This is the October 2005 Middle Kingdom Letter of Acceptances and Returns for Escutcheon’s August 2005 Letter of Intent.

Unless otherwise noted, all clients will accept changes. Comments in braces {} were removed from the Letter of Intent sent to Laurel and the College of Arms, devices, or badges in braces have been returned or pended. Commentary, rulings, etc. by Rouge Scarpe are placed in CAP PRINT. Thanks to Cnute, Thomas Haworth, Mikhail and AElfreda (A&M), Caitroina, Kevin, Pitor, Rory, Talan, and John ap Wynne for this month’s commentary.

1) Artair MacNeacail - New Device -- Argent, a bear's head couped contourny within a bordure invected sable.
(Strongsville, OH)
(Name reg'd Jan '96)

Device Commentary

Thomas - Possible Conflict, Argent, a bear passant and a bordure embattled sable, for Legio Ursi

Caitriona - Commentary: Regarding the bordure, I would suggest perhaps a few less bumps, perhaps four or five on the long sides.

Clear of:

(CDs for chief, warhammers, tincture)

(CD's for field and charge tinctures and bordure type.)

Cunte – Clear

DEVICE PASSED TO LAUREL

2) Ástríðr Ketilsdóttír (F) -- New Name
(Cleftlands)

Client will accept major changes and for Old Norse.

According the paperwork:
"Client has stated that Ástríõr was an ancestor's name, so she is most concerned with being able to register that portion of the name. "

Given name and surname component both found in:
"Viking Names found in the Landnámabók," by Aryanhwy merch Catmael (http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/landnamabok.html)

"Construction based on:
"A Simple Guide to Creating Old Norse Names," by Aryanhwy merch Catmael
(http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/sg-viking.html)
(Both pages linked from the Scandinavian Names resource page at: http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/scandinavian.shtml)

Name Commentary

Thomas - This name both in elements and construction follows the documentation on the web pages exactly. (Note Surname is used in the examples of construction.)

Talan - The patronymic should be <Ketilsdóttir> (or even better, <Ketils dóttir>); there's no accent on the final. Otherwise the name is fine: <Ketill> was common in both
Norway and Iceland throughout the Middle Ages, and <Ástríðr> was fairly common in both places in the 9th and 10^th centuries (and in Norway throughout the Middle Ages). [E.H. Lind, Norsk-Isländska Dopnamn ock Fingerade Namn från Medeltiden, Uppsala, 1905-1915, s.nn. <Ástríðr>, <Ketill>]

NAME PASSED TO LAUREL

3) Àthdragin, Canton of --- Name Resubmission
(Coleruin, OH)

This was previously submitted as Canton of Dragon's Ford, Mar '05 for "The name simply isn’t a plausible period place-name, even in the form <Dragons Ford> as per Talon's comments."

? ? [Àthdragon] -- "The History of the Celtic Place-Names of Scotland," by Wm. Watson. p. 419, ". . . Duldragin of 1509. . . popularly derived from 'dreagan,' a dragon.

p. 477, "Àth, mas., a ford, occurs often with a descriptive word or phrase following: "À th Ruadh, Redford. . ."

Petition and photocopies of documentation is included.

Name Commentary

Rory - A philosophical thought - is it ironic that we can return a name such as "Dragon's Ford" when written in English, but don't even blink when it's translated into another language?  If the name isn't a plausible place name in English, is it any more plausible in Scottish?

Talan - (I assume that <Àthdragon> is a typo for <Àthdragin>.)

What Watson actually says is that <Duldreggan>, the English name of a place in Glen Urquhart whose Gaelic name is <Dul-dreagain>, appears in 1509 as <Duldragin>.  The Gaelic element <dul> or <dol>, appearing only in place-names, means 'a haugh, a low-lying meadow in a river valley'; the second element is popularly supposed to be the genitive (possessive) of Gaelic <drèagan> 'a dragon', making the whole name '(the) dragon's haugh'.  Watson goes on to say that since <drèagan> was used metaphorically of a valiant man or hero, the popular etymology may actually be correct in this case.

This is clearly not the safest basis for a hypothetical construction: we don't actually know that <Duldreggan> is from the Gaelic 'dragon' word, and popular etymologies should always be taken with a few grains of salt (as indeed Watson's phrasing implies).  Still, Watson's conjecture is worth something, and we no longer have the 'good example' rule for branch names, so something along these lines probably isn't out of the question.  The submitted form, however, is impossible.  First, the accent grave of <àth> is a post-period Scottish Gaelic innovation, the period form being <áth>, as in Irish.  Worse, <Àthdragin> mixes in one word purely Gaelic <àth-> with thoroughly Anglicized <-dragin>.

> p. 477, "Àth, mas., a ford, occurs often with a descriptive word or phrase following: "Àth Ruadh, Redford. . ."

The complete list of relevant examples given by Watson -- names of the form <Àth X> is shown below.  In the first four the Gaelic name is given first, then the English name; for the last he gives only the English, which is evidently an Anglicized form of the Gaelic.

  Àth Ruadh: Redford
  an t-Àth Leathan: Broadford
  Àth Chuirn: Cairnford
  Àth-chrathaidh: Achray
  Ashogle

The meanings of the first three are evident from the English names: 'red ford' (<ruadh> 'red'), 'the broad ford' (<leathan(n)> 'broad'), 'cairn's ford, ford of (the) cairn'
(<càrn> 'a cairn', genitive singular <càirn> or <cuirn>, lenited in the genitive singular).  The meaning of the element <chrathaidh> isn't certain, but he says that the compound 'seems to mean "ford of shaking"', where 'shaking' is perhaps used in the sense of 'quaking' in 'quaking bog'. He says that <Ashogle> is 'rye ford'; evidently the <-shogle> part is from Gaelic <seagal> 'rye'.  In each case we have a physical description of the ford or some feature of its immediate surroundings; 'champion's ford, hero's ford' is clearly a different kind of name.  On the other hand, fords are traditionally associated with battles and single combats, so perhaps it's not altogether unreasonable.

