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Æthelmearc Internal Letter of Intent Æ75
February 1, 2003

Unto all of our fine College and our extra-Kingdom commenters, Happy New Year from the Garnet office!. As a belated Twelfth Night gift to you all, we present a new Internal Letter of Intent for your perusal. :) Commentary on this letter is due on February 29 … Please post your comments to aethel-heralds@lists.andrew.cmu.edu as usual (or e-mail us privately at garnet@aethelmearc.org if you prefer). Thanks so much!

It is the intent of the Æthelmearc College of Heralds that the following items be considered for registration. Unless otherwise noted, submitters will accept any changes.

Vert, a triquetra and on a chief Or three shamrocks vert.

This name is intended to be feminine. The submitter accepts minor changes only and specifically wants to retain accents; she cares most about having a surname which is "a form of the surname anglicized 'Lavin.'"

Áine is a header form in Ó Corráin & Maguire, who state, "As a male name … it became obsolete at a very early period. However, it retained its popularity as a female name … There was also an early Leinster St. Áine …"

Ó Lamháin is a header form in MacLysaght, who states it is "Probably a modern contraction of Ó Flaithimhin."

Herald of Record: Otfrid Ammerthaler

(Fieldless) A wine amphora vert.

His name was registered in 08/03.

Herald of Record: Edmund Tregelles

Sable, three ravens displayed and on a chief argent a kris blade fesswise sable.

This name is intended to be masculine. The submitter requests authenticity for Romania circa 1470 and cares most about the language / culture.

Cazimir is being submitted as a variant spelling of Kazimir, which is a header form in Wickenden with one Kazimir Oleksandrov cited in 1498. Given examples of k / c substitutions such as Kana / Cana, Kasper / Casper, and Khabrek / Chabrec, Kazimir / Cazimir seems reasonable.

Ryndin is dated to circa 1495 in Wickenden's article, "Occupational Bynames in Medieval Russia" (from the AS XXXVIII KWHS proceedings). Its meaning is given as 'bodyguard.'

Herald of Record: Cadell Blaidd du

Argent, on a saltire between in fess two decrescents sable a mullet argent.

This name is intended to be masculine. The submitter requests authenticity for "10th c. Scots" and cares most about the meaning "Duncan of Maccus' Well."

At electricscotland.com, a page about "Clan Donnachaidh" (http://www.electricscotland.com/webclans/dtog/donnach2.htm) says "The Clan's first recognized chief was Donnachadh Reamhair, or 'Stout Duncan,' who led the clan and supported Bruce during the wars of Scottish independence …"

Furthermore, Sharon Krossa's draft article "Scottish Gaelic Given Names" (last updated 18 March 2003) gives Donnachac and Donnchad as early Medieval spellings, and Donnchadh as a late spelling.

Also at electricscotland.com:

"THE founder of the Maxwell family is said to have been a certain Maccus, the son of Undwin, a Saxon noble, who at the Norman Conquest took refuge in Scotland. He was a distinguished person in the reigns of Alexander I. and David I., and received from the latter a grant of fertile lands on the banks of the Tweed, near Kelso, which from him received the appellation of Maccuswell, and, abbreviated into Maxwell, became the designation of his descendants. He witnessed an inquest which David ordered to be made about the year 1116. A Herbert de Maccuswel, who died in 1143, made a grant of the Church of Maccuswel to the monastery of Kelso. A Sir John de Maccuswel was Sheriff of Roxburgh and Teviotdale in 1207, and held the office of Great Chamberlain from 1231 to 1233."

"The Maxwells are a Border clan and were active during the turbulent Border wars. The first leader was Maccus, son of Undweyn who lived in the 12th Century who appears to have given his name to Maccuswell, a pool of the Tweed near Kelso Bridge; Wael is old English for pool."

In a publication by the Clan Maxwell Society of the USA:

"The name became Maxwell from a salmon pool on the Tweed (near Kelson Bridge) called Maccus' Wiel. A 'wael' or 'wiel' or 'well' (Saxon 'wylle') designated a pool or whirlpool, thus the transition from Maccusweil to Maccuswell to Maxwell can easily be rationalized."

Given all this data, the submitter is proposing Donnachadh as, presumably, a standard modern spelling, Maccuswael as a variant of Maccuswel, and of instead of de (as in Herbert and John de Maccuswel above).

Herald of Record: Stacie Granger

Argent, a saltire between in fess two decrescents sable, overall a sword gules.

The form gives Clann simply as "Gaelic." It has been registered a number of times as an apparently Gaelic household designator.

For discussion of Maccuswael, please see above. Concerning the construction of the household name: The Rules for Submission, III.2.b.iv. Household Names:

Household names must follow the patterns of period names of organized groups of people. Possible models include Scottish clans ( Clan Stewart ), ruling dynasties ( House of Anjou ), professional guilds ( Bakers Guild of Augsburg , Worshipful Company of Coopers ), military units ( The White Company ), and inns ( House of the White Hart ).

