NR - Principality name

marc-carlson at utulsa.edu marc-carlson at utulsa.edu
Fri Sep 8 10:30:30 PDT 2000


 >>we need a name that means something to us, and a 
lang/time frame.
 >>IE norse, celtic, old english, latin, german, 
french(shudder ;))??
 >>(my lang skills are a bit weak)
> From the heraldic side, I would recommend we discuss a 
main element first, e.g.,
>a griffin. That would then flow into a name. One thing 
that Ansteorra has done
>very well is the consistency (heraldically) among its 
device, name, and Crown
>appellation (Their Stellar Majesties).
>Simple to draw and easy to recognize on the field.
>That'll give us somewhere to go in preliminary research 
and design.

With all due respect to Tadhg, I'm not sure that this 
isn't putting the cart before the 
horse.  Traditionally, an image (whether it had anything 
to do with the region it was 
representing or not) came after the name.

The problem with naming a region, even for informal use, 
is that it needs to be 
acceptable to the majority.  "Nordsteorra", while a fine 
name, and is being used
by some people for the Northern Region, has two 
drawbacks.  The first, and really
the least important, is that it is a permanent link to 
Ansteorra, and if the ultimate
long term goal is to be anything but the provincial 
northern appendage of Ansteorra
(as some people seem to think it is), the name needs to 
reflect the identity that you
want people to remember.  OTOH, there is always the 
historical precident of "Austria",
or the "Österreich" or "Eastern part of the Empire" - 
although based on that, "Nordsteorra"
might need to be further reduced to "Norstora" :).

The second major drawback is, of course, that not 
everyone feels the same about it, and 
some people just hate it completely.  Just as an 
example, and speaking *only* for myself 
(and in an information transmission way, not a sulky 
ultimatum way), I'll stop playing, or 
shift up to Calontir, before I'll accept the term 
"Nordsteorran" for myself.  (OTOH, 
considering how active I am in the face-to-face SCA, 
that's not going to be THAT big a
loss :) )

But let's just look at some naming possibilities (these 
are simply examples, and should not
be construed as an attempt to force anything on anyone). 
 What are we looking at naming?
A region based on Oklahoma and Oklahomans (although why, 
if the regional border is the
Red River, Bonwicke's in the Western Region, but what 
the heck -- it makes the North = 
Oklahoma thing that much stronger).

Just as an aside, there were Europeans in Oklahoma 
during the SCA's Period.  The Coronado
expedition came through in 1541; Juan de Oñate in 1601; 
and Baca in 1634.  There may have 
been others also, but these were the major expeditions 
searching for Quivara.  I'd be interested
in what *they* called the region.

In any case,  some thoughts --

Cimarron, Wichita, Sequoya, and such are appropriate 
*Oklahoma* names, but really not 
Middle Ages appropriate.

"North Star" (the essence of Nordsteorra):  
Njorðrstjarna (Icelandic), Astra Septemptriona (Latin), 
Gogleddseren (Welsh), Realt na tuaidh (Irish), and so 
on.

"Sky Shield" (which is no dopier than "One star" for 
describing a state flag): Scutumcaelum (Latin)  
Wybrenysgwyd (Welsh), Sgiath na Speire (Irish)

"Two Lands" Bitellus (Latin - Bitallia?), Daugwlad 
(Welsh),  Dhadautaigh (Irish)

And so on.

Marc/Diarmaid
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