[ANSTHRLD] dcumentation for a name

[Jennifer Couch]

Thanks so much, this will help greatly




On Fri, Jun 27, 2008 at 5:44 PM, Tim McDaniel <tmcd at panix.com> wrote:

> On Fri, 27 Jun 2008, Jennifer Couch <okwldflwr at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> how much documentation should I have?
>>
>
> It might make it more concrete for you to read the Scottish Names 101
> article and then tell us what name you were thinking about, or if you
> don't have a complete name, what name elements.
>
> Heather Rose Jones,
> "How to Document a Name (to within an inch of its life)"
> <http://heatherrosejones.com/names/documentation.html>
> I found it to be a great help, but it might overwhelm the novice and
> may focus too much on the mechanics and style.  Let me try to
> summarize.
>
> You're trying to prove a statement, being in the SCA case "This is a
> period-style name.  (Or at least it's compatible with SCA rules.)".
> "How much documentation should I have?" is like asking "The boss wants
> a report on whether we should or should not buy a software product.
> How much information should I provide?" or "How much information do I
> have to provide the judge to get out of the traffic ticket?"
>
> There's no answer better than "enough evidence to prove your point as
> much as you can", however much or little that is.
>
> You need to consider
> - each name element.  What is its role (given name, father's name,
>  nickname, place name, toponym)?  What exact spellings are known?
>  From what dates and what languages?
> - construction, how the name elements are strung together -- is it
>  plausible for some period time and place, and linguistic framework?
>
> Sometimes they're easy.  "Diot Coke" appears verbatim in an English
> document of 1379
> <http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/news/stories/22.htm>.
>
> More often, you have to find out what information you have and reason
> from it.  It may be that you find name elements dated to such-and-so
> languages at such-and-so times, and you have to justify the
> construction.  Or maybe you have to justify name elements themselves.
>
> You may have to interpolate: "To estimate a value between two known
> values". ("I can find a trailing -ll spelling in 1411, and the middle
> vowel being -e- instead of -a- in 1388").  You may have to
> extrapolate: "draw from specific cases for more general cases".
> ("I can find period place-names Oxford, Swinford and Hartford, so it's
> plausible to deduce <large hooved animal>ford like Sheepford").  But
> these require thought and may be taken too far.  (E.g., if the "ll" is
> in a Welsh spelling and "e" is in a French context: those writing
> systems are way different and they didn't generally switch in the
> middle of a name.  Oxford, Swinford and Hartford make plausible <large
> hooved animal>ford, but not Frogford or Castleford.)
>
> For example (making up dates because I don't have sources to hand),
>
> - name elements:
>
>  - Daniel: dated in this spelling to 1297, and stated to be a
>    person's name, from a source that's known to be reliable in its
>    spellings and dates (E. G. Withycombe, _The Oxford Dictionary of
>    English Christian Names_, under the name Daniel)
>
>  - Lincoln: dated in this spelling to 1422, and stated to be a city
>    in England, from a source that's known to be reliable in its
>    spellings and dates (Reaney and Wilson, _A Dictionary of English
>    Surnames_, under the name Lincoln)
>
> - English from roughly 1100 on had one of its name construction
>  pattern being "<person's name> de <place name>" -- though the big
>  gap in my reasoning is that I don't have a source for that other
>  than "I've heard it a lot".
>
> So, assuming that English didn't change too much between 1297 and
> 1422, and assuming that the elements are English (rather than, say,
> Latin forms), "Daniel de Lincoln" is plausible as an English
> period-style name.
>
> Danihel Lindocolina
> --
> Tim McDaniel, tmcd at panix.com
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