ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 3064 http://www.s-gabriel.org/3064 ************************************ ************************************************* * * * NOTE: Later research turned up additional * * information relevant to this report. * * See the end of the letter for details. * * * ************************************************* 13 Dec 2005 From: Gunnvor Silfraharr Greetings from the Academy of St. Gabriel! You asked us to evaluate the name with a byname meaning "daughter of David" for a Sephardic Jew working in a harem in the Ottoman Empire, in Istanbul, during the reign of Sultan Suleyman (1520-66). You also asked about your proposed coat of arms, which you described as "an orange tree, in its natural coloration, in fruit, with its roots exposed, on a silver background". Here is what we found. Before we start, we'd like to apologize for the length of time it took us to complete this report. We hope the information is still useful to you. The name is a Spanish-context form of the Biblical name . (The Hebrew form is or in this name. On the face of it it should represent an ordinary \s\ sound, making the name roughly \bah-SEH-vah\, but in this name we actually expect the sound \sh\. In Old Spanish this sound is spelled or sometimes , but it's possible that in this instance it has exceptionally been spelled ; in that case the name is pronounced roughly \bah-SHEH-vah\. On the whole we think that \bah-SHEH-vah\ is the likelier pronunciation. We found only one instance of , in Navarre in 1366 [1]. In general, forms of appear to have been quite uncommon in our period except among Ashkenazic Jews, and the Jews who came to Turkey were overwhelmingly Sephardic [2]. We found a few examples, also from 14th-century Navarre, of women with patronymic bynames indicating the name of their father. For instance, in a Hebrew context we found "Mirah, daughter of Shem Tov", and an example with the patronymic indicated simply by placing the father's name after the daughter's given name, . The other examples occur in Spanish contexts, using the construction or meaning "daughter of", followed by the father's name [3]: Astruga, filla de rebi Joc,ef Fazbuena, filla de don Ac,ach Terceyx (In these names the symbols and represent c-cedilla, i.e., a with a comma-shaped hook hanging from the bottom.) We also found examples of this construction using a matronymic, with followed by the mother's name: and [3]. It is not unreasonable to believe that these women were also known in Hebrew by the equivalent formula using followed by their father's name. In Valencia we found two men with forms of the name : in the second half of the 14th century and in 1462, who is in 1468 [4]. (The slashes here are used to represent an acute accent over the preceding letter.) In Catalonia the name appears as , and [5]. In Hebrew contexts you might have been identified as , pronounced roughly \baht-SHEH-vah baht dah-VEED\. Some Jews in Navarre seemed to have used the Hebrew pronunciation more commonly associated with Ashkenazic Jews; they might have referred to you as , pronounced approximately \bahs-SHEH-vah bahs dah-VEED\. or is thus a reasonable Hebrew name for a Jew from northeastern Iberia. In Spanish, she could have been identified as something like . Spanish Jews who migrated to the Ottoman empire continued to use Ladino and Hebrew. Many Jewish women had Spanish or Hebrew names, such as (d. 1590) [6] and (d. 1600) [8], who worked within the Ottoman harem. Under some circumstances a Turkish name might be adopted, as in the case of , the kira of Hafsa sultan (the mother of Suleyman the Magnificent), who was a Jew and took this name when she converted to Islam just before her death [7]. On the other hand, some women seemed to have kept their European names: (d. 1590) [6], and (d. 1600) [8]. These Jewish women worked within the Ottoman harem, but we do not have any evidence that they changed their names. Thus, in determining what your name would be after arriving in the Ottoman empire, there seem to be three choices. The first possibility is that the Spanish form of the name may have been retained. The second possibility is that the name might have been transformed into Ottoman Turkish somehow. We know that the Ottomans used , a form of , and used formal Arabic-style patronymics (at least in legal documents). We don't know what Ottoman Turks would have done with the name . They might have attempted a phonetic equivalent, or they might have translated it, if they recognized as "equivalent" to the Biblical name. We know that the Ottomans wrote using a script based on Arabic, and we believe that they didn't alter the spelling of names which came from Arabic. Thus, an Arabic spelling can help us guess the way the Ottomans might have written their version of ; if a modern Turkish historian found this name in an Ottoman document, he would probably transliterate the name as , following the conventions of Turkish spelling rather than American scholarly conventions for transliterating Arabic. The symbol represents S-cedilla, i.e., an with a comma-shaped hook hanging from the bottom. This is all highly conjectural, partly because we don't know all that much about Ottoman Turkish, but also because, in general, forms of don't seem to have been particularly popular in our period. Based on this information, there is some possibility that your name might have appeared as in Ottoman Turkey. The third option is to select a purely Turkish name that is unrelated to the Iberian name. You will find several examples in the following article: Sixteenth-Century Turkish Names