Society for Creative Anachronism
College of Arms
2212 S. 64th Plaza, #418
Omaha, NE, 68106
+1 952 412 4112
laurel@heraldry.sca.org
For the August 2013 meetings, printed October 13, 2013
To all the College of Arms and all others who may read this missive, from Gabriel Laurel, Juliana Pelican, and Emma Wreath, greetings.
Items listed below in square brackets have not been scheduled yet. For information about future scheduling, please review the status table located on the Web at http://oscar.sca.org/index.php?action=137.
The August Laurel decisions were made at the Pelican meeting held on Sunday, August 18, 2013 and the Wreath meeting held on Saturday, August 17, 2013. These meetings considered the following letters of intent: Northshield (10 May, 2013), Calontir (13 May, 2013), Ansteorra (16 May, 2013), Drachenwald (21 May, 2013), Caid (22 May, 2013), Ealdormere (23 May, 2013), East (23 May, 2013), Atenveldt (25 May, 2013), Caid (27 May, 2013), Outlands (28 May, 2013), Gleann Abhann (29 May, 2013), Middle (29 May, 2013), Æthelmearc (31 May, 2013), An Tir (31 May, 2013), Atlantia (31 May, 2013), Lochac (31 May, 2013), Meridies (31 May, 2013).  All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should have been entered into OSCAR by Wednesday, July 31, 2013.
The September Laurel decisions were made at the Pelican meeting held on Sunday, September 15, 2013 and the Wreath meeting held on Saturday, September 14, 2013. These meetings considered the following letters of intent: Laurel LoPaD (05 Jun, 2013), Drachenwald LoItUP (06 Jun, 2013), Atlantia (08 Jun, 2013), Middle (11 Jun, 2013), Northshield (12 Jun, 2013), Artemisia (13 Jun, 2013), Outlands (20 Jun, 2013), Drachenwald (23 Jun, 2013), Atenveldt (25 Jun, 2013), Ealdormere (25 Jun, 2013), East (26 Jun, 2013), An Tir (27 Jun, 2013), Gleann Abhann (27 Jun, 2013), Calontir (29 Jun, 2013), Æthelmearc (30 Jun, 2013), Ansteorra (30 Jun, 2013), Caid (30 Jun, 2013), Lochac (30 Jun, 2013), Meridies (30 Jun, 2013), Trimaris (30 Jun, 2013), West (30 Jun, 2013).  All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should have been entered into OSCAR by Saturday, August 31, 2013.
The October Laurel decisions will be made at the Pelican meeting held on Sunday, October 20, 2013 and the Wreath meeting held on Saturday, October 19, 2013. These meetings will consider the following letters of intent: Laurel LoPaD (09 Jul, 2013), Northshield (09 Jul, 2013), Atlantia (12 Jul, 2013), Middle (13 Jul, 2013), Ealdormere (21 Jul, 2013), Drachenwald (22 Jul, 2013), East (27 Jul, 2013), Artemisia (28 Jul, 2013), Caid (29 Jul, 2013), An Tir (31 Jul, 2013), Ansteorra (31 Jul, 2013), Atenveldt (31 Jul, 2013), Gleann Abhann (31 Jul, 2013), Outlands (31 Jul, 2013), West (31 Jul, 2013).  All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should have been entered into OSCAR by Monday, September 30, 2013.
The November Laurel decisions will be made at the Pelican and Wreath meetings held in November 2013. These meetings will consider the following letters of intent: Meridies (31 Jul, 2013) (pushed due to lack of posting date) , Calontir (06 Aug, 2013), [Atlantia (13 Aug, 2013)], [Drachenwald Other Letter (13 Aug, 2013)], [Lochac (14 Aug, 2013)], Palimpsest Rules Letter (18 Aug, 2013), Laurel LoPaD (19 Aug, 2013), [Outlands (19 Aug, 2013)], Middle (23 Aug, 2013), Atenveldt (25 Aug, 2013), Caid (25 Aug, 2013), Ealdormere (25 Aug, 2013), Æthelmearc (27 Aug, 2013), [East (28 Aug, 2013)], [An Tir (30 Aug, 2013)], Atenveldt (30 Aug, 2013), Ansteorra (31 Aug, 2013), Meridies (31 Aug, 2013), Palimpsest Rules Letter (31 Aug, 2013).  All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should be entered into OSCAR by Thursday, October 31, 2013.
The December Laurel decisions will be made at the Pelican and Wreath meetings held in December 2013. These meetings will consider the following letters of intent: [Gleann Abhann (03 Sep, 2013)], [Trimaris (03 Sep, 2013)], [Artemisia (07 Sep, 2013)], [Atlantia (17 Sep, 2013)], Laurel LoPaD (17 Sep, 2013), [Middle (20 Sep, 2013)], [Northshield (20 Sep, 2013)], [Outlands (21 Sep, 2013)], [Æthelmearc (22 Sep, 2013)], [Middle (23 Sep, 2013)], [Drachenwald (24 Sep, 2013)], [Drachenwald (25 Sep, 2013)], [Atenveldt (26 Sep, 2013)], [Ealdormere (27 Sep, 2013)], [Calontir (28 Sep, 2013)], [East (28 Sep, 2013)], [Caid (29 Sep, 2013)].  All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should be entered into OSCAR by Saturday, November 30, 2013.
Not all letters of intent may be considered when they are originally scheduled on this cover letter. The date of posting of the LoI, date of receipt of the Laurel packet, or other factors may delay consideration of certain letters of intent. Additionally, some letters of intent received may not have been scheduled because the administrative requirements (receipt of the forms packet, receipt of the necessary fees, et cetera) have not yet been met.
