ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1928 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1928 ************************************ 11 Feb 2000 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked our help choosing your name. You told us you were interested either in a Gothic feminine name appropriate after 500 AD, or in a later-period name in which you could use a surname meaning "the Goth". Specifically, you asked our opinion of the name , which you found in Jordanus' history of the Goths, an Amazon who was the wife of a Goth. You also asked whether using a historical name would violate the Society's rule against taking the name of an important historical figure. Here is what we have found. Society custom frowns on duplicating the full name of an important historical figure, but that only applies to the full name, not to the given name alone. You're right that this standard is a little difficult to apply when you're dealing with a culture like the Goths in which people only had one name. In our opinion, using the name of a famous Gothic noblewoman like does not violate Society custom; but we hope we've provided enough possibilities in this letter to give you an alternative with which you are comfortable. The SCA College of Arms does not protect the given names of famous individuals who had only a single given name, but it requires submitted names to consist of at least two elements. If you want to register your name, you'll have to choose a surname even though a Goth would usually not have used one. Without reviewing your source in detail, we can't comment on whether is an appropriate name for an early medieval Gothic woman. We have to say that it doesn't look like a Gothic name. At best it is a Latinized form, and we can't even guess what the underlying name might have been. The fact that this name is mentioned in a period history doesn't imply that it was used by real people: Medieval chroniclers often blurred the line between history and legend, and often gave their characters deliberately outlandish names; and the fact that this woman is described as an Amazon suggests that this particular story might be more legend than history. As a general rule, it is better re-creation to use a name that can be proven to have been used by a real person in your period. As we wrote earlier, the Goths in Europe in your period were divided into two distinct peoples: the Visigoths ("western Goths") and Ostrogoths ("eastern Goths"). The Visigoths lived in a kingdom that encompassed most of the Iberian peninsula and the Mediterranean coastline eastward to the Rhone river. This kingdom survived until the early 8th century when it was destroyed by the Muslims. The Ostrogoths had recently conquered the Italian peninsula and overthrown the western Roman empire. Their kingdom in Italy and Illyria fell to the Lombards in the late 6th century [1]. For more information about Gothic history, we recommend Wolfram Herwig, History of the Goths (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988). There are also medieval histories of the Goths other than the one you mentioned: There are several early Spanish chronicles of the history of the Goths in Spain. These include the chronicles of Saint Isidore (Isidro) and the Chronicle of 754. Some of them are available in a book by Kenneth Baxter Wolf (translator and editor), Conquerors and chroniclers of early-medieval Spain (Liverpool : Liverpool University Press, 1990). Names used by the Goths varied over time and geography, so a name appropriate for 6th century Italy will not necessarily be appropriate for 8th century Spain. In our previous letter, we offered a short list of 5th and 6th century Gothic women's names: , , , , , , , , , , , , [2]. These are probably appropriate in either European branch of the Gothic world (though would be an odd name for a Visigothic woman!). As we noted in our earlier letter, the <-a> ending on some of these names may be a Latinization: In Gothic, <-a> is a masculine ending, with <-o> being the feminine ending. We've appended a list of some Visigothic feminine names recorded in Iberia in the 6th to 10th centuries. If you are interested in any particular name from the list, we'll be happy to try to provide an appropriate pronunciation. In almost all records, Goths are identified by single given names alone, without any surname [2]. That would probably be the most typical way for a woman of that culture to identify herself, especially before the Muslim invasion. After 900 or so, some women were identified in formal records as "wife of" or "daughter of" a man. At this point in history, this description wasn't really part of her name; over the next couple hundred years, these descriptions developed into standard bynames. We also found some examples of Gothic bynames recorded in contemporary Latin records. A typical example in a woman's name is , recorded in Iberia in 803 [3]. This name means "Isilo nicknamed Sisina". Here are a few similar examples. Masculine Comasio cognomento Gomazi 800 Filo cognomento Brito 816 Davit cognomento Amorellus 861 Romaricus quen in cognomento Cervan apellant 883 (whom they call by the nickname Cervan) Walamirus cognomeno Annagia 889 Feminine Gundefredo cognometo Feta 905 Gaudiosa cognomento Goya 908 Guiduildi cognomento Numina 902 Sol Petriz cognomento Goto 1082 In some of these cases, the nickname is apparently a pet form of the full name, e.g. from the second element of , for . In others, we can see no logic in the choice of nickname. is not a Gothic name: It's a typical early Castilian name. This woman was apparently also known by the Gothic , a fairly common feminine name in early medieval Spain [6], probably originally a pet form of some Gothic name like . Given such a small sample