(On p. 478 Watson does mention a possible example of a ford named for a particular person: he says that the place-name <Acharacle> in Argyll is popularly understood to mean 'Torquil's ford'.  He doesn't go so far as to endorse the interpretation, however, and there are phonetic difficulties with it.  Still, this is perhaps another small point in favor of the possibility of 'champion's ford'.)

There are three possible ways to go to fix the name: convert it entirely to Gaelic, convert it to Gaelic and then spell it according to Scots conventions, or convert it entirely to Scots.  Judging by the submitted form and documentation, that last alternative is probably not of much interest to the submitters, so I'll ignore it.

The modern Scottish Gaelic would be <Àth Drèagain>, corresponding to earlier <Áth Dreagain> (among other possibilities: the 'dragon' word occurred in several variants).  To respell <Áth Dreagain> according to Scots orthographic conventions, one needs to know that the modern Gaelic pronunciation of <th> as [h] was already well-established by 1200.  This can be seen in the Scots <Ashogle>, in which <Áth> is represented by nothing more than <A->.  Using <Duldragin> 1509 as a model for a Scots respelling of the second element, we arrive at <Adragin> as a reasonable hypothetical Scots respelling of the Gaelic name.

In short, if the name is semantically plausible, and there is some reason to think that it might be, both the Gaelic name <Áth Dreagain> and a plausible respelling according to early 16th century Scots orthography, <Adragin>, should be acceptable, but the submitted form definitely is not.

John – Ath: common prefix for place-names; see Datron (p. 22); two meanings listed; ‘second, anew, again’, & ‘ford’. Dorward (pp. 62-63) takes issue with the term; Dwelly (pp.50-55) lists plenty of variants for Dragin: See Dwelly (p. 358 under ‘Dreagan’.

Thomas - Unfortunately, I don't find this documentation convincing. While <Duldragin> does document the use of the element <-dragin> the meaning of the element
<Dul-> is not given. Working from the other end, <Àth> is documented only with a physical description, not with a mythical beast. To warrant the proposed construction, <Dul-> would need to refer to a topographical feature, or <Àth> would need to be documented for use with something mythical.

NAME CHANGED TO <Áth Dreagain, Canton of> AND PASSSED TO LAUREL

4) Birna Gunnlaugsdóttir (F)-- New Name and New Badge -- Per bend sinister argent and azure, a tankard and a crescent counterchanged.
(Cleftlands)

Client will accept major changes and cares for Viking.

? [Birna] -- "Viking Names found in the Landnámabók," by Aryanhwy merch Catmael (http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/norse/landnamabok.html) listed [Birna] found two or fewer times.

[Gunnlaugr] listed in same article as a male given name under 5 or fewer times. According to the paperwork: "The format for forming patronymic byname (dropping the final 'r' in [Gunnlaugr], replacing it with a 's' and adding 'dottir) is listed in article "A Simple guide to Creating Old Norse Names," by same author (http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/norse/sg-viking.html).

Name Commentary

NOTE – THE NAME WAS MISSPELLED ON THE ILoI. THE PAPER WORK LIST BIRNA NOT BRINA.

Talan - <Birna> occurs a few times in Iceland in the 10th and 12^th centuries, and there's an 11th century instance from the Faroe Islands; <Gunnlaugr> was common in Iceland throughout the Middle Ages. [E.H. Lind, Norsk-Isländska Dopnamn ock Fingerade Namn från Medeltiden, Uppsala, 1905-1915, s.nn. <Birna>, <Gunnlaugr>]  The patronymic is correctly formed, though <Gunnlaugs dóttir> would be more in accord with early practice.

Badge Commentary

Cunte - Beatrice Elaine of the Oak Grove - June of 1991 (via the Middle):er bend azure and argent, an increscent and a chalice counterchanged.

CD field, CD type of primaries. Clear

NAME AND BADGE PASSED TO LAUREL

5) Farþegn Rinkson (M) -- New Name and Device -- Argent, on a pile between two lozenges azure, a lozenge argent.
(Cleftlands)

Client will *not* accept major changes and cares for Scandinavian/OW Norse.

According to the paperwork:

"Given name and surname both found in: "Nordiskt runnamnslexikon," by Lena Peterson, (http://www2.sofi.se/SOFIU/runlex/index.htm) linked from the Scandinavian Namesresource page at: http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/scandinavian.shtml

Name Commentary

Talan - > "Given name and surname both found in: "Nordiskt runnamnslexikon," by Lena Peterson,

This is false.  The forename, <Farþegn> is found, but there are no patronymics in that source.  Presumably he's referring to the entry for a masculine name <RinkR> and has formed the patronymic incorrectly: if there was such a name, the patronymic would be <Rinks son> or <Rinksson>, the former being more in accord with early practice.

