Last modified: October 7, 2006

Outlands College of Heralds

October 7, 2006
From the Office of the Castle Herald
Baronessa Francesca di Pavia, OP, OL
castle@outlandsheralds.org

UNTO the Outlands College of Heralds, our respected friends and colleagues who give freely of their time to provide commentary, and all others who come by these letters, on this 7th day of October, A.S. xxxxi (2006 CE), does Maestra Francesca di Pavia send greetings on behalf of The Honourable Lady Sorcha MacLeod, White Stag Principal Herald.

Here follows the Kingdom of the Outlands Letter of Presentation for October 2006. Your comments and suggestions are always welcome. Errors found herein are undoubtedly mine.

Anyone may comment upon the items found herein, and e-mail commentary to the Rampart address is encouraged. Please have comments on items contained herein to Rampart, Furukusu Masahide-dono, by November 18, 2006, for the Rampart decision meeting tentatively scheduled for November 19, 2006.

Line Emblazon Sheet
Color Emblazon Sheet
October 2006 Letter of Presentation
November 2006 Letter of Response
November 2006 Letter of Intent
March 2007 LoAR Results
Return to the Rampart home page.

I present the following items for your consideration:

1.  Fontaine dans Sable, Barony of.  Order name resubmission: Order of the Guardians of Fontaine.
(Fontaine dans Sable) No major changes accepted.
This has been previously submitted as the Order of the Oasis Guardians, Order of the Guardians of the Oasis, and Order of the Western Guardians. The most recent return was on the March 2006 LoAR. The new name is submitted under the "Group + Placename" pattern as cited in Project Ordensnamen (www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/order). "Oasis" was deemed too generic to be considered a place under this guideline. "Western Guardians" was judged to be in conflict with the Order of the Chivalry of the West Kingdom. "Fontaine", as the name of the Barony, should satisfy the placename standard. This award is given for excellence in martial endeavor.

2.  Fontaine dans Sable, Barony of.  Order name resubmission: Order of the Hourglass.
(Fontaine dans Sable) No major changes accepted.
This has been previously submitted as the Order of the Sands and Order of the Wellspring. The most recent return was on the July 2006 Letter of Response. The new name is submitted under the "Thing" pattern as cited in Project Ordensnamen (www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/order). "Sands" was determined to be too generic to be registerable under this heading. "Hourglass" corrects this issue - it is very specific. "Wellspring" was found to have been attempted and returned by Laurel on at least two other occasions. This award is to be given to newcomers to the SCA who show great promise.

3.  Fontaine dans Sable, Barony of.  Order name resubmission: Order of the Palma Aurea.
(Fontaine dans Sable) No major changes accepted.
This has been previously submitted as the Order of the Golden Frond, Order of the Golden Palm, and Order of the Palma Aurum. The most recent return was on the November 2005 Letter of Response.  "Frond" was returned as not documentable as a period term. "Golden Palm" was returned for conflict with the Household of the Golden Palm. "Palma Aurum" was returned for improper Latin grammar.  The new name is submitted under the "Color + Thing" pattern as cited in Project Ordensnamen (www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/order). This resubmission addresses the grammar issue, using the form suggested by Rampart in the above-referenced Letter of Response. Though Rampart suggested that the entire name be in Latin ("Ordo Palma Aurea"), the submitters wish to have "Order of the" in English for the sake of consistency with its other Orders.

This award is given for excellence in the Arts and Sciences. Should the registration of this name be successful, the Barony wishes it to be associated with the badge Azure, a palm frond Or within an orle of fleurs-de-lys bases outward argent, registered to the Barony in June 2005.

4. Fontaine dans Sable, Barony of.  Order name resubmission: Order of the Sprite.
(Fontaine dans Sable) No major changes accepted.
This has been previously submitted as the Order of the Small Fountain, which was returned on the March 2006 LoAR. Laurel determined that there was no evidence for size-related adjectives in period order names. The new name is submitted under the "Creature" pattern as cited in Project Ordensnamen (www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/order).  "Sprite" is a term that has several slightly different meanings in various mythos throughout medieval Europe. It is generally an elf-like creature known for youthful jubilation. The term "sprite" is derived from the Middle English word "spreit", which itself is derived from the Old French "esprit", or spirit. The spelling "sprite" is dated to c. 1303 in the Online Etymology Dictionary (http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=sprite). This award is given to children in the Barony who possess exceptional merit.

5.  Fontaine dans Sable, Barony of.  Order name resubmission: Order of the Winged Pheon.
(Fontaine dans Sable) No major changes accepted.
This has been previously submitted as the Order of the Vol, which was returned on the March 2006 LoAR. The previous submission was returned because the vol is a heraldic charge not verifiably used in period. It was also judged to be in conflict with the registered heraldic title of Volk Herald. This submission fixes these problems. The new name is submitted under the "Thing" pattern as cited in Project Ordensnamen (www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/order). Previous commentary has indicated that any usable heraldic charge should be registerable under the "thing" standard. As a pheon is a charge that was used in period heraldry, and it is a common practice to attach wings to objects that are not winged in the real world, this should be permissible. This award is given to gentles displaying excellence in archery.

