Scandinavian Names

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WARNING: Do not cite this page as a reference. This page is on this wikispace only to make the content "searchable" and easier to find. If you find the information you seek here, go to the original sources to verify the information and use them for your documentation.

Other Information:

See also Finnic Names

Skaldic Kennings - http://skaldic.abdn.ac.uk/m.php?p=kennings (Kennings are poetic circumlocutions where two nouns indicate a third, unspoken noun. For example, "falcon's perch" = hand.)

General Resources:

Omniglot On-line Encyclopedia of Writing Systems and Languages - http://www.omniglot.com/index.htm

An Icelandic-English Dictionary (Cleasby/Vigfusson) - http://lexicon.ff.cuni.cz/texts/oi_cleasbyvigfusson_about.html

Old Norse:

Zoëga's Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic (online here - http://norroen.info/dct/zoega/

Old Norse On-Line - http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/eieol/norol-0-X.html

See also Old Norse Pronunciation . A History of Norway and the Passion and Miracles of the Blessed Olafr - English translation of two of the earliest surviving texts from medieval Norway - http://www.vsnrweb-publications.org.uk/Text%20Series/Historia%26Passio.pdf Many of the stories are semi-legendary so names found in them are not guaranteed to be registerable.

"Old Norse Nicknames" - http://skemman.is/stream/get/1946/12799/31123/1/Old_Norse_Nicknames.pdf

Alaric Hall's Magic One Sheet Guide to Norse Grammar (University of Leeds) http://tinyurl.com/Halls-Magic-One-Pg-ON-Grammar Finnur Jónsson. Tilnavne i den Islandske Oldlitteratur. Copenhagen: H. H. Thieles Bogtrykkeri. 1908. http://books.google.com/books?id=KWkSAAAAYAAJ (Danish Source on Old Norse Bynames)

Friedemann, Sara (Aryanhwy merch Catmael). "A Simple Guide to Creating Old Norse Names" - http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/norse/sg-viking.html Friedemann, Sara (Aryanhwy merch Catmael). "Viking Bynames Found in the Landnamabok" - http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/norse/vikbynames.html

Geirr Bassi Haraldsson. "The Old Norse Name" available from Free Trumpet Press from the SCA Stock Clerk - https://stockclerk.sca.org/%7Chttps://stockclerk.sca.org [see also Geirr Bassi Errors]


Fagrskrinna - http://books.google.com/books?id=SmJ8v1ENhg4C&pg=PA236&lpg=PA236&dq=valdamarr&source=bl&ots=GcBrGbRhjT&sig=NobFTCLQ7NEBoHjyrCP9w_TkJPU&hl=en&sa=X&ei=7f__UYH1E5a44AOlpoDgDg&ved=0CEUQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=valdamarr&f=false (English translation, snippet view) also http://www.septentrionalia.net/etexts/fagrskinna.pdf (original text of the saga)

Finnur Jónsson. Lexica Poetica at Septentrionalia. Copenhagen: S.L. Møllers. 1931. http://www.septentrionalia.net/lex/index2.php?book=d&page=-3&ext=png (Old Norse Dictionary)

Norse Names Database - http://www.nordicnames.de/wiki/Main_Page (not necessarily period)

"Old Norse Forms of Early Irish Names" by Talan Gwynek (Brian Scott), http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/drafts/irish-norse.html 

which also has a list of Norse names adopted into Irish at the end.

Sveinbjörn Egilsson. Lexicon Poëticum Antiquæ Linguæ. Copenhagen: J.D. Qvist & Co. 1860. http://books.google.com/books?id=YpAVAAAAYAAJ (Old Norse Dictionary)

Ward, Christie. Old Norse names class handout Ward, Christie. Old Norse Names

Later Names:

Diplomatarium Danicum, partially on-line. http://diplomatarium.dk/dd/register/index.html

Diplomatarium Norvegicum, also helpful for Danish since ruled by Norway sometimes. Index on-line. http://www.dokpro.uio.no/dipl_norv/diplom_field_eng.html

Aslak Bolts Jordebok. Jørgensen, J. G. Aslak Bolts jordebok. Oslo: Riksarkivet. 1997. Update of the manuscript by P. A. Munch (Aslak Bolts Jordebog, Kristiania 1852.) This revision involved a full review of the original manuscript and an extensive correction of the 1852 edition. Aslak Bolt was archbishop of Nidaros (Trondheim, Norway), invested in 1430. This book was a register over land taxable by the Nidaros bishopric ca. 1432-1433, and has been one of the central historical resources for farm names in Northern Norway.

