ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1915 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1915 ************************************ From: "Sara L Friedemann" 4 Feb 2000 Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You wanted to know if or , meaning "poet of the hammer" or "poet with a hammer," could have been used as a nickname by an 11th century Icelandic blacksmith. Here is what we have found. We find examples of as a byname as early as the 11th century. [2] (The slash represents an accent over the previous letter). There is no way to know for sure why anyone was called , but perhaps the likeliest possibility is that he was from a place named . can also be used as a place name referring to a mountain or a hill with at least one flat face. Based on other examples of bynames that we've seen, we believe that would have referred to either a poet from a place called or to one who wrote about a man with the byname . [2] is a fine choice for an Icelander's nickname; it would not, though, specifically denote a blacksmith. on its own is also an appropriate byname; it might denote someone living at a place called or someone noted for owning or using hammers. or would be fine Viking names and might have either of these meanings. [3] If you would like to consider a surname with a more literal meaning, there are 6 examples of people nicknamed "smith, metal-smith," in a document from Iceland in your period, making that the 14th most common nickname. [1] The {dh} represents the letter , pronounced like the in . is an excellent nickname for an Icelandic smith. For information on how to complete your name, we recommend the following article, available on-line: "A Simple Guide to Creating Old Norse Names" http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/sg-viking.html We hope that this letter has been useful to you, and that you will not hesitate to write again if any part was unclear or if you have further questions. Research and commentary on this letter was provided by Talan Gwynek, Walraven van Nijmegen, Hartmann Rogge, Raquel Buenauentura, Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, Arval Benicoeur, Lindorm Eriksson, Juliana de Luna, and Antonio Miguel de Santos Borja. For the Academy, ~Aryanhwy merch Catmael --------------------------------------- References: [1] Aryanhwy merch Catmael, "Viking Bynames found in the Landna/mabo/k" (WWW: Privately published, 1999). http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/vikbynames.html [2] Lind, E.H., _Norsk-Isla:ndska Personbinamn fra*n Medeltiden_ (Uppsala: 1920-21). s.nn. Hamaraka/ld, Hamarr [3] We have similar examples of bynames based on tools and placenames. For example: "Dales," "Grassy slope," "field," "Bear Island," "harbor," and "ax-blade," "crosier," "spike," and "helmet," "tongs," "sledgehammer," "staff." [1]