[MR] Looking For A Name? - German

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Greetings unto those patrons of the Merry Rose and all travelers herein from Gisela in Sacred Stone, a sometime herald

Often times when people come to an SCA herald to register a name, they want it to have a particular meaning. The problem is that unless we have a grasp of a language or have read extensively through primary documents or good academic sources, we can take only the most obvious names when subtlty and deeper understanding of the cultures we study is what we really want.

I am going to post a short list of names from a good German resource. If the practice is one folks find helful and edifying, I will continue, on no particular schedule, with other resources for other cultures. If the good gentles of the Merry Rose find this a wasteful practice, I will find some other way to spread the information. I am at your service and mercy.

Remember that the process to register an name in the SCA has a set of rules that can be found on the Laurel Web page at http://heraldry.sca.org/welcome.html You want to use a good source that includes the period spelling of the name with dated examples and use good period construction with other name elements that would be appropriate to that time and place. Find a herald and work with them. 

Tonight, for your contemplative enjoyment I have a copy of Hans Bahlow's Dictionary of German Names, the English translation by Edda Gentry.In it we find the following names which might be of some interest:

Schirmer - fencer, fencing master, travelers who practiced their arts for money at annual fairs; Reinhard Schirmer recorded in Liegnitz in 1348 and Nicolaus Schirmer or Schermer recorded in Prague in 1401

Schenke which in Middle High German meant a servant who pours drinks. As a name for a town dweller [non-noble] Schenk means an innkeeper or tavern owner. It is used as an element in such other names as Beirschenk and Weinschenk; Witche der Schenke is recorded in Liebgnitz in 1383

Dr[u:]ckescherf is literally a penny pincher (it means 'press scherf' another word for pfenning) a person named A.B. Dr[u:]kkescherf is recorded in Barth 1338

Fein(e)- fine or elegant in behavior and dress from the Middle High German 'fin' which came through the French from the Dutch 'fijn'. Arnoit Vin is recorded in Cologne in 1159, Konrad Fynlin in W[u]rt in 1419 and Fyngeselle in Trier in 1419 which, nearly as I can tell, means 'fine friend'

Karsch -lively or vivacious. Joh. Karsche is recorded near Rostock in 1416

Fenchel- Hermann Fenchel near Wetzlar in 1347, Kardemom - Joh. Caremoume Lubeck in 1334 and Peper- Bertram Peper in Lubeck in 1318 and Hermann Peperkornin 1338 for spice dealers

Sleep well and Happy Halloween . . . Happy Samhain . . . . Happy New Year

~gise