Copyright © 1997 Society
for Creative Anachronism, Inc.
600 Cedar Street, NW
Washington, DC 20012
(202) 726-4396
herald@sca.org
http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel
December 23, 1997
Unto the members of the College of Arms and all others who may read this missive do Mistress Jaelle of Armida, Laurel Queen of Arms, and Mistress Sionyn Muirgen ní Dhomnall, Pelican Queen of Arms, send Greetings!
The December Laurel meeting was held on Saturday, December 13, 1997, and considered the following letters of intent: Outlands (June, redated by Laurel to August 30), Caid (August 5), Lochac (August 20), Drachenwald (August 23), Atlantia (August 24) Meridies (August 24), Trimaris (August 25), An Tir (August 28) and West (August 28 ).
The January Laurel meeting is scheduled for scheduled for Saturday, January 10, 1998, and will consider the following letters of intent: Middle (August 29, redated by Laurel to September 2), Caid (September 3), Lochac (dated August 12, redated by Laurel to September 5), Atlantia (September 7), Drachenwald (September 8), Calontir (September 17), Atenveldt (September 25), East (September 28), An Tir (September 28), Caid (September 29), AEthelmearc (September 29), Meridies (September 29), Ansteorra (September 30), Artemisia (no date but postmarked September 30), Meridies (September 30). Original commentary on these LoIs must be in the College's hands no later than November 30, 1997. Responses and rebuttals to commentary must be in the College's hands no later than December 31, 1997.
The February Laurel meeting is scheduled for Saturday, February 7, 1998, and will consider the following letters of intent: Middle (dated July 30, redated by Laurel to October 30), Atlantia (October 5), Drachenwald (October 6), Outlands (October 15), Atenveldt (October 20), Trimaris (October 25), Meridies (October 25), and West Middle (October 25), Ansteorra (October 30). Original commentary on these LoIs must be in the College's hands no later than December 31, 1997. Responses and rebuttals to commentary must be in the College's hands no later than January 31, 1998.
The March Laurel meeting is scheduled for Saturday, March 7, 1998 and will consider the following letters of intent: Lochac (November 6), Drachenwald (November 7), Atlantia (November 9), Outlands (November 13), Caid (November 20), Artemisia (November 20), Atenveldt (November 20), AEthelmearc (November 24), Meridies (November 24), Ansteorra (November 26), West (November 28), and Caid (November 30). Original commentary on these LoIs must be in the College's hands no later than January 31, 1998. Responses and rebuttals to commentary must be in the College's hands no later than February 28, 1998.
The April Laurel meeting is tentatively scheduled for Saturday, April 11, 1998.
Not all Letters of Intent may be considered when they are originally scheduled on this Cover Letter. Date of mailing of the LoI, date of receipt of the Laurel packet, or other factors may delay consideration of certain Letters of Intent. Additionally, not all Letters of Intent received have been scheduled because the administrative requirements (receipt of the forms packet, receipt of the necessary fees, etc.) have not yet been met.
REMINDER: due to problems with receipt of Laurel packets, until the packet containing the paperwork is received, the letter may not be scheduled.
New Forms
The Board will be deciding on the new forms at the January Board Meeting, especially on the legal wording for the armory forms. As soon as they have decided we will let you know what is happening. We hope to be able to distribute them by the end of January, and we apologize for the delay, but the matter was taken out of our hands.
Laurel Travels
I will be away from home, on vacation from Friday January 16, 1998 through Tuesday January 27, 1998. I will not be checking my voice mail or e-mail while I am gone. In cases of true emergencies, Pelican will know where to reach me.
Color, color, what color is this?
When sending in colored emblazons, please remember that orange does not equal yellow or gold, and submissions may be returned for not using Or.
Books of Note:
A Grammar of Signs Bartolo da Sassoferrato's Tract on Insignia and Coats of Arms by Osvaldo Cavallar, Susanne Degenring & Julius Kirshner, Published by University of California at Berkeley, ISBN 1-882239-07-05
Book to Avoid:
Below you will find Harpy's review of a name book that came out recently:
Celtic Baby Names: Traditional first names from Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany and the Isle of Man. By Judy Sierra Published by Folkprint, ISBN 0-963089-5-9
The book is actually an excellent specimen of what it claims to be: a book for modern parents looking for "ethnic" names for a new baby. The book does not claim to be a book of historic names used by ordinary people pre-1600 -- and so it should not be surprising that it is very definitely _not_ an excellent source for this purpose.
