To our Noble Cousins of the AEthelmearc College of Heralds, does Aurenca Mouly and Vrouwe Odriana vander Brugghe bid greetings in this, the opening of Autumn. Below you will find our commentary for the most recent Internal Letter.

In Service,

Aurenca and Odriana

From http://www.metmuseum.org/explore/marco/stop_chagh_2.html:

Chaghadai is the name of Ghengis Khan's second son (r. 1227-1242). There is also a Chaghadai Kaganate that existed in Central Asia during the 12-14th centuries.

Odriana: The name, while utterly valid for construction of a Mongolian surname, does flirt with the pretentious.

Aurenca: As Chaghadai does not have his own entry in a general encyclopedia that I was able to locate (checking online encyclopedias only), this may mean that he is not important enough to protect.

I suspect this is the same gentle who submitted Avarga Chagaadai (via our lovely sylvan kingdom), only to have it returned with the comment that "Yeke Chaghadai" would be a more period name with the desired meaning (http://www.sca.org/heraldry/loar/2000/04/00-04lar.html ).

Hopefully Garnet will be able to obtain the necessary photocopies to verify that the first name element is acceptable.

2. Adam Enstone on Tyne - New name, New device
Argent, a monster consisting of the upper half of a moor and the lower half of a tree stump eradicated proper maintaining in its dexter hand a hammer sable, a ford proper.

Odriana found no name conflicts.

Bruce remarked, concerning "A slip eradicated joined to a snake's head": The monster doesn't appear to have been formed in a period style; the only comparable example in period (non-armorial) art was the vegetable lamb, a tree that bore sheep as its "fruit". It was described by Sir John Mandeville, c.1371, and was evidently an attempt to describe cotton, not a mythical beast. The example of the vegetable lamb does not support the monster shown here. (Brian di Caffa, September, 1992, pg. 51)

This device was also returned for obstrusive modernity:

"A slip eradicated joined to a snake's head] The College of Arms was nearly unanimous in declaring this monster to be obtrusively modern: the references to triffids (from Day of the Triffid) and Audrey (from Little Shop of Horrors) were very strong."

This is somewhat like the ents from The Two Towers, but possibly different enough to avoid this reference. It may, however, have to be returned for non-period construction.

3. Aibell Shulglas - New device
Azure, two barrulets wavy between three herons argent.

Name registered September 2001.

4. Ailis Linne - New alternate name, Pagan Daysterre

Odriana: If there was a conflict, I would be stunned nearly unto death.

Name registered January 2000.

5. Aine ingean Ruaidri - New name, New device
Purpure, a swan naiant and on a chief argent three trees vert.

Name looks fine to Odriana.

6. Alan the Strong - New name, New device
Or, a plow vert and on a chief embattled sable 3 garbs Or.

Based on the submitted documentation, "the Strong" is acceptable under the Lingua Anglica allowance.

Odriana: Particularly like the imagery of "the Strong" with the plow and garbs in his proposed armory.

7. Annanias Fenne - New badge
[Fieldless] In pale a moth displayed argent conjoined to a mount vert.

Laurel has never registered an uncouped mountain on a fieldless badge.

RfS VIII.5 states that "Since there is no field in such a [fieldless] design, it may not use charges that rely on the edges of the field to define their shape, such as bordures and orles, nor to cut off their ends, such as ordinaries or charges throughout."

Upon examining the non-reduced version of the file, the mount is essentially correct: http://aeheralds.org/Letters/AE72/Annanias.gif . In the small version, it appeared to be in a non-standard shape. We suggest that the submitter be contacted to see if she would accept a couped mount or whether she would like to have a fielded badge to have a non-couped version.

8. Aurenca Mouly - New alternate name Scolace de Broune

Aurenca: Apparently my handwriting is as unreadable as ever - that should have been "locative or descriptive". Basically I want something that's two syllables ... I think it scans better....

10. Beatrice de Winter - New name

Odriana: If she would like the name to be Dutch, my inclination is to steer her towards the spelling "Beatrijs" (http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/dutch15.html, 15th Century Dutch Names), or Beatrix. My guess is that Beatrix would go over better as it sounds nearly the same as "Beatrice" should the submitter be interested in a more period construction. Otherwise, the name only has one weirdness for English-Dutch, and is therefore registerable as is.

