Unto Elisabeth de Rossignol, Laurel; Margaret MacDuibhshithe, Pelican; Jeanne Marie Lacroix, Wreath; Their Armorial and Onomastics Heirs; and the commenting Members of the College of Arms,

Greetings from Marta as tu Mika-Mysliwy, Parhelium Herald!

The Atenveldt College of Heralds requests the consideration and registration of the following names and armory with the College of Arms.

Please note: Unless specifically stated, the submitter will accept any spelling and grammar corrections; all assistance is appreciated.

1. Fiona Mag Uidhir: NEW NAME and DEVICE

Or, on a bend vert between a cow statant gules and a sheaf of arrows inverted sable three annulets Or.

Fiona is a feminine given name, considered SCA-compatible; this was upheld as recently as July 2004 with the registration of Fiona inghean uí Mheadhra.

Documentation for the byname comes from Clans and Families of Ireland,: The Heritage and Heraldry of Irish Clans and Families, John Grenham, with Mag Uidhir the Irish Gaelic form of the Anglicized Maguire (pp. 146-7). Black's The Surnames of Scotland demonstrate (undated) this as a personal name, Ir. Mag uidhir, G. Mac uidhir, "son of the pale(-faced) man" (p. 507 s.n. MACGUIRE).

The client desires a female name. She is most interested in the sound and the language/culture of the name (none specified, but I suspect Gaelic of some form).

2. Hans Rüpprecht: NEW DEVICE

Sable, on a pile issuant from sinister chief argent three grenades in bend sinister bendwise sinister gules.

The name appears in the 21 April 2008 Atenveldt Letter of Intent.

3. Steffen von der Grün: NEW NAME and DEVICE
Or, a gurges vert and on a chief gules three arrows bendwise sinister Or.

Steffan is a 15th C. German masculine give name, "German Names from 1495," Aryanhwy merch Catmael ( http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/german/german1495.html ).

Grün is a 16th C. German, found in Etmologisches Wuurterbuch der Deutschen Familiennamen, Brechenmacher and Josef Karlmann, p. 601 of Brechenmacher; von der Grün is dated to 1583 under the heading Grün. von der Grün literally translates to "of the Green" [Altavista Babelfish]. This could be a field or a forest or a color he always wears, but usually it's a locative.

The client desires a male name and is most interested in the Meaning and language and/or culture of the name.

In the LoAR Cover Letter of July 2005 ( http://heraldry.sca.org/heraldry/loar/2005/07/05-07cl.html ), there is a lengthy commentary on the depiction of gurges. This is some of the cogent points:

"The gurges appears to be a purely Anglo-Norman heraldic charge, which in its earliest form was a series of concentric annulets. London's "Aspilogia II: Rolls of Arms of Henry III", p.152, describes the original arms of Rauf de Gorges as (in modern blazon) Azure, four concentric annulets argent. It began its heraldic life as an undoubted charge (or set of distinct charges, if you will).

"Bruce Draconarius of Mistholme provided some research on gurges:

"'For a charge that appears so early in the heraldic records, the gurges is remarkably hard to track down. I suspect it's because it was held by so few families, none of whom were prominent.

"'At any rate, I've found two period emblazons of the gurges, both for the canting arms of Rauf (or Rafe) de Gorges. One is found in the Fitzwilliam version of the Heralds' Roll, c.1265, which may be seen in "Anglo-Norman Armory I" by Humphery-Smith, p.72. It's drawn as six concentric azure annulets on an argent field, with the outer two annulets cut off by the edge of the shield. The other is from Charles' Roll, c.1285, which may be seen in "Aspilogia III: the Rolls of Arms of Edward I" by Brault, plate I. It's drawn as four concentric azure annulets on an argent field, with the outer annulet cut off by the edge of the shield.

"'Though these are the only period emblazons of gurges I could find, there are still a few verbal descriptions. The best source is probably "Aspilogia II: Rolls of Arms, Henry III" by London & Tremlett, pp.93, 152. The arms of Gorges are found in Glover's Roll, blazoned in the 1253 text, but tricked in a copy made in 1310 as four concentric annulets, none of which are cut off by the shield edge. Robert Glover, Somerset Herald 1570-88, copied these tricks, rendering the gorges in the spiral form which has been used ever since.'"

The "concentric ring" gurges, as depicted here, seems to be an early-period, accurate depiction of this unusual charge.

4. Uilliam mac Eoin: NEW NAME

The name is Scottish Gaelic.

Uilliam is a masculine given name found numerous times from 1302 to 1577 ("Index of Names in Irish Annals: Uilliam," Mari Elspeth nic Bryan, http://www.medievalscotland.org/kmo/AnnalsIndex/Masculine/Uilliam.shtml ). It is also found 1401-1600 ("Scottish Gaelic Given Names: For Men, Draft in Progress Edition," Sharon Krossa, http://www.medievalscotland.org/scotnames/gaelicgiven/index.shtml ).

Eoin is a masculine given name found numerous times from 1246 to 1600, in Mari's Index, http://www.medievalscotland.org/kmo/AnnalsIndex/Masculine/Eoin.shtml . The patronymic does not lenite.