of nicknames, it isn't going to be easy to come up with a new one that is reliably authentic. We may be able to construct an appropriate pet form of one of the given names we documented here; if you choose one or two that interest you, we'll be happy to try to suggest something. As we wrote in our previous letter, we think it is unlikely that a Goth would have been identified by other members of her culture as "the Goth". For one thing, it wouldn't have been a very useful way to identify one member of the culture when everyone around her was also a Goth! Since Goths generally did not use any kind of byname or surname, this usage is particularly unlikely within the culture [2]. On the other hand, a foreign writer might have referred to a Goth as "the Goth". We have found strong evidence that in Iberia after the fall of the Gothic kingdom, bynames with this meaning were used. We found a 9th or 10th century Arabic name, , which means "Hafs son of Alvar the Goth" [4]. We noted earlier that we'd found a couple 10th and 11th century names that included surnames that might have meant "the Goth" (but might also have meant "son of Gotus"): 1080 and 940 [5]. At least in Iberia, we think it is plausible that, at least in some circumstances, a man might have been known as "the Goth". Whether this sort of name would have been used for a woman is another question; we don't have enough data to say one way or the other. If you're interested in a name from Iberia in this period, write us again and we'll be happy to help. We hope this letter has been useful. Please write us again if any part of it has been unclear or if you have other questions. I was assisted in researching and writing this letter by Antonio Miguel Santos de Borja, Lindorm Eriksson, Alan Fairfax, Raquel Buenaventura, Talan Gwynek, Amant le Marinier, Adelaide de Beaumont, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Salvador Paolo de Barcelona, Juliana de Luna, and Walraven van Nijmegen. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 11 Feb 2000 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Sixth to Tenth Century Hispano-Gothic Feminine Names [3] In this list, the names marked with a pound sign, <#>, were recorded before the Visigothic kingdom fell to the Muslim invasion. Names marked <%> were found in other grammatical forms, and we have deduced their nominative forms. Adosinda 757(?), 842, 887, 897 Aeliuba 867 Ailo 856, 887 Alabera 869 Alatrudia 887 Alduara 759 Aliverta 871 Anilo 842 Andeleova 790 Agnitruedia 900 Ansobrida 860 Ansoi 887 Aragunti 870 # Aruildi pre-Islamic, 803 Argilo 818 Astragundia 842, 870 Astroildi 887 Badosinda 889 Barili 816 Berildi 871 Cenabrida 860 Cenosinda 861 Cenusinda 861 Genusinda 861 Zenecida 861 #% Cixilo 687 Daildi 861, 877 Egilo 803, 827, 887 # Eilo 759, 883 # Eillo 759: Name of the wife of Roderich, the last Gothic king; after his death she was wife of the Arab ruler. The name is found as in Arabic sources. Elo 780 Emilo 900 # Ermenberga 606 # Ermosinda 746 Ermesenda 887 Ermesinda 897 # Hermesendis 740 Ermoygia 818 Fakilo 803 Fachilo 863 Faquilo 875 Fredenanda 863 Fredesinda 897 Frogildi 878 Froili 883 # Froiliuba 737 Froilo 897 Fruilo 889 Giluira 898 Geloyrae 862 Giloira 886 Gisclauara 864: undated variants , , apparently referring to the same person at about the same time. Gogildi 812 # Goisuintha 6th c. Gogina 820, 900 Goina 867 Gomesinda 790 Gundigeua 887 Guntildi 900 Gunderona 867-912 Gonza 887 Gondilo 870 Guncina 887 Goncina 895 Gudigeva 803, 867 Guduigia 811, 816 % Gudoegia 887 # Icka 745 Eldontia 887 # Hildoara c.610 Heldoara 864 Eldoara 864 Elduara 864, 867 Illoigia 790 Ildoie 867-912 Isilo 803, 853(?) Leudesinda 868 #% Leovigoto 693 Leouildi 842 Leuvina 890 Liuilo 867-912 Modildi 889 Nunilo 887, 897 Nunilu 877 Ninilo 877 Nunnilo 897 Honosinda 898 Penetrudia 803 Ragesenda 835 Regesenda 838 Ranilo 842 # Recciberga died before 657 Reciberga Recesinda 790 Recosinda 870 Reccesuinda 812 Recoire 857 Roilo 790 Sigesgundia 887 Simildi 887 Senetrudia 879 Sindiuerga 842 Sindeleoba 900 Senderiga 871 # Siseguntia 6th c. # Sisiguntis 584 Sisegundie 867-912 Sisildi 867-912 Sesoira 857 Sunildi 865 # Ispasanda 6th or 7th c. Spasanda 842 Subildi 811, 820 # Suinthiliuba 666 Soniefrada 868 Teodogoncia 895 Teodilli 832 Teodoriga 883 Theudesinda 812 Teodosinda 887 Tota 759 #% Thuresmuda 634 # Trasildi 745 Trudildi 889, 898 Trudilli 879 Uadauara 867-912 Vilocia 860 Guinildi 874 Guinilli 870 Quinilli 874 # Quinigia 662 Uisflauara 860 Uistrilo 878 # Ubitilde 462 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] "Goth", Britannica.com, accessed 11 Jan 2000 http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/8/0,5716,38238+1,00.html [2] Woolf, Henry Bosley, _The Old Germanic Principles of Name-Giving_ (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press. 1939), ch. 14. [3] Piel, Joseph M., and Kremer, Dieter, _Hispano-gotisches Namenbuch_ (Heidelberg: Carl Winter Universita:tsverlag, 1976). [4] Research by Juliana de Luna, based on an article by Thomas Berman. [5] Diez Melcon, R. P. Gonzalo, _Apellidos Castellano-Leoneses: Siglos IX-XIII, ambos inclusive_ (Universidad de Granada, 1957), pp.48, 162. [6] Sopena, Pascual Marti/nez, ed., _Antroponimia y Sociedad_: Sistemas de identificacio/n hispano-cristianos en los siglos IX a XIII_, Historie y Sociedad no. 46 (Valladolid, Spain: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela and Universidad de Valladolid, 1995). Several articles in this book list as a common feminine name. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Correction, 22 Apr, Arval: fixed some typos in the list of feminine bynames: was mis-spelled . Correction, 25 Jan 2007, Aryanhwy: The report used to have the example of , which is incorrect. The correct form is .