Teceangl Bach
lions-blood@antir.sca.org
tierna@agora.rdrop.com
February 20, 2002
Send thy comments here:
Brenda Klein
5235 SE Lambert St #A-5
Portland, OR 97206-9068

Unto the An Tir College of Heralds, greetings from Áedán mac Suibne.

Device of the Kingdom of An TirCommentary on this Letter will be due February 15th, 2002.
(Send comments to Lions Blood Herald, information at top of this letter)

The February Lions Blood meeting will be held on Sunday, February 17th, 1pm, at the home of HL Ciaran Cluana Ferta in Portland: 9312 N. Fairhaven Ave., Portland, OR 97203. Phone: 503-247-9338. Bring chairs.

From the North: Take I-5 south to Oregon exit 306-B and follow the signs for Marine Dr. westbound. Once on Marine Dr., stay in the left lane for about 0.9 mi to the train overpass. Immediately following the overpass turn left onto N. Portland Rd., again staying in the left lane when there is one. At the end of the road turn right and immediately right again. Go 1 block, and look for the yellow house on the right with Herald's Trumpets out front.
From the South: Take I-5 north to exit 305-B (Lombard St. West). Once on Lombard, go 2.5 mi. to Ida Av (at the 2nd Fred Meyer store) and turn right. Go to the end of the street and turn left. Just after the stop sign, is another street to the right (Fairhaven Av) where you turn right, and go 1 block. Look for the yellow house on the right with Herald's trumpets out front.

The January Lions Blood meeting will be held on Sunday, January 6th, 1pm, at the home of Christopher Thomas in Seattle: 7757 40th Ave NE, Seattle, WA 98115 It's on the corner of NE 80th St and 40th Ave NE. Watch for the bus stop directly in front of the house. Easiest parking is along the house on NE 80th St.

Directions: From the South (incl. westbound 520 & 90): Take I-5 to exit 171 (522, Bothell). Stay to the right hand of the ramp. Just as the ramp goes around a bend there will be an exit to your Right. Take it. Merge into 73rd heading East (only option). Continue on 73rd until it dead-ends, a few short blocks. Turn left at the dead end and get into the right lane. Turn right on 75th (first light). Go East for 28 blocks. Turn Left at 4-way stop on 40th. Go two short blocks. 7757 40th Ave NE is the last house across from the school, at the intersection with NE 80th St.
From the North: Take I-5 southbound. Take the 85th & 80th St. exit. Go to 80th St, go left, over the freeway, take the first right, follow the road until it curves around and becomes 75th. Go 32 blocks (or so). Turn Left at 4-way stop on 40th. Go two short blocks. 7757 40th Ave NE is the last house across from the school, at the intersection with NE 80th St. There will be a herald's banner in the shrubbery on the north side of the driveway.

FROM LIONS BLOOD
Greetings from Teceangl.

As I have mentioned before, it is my intention to evolve the Internal Letter into more than just a submissions processing and tracking tool. Eventually, Black Lion and Black Stag Herald will be writing for what should be more a heralds' newsletter than just a submissions letter. The Lions Blood section will deal with submissions, commentary, and conflict. This would all be impossible without the help of my able deputy (who does the real work on these ILs) Áedán mac Suibne, and that of my knowledgeable colleague Rafaella d'Allemtejo, Black Stag Herald.

I have already been attempting to answer commenters' questions in the results, and to touch on points apropos to things which come up in submissions and commentary. In addition, I will attempt to track changes in the registerability of charges and names and to note them here. This is not a substitute for heralds reading LoARs and Cover Letters as they come out. In fact, I encourage you to read each LoAR as it comes out. To quote Laurel:

If you are just reading the cover letter, then you are getting only a piece of the information contained in the LoAR. The cover letter contains the "big ticket" items, the decisions and policies, that require special attention, but the regular working of the process is covered in the discussions accompanying the decisions. A great many of the precedents we have were never addressed in a cover letter, but only in the decisions. [from the Cover Letter of the September LoAR]

LoARs are webbed online at http://www.sca.org/heraldry/loar/ and are also available in email and paper copy. For subscriptions to the paper copy of the LoAR, please contact to Lord Symond Bayard le Gris, Bruce R. Nevins, 2527 E. 3rd St., Tucson, AZ, 85716-4114, (520) 795-6000. The cost for an LoAR subscription is $25 a year. Please make all checks or money orders payable to "SCA Inc.—College of Arms". For subscriptions to the electronic copy of the LoAR, please contact Laurel at herald@sca.org. The electronic copy is available free of charge.

The Cover Letter with the September 2001 LoAR has extensive information about saints' names and conflict between gaelic and Anglicized particles. It should be online sometime after the holidays and is recommended reading.

