[ANSTHRLD] need help with Norse documentation

[Christie Ward]

>Can someone with a copy of Geirr Bassi please help me with documenting the 
>name: Brúnn Johannsen?

Alden, you might as well back up and work on the name some more.  Anything 
with a <-sen> in the patronymic instead of <-son> places it *much* later 
than an Old Norse personal name.  The two are not a good temporal match.

Forms of the "John" name found in Old Norse (from 
http://www.s-gabriel.org/2998):

  <Ión> mid-11th c. (pronounced \YONE\, to rhyme with <bone>)
  <Ion> 1224
  <Ióan> before 1066 (pronounced \YOE-ahn\, with the \OE\ as in <woe>)

These would give you <Iónsson>, <Ionsson>, <Ióansson>.

Note that all of these are very late Viking Age (ca. 800-1100), or 
post-Viking Age, if that makes a difference to the submittor.  We don't see 
Christian-derived names really enter the naming pool in Scandinavia (except 
as what appear to be devotional names among priests, nuns, abbots, etc.) 
until around 1200 for the most part.  Scandinavian naming is really 
conservative because the overwhelming custom was to name a baby after a 
recently deceased close relative, which tended to recycle old traditional 
names.

Another report from the Academy of St. Gabriel 
(http://www.s-gabriel.org/2323) covers later period variants more 
thoroughly:

  Forms of the Latin name <Iohannes> (i.e. <John>) were
  used in Norway as early as 1297 [5].  The most common
  Norwegian spelling of the name <John> was <Jon>, which
  we find as early as 1309.  Examples include [2]:

    Ascer Jons sonn (1309)
    Olafr Jons son (1329)
    Olafuer Jons sun (1347)
    Gulli Jonsson (1384)
    Sigurdher Jons son, Katerina Jons dotter (1422)
    Katerina Jons dotter (1454)

  The specific spelling <Johan> was less common and came
  into use later.  We have found examples in the late
  15th and 16th centuries, including <Margarette
  Johansdotter> 1477, <Barbra Johans dotter> 1547 [3].
  Other spellings of the names in period Norwegian
  documents include <Ion> (1397), <Joan> (1428), and
  <Jehand> (1525) [4].

  In Danish documents, the patronymic you want appears
  commonly as <Jenss:>, <Jonss:>, and <J{o|}nss:> [8].
  The abbreviation <Jenss:> probably stood for <Jensson>
  in the 14th and 15th century, <Jenssen> in the 16th.
  We found a few examples of <-s{o|}n> in 15th century
  documents, <-zen> and <-zenn> in 16th century
  documents [9].

If your client wants a late period "John" name, you need a later form of the 
personal name to go with it.

I have one runic example of this name, appearing in runes as <brun> in the 
Ög21  inscription from Östergötland, Sweden ca. 990-1010.  The name itself 
probably is derived from a byname meaning "bright, clear; brown".  See:

Peterson, Lena. Nordiskt runnamnslexikon. Språk- och folkminnes-institutet.
http://www.sofi.se/SOFIU/runlex/  S.n. <Brúnn>.

Samnordisk runtextdatabas. http://home.swipnet.se/~w-61277/rundata/1.htm  
Signum Ög21. (Dating comes from here).

Some good later examples are available in Sveriges Medeltida Personnamn 
(SMP) at http://www.dal.lu.se/sofi/smp/pdf/brun.pdf :

  Brun Ingeuarssin j Tuffte, [1358]
  Brwn, 1377
  Bron Akonson, 1383
  Brøn i Næsby, 1422
  Brøn i Biastom, 1422
  Per Brunsson, [1439]
  Jon Bronson, 1443
  Brwn Benczsson, 1451
    Brwn Benctzson, 1452
  Brwns Hilgers hustrv, 1458
  Brwn Swensson, 1467, 1475
    Bryn Swenson, 1482
    Brun Suenson, 1489
    Brwn Suenson, 1495
  Brøn i Kalabodha, 1491
  Brwn scriffuere, 1494
    Brøndh scriffuare, 1505
  Lindorm Brwnsson, 1505, 1520
    Lindorm Brwndson, 1507
    Lindorm Brwnsson, 1512
    Llindorm Brunsson, 1517
  Benth Brwnsson, 1509
    Bencth Brwnsons, 1515
    Benkth Brunsson, 1518
    Benct Brwnsson, 1523
  Torsten Brwnson, 1512
    Torsten Brwnsson, 1517
    Torsten Brvnsson, 1528
    Torsten Brunszon, [1533]
    Tosthen Brunson, 1539
  Swen Brwnson, 1526

Checking Diplomatarium Norvegicum (medieval charters from Norway ca. 1050 to 
1590, searchable at 
http://www.dokpro.uio.no/dipl_norv/diplom_field_eng.html):

  Brun gamle (Brun the Old), 1309
  Aðalizu gamla Bruns dottor (Aðaliza, daughter of Brun the Old), 1312
  Bron Bærnær son, 1330
  Brøn Syworsson, 1340
  Aasæ Bruns kona (Aasa, Brun's wife), 1351
  Brun Struue, 1436
  Brwn Strwen, 1438
  Iwer Bron son, 1548

Some more examples from Diplomatarium Norvegicum with the word as a byname:

  Petrus Brun, 1301
  Thorleif brvn, 1418
  Gudbrander brun, 1419
  Thomes Brwn, 1426
  Gerik Brwn, 1484
  Hans Bruns, 1514
  Lawress Broen, 1523
    Laurens Brun, 1523
    Lauris Brun, 1523
  Jehan Brun, 1525
    Jehan Brwn, 1525
  Jens Bronn, 1539

If you're still with me at this point, here are some name combinations 
matched up with the personal name and byname in appropriate forms for the 
same date range:

VIKING AGE (mid-11th c.):
  Brúnn Ións son
  Brúnn Ióans son

MEDIEVAL:
  Brwn Ions son (14th c.)
  Brun Jons sonn (14th c.)
  Bron Jons sun (14th c.)
  Bron Joans son (15th c.)
  Brøn Johansson (15th c.)
  Brwn Jehands son (16th c.)
  Brvn Johans son (16th c.)
  Brwn Johanssen (16th c.)

Everything I cited above is available online.

::GUNNVOR::