ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1202 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1202 ************************************ 23 Oct 1998 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You wrote to us about , wanting to know whether it were a correctly constructed Norman masculine name for the period 1450-1550. You also asked about the arms "Argent, a gore sable and in sinister canton a tau cross gules." We apologize for the delay in answering your question. We were swamped by end-of-summer and start-on-the-academic year demands. We found no evidence of the name in period French. The English name (note spelling) derives from the Latin , and was rare in English before the late 19th century [1, 2]. We think it is unlikely to have been used in France in your period. There is a similar-sounding French name which appears as , , and in the 14th century, in the 15th. It survived into modern use as , , , and , with pet forms , , , and ; and we believe that any of these spellings might have been used in 15th century French [3, 4]. The slash in some of the names represents an accent on the previous letter. The last example uses the diminutive suffix <-on>, which was fairly common in northern France. Although we did not find or , they are plausible constructions for your period and they sound more like . The name was originally a nickname derived from the French verb , "to fart", with the pejorative suffix <-ard> [4, 5]; it's distinctly uncomplimentary, but then, many real nicknames are. We could not find the name "dear lady", but we find it quite reasonable for your period. We found some very similar names: "dear to woman", probably used for a woman-chaser, "dear friend" [4]. may have been used for a womanizer or it could have been a nickname given to someone who often uses that turn of phrase. In your period, it could also have been an inherited surname. The names or are quite appropriate for your period. We recommend that you not use both surnames; that's not a style of naming we've found in your period. A man might be known by a surname and the place where he lived, e.g. , and he could perhaps have been known by two different descriptive epithets in different occasions, but it's unlikely he'd have used two descriptive names at the same time. The arms you described could be blazoned "Argent, a gore sable and in sinister canton a tau cross gules". Neither our members nor the SCA College of Arms has ever found a gore used in period armory [6]. It appears to be an invention of late-period heraldic theorists [8]. We recommend strongly against using one in your arms. The tau cross was used in period armory, but it was extremely rare. We have found only three examples from England in the 14th and 16th centuries and from the Low Countries in the 16th century [7, 8, 9]. If you'd like to consider some other designs for your arms, you can find a collection of arms from France in your period on the web: L'Armorial de Nicolas de Lutzelbourg http://www.nancy2.u-nancy.fr/RECHERCHE/MOYENAGE/lutzsom.htm This site is in French, but it has some illustrations. Many of the arms in this document are not French, but some are. You can find pictures and descriptions of some French arms at: http://www.nancy2.u-nancy.fr/RECHERCHE/MOYENAGE/fol_14.htm http://www.nancy2.u-nancy.fr/RECHERCHE/MOYENAGE/fol_53.htm http://www.nancy2.u-nancy.fr/RECHERCHE/MOYENAGE/fol_58.htm http://www.nancy2.u-nancy.fr/RECHERCHE/MOYENAGE/fol_86.htm http://www.nancy2.u-nancy.fr/RECHERCHE/MOYENAGE/fol_100.htm You can find another large collection of period arms in Joseph Foster's _The Dictionary of Heraldry_ (New York: Arch Cape Press, 1989). The book contains several thousand color drawings of period English arms. French heraldic style was very similar to English style in your period. Many Society heralds own copies of this book, and it is sometimes available remaindered or used in larger bookstores. We hope this letter has been helpful, and that we can continue to assist you. Talan Gwynek, Zenobia Naphtali, Evan da Collaureo, and Rouland Carre contributed to this letter. In service, --Walraven van Nijmegen and Arval Benicoeur Academy of S. Gabriel, 23 Oct 1998 References [1] E.G. Withycombe, _The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names_, 3rd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988). [2] Leslie Dunkling & William Gosling, _The New American Dictionary of First Names_ (New York, Signet Books, 1983). [3] Morlet, Marie-Therese, _Etude d'anthroponymie picarde, les noms de personne en Haute Picardie aux XIIIe, XIVe, XVe siecles_ (Amiens, Musee de Picardie, 1967). [4] Dauzat, Albert, _Dictionnaire Etymologique des Noms de Famille et Prenoms de France_ (Paris: Libraire Larousse, 1987). [5] Marie-Therese Morlet, _Dictionnaire Etymologique de Noms de Famille_ (Librairie Academique Perrin, 1997). [6] Laurel Letter of Acceptances and Returns, November 1991, cover letter. [7] Parker, James, _A Glossary of Terms used in Heraldry_ (Charles E. Tuttle, 1982), s.v. Pall. See also Anthony Richard Wagner, _Aspilogia I: A Catalogue of English Mediaeval Rolls of Arms_ (London: The Society of Antiquaries, 1950). [8] Bruce Draconarius of Mistholme and Akagawa Yoshio, _A Pictorial Dictionary of Heraldry as Used in the Society for Creative Anachronism_, (privately published, 1988). [9] Walraven van Nijmegen, "Analysis, Armorial, and Ordinary of Armory Recorded in Paul Bergman's Armorial De Flandre du XVIme Siecle" (WWW: Brain R. Speer, Privately published, 1997). http://www.geocities.com/Athens/1336/bergmans.html