If you aren't sure what to comment on, I might suggest checking names listed as already registered against the Armorial to assure that they are spelled exactly as registered, accents and all. This is a great help to me and keeps me from embarrassing the kingdom by sending things to Laurel under misspelled names. All spelling corrections are greatly appreciated, actually. Just try sending an IL through a spellchecker and see why I rarely bother.

I would like to remind people that the Laurel files are being put into media which is filed both by name and by date. When citing a registered item, including the date of registration can be a great timesaver for the Laurel folks should they need to look up information.

The submission of Pietro della Sega on the September IL reminded me of the pitfalls of dormant. Baron Bruce said it best:

The dormant posture should be used carefully, as it can all too easily render a beast unidentifiable. In this case, the wolf's head, paws and tail are neatly tucked in, making him indistinguishable from a meatloaf. This must be returned, per Rule VIII.3. (Vladimir Andreivich Aleksandrov, January, 1993, pg. 24)

When drawing a dormant beast, do not tuck its head against the body. Be certain the forepaws and head are extended and the tail is visible. This will help retain identifiability.

Recently, a submission made it through several heralds, including a former Laurel, and was signed off by a senior herald at Pennsic, and was on a Letter of Intent before someone realized that the special term for the gouttes meant that they were blazoned argent on an argent background. Proponents of special terms notwithstanding, if such a thing can happen with very experienced heralds, it is perhaps best to go for clarity and avoid the special terms. Nevertheless, they have been used in registered blazons, therefore it is important to know what they all mean. Noting that Lions Blood will probably change "goutte d'larmes" to "a goutte azure", here are the special terms for gouttes and roundels:

Color Tincture Goutte Name RepresentsRoundel NameRepresents
gules red goutte de sang blood torteau tarts
azure blue goutte d'larmes tear hurt hurtleberry
argent white or silver goutte d'leau water plate silver coin
Or yellow or gold goutte d'Or molten gold bezant gold coin
sable black goutte de poix pitch pellet/ogress/gunstone cannon shot
vert green goutte d'huile olive oil pomme apple
purpure purple goutte de vin wine golpe grape

When consulting, please let clients know that armory and names are checked for style as well as conflict. I have had people who did not understand their return letters contact me asking where the conflict was when the return was for violations of the Rule of Tincture or insufficient documentation. Too few people realize that conflict is not the only reason for return, and too few heralds apply any section of the RfS but X when reviewing a submission. Beware of that pitfall, as it confuses clients and doesn't help the reputation of "the heralds" very much at all.

In addition, if you are a branch herald receiving copies of return and acceptance letters, read them. If you know the person getting the letter, you might wish to make certain they understand it, especially when one submitted item is accepted and another is returned on the same letter. Submitters often find themselves confused that this can happen, do not understand that their name was registered and device returned, do not understand how a name can go to Laurel without the armory they submitted at the same time, are unclear that if a name and armory are returned at kingdom the armory must be resubmitted with the name, and seem particularly confused on what, precisely, a holding name is and what happened to their submitted name when it was not registered. Branch heralds receive copies of return letters in order to help them explain things to the submitter. Consulting heralds may receive copies of their clients' return letters from Lions blood simply by contacting me and asking for it. PLEASE do not accept explanations of "what the return letter said" without actually reading the return letter for yourself. Memories can be very selective when dealing with an heraldic return. One of the primary services a local or consulting herald can do for their client is to act as a translator between official correspondence and the submitter. I write "The holding name, Yourname of <branchname>, was created allowing your device to be registered," and the submitter might need you to tell them that no, they don't need to start using "Yourname of <branchname>", it's just what we're putting on the folder their file is in. Additionally, too few people make a second attempt with their name, and the holding name has nothing to do with the person, so looking up a person's heraldry can be a real problem. Encourage resubmission. Twelve months without charge should be a good incentive, and getting a good name registered ought to also encourage people, but honestly having a herald they know say, "I'll help you, when can we get together?" is the best method of all to spark resubmission. And nearly always, the second time is the charm. You'll be helping them, yourself ("My name was returned, but I found this great herald who helped me..."), and the reputation of heralds everywhere ("They're really helpful!").

The Laurel staff has been working on precedents compilation projects in order to make life easier on all of us. The first installment, Compiled Name Precedents, is finished and available on the Laurel precedents webpage at http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/precedents.html. This is an excellent resource for commenters, consulting heralds, and anyone who wants to learn more about SCA name registration.

REGISTRATION INFORMATION:

The following are from recent LoARs and Cover Letters. Note that all discontinuation of registerability gives several months grace period for items already in submission. However, the June decision meeting will cover items submitted in An Tir in January and the April decision meeting will cover items submitted in An Tir last October.

