[ANSTHRLD] Using Some Online Norse Name Resources (Was: The Virtues of Geirr Bassi)

C.L. Ward gunnora at vikinganswerlady.com
Thu Oct 20 14:54:55 PDT 2005


To my offer of:
> If folks are interested, I can post my whole list of
> useful online Norse name sources with notes and
> examples on how to use them.  It's not hard, but
> you do have to know how to extract the data you
> want from some of them.

Domhnall replied:
> I don't know about others but I would like to see
> the list, etc.

You knew I wanted to post it!

Starting with resources online, first I check for runic inscriptions with
the desired name in:

Peterson, Lena. Nordiskt runnamnslexikon. (WWW: SOFI)
http://www.sofi.se/servlet/GetDoc?meta_id=1472

My working translation is also available as a zipped PDF at
http://www.vikinganswerlady.com/FTP_Files/NordisktRunnamnslexicon.zip

Peterson is a dictionary of Old Norse names from Runic sources, most from
the Viking Age, and most from Eastern Scandinavia (but not all!)

For each name, Peterson gives the transliteratyion of the runic version,
which has beside it a cryptic-looking code.  These codes are called signa
(singular signum), and are used by scholars to identify every known runic
inscription.  The letters at the front give the general location, i.e.:

   An = Angermanland, Sweden
   Bo = Bohuslan, Sweden
   D = Dalarna, Sweden
   Ds = Dalsland, Sweden
   G = Gotland, Sweden
   Gs = Gastrikland, Sweden
   Hr = Harjedalen, Sweden
   Hs = Halsingland, Sweden
   J = Jamtland, Sweden
   La = Lappland, Sweden
   Me = Medelpad, Sweden
   Na = Narke, Sweden
   Og = Ostergotland, Sweden
   Ol = Oland, Sweden
   Sm = Smaland, Sweden
   So = Sodermanland, Sweden
   U = Uppland, Sweden
   Vg = Vastergotland, Sweden
   Vr = Varmland, Sweden
   Vs = Vastmanland, Sweden
   Sv = other Swedish locations
   DR = Denmark
   N = Norway
   Fr = Faroe Islands
   Gr = Greenland
   Is = Iceland
   Br = British Isles
   Ir = Ireland

Peterson doesn't give me all the information I need, however, to know when
precisely each name occurred.  So next I go to Samnordisk runtextdatabas
(http://home.swipnet.se/~w-61277/rundata/pc.htm), also called "Rundata".
The Rundata database is a little downloadable Windows application.  When you
install it, it pops up an English-language interface and you can proceed to
look up more info on runic inscriptions, since the database has all the
known inscriptions to date.

You can click on the first button (one "+" inside a coiled serpent) to
search for a signum.  The search format wants the letter, a space, then the
number, so I put in:

   U 742

And click the SEARCH button.  This brings back the runic transcription with
normalized Old West Norse and Old East Norse versions.  To see the English
translation, you click the button with the UK flag.  The info on date and
exact location comes up when you click the "i" button.

The "i" for Information section will have various bits, but what I'm most
interested in are two lines:

   Period/Datering: V
   Stilgruppering: Fp

The first of these is obviously "Period/Date".  The "V" means "Viking Age".
Sometimes this will have "M" for "Medieval" which means it's post Viking
Age, and rarely it will have a date here, like "1100-t" for "1100s".  For
some Danish inscriptions from Jacobsen & Moltke a more precise sub-period is
given. The periods used are:

   V Helnas-Gorlev -- ca. 800 (or 750-ca. 900)
   V for-Jelling (pre-Jelling) -- ca. 900
   V Jelling (Jelling) -- 10th c. and into the 11th c.
   V efter-Jelling (post-Jelling) -- ca. 1000-1050
   V kristen efter-Jelling (Christian, post-Jelling) -- 1st half 11th c.