The client desires a male name, is most interested in the language and/or culture of the name and would like the name to be authentic for language/cult and time period of 12-14^th C. Scottish Gaelic.

5. Zafira al-Zahira: NEW NAME and DEVICE

Gules estencelé inverted Or, a pair of rabbit ears argent within a bordure lozengy argent and sable.

The name is Arabic.

Zafira ("victorious") is a feminine given name found in "Jewish Women's Names in an Arab Context: Names from the Geniza of Cairo," Juliana de Luna ( http://heraldry.sca.org/laurel/names/geniza.html ). The author notes that although these are names used by Jewish women, they are mostly Arabic; the article only lists given names as well.

The feminization of al-Zahir to al-Zahira is found in a fairly recent registration by the College of Arms, with precedent for formation and registration of the name: Scheherazade al-Zahira. Name (see RETURNS for device). Submitted as Scheherazade al-Zahir, Scheherazade is her legal given name. The submitted form of the byname al-Zahir is a masculine form. Arabic descriptive bynames must match the gender of the given name. As the name Scheherazade is feminine, we have changed the byname to the feminine form al-Zahira in order to register this name. [  LOAR 01/03, http://heraldry.sca.org/loar/2003/01/03-01lar.html ] al-Zahiri is found as a byname in "Andalusian Names: Arabs in Spain," Juliana de Luna ( http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/juliana/andalusia/ ). 'Abd al-Zahir is a masculine given name found in "Period Arabic Names and Naming Practices," Da'ud ibn Auda ( http://heraldry.sca.org/laurel/names/arabic-naming2.htm ) . According to Wikipedia, Muhammad II, the great grandson of Abd al-Rahman III, deposed Hisham II as Caliph and destroyed Al-Mansur's palace complex of al-Madinat al-Zahira near Córdoba (15 Feb 1008) (Fletcher, 1992; Kennedy, 1996).   The article comments that "al-Madinat al-Zhira" means "The Shining City."

The client desires a female name.

Discussion on SCAHRLDS concerning the possibility of rabbit/hare's ears being used as a charge resulted in finding an early 20^th C. reprint (Banners, Standards and Badges of Howard(?) de Walden) of a period manuscript (provided by Aryanhwy merch Catmael) that shows a banner belonging to a Ma(y)ster Dymmoke with a semy of hare's ears and swords (the caption reads "Mayster Dymmoke. White, (the cross of St. George); sprinkled with (five) swords in black sheaths; and eight wreaths or and gules, on each a pair of hare's ears. The swords are evidently an allusion to the championship.") ( http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/sca/dewalden/p182.png )

Gawain of Miskbridge commented on the illustration: "I've never actually had my hands on the BWESNBN. I (think what you have in mind are the "cattails" issuant from the head of an angry armless demi-man I found as a crest in the Dover Clip Art "Heraldic Designs" book. I also found the same coat in Siebmacher, plate 101, where the man seems to be wearing a fool's cap with asses' ears. The coats is attributed to von Hesenburg.

"While looking for that I found a coat in plate 178, second from the left on the top row. Its crest is either a pair of rabbit ears or two feathers; I'm not sure which/ The same sort of thing also found a crest in plate 116, as the first coat on the left of the bottom row. Hope that helps. Whoops, I found an achievement on p. 16 of that Cover book, figure 220, which has a crest that's unequivocally a pair of rabbit's (or hare's) ears! I've attached that last one as a .gif file." To which Da'ud ibn Auda responds, "Those are definitely donkey/ass ears, not rabbit ears!"

This commentary is summarized and forwarded to Laurel; it includes the illustration of the Dymmoke banner and the achievement with the long, furry ears. It does seem apparent that "disembodied" ears, particularly rather unique ones that are strongly associated with certain beasts – rabbits, hares, donkeys and asses – were seen in period armory as crests , with charges from period crests allowed as armorial charges. (The client would prefer these blazoned as a rabbit's/hare's ears, as she is a proud "jingle-bunny.") Whether the charge on her device should be blazoned as a pair of rabbit's ears, or as a rabbit's massacre, since there's a bit of pelt joining the ears, is open for debate.

The estelencé seems inverted (the Pictorial Dictionary shows them as "one and two"). The client is fine with the current depiction on the submission, but if the College of Arms considers this a problem that would prohibit registration, she will provide new forms with the estelencé in the default orientation.

I was assisted in the preparation of this Letter by Helena de Argentoune and Aleyn Lyghtefote.

This letter contains 4 new names and 4 new devices. This is a total of 8 items, all of them new. A check to cover fees will be sent separately.

Thank you again for your great indulgence and patience, your expertise and your willingness to share it.

I remain,

Marta as tu Mika-Mysliwy

c/o Linda Miku

2527 East 3rd Street; Tucson AZ 85716

atensubmissions.nexiliscom.com

brickbat@nexiliscom.com

Commonly-Cited References

Black, George F. The Surnames of Scotland.

Medieval Names Archive. http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/

Ó Corráin, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire. Irish Names.

Reaney, P.H. and R. M. Wilson. A Dictionary of English Surnames, 2^nd Edition, 1976, reprinted 1979.

Withycombe, E.G., The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names, 3rd Edition. London, Oxford University Press, 1977.