From Pelican: Discontinuing Registration of the Name Allasan

The name Allasan has been documented as a Scottish Gaelic feminine name using the article "Some Scottish Gaelic Feminine Names" at http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/arval/scotgaelfem/. This article has been updated and the name Allasan removed with the comment:

We had previously listed Allasan here; after further research, we have concluded that it was a mistake to include it. We have found no convincing evidence that this name was used in Scottish Gaelic before modern times.

The problem here is that Allasan is a modern Gaelic name. Evidence for Scottish Gaelic names in period is very hard to find, as most documents were written in Scots or Latin. The Academy of Saint Gabriel article in question is a compilation of information from many sources, to try to determine what feminine given names were in use in Scottish Gaelic in period by examining Gaels whose names were recorded in Latin, Scots, et cetera. Recently, the Academy re-reviewed the evidence that led to the inclusion of Allasan in that article and came to the conclusion that there is no convincing evidence that a form of Alison was used by Scottish Gaels in any spelling during our period. Given this new information, barring other documentation of the spelling Allasan as a period name, we will discontinue registering this name beginning at the decision meeting in June of 2002. This does not affect the registerability of the Scots form Alesone or other documented forms of Alison in other languages.
[from the Cover Letter to the September 2001 LoAR]

From Wreath: Discontinuing Registration of honeycombed field treatment

Remember that there are very few period field treatments. Usually, when we invent a new armorial motif for use in our heraldry, it is because the new motif is compatible with existing period heraldry. For example, we would allow the registration of a period weapon as a charge, because of the large variety of weapons found in period heraldry. We do not have a similar period pattern of a wide range of field treatments based on various tessellations. Hence, after the LoAR of April 2002, honeycombed will no longer be registerable in the SCA.
[from the September 2001 LoAR - Taliesin Brynderw device registration]

From Wreath: Blazoning of wingtips

An examination of the development of the various heraldic eagles shows that the direction of the wingtips of a displayed eagle is entirely a matter of artistic license. To avoid incorrectly limiting the submitter's ability to display the arms in reasonable period variants, we will no longer specify "elevated" and "inverted" when blazoning displayed birds. A nice set of examples of eagles over time is found in Walter Leonhard's Das Grosse Buch der Wappenkunst.
[from the August 2001 LoAR - Robert Michael McPharlan device registration]

From Wreath: Passant vs. Courant

The question of the difference between passant and courant has had mixed answers over the history of the College of Arms. Unfortunately (because these are lovely arms) it appears that there should not be a CD between passant and courant, and thus these arms are in conflict.
[from the August 2001 LoAR - Ingilborg Sigmundardóttir device return]

RESULTS OF THE NOVEMBER LIONS BLOOD MEETING

The following were present at the November Lions Blood meeting, or sent commentary—Francesca Testarossa de' Martini, Emma Randall, Katerine of Hindscroft, Teceangl Bach, David of Moffat, Kateryn of Falconkeep, Natasha Orionova Zateeva, Frederick Badger, Moreach Nicmhaolain, Marya Kargashina, Li Ban ingen Eachthiarna MacNessa, Tadgg h-úa Faelan of Clan MacNessa, Eglentyne Merryweather, Fionn Ban MacAoidh, Fionnghuala Friseil, Rosamund of the Misty Meadows, Ciar inghean ui Fhothaidh, Sebastian Sterne, Meadhbha ingean uí Brain an Muillteóir, Ercc McFitheal, Lawrence of Damascus, Temair of Hawthorne, Leah bat Yeheil, Randal the Redowtable, Tuirnn Brecc, Jean-Jacques Lavigne, Arlys o Gordon, Ruadhan Suilghlas, and a gentle lord from Terra Pomaria whose name I cannot remember and for which I am sorry.

The following names and armory have been sent to Laurel (November LoI):

Alicia le Wilfulle

Name and Device

Argent, two swords inverted in saltire sable fretted with a mascle and on a chief vert two escallops argent.

Copies of web articles were included in the name submission packet. All web site cites require copies of the webpage in the name packet—the whole article if it is not linked from the http://www.sca.org/heraldry/ site, and the intro page and page(s) documenting the name elements if the article is linked to http://www.sca.org/heraldry/. Highlight the same way you would copies from books.

Alicia le Wilfulle

Badge

(Fieldless) Two swords inverted in saltire sable fretted with a mascle vert.

Commenters asked about breaking the Rule of Tincture. Charges fretted in this manner are co-primary and may be of the same tincture class, so long as identifiability is maintained. Charges which cross over one another, as these do, are co-primary and need to have good contrast with the field, not each other.

Alicia le Wilfulle

Badge

(Fieldless) A mascle vert.

This should have been listed as a badge on the IL.

Angharat ver' Reynulf

Name and Device

Per chevron purpure and argent, two wolves rampant argent and a dragon displayed sable.

