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Wikipedia / Germanic name

Germanic given names are traditionally dithematic; that is, they are formed from two elements (stems), by joining a prefix and a suffix. For example, King Æþelred's name was derived from , meaning "noble", and , meaning "counsel". The individual elements in dithematic names do not necessarily have any semantic relationship to each other and the combination does not usually carry a compound meaning. Dithematic names are found in a variety of Indo-European languages and are often derived from formulaic epithets of heroic praise. Another suggestion is that they reflected wishes for newborns.

There are also names dating from an early time which seem to be monothematic, consisting only of a single element. These are sometimes explained as hypocorisms, short forms of originally dithematic names, but in many cases the etymology of the supposed original name cannot be recovered.

The oldest known Germanic names date to the Roman Empire period, such as those of Arminius and his wife Thusnelda in the 1st century CE, and in greater frequency, especially Gothic names, in the late Roman Empire, in the 4th to 5th centuries (the Germanic Heroic Age).

A great variety of names are attested from the medieval period, falling into the rough categories of Scandinavian (Old Norse), Anglo-Saxon (Old English), continental (Frankish, Old High German and Low German), and East Germanic (see Gothic names) forms.

By the High Middle Ages, many of these names had undergone numerous sound changes and/or were abbreviated, so that their derivation is not always clear.

Of the large number of medieval Germanic names, a comparatively small set remains in common use today. For almost a thousand years, the most frequent name of Germanic origin in the English-speaking world has traditionally been William (from the Old High German ), followed by Robert, Richard and Henry.

Many native English (Anglo-Saxon) names fell into disuse in the later Middle Ages but experienced a revival in the Victorian era. Some of these are Edwin, Edmund, Edgar, Alfred, Oswald and Harold for males; the female names Mildred and Gertrude also continue to be used in present day, Audrey continues the Anglo-Norman (French) form of the Anglo-Saxon , while the name Godiva is a Latin form of .

Some names, like Howard and Ronald, are thought to originate from multiple Germanic languages, including Anglo-Saxon.

Dithematic names

Monothematic names

Some medieval Germanic names are attested in simplex form. Some of these names originated as hypocorisms of full dithematic names, but in some cases they entered common usage and were no longer perceived as such. Examples include

  • Masculine: Aldo (whence English Aldous), Adel, Anso/Anzo/Enzo, Folki/Folke/Fulco, Gero, Helmo/Elmo, Ise/Iso, Kuno, Lanzo, Manno, Odo/Otto, Rocco, Sten, Waldo, Warin, Wido, Wine, Wolf/Wulf

  • Feminine: Adele, Alda, Bertha, Emma, Hilda, Ida, Isa, Linda, Oda

A major study of medieval Germanic monothematic names was undertaken by Van Loon, who (as translated and summarised by Ian Shiels) suggested the following types:

  1. "Bare" names: a single word otherwise found in dithematic names (such as Old English Wig).

  2. Unique names of unknown etymology (e.g. Old English Penda).

  3. By-names (additional names that accompany a forename, potentially appellatives) (e.g. Old English Hengest and Horsa, both meaning "horse"). Other examples may include Old English Æsc "ash tree", Carl "free man" (Charles), Hengest "stallion", Raban "raven" (Rabanus Maurus), Hagano/Hagen "enclosure", Earnest "vigorous, resolute".

  4. Theonyms (names of gods, e.g. Woden).

  5. Names of legendary or mythical founders of peoples or dynasties (e.g. Ostrogothic Amal).

  6. Names derived from a single name-element, transferred to the weak declension, sometimes with associated vowel-changes in the root-word (e.g. Old German Betto, from the Bert- element of Bertramnus).

  7. Names derived from a dithematic name, contracted, and transferred to the weak declension (e.g. Old German Tammo, from Tancmarus).

  8. Names derived from a single name-element or from a contracted dithematic name, with the addition of a suffix.

  9. "Head-and-tail" contractions of dithematic names (e.g. Old Norse Gormr from—in Van Loon's view—goð + ormr).

Hypocoristic names

The processes whereby dithematic or monothematic names became hypocorisms (nicknames or pet names) were not, as of the beginning of the twenty-first century, well understood. But twenty-first-century research made some progress: Kendra Willson undertook a detailed study of Icelandic hypocorism, while Ian Shiels built on her work and Van Loon's to "suggest the outline [...] of an alternative approach to hypocorism [...] as a rule-based system of generative and transformational processes applied to dithematic names."

Some hypocorisms, called "head-and-tail" types by Van Loon, retain a remnant of their second element. Late medieval Flemish/Dutch examples cited by him include Arnoud > Arend/Ært; Bernard > Bernd; Cunrad > Kurt; Diederik > Dirk; Gerard > Geert; Everhard > Evert; and Wilhelm > Willem. Whereas Loon doubted that this pattern existed in the early Germanic languages, Ian Shiels has argued that it is found in early Old Norse and Old English naming.

Sometimes the second element is so reduced that it cannot be identified unambiguously any longer: Curt/Kurt may abbreviate either Conrad or Cunibert.

Bynames

Germanic names often feature a range of bynames: additional names that accompany a 'forename'. These can be toponymic (locational), occupational, genealogical, or 'nicknames'.

Uncertain etymology

  • Gustav has been interpreted by e.g. Elof Hellquist (1864 - 1939) Swedish linguist specialist in North Germanic languages as gauta-stabaz (gauta-stabaR) "staff of the Goths"

  • Old English Pǣga (unknown meaning)

  • Waldo from Old English Waltheof (unknown meaning)

  • Pepin

  • Morcar

  • Zotto

  • Cleph

  • Pemmo

See also

Germanic placename etymology

References

Reference bibliography

  • Olof von Feilitzen, The Pre-conquest Personal Names of Domesday Book (1937).

  • E. Förstemann, Altdeutsches Namenbuch (1856; online facsimile)

  • Lena Peterson, Nordiskt runnamnslexikon, 4th ed. (2002); 5th ed. (2007).

  • P. R. Kitson, (2002). How Anglo-Saxon personal names work. Nomina, 24, 93.

  • F. C. Robinson, (1968). The significance of names in old English literature. Anglia, 86, 14–58.

  • Justus Georg Schottel, De nominibus veterum Germanorum, in: Ausführliche Arbeit Von der Teutschen Haubt-Sprache, Zilliger (1663), book 5, chapter 2, pp.1029–1098.https://books.google.com/books?id=-JVEAAAAcAAJ

  • Franz Stark, Die Kosenamen der Germanen: eine Studie: mit drei Excursen: 1. Über Zunamen; 2. Über den Ursprung der zusammengesetzten Namen; 3. Über besondere friesische Namensformen und Verkürzungen, 1868.

  • Friedrich Wilhelm Viehbeck, Die Namen der Alten teutschen: als Bilder ihres sittlichen und bürgerlichen Lebens (1818; online facsimile)

  • H. B. Woolf, (1939). The old Germanic principles of name-giving. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

  • H. C. Wyld, (1910). Old Scandinavian personal names in England. Modern Language Review, 5, 289–296.

  • Charlotte Mary Yonge, History of Christian names, vol. 2, Parker and Bourn, 1863.