ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2708
http://www.s-gabriel.org/2708
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28 Mar 2003
From: Josh Mittleman 


Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!

You asked whether <Dagny Ragnhildsdottir> is an appropriate name for a
Viking woman of the 9th or 10th century.

It is probably a fine name, but your pronunciation is incorrect.

<Dagny> or <Dagny/>, where the slash represents an acute accent mark
on the preceding letter, appears in early legend and myth, but was not
used by real people until 1600 or so [1, 2].  Both <Dag-> and <-ny/>
appear in names that were used by real people in your period, so it is
not impossible that <Dagny/> was used in the 9th or 10th century; but
we are hesitant to suggest it because <Dag-> was quite rare,
especially in feminine names.  A name known to have been used by a
real person, like <Dagru/n>, would be a much better choice [3, 4].

<Ragnhildr> is a fine name for your mother [5].  The daughter of
Ragnhildr would have been known as <Ragnhildar do/ttir>, not
<Ragnhilds do/ttir>: <Ragnhildar> was the genitive (possessive) form
of <Ragnhildr>.  Metronymics (surnames that identified someone as her
mother's daughter) were far less common than patronymics, but they
were used in least some parts of the Viking world [6].

The name <Dagru/n Ragnhildar do/ttir> was pronounced \DAHGH-roon
RAHGHN-hil-dar DOAT-teer\.  The \GH\ stands for a sound not used in
English; it is the voiced equivalent of the raspy <ch> sound in
Scottish <loch> or German <Bach>.  \OA\ represents the vowel in
<boat>.  <Dagny/> would have been pronounced \DAHGH-nu"\.  \u"\ stands
for the sound of the u-umlaut in German <fu"hlen> "to feel" or the 'u'
in French <sur> "on"; this sound can be roughly approximated by say
\ee\ while pursing and rounding your lips as if you were saying \oo\.

In your period, the Norse wrote with runes.  If you would like a runic
spelling of your name, please write again.


We hope this letter has been useful.  Please write us again if you
have any questions.  I was assisted in researching and writing this
letter by Galiana de Baiona, Mikhail Nicholaev, Aryanhwy merch
Catmael, Talan Gwynek, and Maridonna Benvenuti.

For the Academy,


  Arval Benicoeur
  28 Mar 2003


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References

[1] Lind, E.H., _Norsk-Isla:ndska Dopnamn ock Fingerade Namn fra*n
Medeltiden_ (Uppsala & Leipzig: 1905-1915, sup. Oslo, Uppsala and
Kobenhavn: 1931), s.n. Dagny/.

[2] Kruken, Kristoffer, ed. _Norsk personnamnleksikon_, 2nd ed. (Oslo: Det
Norske Samlaget, 1995), s.n. Dagny.

[3] <Dag-> was a fairly rare element, especially in feminine names.
It appears in several feminine names in medieval legend, but only one
name used by a real person, <Dagru/n>, and that for only a single
person.  It appears as well in a few masculine names, <Dagfinnr>,
which was reasonably common; <Dagstyggr>, which was rare; and
<Dagvi/{dh}r>.  See Lind s.nn. <Dagbio,rt>, <Daghei{dh}r>,
<Dagm{ae}r>, <Dagny/>, <Dagru/n>, <Dagfinnr>, <Dagstyggr>; and also
Fleck, G. (aka Geirr Bassi Haraldsson), _The Old Norse Name_, Studia
Marklandica (series) (Olney, Maryland: Yggsalr Press, 1977).

[4] The second element <-ny/> was common and appeared in many
compounds.  See Lind s.nn <Gu{dh}ny/>, <Oddny/>, <Hro{dh}ny/>,
<A/sny/>, <Eyrny/>, among others.

[5] Fleck.

[6] Fleck pp.17-8.