We will inform the submitter to draw the field division line slightly higher on the shield. A per chevron should result in a line which begins a third of the way from the bottom of the shield and ends a third of the way from the top of the shield, with the charges filling the available space well. Here, the bottom section and charge each could stand to have been drawn larger, but this is not a fatal problem.

Angharat ver' Reynulf

Badge

(Fieldless) A wolf rampant barry argent and purpure.


Broinninn Brecc ingen Fhaíltigern

Name

The byname was lenited.

Dionello Cristoforo de' Medici

Device

Per bend Or and vert, an elephant argent.

Three pieces of armory were mentioned in internal commentary.
Andrew Castlebuilder (08/79) - Per chevron purpure and Or, overall an elephant [Elephas sp.] trumpeting passant proper, on its back a carpet purpure, fimbriated Or, supporting a tower argent, masoned sable. As a 1979 blazon, we cannot be sure of the visual significance of the items on the elephant's back in this device. As an elephant proper is argent, we request a visual comparison between these two armories.

Elephant, Order of (1998) - (Fieldless) An elephant contourny argent bearing on its back a tower proper. Electrum believes that the tower is large enough for difference, but suggests that we request Wreath make a ruling on elephants and towers.

Aaron the Mighty - October of 1976 (via the West): Gules, a woolly mammoth [Mammonteus primigenius] statant proper upon a hurt fimbriated argent. "Upon" being an ambiguous term, we were unsure if the mammoth is standing atop the hurt like a circus elephant, or upon it. The tinctures given are no help at all. A request for reblazon of Aaron's armory is being made.

This cannot be in conflict with Alm_sjah_nara by RfS X.2. Difference of Primary Charge.

Emma in draumspaka

Device

Sable, three open books Or.

The submitter's name was registered in April 2000 via An Tir. This submission is going to require a Laurel precedent from Wreath on how books get difference from other books in SCA armory and whether open vs. closed gets a CD. The submitter indicates that the device may conflict with Angharad Rhondda of Glamorgan - September of 1993 (via Ansteorra): Sable, a closed book palewise Or with only one CD for number of books.

Dragon's Mist Pursuivant argues that a CD should exist by way of RfS X.4.h. Posture Changes - Significantly changing the posture or individual orientation of charges in any group placed directly on the field, including strewn charges or charges overall, is one clear difference. She also goes on to bring up an interesting point: "However, if scrolls and books conflicted in period, as seems the case since they are listed together in the Ordinary, perhaps they only blazoned open vs. closed so a drawing made from the blazon would have the desired details."

In addition, the An Tir CoH also found Angharad of the Coppery Shields - October of 1987 (via the West): Vert, three closed books palewise, spines to sinister Or. All or the previous arguments must be taken into account here as well, for there is only the one obvious CD for change of field tincture and again open versus closed is necessary to clear this armory.

Eóghan Ó Cairealláin

Name

A slight scrambling of the accents on the submission form is entirely the fault of one of the consulting heralds (me) because she had problems counting how many letters a there were in the byname. These problems were fixed in kingdom.

Erika Francesca Pacchioni

Device

Vert, on a bend sinister between two sea-lions contourny argent two coronets palewise sable.

Charges on a bend default to bendwise, as tough the bend was a pale tipped to the side, therefore these coronets must be blazoned as palewise to show they are not in the default position.

Esclarmonde de Porcairages

Device

Quarterly argent and purpure, a chalice Or between two mullets purpure.


Herons Reach, Shire of

Branch Name

Æstel Herald, Dragon's Mist Pursuivant, and Lord Frederick Badger provided extensive support and extra documentation for this name and its formation, all of which was cited and sent to Laurel. As apostrophes in such constructions seem to not be period, we dropped the apostrophe at kingdom.

John Kane of Kent

Name and Device

Or, a domestic cat courant contourny within an orle sable.

Submitted as John Kane, conflict was found with John Kane, a Scottish artist who has his own entry on the Encyclopedia Britannica. The submitter was contacted and accepted the locative. Normally this would have resulted in a return, but commenters had not found anything else which might conflict, so the alternate name was acceptable. Under most circumstances, Lions Blood will not change a name in this manner without a return and resubmission.

Leith an Ambránaí

Name and Device

Azure, a sun Or eclipsed azure and in base a triquetra inverted argent.

The byname was changed to match the spelling from the documentation.

Leticia Troischesnes

Badge

Checky gules and argent, on a roundel azure two spoons in saltire argent.

Commenters were concerned about an appearance of landscaping as per RfS VIII.4.a., however 'tis a judgment call for Laurel.

Mór ingen Fhaíltigern

Name and Device

Or semy of triseklions, on a chevron sable three four leaved shamrocks slipped Or, a bordure engrailed gules.

We lenited the byname.

Peg Leg the Merchant

Name and Device

Per pale argent and sable a human footprint sable and two roundels argent a bordure vert.