However, Peterson marks the name with a question mark and indicates that the runic forms, <rikr> and <r(i)kr>, may actually represent <HringR> or <RîkR> (where I use a circumflex for her macron).  Exactly the same citations are given s.n. <RîkR> and s.n. <HringR>, both names also being marked as uncertain, though the latter has in addition a citation of an accusative form <hrenki> that cannot belong with either of the other names.  The problem arises because the runic spelling <rikr> can equally well represent any of the three names: initial <hr> was often reduced to <r>, <n> was often omitted before a consonant, and the <k>-rune represented both the [k] and the [g] sounds.  The most straightforward interpretation of runic <rikr> is in fact the name that Peterson normalizes as <RîkR>, which is the interpretation given in the runic database obtainable at <http://www.nordiska.uu.se/forskn/samnord.htm>, henceforth referred to as Rundata.

But let us suppose for the sake of argument that these inscriptions actually represent a name <RinkR>.  I can't track down one of the inscriptions, but the other is in Rundata and is dated to the Viking age, as are the three inscriptions listed by Peterson as containing forms of the name <Farþegn>, so a Viking age <Farþegn Rinks son> (in normalized spelling) would not be impossible.  However, it would not satisfy the submitter's desire for an Old *West* Norse name.

First, all four of the runic inscriptions just mentioned are from the eastern side of Sweden.  Non-runic sources point in the same direction: the primary source for non-runic citations of Old West Norse names is E.H. Lind, Norsk-Isländska Dopnamn ock Fingerade Namn från Medeltiden, Uppsala, 1905-1915, and Lind's earliest example s.n.
<Farþegn> is from 1312 and is from Jämtland, now part of Sweden, on the border of East and West Scandinavian.

<RinkR> is perhaps even more clearly Old East Scandinavian. As noted by Peterson, it derives from a Proto-Scandinavian root *rink- 'man, warrior'.  (Here the hyphen indicates that grammatical suffixes have been omitted.  The nominative case was probably *rinkaz.)  In Old West Scandinavian this developed into <rekkr> 'man, warrior'.  The Old West Scandinavian word did give rise to an identical name, but Lind's earliest historical example is from somewhere between 1413 and 1440 and is from Jämtland.  (The name also appears as that of a dwarf in Snorra edda.)

The changes involved in getting <Rekkr> from *rinkaz are regular in the history of Old Scandinavian, and the change from *nk to <kk> was probably complete no later than about 850 CE. [Einar Haugen, Scandinavian Language Structures: A Comparative Historical Survey, Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press, 1982; 2.4.3 (9), 3.2 C5(b)]  Haugen notes, however, that change was less completely carried out in Old East Scandinavian than in Old West Scandinavian, especially in eastern Sweden.  Thus, if the name <RinkR> was in fact used, it is most likely to have been an Old East Scandinavian name, and its likeliest 'home' is eastern Sweden; recall that this is also where runic instances of <Farþegn> have been noted.

In short, though the patronym is a bit questionable, <Farþegn Rinks son> is otherwise a reasonable normalized version of an eastern Swedish Viking age name, and a case can be made for the patronym as well.  The name is not Old *West* Scandinavian, however; if the submitter's wishes were to be taken seriously, the name would have to be returned for his further consideration.  (If he's conveniently available by e-mail, one could simply ask him whether this is really important to him.)

NAME AND DEVICE PASSED TO LAUREL

6) Francesca Ambrogini (F) -- New Name and Device -- Gules, a cup fesswise, mouth to dexter Or.
(Baile na Scolairi)

Client will accept major changes and will *not* accept a holding name. She cares for 1450 - 1550 Florence, Italy.

BLAZON CHANGE: Gules, a cup fesswise Or.

[Francesca] -- "Feminine Given Names from the Online Catasto of Florence of 1427," by Arval Benicoeur, (http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/arval/catasto/)

[Ambrogini] -- "The Court of the Medici," by Pottinger, George p. 14 [Ambrogini] c. 1464. (Photocopies are included.)
(http://natey.com/poliziano/history.html) "Biography of Angelo Poliziano" [Angelo Ambrogini] c. 1454

Name Commentary

Thomas - Name: The name documentation checks out. My one concern is whether <Ambrogini> has been modernized in the sources. (I have not found <Ambrogini> in a clearly period source.)

Talan – These sources may of course normalize or modernize the surname.  The Florentine Catasto of 1427 doesn't show a surname <Ambrogini>, but it does show three related surnames:

  Ambruogi (90 times)
  Ambrogi  (once)
  Ambrosini  (once)

De Felice, Dizionario dei cognomi italiano s.n. <Ambrogi> notes <Ambrogini> as a derivative alongside <Ambrosini>.  He says further that <g> forms are characteristic of Tuscany, so <Ambrogini> may well be a perfectly authentic 15^th century Florentine form.

Device Commentary

Talan - It isn't actually necessary to specify 'mouth to dexter', as that's the default for a cup fesswise.  This one is distinctly tipped into trian aspect, which may be a problem.

A&M - This emblazon shows the cup in a fairly trian aspect.  Although _A Glossary of Terms Used in Heraldry_ by James Parker shows a cup with a fairly large amount of the interior showing, we are unsure if that is a period depiction or not.

RFS VIII.1.c.i -  Perspective  - Charges may only be drawn in perspective if they were so depicted in period armory. A pair of dice may be drawn in perspective since they were routinely drawn that way in period armory to show the pips. A bear, dolphin, or castle should not be drawn in three dimensions, but should appear only in its
standard, flat heraldic form.

Picture of a cup (from Parker): http://www.heraldsnet.org/saitou/parker/images/m190a.gif

Caitriona - Simplicity is a beautiful thing. Appears to be clear.

NAME AND DEVICE PASSED TO LAUREL. IN SOCIETY ARMS, A CUP IS USUALLY SHOWN WITH AN OPEN MOUTH, THIS DRAWING DOES SHOW MORE THAN MOST. CLINET WILL BE ADVICED TO DRAW CUP WITH LESS MOUTH SHOWING.