http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/ursula/ottoman/ Among the names listed in this article are names for two Jewish women, and . You also asked for our evaluation of your design for a coat of arms, which can be described in heraldic terms as "Argent, an orange tree eradicated and fructed proper". Heraldic arms began appearing in several parts of Western Europe in the early to mid-12th century; by the last quarter of the century they were widely used, especially in England, NW France, and the Low Countries. The custom of using arms spread through most of Europe by the end of our period, but not all cultures adopted it. At least some Jews used arms in late-period Spain [9], but we do not know whether the child of Spanish Jews employed in a royal harem in Turkey would have used arms. That doesn't mean you shouldn't use arms in the Society: Many Societyfolk use arms even though their personas would not have done so. Whether you use arms or not depends on how you think about authenticity and your persona. You can find a few thoughts on this issue in an article we've posted on the web: What Do I Use for Arms if my Persona Wouldn't Have Used Arms? http://www.s-gabriel.org/faq/nonheraldic.html Certainly, armory using a tree is appropriate in Spain. An armorial containing blazons of coats of arms from Barcelona gives "Or, a tree vert" as a quartering in two arms [10]. However, your proposed design will conflict with arms protected by the SCA [11]. A similar design you might consider is "Argent, an orange tree eradicated proper and a bordure sable charged with a semy of roundels argent". So far as we can tell, this should be registerable with the SCA College of Arms. Another related design, "Sable, six oranges stemmed and leaved proper, two, two and two" would also be an excellent recreation of medieval heraldry, however we are not sure if these arms would be registerable with the SCA College of Arms [12]. I 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 Juliana de Luna, Juetta Copin, Arval Benicoeur, Aleksandr Traveller, Ursula Georges, Eoin Caimbeul, Talan Gwynek, Raquel Buenaventura, Walraven van Nijmegen, Sabine Berard, Mari neyn Brian, Joshua haLevi, Barak Raz, Mor inghean Chathail, Eleyne de Comnocke, and Blaise de Cormeilles. For the Academy, Gunnvor Silfraharr 13 December 2005 ----------------------------------------------------- References [1] Kahan, Julie. "Jewish Women's Names in 13th to 15th Century Navarre". (WWW: privately published, 2004). http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/juetta/navarra.html [2] Beider, Alexander, _A Dictionary of Ashkenazic Given Names: Their Origins, Structure, Pronunciation, and Migrations (Bergenfield, NJ: Avotaynu, 2000). p. 477. [3] Kahan, Julie. "Jewish Women's Names in Navarre: Examples of Name Construction". (WWW: privately published, 2004). http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/juetta/nav_full.html [4] Kessin, Zachary. (Yehoshua ben Haim haYerushalmi). "A sample of Jewish names in Valencia 1293-1485". (WWW: Medieval Names Archive. 2003). http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/yehoshua/names_in_valencia.html [5] Smith, Julia. (Juliana de Luna). "Jews in Catalonia: 1250 to 1400". (WWW: Medieval Name Archive. 2002). http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/juliana/catalan-jews/ [6] Aydin, Mahy/r. "The Jewish Female Kira in the Ottoman World". (WWW: Belleten Turkish Historical Society Review. 2001). http://www.ttk.gov.tr/ingilizce/yayinlar/belleten243j.htm [7] Private correspondence from Maria Pedani to Juetta Copin. [8] Maclean, Gerald. Re-Orienting the Renaissance: Cultural Exchanges with the East. (WWW: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005.) pp. 16-17. http://www.palgrave.com/pdfs/1403992339.pdf [9] Eleazar ha-Levi. "Jewish Heraldry". Known World Heraldic Symposium 1989. [10] Beck, Gretchen M. "L'Armorial dels Canonges de la seu de Barcelone de Francesc Tarafa (Francesc Tarafa's Armorial of the Canons of the See of Barcelona): 1536" http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/~grm/barcelona-canons.html Nos. 15 and 35. [11] O'Connor Don, "Argent, a tree eradicated vert." http://heraldry.ansteorra.org/cgi-bin/oanda_name.cgi?p=O%27Connor%20Don [12] In particular, this design may conflict with Cornwall, "Sable bezanty." http://oanda.sca.org/cgi-bin/oanda_name.cgi?p=Cornwall ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Follow-up by Aryanhwy, 26 January 2007 The client wrote us asking about the use of that we recommended. Here is the response we sent: Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! Concerning the use of that we recommended in your name [3] - Your friend is right that in modern Spanish, doesn't mean 'daughter', and it does have the meaning that he thinks it does: in modern Spanish is the third-person singular present indicative and second-person singular imperative of the verb , which means 'to fix, fasten, set, establish, determine'. [1] The modern Spanish word for daughter is . This developed from Old Spanish , which in turn came from the Latin . [2] In Old Spanish (and Gascon), initial /f-/ in words inherited from Latin became /h-/. Replacement of the traditional spellings by spellings didn't occur on a large scale until the late 15th and early 16th c. The examples of in our earlier report are thus somewhat conservative in their spelling, but the pronunciation was probably more like the modern pronunciation. [1] www.wiktionary.org s.v. fija [2] www.wiktionary.org s.v. hija [3] Academy of S. Gabriel Report #3064 http://www.panix.com/~gabriel/3064