[MR] [HERALDRY] Laurel RETURNS from 2/2002

[Gorm of Berra]

Unto the Crown, Peers, and Populace of Atlantia does Lord Gorm of Berra, 
Golden Dolphin Herald, send greetings:

At his meeting in February, 2002, Laurel considered the following 
items.  Unfortunately, he was unable to register them, and therefore 
RETURNED them.  In all cases, the submitters have received mailings 
explaining the reasons for the returns, and will have one year from the 
date of those mails to resubmit revised items at no additional charge.

These items were forwarded by Atlantia in October, 2001.  Commentary on 
each items is verbatim from Laurel's Letter of Return.

Belphoebe de Givet. Name.
The submitter requested authenticity for 14th–15th C France. Belphoebe is a 
name unique to Spenser's The Faerie Queen. This character, the Fairie 
Queen, was an allegory for Elizabeth I. Belphoebe is unregisterable for two 
reasons. First, as it is allegorical, rather than being the name of a 
regular human character, it is not registerable as a name from period 
literature. Additionally, since Belphoebe was the name of the Faerie Queen, 
this name violates RfS VI.2, "Names containing elements that allude to 
powers that the submitter does not possess are considered presumptuous .... 
Such claims include ... given names that were never used by humans".
Her armory has been registered under the holding name Laura de Givet.

Cassair Warwick. Name.
Ó Corráin & Maguire (p. 46 s.n. Cassair) gives this as the name of a holy 
virgin included in the legend of Saint Kevin. No evidence has been found 
that this name was used by humans in period. Names of saints are 
registerable, regardless of whether they are apocryphal or not. This policy 
is due to the practice in many cultures (though not in Gaelic) of naming 
children for saints. (For more details, see the Cover Letter for the 
September 2001 LoAR.) As Cassair was not herself a saint and the name has 
not been documented as having been otherwise used in period, it falls into 
the category of a legendary name and is not registerable.

Cynwrig Chwith. Device. Paly sable and argent, a unicorn rampant 
counterchanged.
This is excessively counterchanged and non-period style. The unicorn is not 
identifiable when counterchanged over this multiply divided field. No 
documentation has been presented, nor could any be found, for the 
counterchanging of a complex-outlined charge over a multiply divided field.

Éile ingen Áeda. Name.
No documentation was presented and none could be found that the name Éile 
was used outside of legend. Lacking such evidence, this name is not 
registerable.

Owen Sherard Trahern. Device. Or, a winged lance sable.
Conflict with Angus Kerr, Or, a spear sable. There is but one CD for adding 
the wings.

Séamus mac Inneirghe. Badge. Argent, on a roundel between three oak leaves 
one and two vert a stag's head cabossed argent attired Or.
This was withdrawn on the February 2002 Atlantia LoI.

Taira no Akiyo. Name.
As no forms were received for this submission, it must be returned. 
Additionally, though no is included in the spoken name in Japanese, it is 
not included in the written name.

Teofilia Karaszkiewicz. Name.
This name is being returned for lack of documentation of Teofilia as a 
feminine given name. The name was documented from William F. Hoffman and 
George W. Helon, First Names of the Polish Commonwealth: Origins and 
Meanings. Nebuly says of documentation from this source:
The submitted documentation from Hoffman & Helon is explicitly post-period. 
As the authors themselves state on page 4, this book is designed for use by 
descendants of Poles who emigrated to English-speaking countries, and a 
large part of the work was based on First Names in Current Use in Poland. 
The book is in no way, shape, or fashion intended to be used by medieval 
recreationists and there are other far superior books for this purpose. The 
same criticism can be levelled at the use of Hoffman's Polish Surnames, 
which is another genealogical reference work. While both works are 
excellent for their intended niche, they are of no value in documenting 
medieval Polish practice.
Given this information, these sources should not be used for documentation 
of SCA name submissions.
The LoI stated that "The Catholic Online Saint's Index 
http://saints.catholic.org/stsindext.html#T list 10 different saints by the 
name of Theofilus, ranging in dates from 181 to 1676." These articles do 
not give an indication of which languages used the form Theophilius to 
refer to these saints. We would need such information to determine if a 
hypothetical Theophilia would be registerable in combination with a Polish 
byname. Nebuly searched for Teofilia in Polish:
I have checked my various Polish sources for evidence of Teofilia, and can 
find none. I do find the masculine name Theophilo as an ecclesiatical name 
in 15th century Poland (SSNO, s.n. Teofil), but this does not justify 
Teofilia. Slavic cultures did not form feminine names by tacking on 
feminine endings, as seems to have happened with some regularity in other 
parts of Europe.
Additionally, kingdom was unable to document the byname in Polish in period 
(though they found Russian variants) and requested the help of the CoA. 
Nebuly found documentation for the byname:
The byname is a patronym formed from a diminutive of the masculine byname 
Kara{s'} (a carp). According to Rymut (p.145, s.n. Kara{s'}), the byname is 
constructed as Karaszki + ewicz, where Karaszki is a diminutive and -ewicz 
is a patronymic suffix. The form Karasz appears as early as 1401 (SSNO, 
s.n. Kara{s'}) and Cie{s'}likowa has at least the diminutive form Karasek 
dated to 1450. This diminutive and the additional patronymic form 
Karaszowycz dated to 1489 (SSNO, s.n. Karasiowic) are probably sufficient 
to justify Karaszkiewicz. However, this is a masculine form of the byname 
and it would need to be altered to Karaszkiewicza for a feminine name.

Ulliam Ó Raghailligh. Name.
This name conflicts with William O'Reilly, a 20th C Australian cricketer 
who has his own entry in the Encyclopædia Britannica. Additionally, no 
documentation was presented for the spelling Ulliam rather than the normal 
Gaelic spelling Uilliam.

In service,

Gorm of Berra
Golden Dolphin Herald