7) Margyt Withycombe -- Device Resubmission -- Purpure, a horse's head bendwise couped, in a canton a mullet argent.
(Granite City, IL)
(Name reg'd Nov '02)

BLAZON CHANGE: Purpure, a horse's head couped and in dexter chief a mullet argent.

Purpure, a horse's head couped and in dexter chief a mullet argent was returned by Laurel Aug. '04 for "The two color copies of this form do not match. On one the field is clearly purpure (if a bit on the reddish side). On the other, the field is unmistakably azure. (This appears to be the result of color printing and color photocopying.) The discrepancy between the forms requires an administrative return, as a complete set of paperwork has not been received by Laurel. AH IV.C states "No submission, including any resubmission, appeal, change or release of a protected item, etc., shall be considered for registration until a complete set of paperwork is provided to the appropriate heraldic officer." This submission cannot be considered as it stands, and is likewise not eligible for the Grandfather Clause."

(Esct. Note: I'm not sure this still falls the one year time limit or not. She didn't send a check.)

NOTE: DEVISED WAS RETURNED BY LAUREL ON 8/04. THIS IS WITHIN THE 1 YEAR LIMIT.

Device Commentary

Talan - Corrected blazon: Purpure, a horse's head couped and in canton a mullet argent.  (And of course 'in dexter chief' can replace 'in canton', as in the original blazon.)

Cunte - Purpure, a horse's head couped, in a canton a mullet argent

DEVISE PASSSED TO LAUREL

8) Minicea, wife of Vahram -- New Name
(Sternfeld)

Client will *not* accept major changes and cares for Byzantine 500-1000 A.D.

? ? [Minicea] -- "Common Names of the Aristocracy in the roman Empire During the 6th and 7th Centuries," by Bardas Xiphias (http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/byzantine/PLRE_fem_names.html)

[Wife of] "Academy of saint Gabriel Report 1928," (http://www.panix.com/~gabriel/public-bin/showfinal.cgi/1928.txt) "In almost all records, Goths are identified by single given names alone, with any surname [2]. That would probably by the most typical way for a woman of that culture to identify herself, especially before the Muslim invasion. After 900 or so, some women were identified in formal records as "wife of" or "daughter of" a man.

Dr. Timothy W. Greenwood, (http://users.ox.ac.uk/~orie0442/) "Entry 6. [A.D. 936] I lady Sop'i, wife of Smbat. . ."

[Vahram] -- See item #9 (below) for documentation.

Photocopies of the documentation is included.

NAME COMMENTARY

Talan - She can't have a name that's authentic for Byzantium in the second half of the first millennium CE without permitting fairly major changes: <Vahram> is Persianized (and Anglicized) Armenian, <wife of> is modern English, and <Minicea> is probably either a Latin form or a Latin-influenced transliteration of a Greek name (as can be seen from the use of <c>, among other things).  If the name is intended to represent Byzantine usage, one would expect it to be a transliteration of a wholly Greek version of the name; if, on the other hand, it's intended to represent Armenian usage, one would expect it to be a transliteration of a wholly Armenian form of the name.  (Even if the rather klutzy <wife of> were kept, one would expect the names themselves to be transliterated either both from Greek version or both from Armenian versions.)  I'll discuss these possibilities below.

> [Minicea] -- "Common Names of the Aristocracy in the roman Empire During the 6th and 7th Centuries," by Bardas Xiphias
> (http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/byzantine/PLRE_fem_names.html)

> [Wife of] "Academy of saint Gabriel Report 1928," (http://www.panix.com/~gabriel/public-bin/showfinal.cgi/1928.txt) "In almost all records, Goths are identified by single
> given names alone …

This is obviously irrelevant, since the Armenians weren't Goths.  (And they *certainly* weren't the Hispano-Goths to which the comment about the Muslim invasion applies.)

> Dr. Timothy W. Greenwood, (http://users.ox.ac.uk/~orie0442/) "Entry 6. [A.D. 936] I lady Sop'i, wife of Smbat. . ."

The reference is incomplete: the quotation is from the Word document at the link 'ArmInscriptions'.  (It's also slightly miscopied: in Greenwood's translation 'lady' is capitalized.)

> [Vahram] -- See (below) for documentation.

(Vahram Basean), the Armenian name is actually <Vrham>, represented in Greek by <Barám>, or rather, by the Greek letters of which that's a transliteration: beta, alpha, rho, alpha, mu.  (<Vahram>, so far as I can tell, is originally a Persian version of the Armenian name.)

As noted above, this name as it stands, doesn't really suit either of the cultures represented by the individual names in it.  I'll start with a version based on Classical Armenian and then discuss one based on Byzantine Greek.

While it would be nice to have the original of the inscription in which Sop'i identifies herself as wife of Smbat, there is enough information about Armenian available on-line to permit a fairly safe conjecture.  First, Section 29 of Chapter 1 of the Armenian Language Lessons at http://www.cilicia.com/language.pl?Armenian_Language_Lessons (Chapter 1: <http://www.cilicia.com/language.pl?Chapter_1>) gives <kin> as the modern Armenian for 'wife', and http://www.utexas.edu/cola/depts/lrc/iedocctr/ie-ling/ie-lex/human/woman.html confirms that <kin> was 'wife, woman' in the older language, as does Section 11.3 of a lesson in Classical Armenian at <http://www.utexas.edu/cola/depts/lrc/eieol/armol-3.html>. The phrase 'wife of X' will therefore be <kin X*>, where X* is the genitive (possessive) case of the name X.  (See, for instance, <Marrinos ordi Storgeay> 'Marinus son of Storgius', where <ordi> is 'son' and <Storgeay> is the genitive of the <Storgews>, the Armenian version of <Storgius>, from another lesson in Classical Armenian at <http://www.utexas.edu/cola/depts/lrc/eieol/armol-2-R.html>.
For more on these lessons see my commentary below on Nr. 11 (Vahram Basean).)  Thus, we need only determine the genitive of the name <Vrham>.