In point of fact, Sierra's book is considerably less "dangerous" from the point of view of looking for documentable historic names than your average baby-name book. The problem is that it takes careful reading and critical analysis to determine which of the names she lists are, in fact, documentable historic names, and which ones are the names of legendary, mythical, or divine figures, or are surnames being suggested for use as given names (a common enough practice in 20th c. America, but definitely not appropriate for a period name). If everyone who used this book had background experience in historic names, and read the text carefully and critically, then it would be a semi-useful addition to a library of name resources. However, the reality is that a book like this gets handed to someone to browse through with the naive assertion that every name listed in the book is a good, documentable, historic name, appropriate for registration in the SCA. And this is simply not the truth. Someone picking a name from this source, without a proper critical filtering of the information, has somewhere between a 25% to 50% chance (depending on which language-section is used) of picking a name that was not used by ordinary human beings in period. (With careful critical reading but no special background knowledge, that figure may go down to only about a 10% chance.)
As examples of the sort of problems the book presents, note the following entries:
(p.74) "Trefor m. (TREV-ohr) From Welsh tref- 'home, town' + mor 'great'. A name that has been used since the 10th century." A careful, critical reading might bring one to the suspicion that this name has been in use as a place name since the 10th century, but that fact is not at all obvious from Sierra's text.
(p.65) "Gladys, Gwladys f. (GLAH-dis, goo-LAH-dis) From Welsh gwlad 'land, nation, sovereignty'."
This entry has the opposite problem -- the text gives no clue to the fact that this was used as a given name in period. But the form of the entry is identical to those of modern inventions (e.g., "Enfys", "Gwenda", "Gwyneira") -- simply giving a "translation" of the names origin.
For cultures such as Ireland and Wales, for which there are much better and more reliable historic sources available, this is an unacceptably high "frustration rate". (Although I'd note that the best Irish source -- O'Corrain & Maguire's "Irish Names" -- requires similar critical reading for best use.) While a source comparable to O'Corrain & Maguire is not available for Scottish given names, Sierra's section for this culture is, in my opinion, the least useful for SCA purposes of the entire book. A vast number of surnames are included -- names that would not have been used as given names in period -- a great many post-period inventions or variants are included, and absolutely no distinction is made in her listings between Gaelic-language forms of names and English-language forms of names (an important distinction when constructing a name as a whole).
For cultures, such as Brittany and Cornwall, for which better resources are not available, the appropriate sections of Sierra's book, used with a careful evaluation of the information presented with the names, is certainly better than nothing.
Unfortunately, Sierra's "Celtic Baby Names" book, is a source that is only useful if one begins with the presumption that every name in the book is either a modern invention, a post-period variant, a surname masquerading as a given name, or a legendary/mythological name never used by real people. From that presumption, one may use the evidence of her text to redeem a particular name into the realm of "probably historically valid". If people actually used the book in this fashion, it would actually be a mildly useful addition to a name research library. However, experience tell me that extremely few people -- and particularly not newcomers -- are likely to use the book with the caution necessary.
Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn
LoAR Subscriptions and Roster changes:
Send roster changes, additions, subtractions, subscriptions to the LoAR and address changes in a separate letter, not in the body of a LoI or LoC to: Mistress Sionyn Muirgen ní Dhomnall, Pelican Queen of Arms, Jackie Watkins, 3532 Winding Wind Cove, Bartlett, TN, 38135-3044. Please make all checks or money orders payable to "SCA Inc. - College of Arms". The cost is currently $25.00 a year.
Also, remember all administrative issues (requests for warrants, quarterly reports, etc.) need to be sent to Pelican.
Certified mail.
I cannot accept certified mail at home. If you need to send me mail return receipt requested, contact me privately, and I will send you my work address.
Miscellany:
"....although someone can carve or paint his insignia on the floor, he is not permitted to carve or paint the insignia of his lord or persons of higher rank on the floor." Bartolo da Sassoferrato, Tract on Insignia and Coats of Arms 14th century.
Until next month, pray believe that I am, and remain,
Your faithful servant,
Jaelle of Armida
Laurel Queen of Arms