[ANSTHRLD] Name Doc Request - William Ironwyrm

[Christie Ward]

Magnus asked:
>Gunnora, is there enough evidence to support a name
>like that in Norse?  There might be some twist that
>can be done with Lingua Anglica.

Well, sort of.

Without (much) stunt heraldry, you could have:

<Vilhja'lmr ormr>
<Vilhja'lmr Jarn-Ormsson>
<Jarn-Ormr Vilhja'lmsson>
<Jarn-Vilhja'lmr Ormsson>

etc.

When you start looking at all of the animal by-names in Old Norse, they are
pretty much always either the animal name by itself, or the animal name plus
a body part (i.e., crow-nose).

In Old Norse, we don't really see the weird fantasy-esque or North American
Indian-like names that include an animal word plus an adjective. Geirr Bassi
reports only one exception to this rule ... "rau{dh}refr" (red fox) but as
it turns out, that is a typo for "rau{dh}nefr" (red *nose*) and so there's
no support for "animal name + adjective".

The closest by-names I see out there are in the names:

<Sigur{dh}r orm-i-auga Ragarsson> ("orm-in-the-eye")

<Gunnlaugr ormstunga Hro'mundarson> ("orm-tongue", "serpent tongue")

<Bjo:rn ja'rnsi'{dh}a> ("iron-side")

In each of these cases, these are not common by-names, but rather associated
in the surviving literature with one person.  Sigur{dh}r is
semi-mythological on top of that, being the son of Ragnar Lo{dh}brokkr.

There's also the word <lindormr> or <linnormr>... I've read that in German
heraldry the usual word for a wingless dragon is <der Lindwurm>, and I've
seen the word as a personal name in Sweden.

Nordisk runnamnslexikon has the personal name <LingormR>, from OW.Norse
lyngormr m. "dragon that creeps through the heather".

If you look at Old Norse poetics, an "iron ormr" or <ja'rn-ormr> would be a
reasonable kenning to find for a sword or most likely a spear-point,
especially one that has been pattern-welded. Snorri Sturluson in
Skaldskarpamal shows similar kennings for spears.  So you could by
*stretching* postulate that this poetic term for "spear" *might* occur as a
by-name, but it's stunt heraldry for sure.

::GUNNVOR::





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