Sara L Uckelman on Fri, 18 Mar 2005 20:02:27 -0600 (CST) |
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[HS] Lesson 7: Commonly used terms in onomastics |
Greetings! This lesson is going to be mostly a dictionary of terms. First of all: Onomastics - the study of names. Practitioners of onomastics are onomasticians, _not_ onomasichists. :) Byname - The term 'byname' is a broad category covering any part of the name which is not one of the given names. There are different types of bynames, and one more narrow category is that of: Surname - In the context of onomastics 'surname' is used with the narrow meaning of a fixed byname which is inherited, i.e., passed down from father (or sometimes mother) to child, or taken up marriage. These surnames generally are *not* being used literally to describe the bearer. For example, modern last names in the U.S. almost all fall under the category of 'surname'. For example, before I was married my name was <Sara Friedemann>; I had this surname because my father was <Scott Friedemann>, and not because I was a "peaceful friend". Patronymic byname - A byname based on the bearer's father's given name. This is type of byname still used in Iceland today. Patronymic bynames were used literally. I would have been known as <Scottsdaughter>, not <Scottson>, because I'm a girl and cannot be anyone's son. Less common were matronymic bynames, i.e. ones based on the bearer's mother's given name. Locative byname - A byname based on the bearer's location, e.g. <of London>. Occupational byname - A byname based on the bearer's occupation, e.g. <Baker>, <Cooper>, <Kaufman>, <Bauer>. Sometimes also called 'metonymic' bynames (not to be confused with 'matronymic' above), meaning "a figure of speech consisting of the use of the name of one thing for that of another of which it is an attribute or with which it is associated" (www.m-w.com). Descriptive byname - This is a catch all term. All literal bynames are descriptive - they describe your occupation, your location, your father's name, etc. However, this category also covers things like nicknames based on personal appearance, habits, or character. Forename, baptismal name - These are synonyms for 'given name'. Genitive case - Most medieval European languages had a case- based grammar, where the endings of the word change depending on what grammatical category the word is being used in. In names, the genitive case is what comes up the most frequently. In English, the genitive case is formed by adding <'s> at the end of a name, e.g. <John's> is the genitive case of <John>, and it is used to indicate possession. Other languages indicate the genitive case in different ways, but it has the same meaning: It indicates the possessive form of the name. The genitive case comes up most often when forming a patronymic byname. For example, you wouldn't say <John son>, you'd say <John's son>. Dative case - Rare, shows up primarily in the context of forming locative bynames in Old English. In Old English, the prepositions for 'of', 'from', and 'at' generally require that the name of the place be put into the dative case. Lenition - Lenition is a phonetic term, and it has to do with a change to certain consonants, best described as a 'softening.' For example, \s\ lenites to \sh\, \t\ lenites to \th\. Lenition comes up most commonly in the context of women's bynames in Gaelic; Gaelic grammar requires that these bynames be lenited (for more information on lenition, see "Lenition in Gaelic Naming Step By Step" http://medievalscotland.org/scotnames/lenitionstepbystep.shtml) Mutation - Mutation is the more general category under which lenition falls. In Welsh, women's descriptive bynames were usually the mutated form of the word; the mutation is again just a change in the initial consonant. I feel like I'm forgetting some, but I've mulled over this lesson for a few days now without thinking of any more. If I do, we'll just have a part 2. -Aryanhwy -- vita sine literis mors est http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/ _______________________________________________ heraldry-school mailing list heraldry-school@xxxxxxxxxxx http://lists.ellipsis.cx/mailman/listinfo/heraldry-school