ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 3390 http://www.s-gabriel.org/3390 ************************************ 23 May 2009 From: Julia Smith Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked about the suitability of as a name for a Bohemian man living between 1350 and 1550. This is what we have found. We apologize for the time it has taken to complete this letter. We hope that it is still useful. The language that was spoken in much of Bohemia during your period was Czech. Our sources for Czech names are somewhat limited. In those transcriptions of historical Czech documents we know of, the spellings have commonly been normalized to reflect modern Czech spelling. Therefore, even when we find evidence that a Czech name was used in your period, it is hard for us to say what form these names would have taken in that period. In most respects, medieval Czech spelling was similar to medieval Polish. The two languages only diverged near the end of the 16th century [1], so we have drawn on information from a larger area than just Bohemia. The given name (where the ^ represents a hachek over the ), is found in 1550. [2] We believe this could also have been spelled . We could not find as a given name or byname before 1600. We did find the given names and as Polish given names. We also found the similar sounding bynames , and , but we do not think they are derived from or . [3] There are period examples of Polish adjectival bynames (like ) formed from the placename. [4] We believe that the byname is correct for your period as well. We also found examples of individuals with two bynames with the second byname being formed with and the placename. [5] In conclusion, or would be a fine name for a Bohemian man living in the sixteenth century. It might be suitable for earlier as well, but we cannot be certain. 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, Ursula Georges, Walraven van Nijmegen, and Aryanhwy merch Catmael. For the Academy, Juliana de Luna 23 May 2009 References [1] Academy of S. Gabriel Report #2458 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2458 [2] Dobrava Moldanova/ _Nas^e Pr^i/jmeni/_ (Praha: Agentura Pankra/c, 2004). [3] Taszycki, Witold (ed.), _Sl/ownik Staropolskich Nazw Osobowych_ (Dictionary of Old Polish Personal Names), vols. I-VII (Wrocl/aw: Zakl/ad Narodowy Imienia Ossolin'skich, Polska Akademia Nauk, 1965-1987). s.nn. Milan, Mil/ek, Milczek, Mylczek, Mil/ajek. [4] Taszycki, Witold (ed.), _Sl/ownik Staropolskich Nazw Osobowych_ (Dictionary of Old Polish Personal Names), vols. I-VII (Wrocl/aw: Zakl/ad Narodowy Imienia Ossolin'skich, Polska Akademia Nauk, 1965-1987). s.nn. Opatowic, Opatowiec, Opatowski. [5] Schwarz, Ernst. _Sudetendeutsche Familiennamen des 15. und 16. Jahrhunderts_ (Mu"nchen: Robert Lerche, 1973). Examples of the name construction can be found s.n. Pfeil, where is found in 1553, and s.n. Reichler, where is found in 1558.