The given name Pegge is found in the article "Feminine Names in Durham and Northumberland, 1521 - 1615" which is slated to be published on the Medieval Names Archive when the introduction and other information about the data is completed. The source for this material is "Marriages from the Durham St Oswald Registers (1538 - 1734)" online at http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/genuki/Transcriptions/DUR/DSO.html which shows that on 29 Jul 1589 John Martyn married Pegge Gray. Copies of the header and relevant page of this article, the entire unpublished article, and the header information from the article "Surnames in Durham and Northumberland, 1521 - 1615" online at http://www.yucs.org/~jules/names/parish/surnames.html which is linked directly from The Medieval Names Archive, which is in turn linked to http://www.sca.org/heraldry and which uses the same source material and was compiled by the same person. We leave it up to Pelican to select the most appropriate spelling.

Electrum notes that a bordure has in the past not removed the appearance of marshalling as per RfS XI.3. citing the following Laurel precedent:

Returning Per pale sable and ermine, in canton a domestic cat's face argent, a bordure counterchanged argent and sable.] This falls afoul of RfS XI.3., which states that "Armory that appears to marshall independent arms is considered presumptuous." The rule goes on to note that such marshalled fields "may be used with identical charges over the entire field, or with complex lines of partition or charges overall that were not used for marshalling in period heraldry." The use of a counterchanged bordure here is not used in the usual way of an overall charge (indeed, bordures were, and are, used in a number of countries for cadencing), and serves in no way to lessen the appearance of marshalling. Indeed, the fact that the bordure is not counterchanged of the field only serves to accent the appearance of the dimidiation of two independent coats, Sable, in chief two cat's faces, a bordure argent and Ermine, a bordure sable. (Yves le Chat Blanc, 6/96 p.13).

He continues to say, " I was not able to find one involving an uncharged undivided bordure. Since the bordure in this case is vert, it really does not give the impression of being an impalement of Argent a human footprint sable a bordure vert, and sable in pale two roundels argent a bordure vert, as the bordure vert cannot, generally, be placed around the sable field. But this may be a judgment call for Wreath or Laurel." Lions Blood agrees with his assessment that we cannot know for certain without a Wreath ruling.

It was asked if footprints are allowable charges. Though not period charges, the SCA does allow footprints and pawprints, but gives no difference between types.

Pietro della Sega

Name and Device

Azure, a natural leopard dormant argent and in chief a plate and a sun Or.

Although commenters were concerned with the appearance of slot machine heraldry, the sun and the plate are neither more than half the size of the leopard and are definitely a secondary charge group.

Rath an Óir, Stronghold of

Branch Name and Device

Per pale vert and azure, a laurel wreath argent and in base two daffodils slipped in saltire, a chief embattled Or.

No documentation is provided for the name with this form. The submitted name does, however, represent one of the suggestions made by Laurel Sovereign at Arms. Usually, when Laurel suggests a name in a return and the resubmission is made under that name, registration is made on the basis of the previous Laurel suggestion.

Sveinn rau_skegger Einarsson

Device

Azure, a natural salamander statant regardant queue forchee on a chief Or a chain fesswise sable.


Sveinn rau_skegger Einarsson

Badge

Azure, a natural salamander statant regardant queue forchee Or.


Tadhg Ó Cuileannáin

Name

The following have been returned for further work—

Alm_sjah_nara doktar Azhdah_ Zar

Name and Device, New

Per bend Or and vert, a peacock in his pride argent.

There were several problems with this name. First, Alm_sjah_nara is a construction consisting of Alm_s and jahanara, each cited from Islamic Names by Anne Marie Schimmel. Although each is an Islamic element, Alm_s is from Arabic, an Afro-Asiatic language, and jahanara is Persian, which is an Indo-European language. RfS III.1.a. Linguistic Consistency states, "Each phrase must be grammatically correct according to the usage of a single language."

Many of the name elements were cited from John Andrew Boyle's A Practical Dictionary of the Persian Language, 1949, London, which is a modern dictionary. The scope of a modern dictionary is to define modern words, hence few modern dictionaries have dates. In addition, very few languages created names from random words. In order to document a name for SCA registration it must be shown that the word or element was used as part of a name of a real, normal human in period. Dictionaries are not good for this purpose and are rarely sufficient documentation for names.

A hand written page of comments is included from the Pennsic consulting herald Sion Andreas. It expresses grave doubts about the registerability of the proposed name. The An Tir College of Heralds completely agrees. Without documentation of the elements as having been used in names in period, this name must be returned.

Conflict with the device of Dionello was called, but this is clear by RfS X.2. Difference of Primary Charges. No problems were found with the device but without a name under which to submit it, it must be returned.

