[MR] [HERALDRY] Laurel RETURNS for April, 2002

[Gorm of Berra]

(Resending this since I don't think it came through last month)

UNto the Crown, Peers, and populace of Atlantia does Gorm of Berra, Golden 
Dolphin Herald, send greetings:

IN his meeting of April, 2002, Laurel considered the following items, which 
were on the December, 2001 Atlantian Letter of Intent.  Unfortunately, at 
that meeting, these items were RETURNED.  Their owners have received 
letters explaining the reasons for the returns, and have one year from the 
dates of those letters to resubmit a new item at no charge

(These were copied straight from the LoAR with minimal formatting, some 
formatting weirdness may occur)

Sarum Tor. Branch name.
This submission is being returned for lack of documentation of the element 
Sarum as a period placename element. The use of Sarum has previously been 
cause for return:
Unfortunately, Sarum is not the OE name for Salisbury, but rather is a 
ghost name. In manuscripts the Latin Saresberia was abbreviated to 
something that looks rather like Sa4. This was 'merely an early 
manifestation of the medieval scribe's habit of abbreviating such letters 
as ended in a horizontal stroke by means of a vertical stroke through 
this', but because the resulting symbol (represented here by 4) 'frequently 
stands for -rum', the abbreviation has been improperly extended to Sarum 
(Johnson & Jenkinson, 67). The contemporary form of the name can be seen in 
William de Salesberie (1115) and Robert de Salisbyr' (1273). Clearly Old 
Sarum must then have been called something like Old Salisbury; Old Sarum 
seems to be an antiquary's name for the older ruins, based on a misreading 
of the medieval records. [Ailith of Sarum, 'thelmearc-R, 11/97]
To address this precedent, the current submission provided documentation of 
use of Sarum from two documents. The first is a modern translation of a 
document, dating to 1227, referring to the church of Salisbury. As it is a 
modern translation, the use of Sarum is likely a rendering of the 
abbreviation described above. Regardless, without seeing the original Latin 
form of this document, this source gives no support for the use of Sarum as 
a placename element in period. The second source included in the 
documentation for this submission is an article on the Sarum Rite from an 
online Catholic Encyclopedia. This article is a modern description of a 
period rite. However, there is no indication of when the term Sarum Rite 
(also known as Sarum Use) came into use. As official documents of the 
Catholic Church in period were nearly exclusively in Latin, Sarum in this 
instance, is likely again a misinterpretation of an abbreviation for 
Salisbury as it derives its name from the bishop of Salisbury who organized 
it. Additionally, the LoI stated, "[t]here is also the Sarum Rite or Verse 
of Sarum, a variant of the Roman Catholic litergy[sic], mentioned in the 
OED with a date of 1570." This information supports Sarum Rite as an 
independent ecclesiastical term as of 1570. However, this is still not 
support for the use of Sarum in a placename.
The crux of the problem is the derivation of Sarum. First there existed a 
place named Salisbury. That placename was abbreviated in documents. At some 
point, the abbreviation was erroneously expanded to Sarum. Therefore, Sarum 
is effectively a backformation; the element Sarum was not used as an 
element when the placename was created. Given the OED citation, the word 
Sarum existed by late period. However, no evidence has been found that a 
new place would have been named using this erroneous expansion rather than 
the original name of Salisbury, which was still dominant.
Lacking evidence of Sarum actually used in a placename in period (rather 
than as an erroneous interpretation of an abbreviation), it is not 
registerable.
Additionally, this branch name was submitted without a designator. A 
designator such as Shire, Canton, Barony, et cetera, is required for 
registration.

Siegfried McClure. Device. Azure, a hunting horn argent.
Conflict with a badge of 'thelmearc for the Order of the White Horn, 
(Fieldless) a hunting horn argent (registered March 2002). There is one CD 
for fieldlessness but no other difference. The hunting horn in this 
submission is drawn without the traditional string. The tincture and exact 
disposition of the string of a hunting horn appear to be artistic license 
in period, so without documentation to the contrary, we assume that the 
presence or absence of the string is similarly artistic license.

Siegfried McClure. Badge. (Fieldless) A hunting horn argent.
Conflict with a badge of 'thelmearc for the Order of the White Horn, 
(Fieldless) a hunting horn argent (registered March 2002). There is one CD 
for fieldlessness but no other difference. The hunting horn in this 
submission is drawn without the traditional string. The tincture and exact 
disposition of the string of a hunting horn appear to be artistic license 
in period, so without documentation to the contrary, we assume that the 
presence or absence of the string is similarly artistic license.