According to Section 2.1 of Lesson 1 of the same set (at<http://www.utexas.edu/cola/depts/lrc/eieol/armol-1.html>),proper nouns of the a-declension add <-ay> to form the genitive singular.  We might wonder whether <Vrham> actually belonged to the a-declension, but near the bottom of <http://rbedrosian.com/gp2.htm> Bedrosian quotes briefly from the original: <Ew Vrhamay ark'ayin hawaneal ...>.  With the aid of the glossary at the UTexas site it's not too hard to see that this is literally something like 'And Vrham's the_archon's having acceded ...'; Bedrosian gives the idiomatic translation 'Vrham _shah_ acceded ...'.  (The use of the genitive subject with the participle is discussed in Section 18.2 of <http://www.utexas.edu/cola/depts/lrc/eieol/armol-4.html>.) The point of this is that we can now be sure that <Vrhamay> is indeed the genitive of the name <Vrham>, and hence that 'wife of Vrham' is <kin Vrhamay>; in case anyone's curious, the pronunciation is roughly \geen v@r-hah-mah\, where \@\ stands for the sound of in <about> and <sofa>.  (The <k> of <kin> is actually unaspirated [k], as in French; in English it occurs only after -- the sound of <k> in <skin> is *not* the same as the sound in <kin> -- and English [g] is actually a better approximation than the usual English [k].)

The problem here is that we don't know how <Minicea> would have been adapted into Armenian.  For that we'd need a collection of Armenian versions of Greek names, probably including at least one feminine name with a similar ending, and I've not found anywhere near enough data.  (Even a small collection of Classical Armenian feminine names might help, but I've had no luck there, either.)  It would of course be possible simply to try to transcribe the sound, getting something like <Minikêa>; the problem is that this might be incompatible with the Armenian sound system or with possible structural constraints on Armenian feminine names of that period.  (For example, it is not clear that a name can end in <-a>, let alone <-êa>.)

A Greek version is also somewhat problematic.  For starters, we don't actually know for sure just what the underlying Greek name is.  It's apparently attested too late to have made it into the Lexicon of Greek Personal Names at <http://www.lgpn.ox.ac.uk/>, but two apparently related masculine names are recorded there, <Minikéôn> and <Miníkios>, so I have no trouble believing that a genuine Greek name does underlie <Minicea>.  The main problem is that Latinate <-ea> can represent several different Greek endings; still, <-eia> seems to be much the most common in feminine names, so we might reasonably guess that the Greek name is actually <Minikeia> in a more careful transliteration.

The basic Greek word for 'wife' (and 'woman') is <gunê> (gamma, upsilon, nu, eta, sometimes transliterated <gynê>); it's actually cognate with Armenian <kin>.  At least in New Testament Greek the construction for 'wife of X' is grammatically the same as in Armenian: <gunê> 'wife' is followed by the genitive of the man's name, as in Luke 8:3, <kai 'Iôanna gunê Khouza> 'And Joanna the wife of Chuza'. All that remains, then, is to determine the genitive case of <Barám>, the Greek form of <Vrham>; the problem is that there are many different Greek declensions.

However, the odds are good that a foreign name ending in a consonant will be declined as a consonant stem, in which case its genitive simply adds <-os>.  It's less clear where the accent would go, but the available examples of disyllabic consonant-stems with stress on the second syllable do not shift the stress in the genitive; if this is the correct pattern, the byname would be <gunê Barámos>, and, assuming that <Minikeia> (with unknown placement of the accent) is correct, the name in a wholly Greek form sans accents would be <Minikeia gunê Baramos>, in her period pronounced roughly \mee-nee-kee-ah gü-NEE vah-RAH-moce\, where \ü\ is the German u-umlaut or the French in French <tube>, and <-moce> rhymes with <gross>.

The upshot is that with a modest amount of conjecture we can reasonably venture <Minikeia gunê Baramos> as a transliteration of a Greek form of the name.  We can also pretty safely offer <kin Vrhamay> as a transliteration of Armenian 'wife of Vrham', but we can't safely guess how the Armenians would have modified the name <Minikeia>, so we can't offer a (transliteration of a) fully Armenian version of the name.

I HAVE SPOKE TO THE CLIENT; IT IS THE CLIENTS WISH TO CHANGE THE NAME TO THE GREEK TRANSLATION WHICH IS <Minikeia gunê Baramos>, THIS IS THE FORM OF THE NAME THAT WILL BE SENT ON TO LAUREL.

9) Osric Eadweardes sunu (M) -- Name and Device Resubmission -- Per bend sinister purpure and sable, over all two chimeras counter-passant with a head and body of a lion, head of a goat, head of a dragon, and the tail of a snake Or, armed argent and langued with fire issuing from its mouth azure.
(Dragonsvale)

Client will accept major changes and cares more for sound.

BLAZON CORRECTION: Per bend sinister purpure and sable, in pale a three-headed chimerical monster composed of the head and body of a lion, the head of a goat, and the head of a dragon, its tail ending in a snake's head, passant contourny or armed argent langued and issuing flames from the lion's mouth azure and another passant.