Cragmere, Shire of

Badge, New

(Fieldless) A swan naiant to sinister argent.

Conflict with Sign_ Ingadóttir - January of 2000 (via Meridies): Per chevron ermine and purpure, in base a swan naiant contourny argent. Position cannot count for difference against a fieldless badge, so only one CD exists for addition of a field.

Commenters were concerned with the lack of a petition. Branch badges do not require a petition of support, as per the Administrative Handbook section IV.C.5. " Submissions involving the name or arms of an active branch must include evidence of support for the action on the part of a majority of the active members of the branch."

Elizabeth Dougall

Device, New

Azure, a frog rampant to sinister Or and issuant from base a demi sun Or.

This should have been listed as a resubmission, as the submitter's previous device (which is unblazonable) was returned in 1988. It is unclear whether this was a return at Laurel or at kingdom.

Commenters were unanimous in claiming the frog was unidentifiable as drawn. A redrawing with legs which bend in the correct direction and eyes more atop the head would help. Commenters asked if creatures like frogs could be blazoned rampant. If it has four and only four legs, it can ramp.

Eóghan Ó Caireállain

Device, New

Barry wavy argent and azure, on a bend sable cotised gules a wolf's head cabossed palewise argent.

The cotises were too narrow, drawn as a pen-width line and gone over with a marker in the color emblazon. Properly drawn cotissing is a quarter inch to one-fifth of the width of the ordinary it follows. As drawn, commenters thought the bend might have been fimbriated counterchanged. With correctly drawn cotises, this device should be fine.

Heron's Reach, Shire of

Device, New

Per pale vert and azure, a heron close argent within a laurel wreath Or.

The Administrative Handbook section IV.C.5. "Submissions involving the name or arms of an active branch must include evidence of support for the action on the part of a majority of the active members of the branch." As no petition was included, the device must be returned.

Münggür Öndör

Name and Device, New

Or, a roundel between two bats displayed inverted respectant argent.

Documentation for the forename came from Francis Woodmand Cleaves' The Secret History of the Mongols, a modern source which has no dates. The byname is from J. Bat-Ireedui's Mongolian Phrasebook, which is a tourist's guide put out by Lonely Planet. Neither included dates, and neither are sufficient as documentation for a period name. In addition, öndör is simply a word and does not even appear to be part of a modern name. Random words do not names make.

The device was, indeed, argent on Or. In addition, the charges bracketing the roundel were unidentifiable as bats. It was asked if charges can be shown from the back. Yes and no. Certain animals, such as turtles, frogs and beetles are usually depicted from an overhead, or back, view, and blazoned as tergiant. A bird depicted from overhead is blazoned migrant, which is an SCA invented posture. Mammals and most other charges should not be depicted from the back, as this removes most of their identifiable parts from view. Bats, often blazoned reremice (singular - reremouse), are usually emblazoned displayed.

NEW SUBMISSIONS:

1. Ariadne Leonida
Ariadne Leonida
Name and Device, New

Argent, a Greek sphinx rampant azure winged sable.

The submitter will only accept minor changes to the name. If the name must be changed, she cares equally about the meaning and the language/culture of the name. She desires a Greek female name authentic for 350BCE and believes the name means "sweet-singer / lionlike". The submitter will allow the creation of a holding name.

Documentation provided by the submitter is very extensive. In a summary, the submitter indicates that she is developing a persona "who hails from about 350BCE in the region of Boeotia."

Ariadne is documented using several sources. Many of the sources utilize Greek characters, so Ariadne would generally appear as _______. The primary sources used by the submitter are three volumes of A Lexicon of Greek Personal Names, Clarendon Press, Oxford. Volume I (edited by Fraser and Matthews, copyright date not included) covers the Aegean Islands, Cyprus, and Cyrenaica. Volume II (edited by Fraser, Matthews, Osborne, and Byrne, copyright 1994) covers Attica. Volume IIIA (edited by Fraser and Matthews copyright 1997) covers the Peloponnese, Western Greece, Sicily, and Magna Graecia. Boeotia would be covered in Volume IIIB, but the submitter indicates that she was unable to obtain this volume at the time of submission. Volume I includes the name _______ dated to AD 372 and 706. The name is also found in Volume II, but the date is unclear from the text. Volume IIIA also includes the name and ascribes it to an Athenian living around 116 BC.

Ariadne is also documented using Loughead's Dictionary of Given Names, the Arthur H. Clark Co., Glendale, CA, 1958, p. 129. Ariadne is listed as a Greek feminine name meaning "sweet singer. The mythical Grecian princess who furnished Theseus the clue that led him out of the labyrinth." No dates are provided for this name in this reference.