Gunnar Knudsen, Marius Kristensen, Rikard Hornby. Danmarks gamle Personnavne. Vol. 1, Part 1 (A-K). København 1941-1948. http://books.google.com/books?id=EUUZAAAAIAAJ

Gunnar Knudsen, Marius Kristensen, Rikard Hornby. Danmarks gamle Personnavne. Vol. 1, Part 2 (L-). København 1941-1948. http://books.google.com/books/about/Danmarks_gamle_personnavne_Fornavne.html?id=iksZAAAAIAAJ Danmarks Gamle Personnavne, Vol II: Tilnavne (Copenhagen: 1949-64) by Gunnar Knudsen, Marius Kristiansen, & Rikard Hornby. On-line: Diplomatarium Danicum: http://diplomatarium.dk/en_dd/index.html

Elof Hellquist. "Fornsvenska Tillnamn" [Old Swedish Bynames]. Xenia Lideniana; festskrift tillägnad professor Evald Lidén på hans femtioårsdag den 3 oktober 1912. pp. 84-115. Stockholm: Norstedt & Söners Förlag. 1912. http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/006131848

Lind, E.H. book on Norse names passed around as a PDF. In Norwegian.

Lind's "Norsk-isländska personbinamn från medeltiden, samlade och utgivna med förklaringar." available for viewing at http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/009007427

Peterson, Lena. Nordiskt Runnamnslexikon. In Swedish, linked from the St. Gabriel page, East Norse names.

Sundström, Agneta. "Rodskarl, Trynta and Spænneklo. Bynames in the Town Court Record Book of Arboga from a Name-Semantic Point of View". Nordiska namn: Namn i Norden. Tradition och förnyelse. Handlingar från den fjortonde nordiska namnforskarkongressen i Borgarnes 11–14 augusti 2007. Eds.: Guðrún Kvaran, Hallgrímur J. Ámundason, Jónína Hafsteinsdóttir & Svavar Sigmundsson. Uppsala. 2009. pp.921-928. http://www.facebook.com/l/uAQG5kOXt/yorkspace.library.yorku.ca/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10315/4035/icos23_921.pdf?sequence=1%7Chttp://yorkspace.library.yorku.ca/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10315/4035/icos23_921.pdf?sequence=1


Patronymic Bynames:

Danmarks gamle Ppersonnavne has, on column 250 "Anne Erichd:" and "Vibeke Eriksd:". On page VIII, we get a description of what the "d:" means: "Eksemplerne anføres bogstavret efter de benyttede Udgaver, dog med følgende faste Forkortelser i Patronymika: '-dotær, -dotter, -datter' o. s. v. forkortes til '-d:', og '-sun, -son, -søn' o. s. v. til '-s:' ..." (so Erichdotær, Erichdotter, Erichdatter, Eriksdotær, Eriksdotter, or Erikdatter)

Diplomatarium Danicum:

  • <Kristine Eriksdatter> dated 5 Jan 1401 (document 3)
  • <Margrete Jensdatter> dated 2 June 1401 (document 92)
  • <Elene Buggesdatter> dated 9 June 1401 (document 95)

How to form patronymic bynames - A Simple Guide to Creating Old Norse Names - http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/norse/sg-viking.html

Household Names:

Aslak Bolts Jordebok. Jørgensen, J. G. Aslak Bolts jordebok. Oslo: Riksarkivet. 1997. Update of the manuscript by P. A. Munch (Aslak Bolts Jordebog, Kristiania 1852.) This revision involved a full review of the original manuscript and an extensive correction of the 1852 edition. Aslak Bolt was archbishop of Nidaros (Trondheim, Norway), invested in 1430. This book was a register over land taxable by the Nidaros bishopric ca. 1432-1433, and has been one of the central historical resources for farm names in Northern Norway.

Oluf Rygh: Norwegian Farm Names - http://www.dokpro.uio.no/rygh_ng/rygh_form.html

#257See the Precedents below.


Geography & Placenames:

Antique Maps of Denmark - [[1]]

English Place-Name Elements Related to Boundaries, by Boel Jepson. Centre for Languages and Literature. Lund University 2011, p 75. (PDF, check the Index of Elements for Old Norse roots). [[2]]

Statistisk-topographisk Beskrivelse af Kongeriget Danmark// (statistical-topographical description of Denmark) by Jens Peter Trap - [[3]]

Landnámabók Placenames: http://my.stratos.net/~bmscott/Landnamabok_Place-Names.html ( http://web.archive.org/web/20150415064933/http://my.stratos.net/~bmscott/Landnamabok_Place-Names.html )

"Norske Gaardnavne" http://www.dokpro.uio.no/rygh_ng/rygh_felt.html vol.17, page.83 14.