REMINDER: Until all administrative requirements are met, the letter may not be scheduled.
From Pelican: Some Name Resources (An Ongoing Series)
Hungarian is one of the most popular Eastern European languages with submitters. It's interesting for a couple of reasons. First, it's not an Indo-European language, so it's quite different from most other European languages. Second, the kingdom of Hungary was an important medieval state. This multi-ethnic and multi-lingual state was dominated by Hungarian speakers, but also included large numbers of Romanian, German, Slovak, Serbian, and Ruthenian speakers. Ruthenian was discussed briefly last month; it's the medieval ancestor of Belarusian, Ukrainian, and Rusyn. The other Slavic languages and Romanian will be discussed in the next few months.
In the medieval kingdom of Hungary, Western influences were more important than in Russia or Lithuania. Thus, Latin was an important language of record through the entire medieval period. Vernacular documents existed as well, though Latin dominated until the Renaissance.
One well-known feature of Hungarian is that names do not follow the typical European name order. In vernacular (Hungarian) contexts, the given name follows the family name. In Latinized contexts, the given name precedes it. Thus, a name might be recorded in vernacular form as Andrasfi Lazlo or Nagy Miklos and in Latinized form as Laudislaus Andrasfi or Michael Nagy. As it is often difficult for the non-expert to determine if a name is Latinized or not, and many articles do not distinguish between Latinized and vernacular forms, we allow the registration of Hungarian names in either order. In Latinized names, the given names are Latinized, but bynames are often identical to the vernacular forms. This is even true for patronymic bynames; documentary Latinized forms in Hungary are as likely to look like the 1566 Ioannes Peter as the completely Latinized Ioannes (filius) Petri.
Bynames of relationship are the most common type of byname. Patronymic bynames are most frequently unmarked in Hungarian: they are simply identical to the given name of the person's father, as in Ioannes Peter above. Rarely, they are formed by adding -fi or -fy, shortened forms of fia "son." There are examples of matronymic byname, formed from the given name of the person's mother. Marital bynames are formed for women by adding -ne to the end of the husband's entire name, as in Margit Sos Mathene "Margit, the wife of Mathe Salt." Additionally, occupational, descriptive, and locative bynames are all found in Hungarian.
So, how can you document elements for a Hungarian name? It remains true that books (written in Hungarian, of course) have the largest number of byname elements. If you ask on heraldry lists, you're likely to encounter people who have those books. If you have trouble, it's worth seeking out experts like Kolosvari Arpadne Julia.
Julia's articles that deal with names generally have mostly been published in Known World Heraldic Symposium Proceedings, and are not available online. The exception is her "Names of property owners in northern Hungary, 1427," (which can be downloaded from http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/latex/kw/julia/julia.pdf) and her "Ethnic Bynames in Hungarian before 1600 (http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/julia/EthnicBynames.html). For given names, the best sources are Walraven van Nijmegen's "Hungarian Personal Names of the 16th Century" (http://heraldry.sca.org/names/hungarian/index.html) and his "Hungarian Feminine Names" (http://heraldry.sca.org/names/magfem2.html).
From Wreath: Lions and Ounces and Catamounts, oh my!
Several submissions lately have raised the question of the difference between a catamount, an ounce, or any other type of cat. Fundamentally, we grant no difference in SCA armory for the difference between any type of cat, from lions to domestic cats. Still, these are blazonable differences.
Lions have manes, and distinctive tufted tails. Lynxes have much shorter tails, and tufted ears. Ounces are typically defined as maneless lions. Natural panthers also have no mane and smooth tails, as do wildcats and domestic cats. Leopards and natural tigers are additionally distinguished by their markings.
Parker decidedly conflates catamounts and wildcats, and even lynxes to an extent, although the latter he also lumps in with panthers and ounces. Guillim and Legh mention both lions and leopards, but no other type of cat.
Depending on precise proportions of body parts such as heads, shoulders, limbs, and so forth to one another when defining charges is contrary to heraldic style. As we cannot readily distinguish between natural panthers, domestic cats, catamounts, wildcats, and ounces with smooth tails, we will accept any of these blazon terms.
Society Pages
On September 7, Gunnv{o,}r silfrahárr, Orle Herald, and Damaris of Greenhill were married.
On a sad note, Viscountess Alicianne de Montfort of Sprucewood has passed away. Viscountess Alicianne served as Vesper Principal Herald between A.S. XXXIII and XXXV.
Send What to Whom
Letters of Intent, Comment, Response, Correction, et cetera are to be posted to the OSCAR online system. No paper copies need be sent. All submission forms plus documentation, including petitions, must be posted to the OSCAR online system.
Submission packets (one colored copy of each armory form only) to the SCA College of Arms, 3101 Lee Hwy Ste 18/19 #178, Bristol VA 24202.
Cheques or money orders for submissions, payable to "SCA Inc.-College of Arms" are to be sent to John C. Sandstrom, New Mexico State University, PO Box 30006/MSC 3475, Las Cruces, NM 88003.
Send roster changes and corrections to Laurel. College of Arms members may also request a copy of the current roster from Laurel.
For a paper copy of a LoAR, please contact Laurel, at the address above. The cost for one LoAR is $3. Please make all checks or money orders payable to "SCA Inc.-College of Arms". The electronic copy of the LoAR is available free of charge. To subscribe to the mailings of the electronic copy, please see the bottom of http://heraldry.sca.org/heraldry/lists.html#lists for more instructions.
For all administrative matters, please contact Laurel.
Pray know that I remain,
In service,
Gabriel Kjotvason
Laurel Principal King of Arms