Upon further research, in the Herefordshire Gospel Book, there is a recording of a man named "Thurkil the White", Thurkil is a Dutch name, however this man lived in England. In theory, an English name paired with a Danish name would be acceptable on its own. (Coss, Peter. The Lady in Medieval England 1000-1500. Stackpole Books. Copyright 1998. p.16). My original statement still stands if she wishes to have a fully Dutch name.

11. Bevis of Sunderoak - New name

Unspecified meaning. Heh heh. He said "meaning".

While the given name is period, Aurenca fears it may have been ruined for SCA use by Mike Judge's cartoon "Beavis and Butt-head", and that it fails the willy nilly scruff of the neck test. (See Bruce's return of Porsche Audi, August 1992.) While this could perhaps be returned locally if a sufficient number of commenters agree, she suggests that it be forwarded to Laurel for a definitive ruling. Odriana thinks that it is acceptable in combination with such an innocuous byname.

12. Brian of Leichester
Per fess sable and argent, in chief a house and in base 3 roundels counterchanged.

The name was registered March 1988 (via the East).

13. Bridget Walker - New name, New device
Per fess enarched azure and argent, in base issuant from base a tree sable and a chief wavy argent.

http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/late16.html

This spelling is dated to 1593 in the above article. While Bridgett is a bit more rigorous, this is a lovely name. :)

14. Carlo Gallucci
[Fieldless] A rooster vert.

Registered August 2002 via AE. Name as it appears on ILoI is incorrect.

15. Ceara ingen Dubhain ui Maille - Change of holding name Ceara of AEthelmearc

Odriana: According to Quick and Easy Gaelic Names (Formerly Published as "Quick and Easy Gaelic Bynames"), 3rd Edition by Sharon Krossa, the name Dubhain should not be lenited, as correctly noted on the letter. The construction of the name is acceptable as Maille is documentable as a byname in and of itself ("maille" also means "slow" in Irish Gaelic).

Her holding name and device were registered in May 2002.

16. Dafydd MacNab - New name, New device
Per fess embattled Or and vert, a tent vert and a dragon segreant Or armed and langued gules.

The combination of Gaelic and Welsh is not registerable, per an August 2001 ruling (Anton Cwith). We feel the submission should be pended so that the submitter can be consulted with as to what they would like.

Both Scottish and Irish Gaelic versions of "David" exist. Also, Welsh and English is a no-weirdness combination, if the submitter would like to explore English bynames.

17. Dafydd MacNab - New badge
[Fieldless] A dragon per bend sinister Or and vert armed and langued gules.

18. Donnan the Solitary -New badge
Azure, two rapiers in saltire Or, overall a dogwood blossom argent seeded Or.

The flower should be drawn somewhat smaller to avoid reducing the visual impact of the rapiers.

Odriana: This is an excellent badge.

His name was registered February 1986 (via the East).

19. Elizabeth Musard - New name, New device
Ermine, three tygers purpure.

Reaney and Wilson allege that "mussard" is Old French for "absent-minded, stupid". We doubt that the latter can be true, as the lady had the presence of mind to select such an elegant device and badge. :)

Odriana: Another lovely, simple name.

20. Elizabeth Musard - New badge
[Fieldless] A fret couped sable.

Examination of some relatively recent registrations of frets couped indicate that this depiction of a fret couped (with discrete pieces) is acceptable. If the pieces were all connected, that would also be a registerable depiction.

21. Franz Belgrand die Mus
Argent, a brown mouse rampant proper maintaining a sword sable and on a chief purpure a longbow fesswise argent.

The name was registered in October 2002.

22. Ghalib al-Sami - New name, New device
Or chausse purpure, a natural tiger's head cabossed sable marked argent and a falcon's head erased sable.

Odriana: Simple name, construction is accurate.

23. Gideon Lydiard - Resubmitted device
Vert, a cross moline and on a chief argent three torteaux.

His name was registered April 2002.

24. Gwenllian o'r Beddgelert - New name

Odriana: Looks fine.

25. Jean-Philippe Firmin d'Amiens - new device
Azure, a base Or.

His name was registered October 1991 (via the Outlands).