Oluf Rygh: Norwegian Farm Names - http://www.dokpro.uio.no/rygh_ng/rygh_form.html

Old Norse Placenames from the Skaldic Poetry Project (with interactive map!) - [[4]]

Scandinavian Settlement Names in the East Midlands, Gillian Fellows Jensen, Akademisk Forlag, Copenhagen 1978.

SENA Appendix A: Patterns That Do Not Need Further Documentation by Language Group

http://heraldry.sca.org/sena.html#AppendixA

Scandinavian

Double Given Names Locative Patronymic Other relationship Descriptive/Occupational Dictus Double Bynames Order
Old Norse/Old Icelandic No Phrase, adjectival; see notes Marked; -son or

-dór added to the genitive of father's name

Two-generation patronymic;Bson Csonar,wife (Bkona) Descriptive, occupational are rare Descriptive byname + patronymic or two-generation patronymic given+by

given+descriptive+pat given+pat+descriptive given+pat+pat

Swedish, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Icelandic, etc. Phrase, adjectival; see notes Marked; Bson or

Bsen using genitive of father's name; see notes for feminine

Wife (using the genitive form of the husband's name) Rare given+by

Notes:

For Old Norse/Old Icelandic, see Geirr Bassi Haraldsson's The Old Norse Name and inLindorm Eriksson's "The Bynames of the Viking Age Runic Inscriptions" are registerable. See Lindorm's article for more information on locative bynames.

Accents and other diacritics (like þ, ðnd {o,}) may be used or omitted, as long as the system is consistent; see Appendix D for more details.

For Old Norse/Old Icelandic, by precedent, prepended bynames (nicknames that precede the given name) are capitalized, but nicknames that follow the given name are not.

For later Scandinavian languages (Swedish, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Icelandic, etc., the feminine forms of patronymics are variable. Swedish forms include Bdotter, Bdotther, Bdottir, and Bdatter, while Danish forms include Bdother, Bdotter, Bdaatter, Bdaater, and Bdaather. Other forms must be documented.

Locative bynames take the form i X in Swedish, afX in Danish, for example. The placenames must be grammatically correct forms to follow those prepositions..

For details of construction in Swedish, see http://www.s-gabriel.org/2296. Swedish: Wife (using genitive form of husband's given or full name)

SENA Appendix C: Regional Naming Groups and Their Mixes

http://heraldry.sca.org/laurel/sena.html#AppendixC

Regional Groups: By Time Period: Languages Included In This Group: Can Be Combined With Groups:
Scandinavian 550-1100 Old Icelandic, Old Norse, etc. Baltic

English/Welsh French Gaelic German Russian/East Slavic (per May 2013 Cover Letter)

1100-1600 Icelandic, Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Finnish, etc. Baltic

German Russian/East Slavic (per August 2014 cover Letter)


Precedents:

Precedents of the SCA College of Arms - [[5]] Morsulus Heralds Website - [[6]] (to search the LoARs and Precedents) Restatement Wiki - [[7]] (restatements of Precedents) Use the above links to be sure any precedents listed below haven't been superseded by newer precedents.

Collected Precedents of the SCA: Danish - [[8]] Collected Precedents of the SCA: Finnish - [[9]] Collected Precedents of the SCA: Norse and Scandiavian - [[10]] Collected Precedents of the SCA: Swedish - [[11]]


January 2016 - Feminine Finnish Names:

Päivä Kaukotar. Name (see RETURNS for device). The Letter of Intent quoted internal commentary questioning if Päivä is a feminine name. After the Pelican decision meeting, Töllöö noted:

  • A.V. Forsman (Tutkimuksia Suomen kansan persoonallisen nimistön alalla I 'Studies in the personal names of the Finnish people I', 1894, p. 224-225) notes that there are no clear differences between male and female names, beyond the obvious -tar used as a feminine patronymic suffix (which he also mentions explicitly on p. 225)".

In addition, Päivä is a feminine given name modernly. Therefore, we can give the submitter the benefit of the doubt that the given name is plausible for use by a woman in our period.