According to the paperwork:
"During my first submission, I took a 9th century Saxon given name and a 15th century surname, which was a no-no. . . . "

He sites his rejection letter from Phebe Bonadeci, Incunabula Pursuivant: "An Old English Osric Eadweardes sunu would be fairly unremarkable,but usage changed after the Conquest, and usual form of patronymic was then simply the father's name unmodified. . . . RW s.n. Edwardson have William Edwardson in 1518. . . "

Then he continues with: "So I decide to change the period andsurname to match the givenname. So my submission now is supposed to be 9th century, Saxon. I found mention of some Osrics in Northumbria in the 800's, I have found both Osric and Eadweard on Kate Monk's website (linked below), and I am taking Phebe Bonadeci's suggestion on how to form the patronym. Phebe also, as quoted above suggested that these names would be acceptable. (http://www.gaminggeeks.org/Resources/KateMonk/England-Saxon/Dithematic.htm)"

Name Commentary

Talan - > (http://www.gaminggeeks.org/Resources/KateMonk/England-Saxon/Dithematic.htm)"

The site is not usable as documentation, but the name is fine.  <Osric> appears in a number of 9th and 10th century Anglo-Saxon charters available on-line at
<http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=show&page=Charters>. Some that are not generally agreed to be spurious include the following, listed by Sawyer number, followed by the date in parentheses and a relevant extract:

  S 290 (840): <Ego Osric dux>
  S 298 (846): <Signum manus Osrici principis>
  S 1274 (858): <Osric dux>
  S 335 (862): <Ego Osric minister consensi>
  S 345 (882): <Ego Osric minister>
  S 552a (950): <Osric miles>
 
(Despite the Latin contexts, <Osric> is the Old English form.)  For the name <Eadweard> we have:

  S 348 (892): <Eadweard fil[ius] r[egis]>
  S 350 (898): <Eadweard rex>
 
An example of the possessive form can be seen in S 618, from 956, which includes the phrase <on eadweardes mylne> 'at Eadweard's mill'.  For <sunu> 'son':

  S 1508 (871x899): <Ond ic sello Eðelwalde minum sunu iii hida boclondes> 'And I sell to Eðelwald my son 3 hides of bokeland'
More directly relevant to naming, and in fact showing names of exactly the submitted type:

  S 1376 (975x978): <Ælfwine Ælfsiges sunu>
  S 842 (982): <Ælfsige Ælferes sunu>, <Ælfsige Wulfsiges sunu>

In general it appears that <Osric> enjoyed its greatest popularity before <Eadweard> became particularly common, but there was clearly overlap in the 9th and 10th centuries, and <Osric Eadweardes sunu> is a fine documentary form for that period (and especially for the 10th century).

Device Commentary

Talan - The monster in chief is contourny, the one in base being in the usual orientation; this is the reverse of what one normally expects of creatures blazoned 'counter-passant'. Also, the SCA uses 'overall' only when charges partly overlie other charges, not when they cross field divisions; these are simply 'in pale'. 

Reblazon: Per bend sinister purpure and sable, in pale a three-headed chimerical monster composed of the head and body of a lion, the head of a goat, and the head of a dragon, its tail ending in a snake's head, passant contourny or armed argent langued and issuing flames from the lion's mouth azure and another passant.

This is not particularly good heraldic design: not only are the monsters somewhat non-standard, but their arrangement fails to respect the field division.

NAME AND DEVICE PASSED TO LAUREL

10) Ruthardus Hruga --Device resubmission -- Per pale sable and Or, a bird displayed and in base a sun between two crescents, all counterchanged.
(Belleville, IL)
(Name reg'd May '04)

Per pale sable and or, a raven displayed, in base a sun between two crescents with points to chief, all counterchanged was returned by Laurel, May '04 for "Blazoned on the LoI as "sable", the dark colored parts of the field and charges are very much Crayola brown. This appears to be the result of a color printout, color photocopy, or combination of both."

Device Commentary

Rory - The sun and crescents are still MUCH too small.  As drawn the sun is not really between the crescents, it is below them.  And because of the diminutive size of the sun, it is not really identifiable when counterchanged.

Talan - The sun is not between the crescents; the crescents and sun are 2 and 1, or in chevron inverted.  Reblazon: Per pale sable and or, a bird displayed and in base two crescents and a sun in chevron inverted all counterchanged.

DEVICE PASSED TO LAUREL

11) Vahram Basean (M) -- New Name and Device -- Or, three boar's heads erased closed one and two, and on a point pointed gules a rose Or
(Sternfeld)

Client will *not* accept major changes and wants 500-700 Armenia.

? ? [Vahram] -- "Sebeos' History," by Dr. Robert Bedrosian's translation. The original was written in the late 600's. (http://rbedrosian.com/seb7.htm) [Vrham], lord of Groght'n

(http://users.ox.ac.uk/~orie0442/) "Armenian Colophons Microsoft Document by Dr. Timothy W. Greenwood, "Note that the Armenian year 526 in the colophon is equivalent to the European year 1077 AD. The same individual is mentioned again in another colophon, and also in. Greenwood's related collection of inscription."

"In five hundred and twenty-sixth year of this Armenian era, in the kingship of the Greeks of Mixayl son of Tukic, emperor of the Romans, in the offive of curopalat of Marem, pious and powerful, son the kat'olikoi of Armenia, lord Grigoris and lord G org (sic), I Smbat patrik son of [Vahram]. . ."

"Ghazar P'arbec'i's History of the Armenians," by Dr. R. Bedrosian (http://rbedrosian.com/gp2.htm) "Subsequently, the Iranian king Shapuh [A.D. 388] and was succeeded by his son Vrham [Vahram IV, A.D. 388-399]. . . ."