The "Stilgrupering" line is "Style Group", referring to artistic and
stylistic elements of the runes and any other construction of the item on
which the runes were found. A scholar named Graslund proposed date bands for
specific style groups that are accepted by the academic community. The date
bands are:

    RAK -- ca. 990-1010 AD
    FP  -- ca. 1010-1050 AD
    Pr1 -- ca. 1010-1040 AD
    Pr2 -- ca. 1020-1050 AD
    Pr3 -- ca. 1050 - a generation forward (en generation framat)
    Pr4 -- ca. 1060-1100 AD
    Pr5 -- ca. 1100-1130 AD

If the client wants to be Icelandic or Norwegian, we can see from Geirr
Bassi that the name occurs somewhere in the West Scandinavian area.

One online source that helps us get a better idea is Landnamabok, which
chronicles the settlement of Iceland and gives extensive genealogies of the
settlers.  Historians consider Landnamabok to be fairly historical, unlike
the sagas, which can sometimes be more of a bodice-ripper-romance, or high
fantasy, or even flat out folktales/mythology.  An Icelandic version of
Landnamabok is available online at
http://www.snerpa.is/net/snorri/landnama.htm  Even a person who doesn't read
Old Norse or Icelandic can usually pick out names, but there's a fairly
ancient and not too accurate English translation online at
http://www.northvegr.org/lore/landnamabok/index.php that can help you work
out what names are where.

I use the "Search" feature of my browser to search for a name in the
Icelandic version of Landnamabok, starting from one I've located in Geirr
Bassi that he has marked as from Landnamabok.  The earliest settlers would
be in the late 9th century, through the early 10th century.  If the person
is mentioned as a settler, you can have pretty good confidence that you're
looking at a name ca. 890-950.  If it's the settler's great-grandson, then
you have to guess a bit at what the date might be.  Landnamabok is a very
good source for Icelandic names, though the genealogies run through to the
Christian medieval period when you get a few generations away from the first
settlers.  It's also usually pretty good for Norway, because most of the
Icelanders came from Norway originally.

If you want more specific dating information, and also specifc period
manuscript spellings of a West Norse name, the place to go next is not
online.  The book I recommend is:

  E.H. Lind, Norsk-Islandska Dopnamn
  ock Fingerade Namn fran Medeltiden_  Uppsala &
  Leipzig: 1905-1915, sup. Oslo, Uppsala and
  Kobenhavn: 1931.

We cite Lind by column numbers, then by headword for a given name.  Lind is
writing in Norwegian, but the names and dates are pretty clear even if the
language baffles you.

People are also *always* welcome to write me if you've got a problem with a
Scandinavian name.  I may or may not have a definitive answer, but I have
pretty good resources on hand and if I don't have it I will say so and
usually suggest where to try next. Contact me at <gunnora at
vikinganswerlady dot org> or <val_org at hotmail dot com>

I also would like to point out that if you have a client who wants an
authentic name (i.e., not just stunt documentation) and is willing to change
their name if needed to get a historically plausible name, the Academy of
St. Gabriel (http://www.s-gabriel.org) is a group that is actually devoted
to helping people research names and armory.  The Academy is currently on a
short vacation while they catch up on backlog, but it's a valuable resource.
The main page has a search field that will allow you to search for a name
you may be trying to document, and the group's Medieval Names Archive
(http://www.s-gabriel.org/names) has articles divided by culture and date
with lots of researched lists of names.

And the resources:

HOW TO FORM AN OLD NORSE NAME
=============================

"Names and Name-Giving in the Viking Age" Class Presentation
HTML format of a PowerPoint presentation developed for a class given at
Ansteorra's July 2004 King's College
http://www.vikinganswerlady.com/ONNamesClass.htm

"Names and Name-Giving in the Viking Age" PowerPoint Class Presentation
PowerPoint presentation developed for a class given at Ansteorra's July 2004
King's College (Zipped PPT format, Zip file 776KB, PPT file when unzipped
1265KB)
http://www.vikinganswerlady.com/ONNamesClass.zip

Aryanhwy merch Catmael's A Simple Guide to Creating Old Norse Names
An overview of Viking names, based primarily on Geirr Bassi Haraldsson's The
Old Norse Name.
http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/sg-viking.html
It's good to note that Geirr Bassi (and the sources here derived from Geirr
Bassi) don't give dates, and do in fact include names that are post-Viking
Age.  The only way to get dates for most of these is to go to a print-only
source such as E.H. Lind.

