ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2113 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2113 ************************************ From: "Brian M. Scott" 21 Oct 2000 Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You asked whether was an appropriate name for a man living in Iceland in the tenth century or thereabouts. You mentioned that in one of our reports you had found a reference to a 1528 occurrence of the given name and asked for more information about the source that we cited. [1, 2] In particular, you wanted to know whether it was in English and, if not, how to use it as a reference in submitting a name for registration by the SCA College of Arms. The original Old Norse name is in the standardized scholarly spelling based on 13th century Icelandic writings. (The slash stands for an acute accent over the previous vowel.) Here 'evening' is a nickname, and the man's given name is . The original lived in the ninth century. According to Egil's saga it was said that he was a shapechanger; he got his nickname because he was so tired and cross in the evening, supposedly on account of his shapechanging. [3, 4] This is the traditional explanation of the name, and the one given in Egil's saga. At least one scholar, however, thinks that may have been a genuine given name in its own right, and there are arguments in favor of this view. [5] First, we have no other certain example of the nickname . We did, however, find a 1334 reference to an in Sweden and a 1528 reference to an in Lyngdal, Norway. [2, 3, 5] These are medieval spellings of names whose standardized Old Norse forms would be and , respectively. It seems quite possible that one or both of the fathers actually bore the given name (to use the standard modern Norwegian spelling). On the other hand, it's also possible that one or both was named and later came to be called because of some supposed resemblance to the saga character; at this point there appears to be no way to know for certain. The next known example of isn't until 1889; it's the first example that is undoubtedly a given name in its own right. [3] It is not clear from this evidence at what point came to be used as a given name. It may have been as late as the 19th century, or as much as a thousand years earlier. If the explanation in Egil's saga is wrong, and was already a (rare) given name in the 9th century, then a 10th century would certainly not be out of the question. If, on the other hand, the explanation is correct, and is a combination of nickname and name, then it seems likely that a 10th century would have been given his nickname as a deliberate reference to the saga character, who was evidently rather well known. This isn't impossible, but the earliest evidence that we've found for such a practice is only from the middle of the 14th century, when we find a man recorded as 1354, after Skalla-Gri/mr, the famous son of Kveld-U/lfr and father of Egill. [6] In short, we cannot say whether a 10th century would have been a given name in its own right or a combination of nickname and name, and (partly for that reason) we cannot say whether it is genuinely plausible for your period. Owing to this uncertainty, it is not the best historical re-creation. On the other hand, there is no doubt that is possible as a rare tenth-century Old Norse name (or nickname and name), and it might in fact prove to be entirely plausible if we knew more about the details of tenth-century Old Norse naming. Whether it is registerable with the SCA College of Arms is another matter. [7] The standardized scholarly spelling of is <{TH}o/ro/lfs son>, meaning 'son of {TH}o/ro/lfr'. (Here {TH} stands for the runic letter called 'thorn', which looks like a lower-case superimposed on a lower-case

in such a way that their loops coincide). This name occurs from at least the 9th century on and was common in early Iceland. [8, 9] <{TH}o/ro/lfs son> is therefore a very likely patronymic for a 10th century Icelander. Note that a 10th century Icelander would have written his name (if at all) in runes, not in Roman letters. If you're interested in the details, please write us again. Our sources for the medieval instances of are in Swedish ([2]), Nynorsk ([3]), and German ([5]). (Nynorsk is the less well known of the two official Norwegian languages.) The first of these is the source that we cited in our previous report dealing with this name. [1] It is a comprehensive compendium of Icelandic and Norwegian nicknames from the earliest written sources to about 1500. The sources include the various sagas and a wide variety of historical documents. So far as we know, you would use one of these sources as documentation for the SCA College of Arms just as if it were in English: provide photocopies of the title pages and relevant page(s) and highlight the relevant passage(s). It would be easier, however, to submit this letter instead, complete with all headers and footers: while the Laurel and Pelican Sovereigns of Arms do not always agree with our opinions, they accept our documentation as accurate. Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Maridonna Benvenuti, Arval d'Espas Nord, Lindorm Eriksson, Mari nic Bryan, Adelaide de Beaumont, Juliana de Luna, and Teceangl Bach also contributed to this letter. We hope that it has been useful; if you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to write again. For the Academy, Talan Gwynek 21 October 2000 ===== References and Notes: [1] Academy of S. Gabriel Report 977 (8 Jun 1998) http://www.panix.com/~gabriel/public-bin/showfinal.cgi?977 [2] Lind, E.H. Norsk-Isla"ndska Personbinamn fra*n Medeltiden (Uppsala: 1920-21); s.n. . [The is an a-umlaut; the is an with a small circle directly above it.] [3] Kruken, Kristoffer, ed. Norsk Personnamnleksikon. 2nd ed. (Oslo: Det Norske Samlaget, 1995); s.n. . [4] Pa/lsson, Hermann & Paul Edwards, trans. Egil's Saga (Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin Books, 1976); p. 21. [5] Mu"ller, Gunter. Studien zu den Theriophoren Personennamen der Germanen (Ko"ln: Bo"hlau Verlag, 1970); pp. 135. [Here and stand for u-umlaut and o-umlaut respectively.] [6] Lind, op. cit., s.n. . [7] The Laurel Sovereign of Arms has previously ruled that is a unique name applied only to the grandfather of Egill Skallagri/msson. (LoAR 4/91, p. 14) We now know that this is not quite true, there having been other bearers of the name in the early 14th and early 16th centuries. We cannot say whether this information would be enough to persuade the College to overturn this ruling. [8] Lind, E.H. Norsk-Isla"ndska Dopnamn ock Fingerade Namn fra*n Medeltiden (Uppsala & Leipzig: 1905-1915, suppl. Oslo, Uppsala and Copenhagen: 1931); s.n. <{TH}o/ro/lfr>. [9] Kruken, op. cit. s.n. .