Elsbeth's precedent:

[Clan Caer Lonn] The name mixes two languages, Welsh (Caer) and Gaelic (Lonn) in one phrase, violating rule III.1.a, "Linguistic Consistency." Brian should also be informed that Clans were named after personal names and nicknames, not places. Lastly we would prefer to see some evidence that "Strong" is a reasonable adjective to apply to keeps. [Brian Brock, 07/99, R-Atenveldt]

Although Maccus' Well originated as a placename, it seems to have been eventually adopted as an hereditary surname.

Precedent from Da'ud's second tenure:

On Clan Names ...In the... the registration of Clan MacKenzie of Ben Duff to Eoin Mac Cainnigh (An Tir), we had to consider what a Gaelic form of the name would look like (though we ended up registering the English form). It very quickly became apparent that an English Clan MacKenzie would be a Gaelic Clann Chainnigh, literally the 'clan of Cainnech'; the mac is dropped. More generally, a Gaelic clan name takes the form Clann <aspirated genitive case of personal name>; household names of this type should therefore omit the mac in Gaelic, though it appears to be perfectly acceptable in the English equivalents of such names. (CL 4/96)

And Bruce's precedent:

Some house names were taken from the place of origin: House of York, House of Lorraine, House of Valois. Some were taken from a personal epithet of the founder, shared by neither his father nor siblings: House Capet. Some were taken from the founders' surnames -- which, in turn, might be derived originally from a patronymic (Clan MacGregor), a toponymic (Clan Kerr), or an occupation (Clan Stewart). Guild names were straightforward descriptions of their crafts. Mercenary units might be more fanciful, and inn names most fanciful of all; but these still referred to livery or signboards -- in short, to a badge, which was a tangible thing.

House names in period don't seem to have been overly fantastic. For the most part, they come from the same linguistic well as period bynames. In particular, since a period house name was so often simply the surname, byname, or epithet of its founder, any such epithet that is acceptable in a Society personal name should be acceptable as a Society household name. This is the rule of thumb I've formulated for determining the acceptability of household names henceforth. If we would register John X, we should register House X as well. We would not permit John Starwalker, so we should not permit House Starwalker. We would register John of the Red Sickles (wincing, perhaps, but we would), so we should register House of the Red Sickles. (2 July, 1992 Cover Letter (June, 1992 LoAR), pg. 3)

Herald of Record: Stacie Granger

Argent, in saltire a sword inverted sable and a rose slipped and leaved proper.

Her name was registered in 12/93.

Herald of Record: none

(Fieldless) A saltire couped bretessed quarterly gules and azure.

His name was registered in 08/96.

Herald of Record: Lothar Hügelman

This name is intended to be feminine. The submitter cares most about the meaning "from Castille."

Juana appears in Juliana de Luna's article, "Spanish Names from the Late 15th Century." The name occurs 37 times in Juliana's source data.

of Castille is an Anglicization of 'de Castil' or 'de Castilla,' both of which are found as locative bynames in the same article.

Herald of Record: Ailis Linne

(Fieldless) A crampon argent.

His name was registered in 01/03.

Herald of Record: Lothar Hügelman

(Fieldless) A sparrowhawk volant contourny argent.

His name was registered in 12/93. His previous badge (Azure, a sparrowhawk volant contourny argent) was returned in December for multiple conflicts.

Herald of Record: Odriana vander Brugghe

Pean, a human skeleton rampant affronty argent its dexter hand raised over its head maintaining a lily fesswise reversed argent slipped and leaved vert.

The form states that "The name is standard French for 'The House of the Little Death'" and that "'Maison' as a household designator has been used as recently as 06/01 (via Ealdormere) by Edmund de la Haye for 'La Maison des Cinq Canards.'"

The submitting herald included the following documentation for this depiction of the skeleton.

Skeletons, even in odd positions, are registerable - the arms of Francisco Savelli (04/90) "Argent, a human skeleton statant to sinister grasping a rope pendant from a cracked church bell bendwise sinister in chief all sable."

The skeleton shown here is based on one from a 15th Century woodcut, found at www.godecookery.com/macabre/ gallery1/macbr23.htm and reproduced below:

23. Orchestra of the dead. Woodcut by Michael Wolmegut, from Hartmann Schedel's Liber Chrnicarum, printed by Anton Koberger, Nuremberg, 1493.

Herald of Record: Otfrid Ammerthaler

Per pale azure and sable, on a roundel per pale Or and argent a raven displayed wings inverted head to sinister sable.

Their name was registered in 10/99.

There is a letter accompanying the submission stating "Our populace has requested a new martial badge for the Barony. As subsequent [sic] badge will no doubt conflict with our original martial badge, which we will be retaining, we do hereby give consent and permission for such conflict." The preexisting badge that they mention is "Gules maily Or, on a roundel per pale Or and argent a raven displayed wings inverted head facing sinister sable."

Herald of Record: Dame Vivienne

Or, a bear rampant maintaining a mace and on a chief gules, three Edelweiss argent.

This name is intended to be masculine. The submitter cares most about the sound.