The Viking Answer Lady's Old Norse Names
Overview article on how Old Norse names are formed. You can also write me at
<gunnora at vikinganswerlady dot org> or <val_org at hotmail dot com>
http://www.vikinganswerlady.com/ONNames.htm

PERSONAL NAMES
===============

Aryanhwy merch Catmael's Viking Names found in the Landnamabok
Based on Geirr Bassi Haraldsson's "The Old Norse Name".
http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/landnamabok.html

Nordiskt runnamnslexikon (In Swedish)
A dictionary of Old Norse names from runic inscriptions.
http://www.sofi.se/servlet/GetDoc?meta_id=1472
Most of these names come from eastern Scandinavia and are therefore most
appropriate for people with personas from Sweden or Denmark, but there are
some west Scandinavian names from Norway, the British Isles, etc. as well,
also some placenames.

Nordiskt runnamnslexikon (rough English translation)
A huge zipped PDF. You will need a utility to unzip the file -- for example,
the shareware tool WinZip (http://www.winzip.com) -- and you will need a
copy of the free Adobe Acrobat Reader, available at
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/alternate.html
http://www.vikinganswerlady.com/FTP_Files/NordisktRunnamnslexicon.zip

The Viking Answer Lady's Old Norse Men's Names and their Meanings
Gives names collected from several references, with etymologies when
scholarly evidence for name element meanings is available.  Each entry
references the original sources from which the data was taken, which should
allow people to backtrack to the good source material.
http://www.vikinganswerlady.com/ONMensNames.htm

The Viking Answer Lady's Old Norse Women's Names and their Meanings
Gives names collected from several references, with etymologies when
scholarly evidence for name element meanings is available.  Each entry
references the original sources from which the data was taken, which should
allow people to backtrack to the good source material.
http://www.vikinganswerlady.com/ONWomensNames.htm

BYNAMES
=======

Aryanhwy merch Catmael's Viking Bynames found in the Landnamabok
By-names or nick-names can be an element in reconstructing an Old Norse
name. Based on Geirr Bassi Haraldsson's "The Old Norse Name".
http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/vikbynames.html

Lindorm Eriksson's The Bynames of the Viking Age Runic Inscriptions
By-names or nick-names can be an element in reconstructing an Old Norse
name.
http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/lindorm/runicbynames/

HELPFUL REFERENCES
==================

The Norse Course Guide to Old Norse Pronunciation
>From the Yahoo Groups Norse Course beginning lessons in Old Norse at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/norse_course/
http://www.hi.is/~haukurth/norse/articles/pronunc.html

Cleasby, Richard and Gu?brandr Vigfusson. An Icelandic-English Dictionary.
2nd ed. Oxford: Clarendon. 1957. From
http://www.ling.upenn.edu/~kurisuto/germanic/oi_cleasbyvigfusson_about.html
This is like the "Webster's Unabridged Dictionary" for Old Norse.  Use the
scanned pages to print out submission documentation, and make sure to get
the title page.

You can search for the Norse equivalent of an English word using Google on
this source(http://www.google.com) for:
+site:penguin.pearson.swarthmore.edu -Bosworth +Cleasby +your-word

Geir T. Zoega. A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic. Oxford: Clarendon.
1910. Reprint, Toronto: University of Toronto Press (Medieval Academy
Reprints for Teaching 41). June 2004. Online at:
http://www.northvegr.org/zoega/index002.php
This is a student dictionary and is a subset of the Cleasby-Vigfusson.
Think of it as more or less like the "Webster's COllegiate Dictionary" for
Old Norse.  Use the scanned pages to print out submission documentation, and
make sure to get the title page.

To find the Norse equivalent for a given English term, try a Google search
at http://www.google.com for: +site:northvegr.org +Zoega +your-word

PLACENAMES AND MEDIEVAL SCANDINAVIAN NAMES
===========================================

Diplomatarium Norvegicum
http://www.dokpro.uio.no/dipl_norv/diplom_field_eng.html
A collection of the texts of approximately 20000 charters and other offical
documents connected to Norway in the period 1050 to 1590. Using these
requires that you either read Norwegian or have a pretty good idea of what
you're looking for to start with.

