Society for Creative Anachronism
College of Arms
For the February 2007 meetings, printed May 21, 2007
To all the College of Arms and all others who may read this missive, from Elisabeth Laurel, Jeanne Marie Wreath, and Margaret Pelican, greetings.
This letter contains the issues raised in the February 2007 LoAR for CoA discussion. The text in this letter is copied verbatim from that LoAR; it is provided here for convenience. As with a May LoI, these matters are currently scheduled for the Pelican and Wreath meetings in September 2007. Original commentary must be in the College's hands no later than July 31, 2007. Responses and rebuttals to commentary must be in the College's hands no later than August 31, 2007.
Angharad Ewan. Name.
The submitter requested an authentic 10th C name; this was not mentioned on the LoI. We are pending this name to give the commenters a chance to address this request. The following documentation was included with this submission:
Angharad is a Welsh feminine given name; it is found in "A Simple Guide to Constructing 13th Century Welsh Names," Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn (<http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/tangwystyl/welsh13.html>), where it appears in the medieval source as Angharat. The spelling desired by the client is found in "Snapshot of a Cantref: The Names and Naming Practices in a Mawddwy Court Roll of 1415-16," Heather Rose Jones
(<http://www.heatherrosejones.com/names/welsh/mawddwy1415.html>).
Ewain is a masculine Scots given name, first seen in 1164, and an example of it used as a patronymic is demonstrated with Douenaldus Ewain a. 1165 (Black, p. 249, s.n. Ewan); the spelling Ewan itself is not dated. It is most often seen in a patronymic form preceded by Mac-. "Patrick McEwyn was provost of Wygtoun, 1331" is found in Black, p. 491, s.n. MACEWAN.
The client is most interested in the language/culture of the name, and it means "Angharad daughter of Ewan" and that it be feminine.
Her device was registered under the holding name Angharad of Tir Ysgithr.
This was item 3 on the Atenveldt letter of October 31, 2006.
Arion the Wanderer. Badge. (Fieldless) A trident sable.
The hard copy Letter of Intent had the correct emblazon for this submission; the copy in OSCAR did not. At the time of publication, an OSCAR LoI was not sufficient - a hard copy was still required. As the majority of the commenters appear to have used the OSCAR copy of the LoI, we are pending this to allow conflict checking with the correct emblazon.
This was item 3 on the An Tir letter of October 30, 2006.
Berenice Calvina. Name.
The submitter requested a name authentic for Roman language/culture. However, this authenticity request was not mentioned on the LoI. We are pending this name to provide the commenters with the opportunity to address this request.
This documentation was provided on the LoI:
Submitter desires a female name. Sound (unspecified) most important. Culture (Roman) most important.
Name documentation: The Academy of St. Gabriel Report 2944 " <Berenice> is a Macedonian form of Greek <Pherenike:> and was the name of a 4th century Syrian martyr, several Ptolemaic queens in Cyrenaica and Egypt. <Decimus Caelius Cavinus Balbinus> was emperor or Rome and died in 238AD. Female form of <Calvinus> is <Calvina>.
More documentation for Berenice: The Great Roman-Jewish War A.D. 66-70 (De Bello Judaico) by Flavius Josephus " Chapter XV's subtitle is "Concerning Berenice's petition to Florus to spare the Jews, but in vain; as also how, after the seditious flame was quenched, it was kindled again by Florus".Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th Edition 2001 " no photocopy providedMore documentation for Calvina/Calvinus: "Browsing Roman Imperatorial Coins of Calvinus" " http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/imp/calvinus/I.html - no photocopy providedEncyclopedia Britannica 2004 " "Balbinus, Decimus Caelius Calvinus" " no photocopy provided
Her device was registered under the holding name Berenice of Coldedernhale.
This was item 2 on the Northshield letter of October 6, 2006.
Elyenora Houll. Device. Argent, three leaves bendwise sinister vert between two scarpes sable between six dragonflies purpure.
Blazoned on the LoI as Argent, on a bend sinister argent fimbriated sable between six dragonflies purpure three leaves vert, a bend or bend sinister fimbriated that is the same tincture as the field does not appear to be a bend or bend sinister but rather two bendlets or scarpes. This is pended to allow conflict checking with the leaves as the primary charges rather than as tertiary charges.
This was item 13 on the Ęthelmearc letter of October 26, 2006.
Fearghus mac Ronain. Name (see RETURNS for device).
The submitter requested an authentic 12th C Gaelic name. While the LoI noted that if the name had to be changed he was most interested in 12th C Gaelic language/culture, the authenticity request was not mentioned. We are pending this item to allow the commenters sufficient time to provide commentary on the authenticity request.
Here is the documentation included with this name:
Documentation provided:
<Fearghus> - Academy of St. Gabriel report #2600 (http://www.panix.com/~gabriel/public-bin/showfinal.cgi/2600.txt) - Fergus is a Scots form of Gaelic name Fearghus.Also - Academy of St. Gabriel report #1800 (http://www.panix.com/~gabriel/public-bin/showfinal.cgi/1800.txt) - "Fearghus was also a common name throughout the Middle Ages."Also - Academy of St. Gabriel report #1879 (http://www.panix.com/~gabriel/public-bin/showfinal.cgi/1879.txt) - Fearghus is a later version of Fergus and was in use in 1200-1400.