Leonida is also documented using A Lexicon of Greek Personal Names as detailed above. As before, the reference cites names in their original form, and the submitter documents the masculine version of the name (Leonidas) which translates to ________. The name ________ appears to have been quite common as numerous citations appear in all three volumes. The earliest date appearing in Volume I is 246 AD. There are numerous references in Volume II to individuals bearing this name from 280 to 200 BC. Volume IIIA also includes numerous entries, the earliest appearing to be ~230 BC.

Leonida is also documented using a dissertation by Helen Pope Non-Athenians in Attic Inscriptions, Cosmos Greek-American Printing, New York, 1935. The name ________ appears on page 170, but no date is given. Finally, Leonidas also appears in Loughead's Dictionary of Given Names, the Arthur H. Clark Co., Glendale, CA, 1958, p. 71. Leonidas is listed as a Greek name meaning "lion-like," but once again, no date or range of dates of origin are given.

The submitter indicates the construction of the name follows patterns set forth in Hornblower and Matthews' Greek Personal Names, Their Value as Evidence, Oxford (no copyright date given) and Adkins and Adkins' Handbook to Life in Ancient Greece, Oxford University Press, New York, 1997. The submitter includes a reasonable summary of the information found in her original photocopies. The submitter states:

"[The former reference] discusses on pages 17, 20, and 21 how important the distinction in names between feminine and masculine is. Objects may have neuter names, women may have neuter names, but men may not. Since I am decidedly female, I have taken the male form of my 'surname' and turned it into the feminine form (p. 26) 'The majority of feminine names end in –a in all dialects except for Ionic-Attic and the koine.' 'Ariadne' is a name unto itself and does not need to have an –a slapped onto it, but doing so to come up with 'Leonida' is a proper and appropriate way to feminize, from my meager understanding of the language. Further, the section of theophoric names (ibid pp. 52-8) will serve to prove that 'Ariadne' is an acceptable name for a human to have, as the practice of naming children after gods and demigods was very common, and if the Ariadne in the mythological tale of the Minotaur was not a demigoddess, she was at least a well known figure after whom children might be named."

The submitter continues:

"'Leonida' would mean the same as its masculine form, of course, ('lion-like') and would therefore make an acceptable descriptive appending name, as for the most part, Greeks … did not have hereditary surnames, but rather nicknames of a sort (Handbook to Life in Ancient Greece, p. 253) which were not passed down as surnames until much later."
2. Brynach ap Rhys
Brynach ap Rhys
Name and Device, New

Argent, a dragon salient gules on a chief engrailed sable a comet fesswise to dexter argent.

The submitter will not accept any changes to the name. The submitter indicates he wants a Welsh masculine name, and that he will allow the creation of a holding name.

Brynach is cited from Gruffudd's Welsh Personal Names. It is a header spelling appearing on page 17 "Saint of 5th/6th Century who came to North Pembroke from Ireland."

ap is cited as a "Welsh patronymic as per 'A Welsh Miscellany', Compleat Anachronist #66 p. 28."

Rhys is cited from Gruffudd's Welsh Personal Names. It is a header spelling appearing on page 83 dated to 1093 and 1132.

3. Johannes Vagus
Johannes Vagus
Device, Resubmission to Kingdom

Gyronny of sixteen sable and argent, a salamander statant regardant gules enflamed proper and a bordure gyronny of sixteen Or and sable.

The submitter's name was registered in October 1999. The submitter's previously submitted device, Gyronny of sixteen sable and argent, a salamander statant reguardant gules enflamed proper a bordure gyronny of sixteen Or and sable, was returned because "The flames previously colored entirely Or have been recolored not in acceptable proper of alternating licks of red and yellow, but as fimbriated flames, which have been disallowed in the SCA for some time. The submitter will be requested to return to the entirely Or flames and to draw the bordure a bit wider, otherwise the changes to the device cleared all previous conflicts." The flames in the emblazon are completely Or for this submission.

4. Meryld Godewyn of Kent
Meryld Godewyn of Kent
Device, New

Argent, a columbine gules slipped and leaved vert.

The submitter's name was registered in November 1998.

5. Pariselle Chouet
Pariselle Chouet
Device, New

Per bend bendy sinister azure and ermine counterchanged.

The submitter's name was registered in October 1994.

6. Richard Falconer
Name and Device, New

Quarterly azure and vert, a cross gules fimbriated in dexter chief a falcon Or.

The submitter will accept any changes to the name. If the name must be changed, the submitter cares more about the language/culture of the name. The submitter wants a male name authentic for 1350-1550 Lowland Scotland. The submitter will allow the creation of a holding name.

Richard is cited as a header spelling from Withycombe's Oxford Dictionary of Christian Names, 3rd ed., p. 253. "The great popularity of the name Richard in the Middle Ages was due to importation from the Continent, the Normans bringing in French Richard (from the corresponding Old German Ricohard)."