6. Raisa Zaplatskaya. Device resubmission. Gules, a mask divided per pale argent and sable, comedy to dexter and tragedy to sinister, all within a bordure argent and sable.
(Dragonsspine)
The name was registered in January 2005.  The previous device submission, Gules, a demi-fool issuant from base, masked sable, capped and collared argent, cloaked lozengy argent and sable, all counterchanged per pale, was returned on the January 2006 LoAR:  "The submitted emblazon bears no resemblance to period armory. The "demi-fool" doesn't look like a human figure, as it lacks arms, legs, and body. As drawn, it looks more like a per chevron field with a mask of comedy balanced at the point. Having the whole figure counterchanged per pale is visually confusing, owing more to modern advertising design than to period emblazonry. The total effect is one of visual confusion and lack of identifiability, which are grounds for return. If she resubmits with a true human figure in blazonably simple tinctures, it should be acceptable style."  This is a complete redesign.

7. Readstan, Canton of. Name resubmission.
(Incipient Canton of Readstan/Barony of Caerthe) No major changes accepted. The submitters care most about the meaning of the name.
The previous submission, Bloodstone Keep, was returned on the August 2005 LoAR: "No documentation was submitted and none found to suggest that bloodstone was a reasonable descriptive element for a castle name. In this case, the construction is argued as surname + keep. So, to be used in a castle name Bloodstone must be a reasonable inherited surname. Although the word bloodstone is dated in the OED to 1551, this is as a type of stone. It was argued that the name might be a sort of descriptive byname. Indeed, the word is registerable as a late period nickname, but a nickname found only in the latter half of the 16th century is not an appropriate candidate for an inherited surname in our period. The only evidence of Bloodstone as a surname is from a genealogy site, but such sites have long been noted as not appropriate for name documentation purposes."

The incipient canton wishes its name to reflect the topography which makes up most of its western border, ie ridgelines of red stone. "Readstan" is proposed as an Old English form of "red stone".

"A Survey of English Placenames" by Dame Cateline de la Mor la souriete  (http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/engplnam.html) cites numerous examples of topographic placenames: "Examples of topographic names are not hard to find. Topographic names containing a personal name include Edgmond (Shropshire) "hill of a man called Ecgmund" (Mills, p. 117) and Edingale (Staffordshire) "nook of land of the family or followers of a man called *Eadin" (Mills, p. 117). Blackmoor (Hampshire) "dark­coloured pool" (Mills, p. 39) and Grinlow (Derbyshire) "green hill or mound" (Mills, p. 149) demonstrate topographic names containing colors. Types of soils are found in Clayhanger (West Midlands) "Clayey wooded slope" (Mills, p. 82) and Stanfield (Norfolk) "stony open land" (Mills, p. 306). Position is indicated by Upwood (Cambridgeshire), meaning "higher wood" (Mills, p. 340). Dalwood (Devon) shows a location: "wood in a valley" (Mills, p. 102). Condition is indicated by Windle (Lancashire), Defford (Herefordshire and Worcestershire) and Hendon (Greater London) meaning respectively "windy hill" (Ekwall, p. 522), "deep ford" (Mills, p. 103) and "(place at) the high hill" (Mills, p. 168). Tree names cam be found in Oakley (Bedfordshire) "wood or clearing where the oak­trees grow" (Mills, p. 246), Withycombe (Somerset) "valley where the willow­trees grow" (Mills, p. 366) and Birchover (Derbyshire) "ridge where birch­trees grow" (Mills, p. 37). Examples of topographic names containing wild plants are Gorsley (Gloucestershire) "woodland clearing where gorse grows" (Mills, p. 146) and Redmire (North Yorkshire) "reedy pool" (Mills, p. 270). Flaxley (Gloucestershire) is a topographical name containing the name of a crop (Mills, p. 133). The name of wild animals are found in Deerhurst in Gloucestershire (Mills, p. 103) and Foxt in Staffordshire (Mills, p. 135). Names of domesticated animals are found in Callerton (Northumbria) and Shiplake (Oxfordshire), meaning "hill where calves graze" (Mills, p. 64) and "sheep stream" (Mills, p. 294). Bird names can be found in Dunnockshaw (Lancashire) "small wood or copse frequented by hedge­sparrows" (Mills, p. 111) and Ousden "valley frequented by owls" (Mills, p. 250). Islip (Northamptonshire) shows the use of a river name in a topographic name "slippery place by the River Ise" (Mills, p. 188)."

This article also gives evidence of "read" meaning "red" and "stan" meaning "stone" in Old English: "Old Norse and Old English had many similar sounding words with the same meaning, such as their words for stone stan in Old English and steinn in Old Norse. Old Norse cognates have been substituted for Old English elements in some names. For instance, Stainton is a Scandinavianized form of Stanton (Ekwall, p. 436), both of which usually mean "tun on stony ground" (Ekwall, p. 438). The Old Norse rauthr is believed to have been substituted for Old English read, both of which mean "red", in names like Rawcliffe and Rawmarsh (Ekwall, p. 382)."

These Old English words can also be found at http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/gunnvor/LincolnshirePlacenames/Lincolnshire4.htm:, which gives examples (Sidestan 1086 - "the broad stone") showing that "stan" could be an end-name element, which was not clearly shown in the previously referenced article.

"Read" is additionally defined as equivalent to the Modern English word "red" in the Memorial University of Newfoundland's Modern English to Old English translation wordlist, online at http://www.mun.ca/Ansaxdat/vocab/wordlist.html#r.

A petition signed by the members of the Canton approving this name is included with the submission.


Thus ends the October 2006 Letter of Presentation.

Your servant,

Francesca, Castle Herald

Line Emblazon Sheet
Color Emblazon Sheet
October 2006 Letter of Presentation
November 2006 Letter of Response
November 2006 Letter of Intent
March 2007 LoAR Results
Return to the Rampart home page.

.