The search page is in English.  In the section marked "Regesta and
transcribed text of the diploma", you can put in your search term in all
three boxes, and make sure to check the logic operator "OR".  So, for
instance, if I am looking for a name I think starts with <Geir->, I could
put in geir% in all three boxes and see what turns up.

Further down the search page, under "and sorted by", I usually change all
the boxes to a dash (-) except "by year", which I make 1 -- this causes the
results to be sorted by date, oldest to newest.

Rygh, Oluf. _Norske Gaardnavne_ (Norwegian Farm Names)
http://www.dokpro.uio.no/rygh_ng/rygh_form.html
The search page is in English, and farm names are good both as a model for
household names and also in forming locative bynames.  It does require some
understanding of ON locatives to form one, but this is where you'd start to
get the base forms (locatives combine a preposition such as <a> or <i> with
a placename in the dative case, and how this is done is explained with more
detail in my Powerpoint class presentations above).

Rygh is another one where it takes a little more knowledge to extract the
best results, but play around with it anyway!

If a client wants an Old Norse placename, you can usually use the dictionary
searches described above to get some candidate words to search on.  Then
come to Rygh and in "Older word forms" put in your Old Norse word and try a
search.  So, for instance, if you wanted place-names containing a word
meaning "red" you might try searching the "Older word forms" for rau?r.

This gets you a list of the modern farm names and their locations, with
checkboxes out to the left.  Unless you know what you're doing, check all
the boxes and click the "Show" button.  The resulting detailed discussion of
the various farm names is still in Norwegian.  The first word given is the
modern farm name, followed bya cryptic-looking guide to pronunciation.
After that are the documented forms of the farm-name, many with dates.  A
large number do not ahve a dated example in the Viking Age, but will have
numerous examples in the 1500s, which can still be valauable for medieval
placenames.  There is a discussion paragraph after the dated examples, and
they usually give an Old Norse form of the name.  If it is hypothetical,
there is an asterisk in front of it, i.e., <*Ro?kar>.  If the Old Norse name
form is certain, it's just there, i.e. <Rau?aberg>.  The text gives a little
discussion of the etymology and shows sometimes more than one possible
origin.

Landnamabok (Sturlubok). (WWW: Netutgafan, 1998)
http://www.snerpa.is/net/snorri/landnama.htm
Survives in five redactions, the earliest two being Sturlubok, composed by
Sturla ?or?arson (d. 1284) and Hauksbok, written by Haukr Erlendsson in
1306-1308.  An account of the discovery and settlement of Iceland, deals
with roughly 430 settlers, their families and their descendants, preserving
over 3,500 personal names and almost 1,500 farm names. Many sagas rely upon
Landnamabok as a source for genealogical and biographical information. Note
that this version is modern Icelandic, which is very close to Old Norse but
has some minor spelling differences.  This will get you very close to the
right spelling, and you can usually clean that up to a pure Old Norse form
using the Cleasby-Vigfusson dictionary (see above)

Landnamabok (very old English translation)
http://www.northvegr.org/lore/landnamabok/index.php
Index and Glossary of Placenames starts at
http://www.northvegr.org/lore/landnamabok/033.php
The spellings and meanings given in this translation for the placenames are
very often just completely wrong, but it can give a person at least an idea
and get them started.  From here, it's easy to go to the Netutgafan website
Icelandic text of Landnamabok and find a better spelling - though note that
even that may need some minor tinkering.

IDEAS FOR HERALDIC DESIGN
=========================

Mistress Thora Sharptooth's "Personal Display for Viking Age Personae: A
Primer for Use in the SCA"http://www.cs.vassar.edu/~capriest/display.html

Gunnvor silfraharr. "Heraldry for a Non-Heraldic Culture: Vikings and Coats
of Arms in the SCA". http://www.vikinganswerlady.com/vikheraldry.htm

::GUNNVOR::




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