<mac Ronain> - Academy of St. Gabriel report #2150 (http://www.panix.com/~gabriel/public-bin/showfinal.cgi/2150.txt) - <Rona/n> used in medieval Ireland between 950-1200. This same report lists <mac Rona/in> as the correct patronymic byname.
In addition, Rowel notes:
[Rowel] For 12th C, <Fergus> should be used rather than the later <Fearghus>. The spelling <Fergus> appears in both Gaelic and Scots (the language closely related to English). In Gaelic, the form <Fergus> is both Old Gaelic and Middle Gaelic (<Fearghus> is the corresponding Early Modern Gaelic form). For the 12th C, Middle Gaelic is the appropriate language.
The latest instance I've found of <Rona/n> is of the father of a man who died in 1117:
Annals of Ulster, entry U1117.3:
Mael Brighte m. Ronan comarba Cenannsa
Annals of the Four Masters, vol. 2 (B), entry: M1117.12:
Maol Brighde Mac Ronįin, comhorba Cenannsa, & ar muintire Cenannsa uime
MacCarthaigh's Book, vol. 1, entry MCB1117.8:
Mael Brighde Mac Ronain [...] Ceanannais
So, <Fergus mac Ronain> would be an authentic Middle Gaelic form of his submitted name.
However, unless anyone has run across evidence of <Rona/n> being used in Scotland, we can't confirm the name is authentic for Scotland as opposed to Ireland.
This was item 4 on the Northshield letter of October 6, 2006.
Marija Kotok. Name change from Mariia Kotova.
Precedent set in October 2002 forbid the registration of unmarked patronymics in Russian names:
Bola is a Russian masculine given name. Lacking evidence that Russian used unmarked patronymic bynames, we have changed this to the patronymic form Bolin in order to register this name. [Gorm Bolin, 10/2002, A-Middle]
However, an informal letter from Paul Wickenden of Thanet argues that the name used to document Kotok does, in fact, show an unmarked patronymic, and that unmarked patronymics can be found in Russian manuscripts:
For Kotok, this is an unmarked patronymic. We have period examples of it being used as such -- see Kulik Kotok (dated to c1495) in Wickenden [164]. While this is listed as a dim of Kot by Wickenden, it is a bit more complicated than the entry alludes, as Kulik is already the "old Russian" given name and there can never be two of these given to a person. Far more likely, Kulik is the son of Kotok and his full legal name would be Kulik (syn) Kotkov. That said, unmarked patronymics are common in Russian manuscripts. An unmarked patronymic already violates Russian grammar rules so it also does not necessarily need to be feminized (I.e., you wouldn't change it to Kotka). In the structure Kulik Kotok, we see an implication that all of the offspring of Kotok could be spelled the same way.
While the lettere states that unmarked patronymics are common in Russian manuscripts, no examples (other than Kulik Kotok) are provided. We are reluctant to overturn this precedent based on a single example, as it is a long standing principal that a single example of a particular naming pattern is not necessarily sufficient to demonstrate a more general acceptance of that pattern. A single example may be an example of an invalid or misinterpreted recording, but several examples demonstrate a pattern. We request that the commenters take a look at the available sources and see whether they can find further examples of names that appear to use unmarked patronymics.
This was item 22 on the Ęthelmearc letter of October 26, 2006.
Marinn Rikaršsdottir. Name.
Originally submitted as Maren Rikaršsdottir, the name was changed to Marinn Rikaršsdottir at kingdom. However, no mention of the reason for the change or even that the change had been made was made in the LoI. One of the our most frequent refrains is that if changes are made to a name at kingdom, the LoI must include what changes were made and why. Failure to do so is reason for return or for pending the name. In this case, we are pending the name to give the commenters further chance to consider the originally submitted name.
The documentation on the form listed Maren as a Danish name found in 1490 at www.familysearch.org. While the commenters on this letter provided ample evidence for Marin as a 16th C Norwegian name (it appears three times between 1506 and 1542 in the "Diplomatarium Norvegicum"), Danish sources were not addressed by the commenters. This pend will allow them to do so. The original documentation notes that Rikaršsdottir is based on a given name from Haraldson, The Old Norse Name.
Her armory was registered under the holding name Kelly of Crystal Mynes.
This was item 27 on the Calontir letter of October 30, 2006.
William de Kari. Device. Per chevron Or and azure, three hurts and a standing balance Or.
Blazoned on the LoI as Per chevron Or and azure, a standing balance Or and in chief three hurts, the charges are co-primary. As most commenters did not indicate that they had conflict checked the device under this interpretation, we must pend it for further conflict checking.
This was item 11 on the Outlands letter of October 27, 2006.
Pray know that I remain,
In service,
Elisabeth de Rossignol
Laurel Principal Queen of Arms
Created at 2007-05-31T23:37:54