Falconer is cited as a header spelling from Reaney and Wilson's A Dictionary of English Surnames, 3rd ed., p. 161. "Henry Falkenar 1194 Cur (W); Richard facuner 12th DC (Lei); Henry le fauconer' 1219 AssY. From the Old French fau(l)connier 'one who hunts with falcons or follows hawking as a sport'; also 'keeper and trainer of hawks' (1424 MED). The name may also be from a rent. Colard le ffauconer in 1264 paid one falcon's hood and 1d. yearly for 26 acres of land at Walthamstow. The surname may also mean 'worker of a cran'. Faukonarii worked at Caernavon Castle in 1282 at 6d. per day in summer and 5d. in winter. In 1257 a carpenter was paid for making a faucon, a kind of crane or windlass, which the falconarii worked."

7. Roscelin Silversmith-doghter
Roscelin Silversmith-doghter
Device, Resubmission to Kingdom

Azure, on a pale argent a carnation gules slipped and leaved vert two annulets argent.

The submitter's name was registered in March 2000. The submitter's previous device, Azure, on a pale between two annulets argent a hand couped at the wrist proper sustaining a carnation gules slipped and leaved vert, was returned for numerous reasons. "Originally blazoned as a dianthus commenters believed the term was too specialized for blazon and those who looked up dianthus say it is a type of carnation. We will suggest that the submitter use the term carnation in future resubmissions. The armory had a complexity count of 9 - azure, argent, vert, gules, pink, pale, annulets, hand, flower (see RfS VIII.1.a.for Rule of Thumb complexity counting). In addition, human skin proper has been ruled to be argent, in accordance with period practice:

"A caucasian mermaid cannot be placed on an argent field, as human (caucasian) flesh proper was somtimes depicted as argent in period sources. [Lachlann Wick of Brindle Myre, 11/99, R-Caid]
"… by current precedent, caucasian human flesh proper is considered to be a variant of argent ... [Kazimira Suchenko, 08/00, R-East]

"Commenters found that there are no conflicts if the hand is removed, which also drops the complexity count to a manageable seven, so we will return this and suggest that the hand be taken out of the armory in order to fix the problems."

The submitter has followed all suggestions and resolved the contrast problem.

8. Tressach mac Domnaill
Tressach mac Domnaill
Name and Device, New

Per bend gules and sable a bend wavy Or and in sinister chief a dogwood blossom argent.

The submitter will allow any changes to the name. If the name must be changed, she cares more about the sound of the name. While the submitter is female, she does not care about the gender of the name. The submitter wants a "Gaelic" name, and she will allow the creation of a holding name.

Tressach is cited from Ó Corráin and Maguire's Irish Names p. 173 and is dated to 969.

Domnaill is also cited from Ó Corráin and Maguire's Irish Names p. 75 under the header spelling Domnall (the name of five high kings). The submitter indicates "Domnaill is lenited as per 'Lenition of Gaelic Orthography' at http://www.medievalscotland.org/scotlang/lenition.shtml." (No hard copy of the web site is provided).

9. Wilrich von Hesse
Wilrich von Hesse
Name and Device, New

Per chevron Or azure, horse rampant Or, in chief two cross tau azure.

The submitter will only accept minor changes to the name. If the name must be changed, the submitter cares more about the language/culture of the name. He desires a male name authentic for "1200-1400 Germania." The submitter will allow the creation of a holding name.

Wilrich is documented using "Medieval German Given Names from Silesia" by Talan Gwynek (Brian M. Scott) found online at http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/talan/bahlow/bahlowMasc.html. A print out of the site is included with the submission form. Wilrich appears three times and is dated 1308, 1406, and 1438.

Hesse is a region in Germany. The first recorded mention of the region is the 8th century in an "epistle from Pope Gregory III to Bonifatius dates the year 738…" A brief history of the region was included by the submitter in the form of a print out of the site http://www.hessen.de/Home/Sprachen/engtext1.html.

10. Wulfgang von Bremen
Wulfgang von Bremen
Name and Device, New

Sable goutte de 'eau on a chief embattled Or a dragon couchant gules.

The submitter will accept any changes to the name. The submitter desires a male name authentic for 16th century Germany, and he will allow the creation of a holding name.

Wulfgang is cited from Bahlow's Deutsches Namenlexikon p. 621 sub Wolfgang. The name was apparently not common in the Middle Ages, but Wolfgang Rudel is dated to 1491. Also included are citations from the same work to Wulf p. 624 sub Wulf "L. German form of Wolf, Wulf Filius Wolberti 1286" and Wolf p. 620 "Wolf as full name (short for Wolfgang) becomes popular in the 16th century, Wolf von Stain, Knight, 1291."

von Bremen is also cited from Bahlow's Deutsches Namenlexikon p. 63 sub Bremer, "Claus von Bremen 1605."

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