions are called by Roman names. They worship Mercury, he says, as their principal god ; on certain days they worship him with human sacrifices. They also worship Mars and Hercules with animal victims; and a particular tribe, the Suevi, worship Isis. Caesar says the Germans worship the sun, and Vulcan, and the moon. Tacitus mentions other German gods; the two statements are both true. Tacitus gives the German gods Roman names according to a common practice of antiquity, which has been the source of much confusion ; we shall see afterwards how the Romans identified the gods of Greece also with those of Rome.

2. Places in Germany were named after gods, like Wodnesbeorge. They cite Frederick William Hackwood, Wednesbury Ancient and Modern: Being Mainly its Manorial and Municipal History <http://books.google.com/books?id=oBYpAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA10&dq=places+named+after+gods+germany&hl=en&ei=gj n7S4iYO4KClAfktoXTDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=places%20na med%20after%20gods%20germany&f=false>, p. 10, on the etymology of Wodensbury:

The learned Professor of English, in reply, said :--" In the reprint of the "A. S. Chronicle" by B. Thorpe (Record Office Publications), the name Woddesbeorge Wodnesbeorge is, by Mr. Thorpe, taken to be that of Wansborough, and not of Wednesbury. The Anglo-Saxon 'beorge' is equivalent to 'burh,' a fortified town. The 'Wednes' is clearly from Woden, like our ' Wednesday.' "

3. Inscriptions from the 3rd century to Vulkanus Augustus have been found in Gaul. They cite The Cults of Cisalpine Gaul as Seen in the Inscriptions <http://books.google.com/books?id=Bz4cAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA35&dq=vulcan+gaul+inscription&cd=1#v=onepage&q&f= false>, p. 35:

A collective dedication to Vulcan was made (4293) by the people of Brixia. At the same place, three men dedicated some small monument to Volkanus Augustus, and the guild of dray-men provided 400 sesterces for its maintenance (4294). Before the principal gate of Aquileia is a votive inscription by a man and a woman to Volcanus Augustus (838). Wissowa bases his interpretation of the cult of Vulcan, to a considerable extent, upon a Brixian inscription which begins: VOLK MITI/SIVE . MVLCIBERO The word Mulciber is taken by him as referring, not to the softening effect of heat upon metals, as has been held by some, but to the checking of conflagration by the god. He compares Aen.l 66, where Aeolus is said fluctus mulcere, and Volcanus Quietus, invoked with Stata Mater (= quae sistit incendia) by the magistri vicorum at Rome (VI 802). The epithet Mitis surely comports better with this interpretation than with any idea of smelting; and, like it, mulcere is a delicate word to be applied to a seething furnace. Vulcan becomes, on this interpretation, the god of the fire-element, considered especially as inimical to property and not the patron deity of metal workers. Only one combination with another god is found, in a votive inscription (5510): VOLKANO/ET ERQVLI/DEI MANES

4. Augustus (Octavian) had Gallic temples altered with Roman names including Vulcanus. They cite Victor Duruy, History of Rome and of the Roman people from its origin to the establishment, p. 174:

In 1711 there was discovered in Paris, under the choir of the Cathedral of Notre Dame, an altar consecrated to Tiberius by the boatmen of the Seine (Nautae Parisian); beside Gallic gods, whose names had been changed to Jupiter and Vulcan, is Esus cutting the sacred mistletoe, the god Taurus, Tarvos Tricarants, and the god Cernutmos. Upon the altar of Rheims, between the classic Mercury and Apollo, is carved, in the place of honor, a horned god, seated cross-legged, dispensing from a leathern sack the beech-nuts or acorns that an ox and a stag receive.

5. Latin names were used in Gaul. They cite Edith Mary Wightman, "Pagan Cults in the Province in Belgica", in Hildegard Temporini, Wolfgang Haase, Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt ..., Part 2, Volume 18, pp. 541-590 Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt ..., Part 2, Volume 18, at p. 558:

Vulcan… appears to have been adopted in Gaul because he filled a need, a Romanized form of god for metalworkers who apparently wanted someone more functionally specific than Mercury.

They also present the following further documentation for the use of a god's name in a place name: from Adrian Room, Place Names of the World, p. 113, Dormagen "German city using a Roman name"; p. 165, Hesse "German region from Roman name of local tribe"; p. 114, Duisberg "Diu's fort from the Greek god Zeus". Please note that no copies were provided and that the statements in quotation marks are the submitter's assertions.

On -mede, from the Old Dutch -smede "smith, forge". In support of this, they cite the following:

1. Johan van der Auwera, Ekkehard König, The Germanic languages <http://books.google.com/books?id=rp0hYcAjlIoC&pg=PA74&dq=german+place++name+smede&lr=&cd=7#v=onepage &q=german%20place%20%20name%20smede&f=false>, p. 74.

2. Richard Beck, The Nature of Ore Deposits <http://books.google.com/books?id=mt8JAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA586&dq=schmiedeberg+founded&hl=en&ei=1-L6S5uVA4S0 lQf4htS_Cg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=schmiedeberg%20founde d&f=false>, p. 586, cites Schmiedeberg, a source of Iron Ore Deposits in the Riesengebierge, Germany. This place name is undated.

3. Codex diplomaticus Saxoniae regiae, Volume 1 <http://books.google.com/books?id=j0BNAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA208&dq=smedeberg&hl=en&ei=TeH6S5TTEYT7lwff8YXpCg& sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCcQ6AEwADgK#v=onepage&q=smedeberg&f=false>, p. 208, apparently cites Smedeburg to 16th c.

On the use of "forge" in German place names, further documentation: Adrian Room, Place Names of the World, p. 126, Esse "city in western Germany. In 9th c. established as Astnide "forge"; Inge Billy, Orstnamenbuch des Mittlelbegebietes, p. 33, sub Schmiedeberg, "city in Saxony Anhalt, Germany. In the 14th century established as Smedeberg "forge city" " Again, no copies are provided and the statements in quotation marks are the submitter's assertions.

The appropriate petition is included.