Thorin, according to online sources about Norse mythology (we used http://www.stst.net/Scandinavian/Mythology/), is the name of a dwarf. The name has been registered seven times (in this spelling and as Thorinsson), as recently as 1991. In his second tenure, Da'ud said:

Sinéidin Ban Thorin. Name. Sinéidin may be a (relatively slight) misspelling of Sinéidín. It is probably not period, and is at best a late-period spelling. Ban is definitely period; the modern form is bean. Thorin is a Norse name that may have been used by human beings but that certainly must have been rare; its use in an Irish name is therefore doubly improbable. The Irish appear to have modified borrowed names to match Irish spelling and pronunciation; though we may guess at how Thorin would have been treated, but we can't know. And since it would have undergone some changes, the name cannot be correct as submitted, even if we allow all of the other anomalies. A possible "fix" was a very speculative modern Sinéidín Bean Thoráin. Other alternatives include Ban Thoráin or Ban Thoirenn, but only with a given name demonstrably early enough to match this form. However, since the submitter allowed no corrections, we are having to return the name. (Laurel's thanks to Palimpsest for a very detailed discussion, of which this paragraph is the gleanings.) (8/94)

Furthermore, from Alisoun's precedents:

The original submission of the name change [to "Thorin [patronymic]"] was returned because the name Thorin was held by Laurel to be an exclusively dwarven name both in Tolkien and in Norse myth and therefore not eligible for use in the Society. The submittor has presented an impressive array of arguments in support of his position that the name is in fact compatible with the period ambience which we are trying to create and that the bulk of the populace would not (and in fact do not) feel that he was claiming dwarven descent by using the name. Taken by themselves, they add only plausibility to the argument that the name could have been used in period for a human. The existence of the Irish patronymic form "O Torain" cited by MacLysaght (Surnames of Ireland, p. 288), which would derive from a nominative form of "Torin" argues that it was actually used. Therefore, acceptance of this name should not be taken as a general precedent for non-human names in the Society. (LoAR 27 Sep 86, p. 2)

Thus, lacking strong evidence to the contrary, we believe that Thorin is probably registerable.

bjornkarl is a constructed byname intended to mean "Bjorn's man / friend" or, possibly, "bear's man / friend."

Geirr Bassi states in the introduction that bj{o,}rn means "bear" and also gives Bj{o,}rn as a masculine given name on page 8.

In the "Nicknames" section of Geirr Bassi we find barnakarl (friend to children), karlsefni (man's-equal, he-man), kotkarl (cottager, bumpkin), and laxakarl (salmon-man).

Herald of Record: Gotfrid von Schwaben

This name is intended to be feminine. The submitter accepts minor changes only and cares most about the meaning "of windy hill."

Tomasia is found in "Italian Renaissance Women's Names" by Rhian Lyth.

Pelican's return of her previously submitted name (Tomasia da Collina Ventoso, 11/02) included the following documentation by Kraken for a plausible period construction with her desired meaning:

The term collina "range of hills" doesn't seem to be used in Italian placenames. I did a lot of research on this when doing my own byname (originally Collinaureo), and the terms used are Coll(e)- "hill" and Mont(e)- "mountain." Ventoso is also a bit verbose, though we do have places such as Montefiascone and Montepulciano. For "hill of wind" I recommend Collevento (placenames like this seem to just stick the two nouns together).

Pelican went on to say that "Given this information, this name would be registerable as Tomasia da Collevento …" The client is, therefore, submitting that form.

Herald of Record: none

Quarterly argent and azure, in dexter chief a raven azure.

This name is intended to be feminine. The submitter cares most about the meaning "of raven castle or hall."

Wilhelmina is proposed as a feminine form of Wilhelm, which is a header form in Bahlow. Wilhelm was a common name throughout period. Wilhelmina is also a header form in Withycombe; the entry states "a f. form of Wilhelm (see WILLIAM), borrowed from Germany in the 19th C."

Concerning feminine German given names ending in –ina, Talan's article "Medieval German Given Names from Silesia" gives a Katharina in 1348, and Katerina in 1350. If anyone can make a better case for Wilhelmina, we would be grateful.

Ravensburg(er) is a header form in Brechenmacher, with on Hainr. dictus de Ravenspurk in 1287.

Herald of Record: Cigfran

(Fieldless) A winged stag's head affronty erased at the shoulder wings displayed azure collared of an escarbuncle pendant from a chain argent.

This name was registered in 06/02. A previous submission, Sable, upon a mullet of eight argent a winged stag's head erased and affronty argent, was returned on LoR Æ71 in October of last year.

We could not find any precedents or registered armory that made it clear whether a creature can be collared of a chain that has another charge pendent from it. We would appreciate any evidence one way or the other for this motif.

If the above motif is unacceptable, the group would also be willing to go with the following:

(Fieldless) A winged stag's head affronty erased at the shoulder wings displayed azure collared of a chain and charged on the chest with an escarbuncle argent.

Herald of Record: Pagan Daysterre