Although we can give the submitted spelling of the byname the benefit of the doubt, Töllöö recommended an earlier form of the byname: either the Early Finnish Kaughotar (appropriate for c.1300) or the Proto-Finnic Kaughottar, where /k/ is spelled /g/ or /gh due to consonant gradation in Finnish. Changing the language of the byname to an earlier form would be a major change, which the submitter does not allow. If the submitter prefers one of these forms, she can submit a request for reconsideration. http:heraldry.sca.org/loar/2016/01/16-01lar.html#317

April 2014 LoAR - Name Resources:

From Pelican: Some Name Resources This month, I am discussing Diplomatarium Danicum, which compiles medieval records from and about Denmark. This source is compiled by the Society for Danish Language and Literature, mostly from primary sources housed in the Danish State Archives in Copenhagen. At this time, Diplomatarium Danicum contains almost 20,000 records written, for the most part, in Latin, Danish, and Low German between 789 and 1412. Unfortunately, only the 15th century data and some supplements are available online (English version: http://diplomatarium.dk/index_en.html), although future volumes will be published online. The rest of the volumes are in print only, with some available at Google Books. To search using the English version of the site, click on "Records" on the far left. If you click on the link to a particular volume/range of dates, a listing of the records comes up, including a modern Danish abstract. You can then open a particular record by clicking the link with the date in the left column of the results. Alternatively, you can search all volumes by using the text field on the search page. It is important to note that the top portion of the individual record repeats the modern Danish abstract. Do not use these spellings as documentation, as they are normalized. For example, an abstract from 1401 includes the names Henneke Hemmingsen, Katrine Barnimsdatters, and Abraham Brodersen, but the attested names are actually He[nne]ke Hæmingxson, Katrin Barnams dottir, and Abraham Brodherson, respectively. I'd also like to note that the Danish State Archives website includes links to genealogical aids, such as samples of handwriting from c.1600, and a glossary/translation aid for common terms found in the records (e.g., wife, smallholder, burial). It can be found at http://www.sa.dk/content/us. http://heraldry.sca.org/loar/2014/04/14-04cl.html

March 2014 - More Name Resources:

From Pelican: More Name Resources (Not Quite a Series) Pelican Emeritus is a hard act to follow. Her name resources series lasted the length of her tenure and covered a wide range of languages. I plan to spotlight some of our lesser-known, but very useful sources from time to time. I'm kicking it off with a source for Scandinavian names: Diplomatarium Norvegicum. This is a 22 volume-and-growing set of transcribed documents and letters relating to Norway from c.1050 until 1590. These documents are mostly written in Middle Norwegian, with some Latin and Danish. If you are referring to a source for medieval Norwegian names, like Lind's Norsk-Isländska Dopnamn ock Fingerade Namn från Medeltiden, the names from Diplomatarium Norvegicum are generally listed with the standard abbreviation DN. The University of Oslo extracted the information in the first 21 volumes, and made the database freely available. In the advanced search form (http:www.dokpro.uio.no/dipl_norv/diplom_felt.html), the name element that you want to find goes in the text box labelled "Brevteksten". Wildcards are inserted using % (for parts of words) or an underscore (single character), which is extremely useful if you are looking for names that are parts of patronymics. If you wish to focus on a specific time period, you can set upper and lower limits with the "Fra og med år" (from, and including year) and "til og med år" (to, and including year) boxes. If you are not feeling particularly adventurous, an English version of the search form is also available (http:www.dokpro.uio.no/dipl_norv/diplom_field_eng.html). The "Text" box is under the section heading "Regesta and transcribed text of the diploma". It is important to note that names in this source may be inflected forms (modified according to the grammar). In addition, the online version contains some typographical errors. If you are in doubt over a particular spelling, most of the print volumes have also been digitized and are available for free through the National Library of Norway (http:www.nb.no/nbsok/search.nbdigital). In addition, links to most of the print volumes can be found in Þora Sumarliðadóttir, "Diplomatarium Norvegicum" (http:www.morethancod.net/norwegian-onomastic-sources-diplomatarium-norvegicum), along with a short, but very useful guide to this source. Next month, I will cover a similar source for Danish names, Diplomatarium Danicum. http://heraldry.sca.org/loar/2014/03/14-03cl.html

April 2012 - Norse Capitalization:

From Pelican: Norse Capitalization In October 2002, Laurel ruled (in a Cover Letter Section titled "From Pelican: Regarding Capitalization in Norse Bynames") that we would require most descriptive bynames to be written in lowercase in Old Norse. This upheld precedent that had existed since at least April 2000. The basis of this precedent was the ways in which modern scholarly transliteration treats descriptive bynames in Old Norse. In January 2012 we asked for further discussion of this issue. The reason for revisiting this issue was based on the ways in which our standards have changed: we register Old Norse documentary forms (though not runic ones) and relatively casual transliterations, as well as modern scholarly transliterations. Additionally, more and more books, documents, and the like are available online, which allows us to look at evidence that was not available when the original decisions were made. Based on the data found by commenters, we can say that capitalization in period Latin alphabet documents was uneven, with some capitalizing no elements and others capitalizing only given names and bynames derived from given names. Modern transliterations vary as well. Scholarly ones tend to use the convention of capitalizing given names but leaving descriptive bynames in lowercase. Less formal ones vary, with some rendering all name elements in uppercase, with only in(n) "the", son and dottir in lowercase. Given this evidence, we are removing the requirement that descriptive bynames in Old Norse be registered only in lowercase. Descriptive bynames will be registered either in uppercase or in lowercase. This matches our usage in other languages, where we render most name elements in uppercase, although many documents are written only in lowercase. We note that submitters whose bynames were changed under the old precedent who prefer the capitalized form may make a request for reconsideration. [[12]]

March 2014 - Household Name - Ulfshamar Hus:

Roerekr á Úlfhamre. Household name Ulfhamar Hus and badge. (Fieldless) A "sheaf of hammers" sable, overall a wolf's head erased argent.

Ulfhamar Hus// was documented as a farm name. This name has two problems. First, the correct spelling of the farm name is //Úlfshamar// ("the farm at wolf's crag"), which was documented by Orle in commentary. Secondly, commenters were unable to document the use of the designator //Hus// (or any other designator) with a farm name using the //-hamar// element. We cannot drop //Hus// for two reasons. One is that the submitter does not allow major changes, such as removing an element. Second, SENA NPN.1.A requires all non-personal names to include a designator. A geographical term such as //-hamarr "crag" does not meet this requirement, and we are forced to return this name.

Upon resubmission, the submitter may wish to know that the word staðr// means "stead, farm", and appears in attested animal-related farm names. Examples documented in a prior submission are//Sparrarstaðir//, //Selsstaðir//, and //Elgjarstaðir//. In these cases, //-staðir// is the designator, and the animal (sparrow, seal, and elk, respectively) is the substantive element. The submitter should be aware, however, that //Ulfstaðir has already been registered. http://heraldry.sca.org/loar/2014/03/14-03lar.html#257

June 2013 - Household Name "color + animal", "given name + house":

#229Garfield av Kunningheim. Household name Rauðagalta hus and badge. (Fieldless) Two axes in saltire sable, overall a boar's head cabossed gules tusked argent.

Submitted as Raud__g__o__lt__r hus// (which was intended as a gloss for //Rauðg{o,}ltr hus//), the name was intended to mean "red-boar house." Unfortunately, we have no evidence for a pattern of //color+animal// for household names in Old Norse. There are two possible origins for such a name: an inn-sign name or a byname that combines the two elements. Inn-sign derived names will not come into use anywhere until after the end of the Old Norse period; we have no evidence that they were ever used in Scandinavia (though finding some would not be shocking). Therefore, such a model cannot be used to construct an Old Norse household name. The example, //Raudrefr// cited from Geirr Bassi, has long since been proven a misreading of //Raudnefr "red nose." Thus it cannot be used as evidence for a byname-based household name.

Luckily Goutte d'Eau suggested a fix: use the prepended byname Rauða// and the similar-sounding given name //Galti// to construct //Rauða-Galta hus// "Red-Galti's house." The name can also be written as one word: //Rauðagalta hus. Note that this form requires the genitive (possessive) form of the given name, rather than the nominative as in the submitted form.

This pattern of using an individual's complete name (with the same byname, even) to create a place name or household name can be found in the attested Rauðabjarnarstaðir// "Red-Bjorn's steads." The name //Galti// was used in place names, such as the 1306 //Galtarudh//, and examples of //given name+house// include the late period //Aachkhuus// derived from the Old Norse "Aki's house;" //Palshus//"Pall's house" and //Siffuerhuus// "Sigurð's house. The first citation is from Talan Gwynek's "Place-Names in Landnámabók"; the remainder are from O. Rygh's //Norske Gaardnavne. Thanks to Goutte d'Eau for pulling this information together.

We have changed the name to Rauðagalta hus, as that is the smaller change from the submitted form, in order to register it. http://heraldry.sca.org/loar/2013/06/13-06lar.html#229

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