26. Jenneca de Navarra - new name

Odriana: Looks fine. Jenneca is a very pretty name.

25. Jochen Blitzger - new name

Odriana found a modern German actor named Jochen Blitzger. We suspect this person is not famous enough to have their name protected and that the name does not pose an obtrusive modernity problem (He isn't in the IMDB.), but Aurenca suggests mentioning it to see what the Laurel commenters from Drachenwald say.

26. John Ignaiszack - new name

Odriana: I took a look at the Carpatho-Rusyn Surname Project website and found no documentation there for using an English name with a Polish byname. Laurel had adjudged the English-Polish combination previously unregisterable (Ladislaus de Brady, 09/95. From http://home.earthlink.net/~mranc/sca/weirdness_table.html). Because I can't find anything to prove otherwise, I'd say that this name can not be registered in its current form. The alternatives I'd suggest are: Jan or Han Ignacy (documented from Polish Given Names in Nazwiska Polakow). I am ignoring its similarity to "Jim Ignatowski" or "Reverend" Jim from the television series "Taxi". There's enough difference, but I had to look to be sure.

Aurenca: Having never watched "Taxi" (my parents didn't believe in overexposing their kids to pop culture :P), I can only say that Jim is not usually a diminutive of John, and I feel that the last names are different enough in sound and appearance so as to not be overly reminiscent of each other. Once the given name is changed to a more appropriate form, this should be especially true.

29. Katherine Loch Duibh - New name, New device
Vert, in pale a trident issuing from a flame argent.

Mari's article "Index of Names in Irish Annals" gives "an Locha" as a descriptive byname meaning "of the Lake". (See http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/mari/AnnalsIndex/DescriptiveBynames/anLocha.shtml for more information.) Black (http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/mari/AnnalsIndex/DescriptiveBynames/Dub.shtml ) also appears as a byname; "of the Black Lake" would be "an Locha Duibh".

This letter from the Academy of Saint Gabriel states that lakes in the appropriate region were given names based on their appearance in period (http://www.panix.com/~gabriel/public/bin/showfinal.cgi?2225+0 ).

When Aurenca first saw this mini-emblazon, the overwhelming visual impression was of a pitchfork rising from the flames. Some people may perceive this as Satanic symbolism, though the colors will perhaps mitigate it. Odriana agrees with Aurenca's assertion about the device.

31. Khadel Kober - New badge
(Fieldless) A mascle ploye and overall a bow reversed and a bow sable.

Yes, this is the Tuchuks' symbol. They are submitting it at least in part as a deliberate attempt to play nice with SCAdians.

The questions of copyright infringement and obstrusive modernity must still be raised. We feel that since the Tuchucks have been using this symbol for 25-30 years, the creator (presuming it was not one of the Tuchucks themselves) would most likely have objected by now.

Odriana feels that since the Tuchucks' symbol is a long-standing and recognizable symbol in The Society, and that this attempt to register it should be viewed as an honest effort to play together better.,she also would like to see this passed as a show of good will by us.

Aurenca, always willing to suffer for her art, skimmed/read Nomads of Gor, which is apparently the primary work concerning the Tuchucks (as the name is spelled in the book). There were no markings depicted which were described in sufficient detail in that book to for her to definitely be able to say "Yes, this is that mark." One character used "four bosk horns and two quivas" as his mark. (Bosk horns curve to a point, according to the book; the quiva is designed to be thrown and is most likely straight. See http://lara.dune.net/weapons/quiva.shtml for more info.) It might be that this is intended to be the Courage Scar, but she could find no description of it beyond that it is red.

http://ar.catinthewindow.net/brands.shtml has some information about brands from the series; searching for information about brands ("gor brands" or "tuchucks brands") might be of further assistance. Aurenca, however, has just about had as much of reading about Gor as she can handle. ;) She found nothing to suggest that the mark used here is John Norman's intellectual property.

32. Konstantinos Akropolites - New name, New device
Vert, a griffon sejant argent within an orle of fleurs-de-lys Or.

This gentle's device is clear of the one in #53. One CD for changing the tincture of the primary charge, one CD for changing the tincture of the secondaries.

An article on heraldica.org says that heraldry per se didn't exist in the Byzantine Empire during these gentles' period. Nonetheless, it is fine armory.

