SR - Naming the region

[Dennis Grace]

Salut Cozyns,

Lyonel aisai.

Daniel de re-posted the following note from AElfwyn:

>    Well, I asked the opinion of the "name stud," as Daniel referred
>    to Baron Talan Gwynek, regarding the various forms that had been
>    posted as contractions of Old English "Su{dh} Ansteorra." He
>    pointed out that from a historical point of view, Ansteorra is not
>    a probable name, and doesn't really fit the Sussex pattern, since
>    that was contracted from a tribe called the "South Saxons."  He
>    concluded that rather than try to shoehorn it into an OE
>    construction to use "South Ansteorra." (For those of you keeping
>    score at home, two points for Daniel for authenticity, zero for
>    "sounds cool.")
>
>    Oh, well, I tried.

and commented:

>I gather it's not a case of "not quite so period", but rather "can't
>really be justified on period grounds".  Registrable?  I don't know.
>I'd much prefer something that's not questionable.

Well, not meaning any disrespect of Baron Talan's onomastic knowledge, I 
disagree with the reasoning cited here. Baron Talan dismissed this 
suggestion on two principal arguments:

1) Ansteorra is not a probable name.  

Okay.  So?  It's already in use.  I don't think derivation therefrom 
along lines of a period linguistic model should be dismissed because the 
original name was questionable.

2) The derivation doesn't fit the period model.

I say it *does* fit the Sussex pattern.  Aren't we talking about naming 
a region founded by the South Ansteorran's?  Certainly we cannot be 
certain that the contraction AElfwyn proposes is precisely the one 
linguistic laziness would have created from aeons of slurring "Su{dh} 
Ansteorran," but it does look like a pretty good guess and is based 
solidly on examples such as Sussex and Wessex.  

This may not be my personal favorite, but the derivation is brilliant.

I say leave it on the list.

lo vostre por vos servir
Sir Lyonel Oliver Grace, Capitan
Bryn Gwlad
Ansteorra
Micel yfel deth se unwritere.
		--AElfric of York


______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
============================================================================
Go to http://lists.ansteorra.org/lists.html to perform mailing list tasks.