[Basean] -- "Tubinger Atlas des Vorderen Orients (TAVO) der Universitat Tubingen," Dr. Reichert Verlag. According to the paperwork: "The map's legend provides a list of Armenian episcopal sees (sic) known to exist during the early middle ages. . . Basean is included under the heading "Known by 450." (photocopy of the map is included.)

"Sebeos' History," by Dr. R. Bedrosian's translation (http://rbedrosian.com/) " . . .all the troops from those places, and the Karnats'ik', Tayets'ik' and Basenats'ik'."

According to the paperwork: ". . . Lord Basen is mentioned in an event occuring after 652. . .Because the see (sic) and the lord have the same name, a person might suppose that the"Basenats'ik" represents a group of free men or a levy from Basen. . ."

(http://www.matenadaran.am/en/heritage/geography/) Dr. Babken Haroutunian's web commentary on the "Ashxarhatsoyts, a geography written in the late 400's or in the 600's, traditionally attributed to Moses Khorenatsi, but sometimes attributed to Anania Shirakatsi. ". . . Basen (Basean), Gabegheanq, . . ."

Name Commentary

Talan - > Client will *not* accept major changes and wants 500-700 Armenia.

Unfortunately, the name is going to require changes that are probably big enough to count as major: as I'll explain below, it should be <Vrham Basenac`i> or <Vrham Basenats'i>, depending on what standard system of transliteration of the Albanian alphabet is used.  (Once it's corrected to make it Armenian, however, it appears to be a fine name.)

> [Vahram] -- "Sebeos' History," by Dr. Robert Bedrosian's translation. The original was written in the late 600's. (http://rbedrosian.com/seb7.htm) [Vrham], lord of Groght'n

This has been miscopied: the name is actually given as <Vrham Goght'neats' ter>, translated as <Vrham, lord of Goght'n>.  It's clear that the Armenian name is actually <Vrham> (correctly transliterated from the Armenian alphabet) and that <Vahram> is a foreign approximation.

For further evidence we have the History of Theophylact Simocatta, a historian of the early 7th century; a little information about him from a reliable on-line source can be found at <http://www.deremilitari.org/resources/sources/theophylact.htm>, where a short passage from the beginning of the seventh book of his history is given in English translation.  The entire History is available in a Russian translation at <http://krotov.info/acts/07/simo_00.html>.  (Should anyone wish to make a direct comparison, the seventh book is at <http://krotov.info/acts/07/simo_07.html>; the English translation covers sections I-V of the Russian.)  The relevance of all this is that footnote 33 to the Russian translation of the third book (found at <http://krotov.info/acts/07/simo_03.html>) explicitly gives the Greek, Armenian, and Persian forms of the name: the Greek (after transliteration) is <Barám>, the Armenian is <Vrham>, and apparently both <Vahram> and <Vahran> are Persian forms.  (Theophylact wrote in Greek.  By the time he wrote, Greek beta, here as usual transliterated, had been pronounced [v] for several centuries. [Geoffrey Horrocks, Greek: A History of the Language and its Speakers, Longman, New York, 1997, p. 112 and many subsequent phonetic transcriptions]

In short, if he wants an Armenian name, it should be <Vrham>, not <Vahram>.  The name is pronounced approximately \v@r-HAHM\, where \@\ stands for the short sound spelled in <about> and <sofa>.  (This can be inferred from the information on Classical Armenian phonology at <http://www.utexas.edu/cola/depts/lrc/eieol/armol-1.html>, for which see below, and the placement of the acute accent in the Greek version of the name.)

> (http://users.ox.ac.uk/~orie0442/) "Armenian Colophons Microsoft Document by Dr. Timothy W. Greenwood, "Note that the Armenian year 526 in the colophon is >equivalent to the European year 1077 AD. The same individual is mentioned again in another colophon, and also in. Greenwood's related collection of inscription."

> "In five hundred and twenty-sixth year of this Armenian era, in the kingship of the Greeks of Mixayl son of Tukic, emperor of the Romans, in the offive of curopalat of Marem, pious and powerful, son the kat'olikoi of Armenia, lord Grigoris and lord G org (sic), I Smbat patrik son of [Vahram]. . ."

It would be helpful to mention that this is from colophon number 130.  Note that <patrik> is italicized in the original; it's evidently a technical term with no simple translation.  The name <Vahram>, on the other hand, is not set off in any way, so the square brackets are inappropriate.

> "Ghazar P'arbec'i's History of the Armenians," by Dr. R. Bedrosian (http://rbedrosian.com/gp2.htm) "Subsequently, the Iranian king Shapuh [A.D. 388] and was >succeeded by his son Vrham [Vahram IV, A.D. 388-399]. . . ."

> [Basean] -- "Tubinger Atlas des Vorderen Orients (TAVO) der Universitat Tubingen,"

That should be <Tübinger>, <Universität>, and <Tübingen>.

> known to exist during the early middle ages. . . Basean is included under the heading "Known by 450." (photocopy of the map is included.)
> "Sebeos' History," by Dr. R. Bedrosian's translation (http://rbedrosian.com/) " . . .all the troops from those places, and the Karnats'ik', Tayets'ik' and Basenats'ik'."

The actual quotation is from <http://rbedrosian.com/seb11.htm>.

> and the lord have the same name, a person might suppose that the"Basenats'ik" represents a group of free men or a levy from Basen. . ."

One might suppose a great many things, but suppositions aren't documentation; in fact <Basenats'ik'> -- the final <'> is significant -- simply means 'those of Basen', as
explained below.