33. Lothar Hgelman - New device
Sable, three crampons argent.

Spiff! People may think he's related to Hilderun Hugelman (Sable, a crampon Or), though (if that's not something he's trying to convey ;).

The name was registered January 2003.

34. Mailagnas Maqqas Dunaidonas - New name, New device
Azure, a boar's head couped close and a chief argent.

35. May Wynn - New device
Azure, on a fess embattled between three mullets of eight points argent, a badger statant azure.

The name was registered February 2003.

36. Michelina da Trento - New device
Azure, 3 cups and on a chief argent, three fleurs-de-lys azure.

Her name was registered September 2001.

37. Miguel Flores - New device
Argent crusily flory gules, a heron statant azure maintaining in its beak a fish gules.

38. Odriana vander Brugghe - new name

Aurenca found evidence that this byname means "from the bridge" rather than "from Bruges" (which would be "van Brugge"). However, as Odriana likes the sound and this meaning for its Pittsburgh referentialness, it is fine with her as submitted. There is possibly a weirdness, as "Odriana" is undated; the article says that it is from an unknown year between 1000 and 1250. However, this should not be a bar to registration, and Odriana does not wish it to be changed to "Adriana".

Odriana: I went forth to do some more research into the name "vander Brugghe" and "Brugghe". Arguably, online Dutch translators do list "Brugge" as meaning "Bruges", a search for the word "Brugghe" came up as nil. A search of an English-Dutch source, "bridge" came up as "Brug". Unfortunately, my knowledge of Flemish and Dutch is minimal and I do not know if "ghe" is a word form in those languages. Aurenca's assertion is quite plausible as vander would be "of the" and "Bridge" makes as much sense as "Brugge" (in the form of "of the Brugge" or someone from a family that is from Brugge) in that context. In either case, I like the name and would prefer to stick with it.

Aurenca: My source for the assertion that "vander Brugghe" means "of the bridge" is Studie van de Ieperse Persoonsnames uit de Stads-en Baljuwsrekeningen 1250-1400, Volume 2. Under the header form "Brugge, van" is the direction to see "Brigge, van der" for "Brugge, van der". Under "Brigge, van der", "Ponte, de" is given as a secondary header form. There are various citations for "de Ponte", "van der brigghe", and "del brigghe" ranging from 1280 though 1390. Pont is the French word for "bridge". A note at the bottom of the page indicates that "brugghe" and "brigghe" mean "brug", which Odriana found means "bridge". I include this information merely for the submitter's information, as she is happy with the name she has chosen. The author of the book is Wilfried Beele; it was published in 1975. It appears that it was published by Uitgeverij Familia 100% certain.

39. Odriana vander Brugghe - New badge
(Fieldless) A furison sable.

Aurenca: Odriana and/or Cadell should actually be listed as the herald of record on this one; I didn't do a thing for it but color. I am slightly concerned about the lines showing the different "faces" of the furison, as heraldry should be static. (Cadell and I colored over them in the full-sized emblazons for that reason, but we lacked argent markers to apply to the mini-emblazons and b&w full-sized emblazon.)

Odriana admits that it was she that drew the item in three dimentions and apologises greatly. If a return for a redraw is in order, I'm happy to fix what I broke.

We are uncertain if this is an acceptable depiction of a furison. The picture in the Pic Dic is very different. The picture is from heraldica.org; Francois (the other one) appears to have taken the pictures used from the Vocabulaire-Atlas Hraldique, which was published in 1952.

40. Ulfr Thorvardarson - New device
Vert, a wolf statant ululant and on a chief embattled argent three dolphins azure.

The name is on XLoI #68.

41. Otelia d'Alsace - Resubmitted badge
(Fieldless) On a cross patonce Or a heart gules.

42. Paul Spyke - New name

43. Rhydderch ap Erwin - New name, New device
Per pale azure and vert, a sword inverted argent between a caravel sails furled and a triple towered castle Or.

Aurenca: Technically, the sword removes the appearance of marshalling. However, it still looks very marshaled to me. But unless someone can demonstrate that swords were used in marshalling impaled arms, this is probably registerable. (In the June 2003 LoAR, precedent was set that a cross throughout does not remove the appearance of marshalling in quartered arms.)

