ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2458
http://www.s-gabriel.org/2458
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24 Feb 2002
From:  (Josh Mittleman)


Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!

You asked whether <Ondrej> is an appropriate given name and <Hradecky> an
appropriate surname for a 16th century Czech man.  Here is what we have
found.

<Ondr^ej> was among the most common Czech men's names in your period [1].
The symbol <^> represents a hacek (which looks like a small 'v') over the
previous letter.  However, this is a modern spelling.  Czech spelling was
reformed after our period.  In the 15th or 16th century, Czech spelling was
similar to Polish spelling; this name could have been spelled <Andrzey> or
<Ondrzey> [2].  It was pronounced, roughly, halfway between \AWN-dray\ and
\AWN-djay\ [3].

<Hradecky/> (written with an acute accent mark over the 'y') is a modern
Czech surname, equivalent to the German <Radetzki> [4].  It was originally
locative, meaning "from [a place called] Hradec".  There were probably
several places called <Hradec>.  One is a modern city in northeast Bohemia
called <Hradec Kra/love/>, also known as <Ko"niggra"tz> (the double-quote
represents an umlaut over the preceding letter) [5, 6].  We found a period
example of another surname derived from the same place name, <Andris Hradek
de Teschen> 1495.  Although this example appears in a German-language
record, the spelling <Hradek> is Czech [7].

While we have not found an example of <Hradecky/> itself as a period Czech
surname, we think it probably was used.  However, this is also a modern
spelling that probably wasn't used in your period.  We have found another
spelling, <Hradeczky>, in modern records [8].  In 15th century Polish, <cz>
represented the same sound, \ts\, that is represented by <c> in modern
Czech; so we think this is a likely spelling for your period [9].
<Hradeczky> was pronounced \HRAH-dets-kee\ [10].


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 Talan Gwynek, Walraven van Nijmegen,
and Aryanhwy merch Catmael; and we owe special thanks to Alastair Millar.

For the Academy,


  Arval Benicoeur
  24 Feb 2002


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References

[1] Walraven van Nijmegen, "Common Czech Names of the 15th & 16th
Centuries" (WWW: Academy of S. Gabriel, 1999).
http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/walraven/lateczech/

[2] Taszycki, Witold (ed.), _S{l/}ownik Staropolskich Nazw Osobowych_,
vols. I-VII (Wroc{l/}aw: Zak{l/}ad Narodowy Imienia Ossoli{n'}skich, Polska
Akademia Nauk, 1965-1987), s.n. Andr(z)ej.  In Polish records, the name
appears in an oblique case as <Andrezeya> 1489, 1498; <Jandrezeya> 1470,
<Amream> 1445; and in the nominative as <Ondrezey> 1471.  The <J-> spelling
is likely distinctly Polish, but the other forms are probably appropriate
for Czech. 

[3] Modern Czech <r^> represents a fricative trill, a sound not used in
English. 

[4] Schwarz, Ernst, _Deutsche Namenforschung.  I: Ruf- und Familiennamen_
(Goettingen: Vandenhoek & Ruprecht, 1949), p.206.

[5] Private communication from Alastair Millar, a Czech medieval
scholar. 

[6] "Hradec Kra/love/" in _The Columbia Encyclopedia_, Sixth Edition.
(WWW: Columbia University Press, 2001).
http://www.bartleby.com/65/hr/HradecKr.html

[7] Taszycki, s.n. Hradek.  The Polish equivalent of <Hradek> is <Grodek>
and the German equivalent is <Radetz>, so <Hradek> appears to be a genuine
Czech form.

[8] Examples of <Hradeczky> appear on the web.  It is appears in a Czech marriage
record from 1836 and was the name of a Hungarian chess player in the 1970s.
http://www.fortunecity.com/victorian/durer/23/histal/en/kdreams.html
<http://www.pitt.edu/~schach/RatingsList/fide/fidehunh.htm

[9] Taszyicki, s.n. Kopiec.  The modern surname <Kopiec> appears as
<Kopyecz> 1446, 1465 and <Copyecz> 1483.

[10] In modern Czech, <c> represents the sound \ts\.