> (http://www.matenadaran.am/en/heritage/geography/) Dr. Babken Haroutunian's web commentary on the "Ashxarhatsoyts, a geography written in the late 400's or
> in the 600's, traditionally attributed to Moses Khorenatsi, but sometimes attributed to Anania Shirakatsi. ". . . Basen (Basean), Gabegheanq, . . ."

The A. Richard Diebold Center for Indo-European Language and Culture, Linguistics Research Center, The University of Texas at Austin, has published 'Classical Armenian Online', by Todd B. Krause, John A.C. Greppin, and Jonathan Slocum; the first page is at http://www.utexas.edu/cola/depts/lrc/eieol/armol-0-X.html. Lesson 1 contains information from which the byname can be correctly constructed.  The lesson is available in three versions: Unicode 3.0, which shows uses the Armenian alphabet; Unicode 2.0, which uses a standard transliteration requiring characters not available in Latin-1 (and which is probably the easiest to use; and Romanized, which uses a Latin-1 transliteration.  They are available at <http://www.utexas.edu/cola/depts/lrc/eieol/armol-1-X.html>, <http://www.utexas.edu/cola/depts/lrc/eieol/armol-1.html>, and <http://www.utexas.edu/cola/depts/lrc/eieol/armol-1-R.html>, respectively.

Section 2.2 of the Grammar notes contains exactly the information needed to construct the byname correctly, once we know the underlying place-name.  In relevant part it
says:

  Adjectives derived from place names by means of the suffix  -atc`i follow the declension of hogi, with G[enitive] plural in -woc`, e.g. At`enac`i 'Athenian, one from  Athens', ... .

Here I've used a slight modification of the Unicode-2 transliteration, with <`> replacing the superscript <c> (for which an inverted comma is normally used) as the symbol indication aspiration.  In the Latin-1 transliteration it would read:

  Adjectives derived from place names by means of the suffix  -ats'i follow the declension of hogi, with G[enitive]  plural in   -wots', e.g. At'enats'i 'Athenian, one from  Athens', ... .

The accompanying table shows that the nominative plural of <hogi> is <hogik`>, so that the nominative plural of <At`enac`i>, meaning 'Athenians, people from Athens', must be <At`enac`ik`> (or in the Latin-1 transliteration used by Bedrosian, <At'enats'ik'>, exactly parallel to his <Karnats'ik'>, <Tayets'ik'>, and <Basenats'ik'>).

Finally, the name <Moses Khorenatsi> (in what is clearly a traditional transcription rather than a true transliteration) is explained in Lesson 2 as 'Moses of Khoren'.  (Transliterations in the styles used above would be <Movses Xorenac`i> and <Movses Xorenats'i>, both of which are all over the web (though usually with <'> for <`> in the first one, as in my colleague's bibliography at <http://www.csuohio.edu/english/earl/eand5.html>).  This shows that ethnic adjective <Basenac`i> is exactly the right
form for a byname meaning 'of Basen'.

The only remaining problem is the exact form of the underlying place-name.  As the submitter notes, it is given in two forms by Haroutunian, <Basen> and <Basean>.  The Tübinger Atlas cited by the submitter apparently uses <Basean>, while Bedrosian's translation uses <Basen> (e.g., <http://rbedrosian.com/seb8.htm>).  The explanation appears to lie in Section 1.3 of Lesson 1 of 'Classical Armenian Online', where it is noted that in words with stressed <ea>, the spelling changes to <e> when addition of a morpheme causes the stress to shift to a different syllable.  For instance, <matean> 'house' and <seneak> 'room' add a morpheme <-i> in the genitive singular, becoming <mateni> and <seneki> rather than <meteani> and <seneaki>.  It may well be, then, that <Basean> is the basic form, but stress shift on addition of suffixes would change it to <Basen> (and indeed has done so in <Basenac`ik`>).  Clearly, then, the byname 'of Base(a)n' is <Basenac`i>, or in the Latin-1 transliteration, <Basenats'i>.

Device Commentary

A&M - The jags in this emblazon do not appear to be deep enough for a proper "erased".  We are unable to tell if they correspond to the bristly depiction of a boar's head couped which was mentioned in the cover letter to the November 2001 Laurel LOAR.

Quote: In some very rare cases of boar's heads couped close, one could find depictions of couping which were not entirely smooth, and appeared to attempt to depict bristles on the boar's head. This deviation from standard practice for boars is not surprising when one considers that a boar's bristles are one of his main heraldic identifiers. This bristly depiction of a boar's head couped resembles neither erasing nor an indented line. See, for example, the Polish arms of Swinka or Scheinichen on p. 149 of A European Armorial, which shows bristle needles sticking out past the back of the couped line. This distinctive coat is very similar to no-doubt related coats from Silesia on f. 61 of Siebmacher, and it interesting to note that Siebmacher's couping is much smoother but does show a bit of bristly detail. (end quote)

Pitor - Pleasing device

NAME CHANGED TO <Vhram Basenac`i> AND PASSED TO LAUREL ALONG WITH THE DEVICE.

ADMINISTRATIVE NOTE:

Noelle la Chauciere – New Device – Ermine chaussee gules, a stag’s head cabossed proper.

DEVICE WAS PENDED ON 7/05 TO ALLOW TIME TO GET PERMISSION TO CONFLICT. SINCE THE CLIENT HAS NOT BEEN ABLE TO GET PERMISSION TO CONFLICT, THE DEVICE IS BEING RETURNED FOR CONFLICT WITH Ranulf D’Arcy.

At your service,

Phebe Bonadeci

Rouge Scarpe Herald