The blazon is weird. Part of me says that if the submitter wants to take advantage of RfS XI.3.a, the sword should be blazoned as an overall charge. But it looks primary instead of overall. Got me.

44. Roana d'Evreux - New alternate name Sexi Lovechild

Name was registered in September 2000. ("Sexi four-foot"? That's an association with this name that I won't be getting rid of any time soon. :)

45. Seth Mac Michael - New badge
[Fieldless] A gorilla statant argent.

46. Seth Mac Michael - New badge
[Fieldless] A gorilla statant contourny argent.

The name, Seth MacMichael, was registered in August 2002.

47. Sophie Davenport - Resubmitted device
Sable, a bend sinister gules fimbriated Or between two scorpions argent.

48. Taileshithe of the Greenwood - New name, New device
Per pale sable and vert, a pall between two owls close respectant and a crescent argent.

Aurenca: There is some indication that names are formed like this in Gaelic (of, for lack of better terminology, a protheme and a deuterotheme). However, I was not able to find any other names which used this ending. The only example of any registration even close to a constructed name in Gaelic that I was able to find was that of Broinnfinn inghean u Chathin (November 2001, http://www.sca.org/heraldry/loar/2001/11/01-11lar.html ). This is not a constructed name per se but rather a hypothetical form based on documented names.

I suspect there might be a weirdness for Taileshithe, if it is determined to be registerable. There will certainly be a weirdness for combining Gaelic and English, unless this byname can be found in Gaelic, in which case there would be no weirdness for a Lingua Anglica translation. "na Coilleadh", "of the wood", is found in Mari's list of masculine descriptive bynames from the Irish annals ( http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/mari/AnnalsIndex/DescriptiveBynames/Alpha.shtml). Even if evidence can be found that wooded areas would be named based on their characteristics, "green wood" is rather generic, and not, IMO, likely to be used to identify a particular wooded area.

Inclusion of adjectives in descriptive of bynames seems to be rare. However, if someone wanted to register "na coilleadh suile" (or whatever "of the greenwood" is in Gaelic), it probably wouldn't be a weirdness. I'm not sure if the Lingua Anglica allowance (which states that translated attested name elements do not carry a weirdness) would extend to "of the Greenwood", which so far as I know is not attested in Gaelic. Caveat: Gaelic placenames aren't my strength. The s-gabriel letter at http://www.panix.com/~gabriel/public-bin/showfinal.cgi?2320+0 gives several examples of English bynames meaning "of the Greenwood", so maybe I'm wrong about the issue of genericness (genericity?).

In short, I am uncertain of the name's registerability, and feel it is less than authentic, but there's no reason not to kick it up to Laurel and the CoA. You could probably argue that the Gaelic for "of the greenwood" is an acceptable byname and then argue that if the Lingua Anglica is applied there should be no weirdness. Don't know if it would actually work.

49. Tat'iana Kionova - New name

The citation for Kion is as given. The online Wickenden gives a Tatiana (d. 225) under the same header form as the submitted given name. Unless earlier documentation for Kion or a patronymic formed from it can be located, we recommend changing the given name to Tatiana to avoid its return for temporal incompatibility as submitted. We are skeptical about the assertion that all names in Wickenden are compatible, and found no evidence to support this in prior rulings.

50. Tiarnach mac Cathail - New name

51. Torella Salviati - New name

52. Vlksha Iakovleva - New name, New device
Gyronny argent and gules, a cross of Toulouse sable.

Is the patronymic supposed to be Iakoleva or Iakovleva?

We take it that the lady means that she would like her name to sound as close to "Valeska" as possible, as she has used this name for some time. The patronymic is not registerable in the feminine form in combination with a masculine name. Mixed gender name elements in the same name is cause for change or return; this was reaffirmed as recently as January 2002.

53. Zoe Akropolitina - New name, New device
Vert, a griffon sejant Or within an orle of fleurs-de-lys argent.

This gentle's device is clear of the one in #32. One CD for changing the tincture of the primary charge, one CD for changing the tincture of the secondaries.

An article on heraldica.org says that heraldry per se didn't exist in the Byzantine Empire during these gentles' period. Nonetheless, it is fine armory.