ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2000 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2000 ************************************ ************************************************* * * * NOTE: Later research turned up additional * * information relevant to this report. * * See the end of the letter for details. * * * ************************************************* From: "Sara L Friedemann" 10 Apr 2000 Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You wanted to know if we could determine a likely Old Norse/Icelandic version of , the name of a Cornishman living between 1000 and 1300. Here is a brief letter with the information we have found. Unfortunately, our sources do not cover situations like this, and we can't guess at how a Cornishman's name might have been translated into Old Norse. We have a few examples of names used in Old Norse that have counterparts in other languages; while we do not have any specific examples of or in Old Norse, we can recommend some similar choices. While we don't know how might have been adapted into Norse, we can suggest a similar-sounding name: mid-11th century and 1224; a.1066; or 11th century; all of which are early Norse forms of [4, 5]. They were pronounced \YOE-ahn\. (The slash represents an accent over the previous letter.) We have no reason to believe that would have been considered equivalent to , but similar-sounding names were sometimes equated. It is most likely that a foreigner in Iceland would have been identified with a name in the normal style of Old Norse naming, which would have included a patronymic surname (surname based on the bearer's father's name), or some other type of byname. For example, an Irishman known as might have been known in Old Norse as or as "Dofnall the Irishman." [1,2,3] There is one possible byname by which a Cornishman might have been known: is a cognate of , though in practice it meant 'foreign, especially French.' We find it as in 1232. [4] We're sorry that we could not be more useful to you, and hope that you will not hesitate to write again if any part of this letter was unclear or if you have further questions. Research and commentary on this letter was provided by Arval Benicoeur, Talan Gwynek, Juliana de Luna, and Amant le Marinier. For the Academy, ~Aryanhwy merch Catmael, 10Apr00 --------------------------------------- References: [1] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990) s.n. Domnall [2] Fleck, G. (aka Geirr Bassi Haraldsson), _The Old Norse Name_, Studia Marklandica (series) (Olney, Maryland: Yggsalr Press, 1977). [3] Aryanhwy merch Catmael, "Viking Bynames found in the Landna/mabo/k" (WWW: privately published, 1999). http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/vikbynames.html [4] Lind, E.H., _Norsk-Isla:ndska Personbinamn fra*n Medeltiden_ (Uppsala: 1920-21). s.nn. Io/han, Va/lskr [5] Lind, E.H., _Norsk-Isla:ndska Dopnamn ock Fingerade Namn fra*n Medeltiden_ (Uppsala & Leipzig: 1905-1915, sup. Oslo, Uppsala and Kobenhavn: 1931), s.n. Io/han. Kruken, Kristoffer, ed. _Norsk personnamnleksikon_, 2nd ed. (Oslo: Det Norske Samlaget, 1995), s.n. Jon. Several examples of appear in the Landna/mabo/k, but they are not earlier than the ones cited above. Friedemann, Sara L. (aka Aryanhwy merch Catmael), "Viking Names found in the Landna/mabo/k" (WWW: privately published, 1998). http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/landnamabok.htm - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Correction, Arval, 13 Jan 2005: The report originally said that was used in Norse in the 9th century, citing the list of names from the Landnamabok that's mentioned in note [5]. This is incorrect: Many of the people mentioned in Landnamabok are much later than that. I've corrected that statement and added note [5]. Addendum, Arval, 2 Mar 2005: See report 2998 for more discussion of Norse forms of . Correction, Arval, 3 Mar 2005: Replaced the paragraph suggesting Norse forms of . It previously read: is a Welsh form of the name , which was found in Old Norse as early as the 11th century, spelled as . [5] (The slash represents an accent over the previous letter.) We also found two other forms in use in your period: mid-11th c., 1224, and , a.1066. [4] While we do not have any explicit evidence that would have been translated as or , we believe that is the most reasonable choice. is not a form of ; it is a Cornish and Welsh name, the native Welsh form being . It is sometimes equated with , but it etymologically unrelated.