A Case for "Thyra, vina Ulfs"

Lady Halla in heppna Knorsdóttir, Scalene Pursuivant

A. Given name – "Thyra"

I would like to present the following justification for the name "Thyra":

Concerning the SCA representation of names found originally in Norse runes, in "Collected Precedents of the S.C.A.: Non-Roman Alphabets / Transliteration", under "No Room for Runes":

"But in the case of Old Norse names, transliteration is unnecessary, because there was already a standard way to write these names in the Roman alphabet. Therefore we will follow period usage and write Old Norse names as they would have been written in the Roman alphabet."

With this precedent in mind, if a Danish name is found in Latin in a period source, then would the English spelling of that name be acceptable for use in the Society?

"Thyra" is found in "The Danish History, Books I-IX by Saxo Grammaticus (‘Saxo the Learned’)", based on "The Nine Books of the Danish History of Saxo Grammaticus", translated from the Latin by Oliver Elton. In the original Latin text, Gesta Danorum, written in the early 13^th century by the Danish historian Saxo Grammaticus, the name is spelled "Thira".

Below are excerpts of both texts that include the name "Thira" or "Thyra":

Latin: "Quo evenit, ut Thira filios suos paternorum bonorum heredes non invidenter exheres ipsa conspiceret."
English: "Hence Thyra saw her sons inheriting the goods of her father, not grudging to be disinherited herself."

Latin: "Cumque forte Thira haud dubium de eiusdem exitio nuntium accepisset,…"
English: "As it chanced, Thyra heard sure tidings that this son had perished."

Latin: "Et Thira: 'Id ipsum', ait, 'tuo potius quam nostro declaratur augurio.'"
English: "And Thyra said: "That is proclaimed by thy presage, not by mine."

B. Byname – "vina Ulfs"

I would like to present the following justification for this constructed byname:

"vina Ulfs" is intended to mean "friend of Ulfr". The form "friend of [given name, genitive case]" is documentable:

vinr Véþorms (a friend of Veþorm’s)
Found in Egils saga, in the poem "Arinbjarnar-drápa"/"Arinbjarnarkviða" (Arinbjörn’s Epic), believed to be written in the 13^th century by Snorri Sturluson.

In the poem, Egil Skalla-Grímsson calls Arinbjörn "vinr Véþorms", referring to one Véþormr, son of Végeirr, according to Sophus Bugge in The Home of the Eddic Poems With Especial Reference to the Helgi-Lays. Bugge cites Landnámabók, and indeed, the name "Véþormr" is found amongst the male given names found in this source!

From this, the following can be constructed:

vina Ulfs (a friend of Ulf’s)
"Ulfr" is a male given name found 21 times in Landnámabók, of which surviving versions date to the 13^th century. The genitive form of this name would be "Ulfs", as names or words ending in "-r" change to "-s" in the genitive, according to Aryanwhy merch Catmael in "A Simple Guide to Creating Old Norse Names."

"vina" is the feminine form of "vinr" (friend); it is defined as "a female friend" on page 707 of Cleasby-Vigfusson’s An Icelandic-English Dictionary, "the most comprehensive and authoritative dictionary on Old Icelandic."
I believe that the correct form to use here would be the feminine, as Thyra would be a female friend of Ulf.

C. Full name – "Thyra, vina Ulfs"

The form "Thyra, vina Ulfs" is also similar to two other documented examples of Scandinavian bynames denoting relationships, found in runic inscriptions dated to the 11^th century, as listed in "The Bynames of the Viking Age Inscriptions" by Lindorm Eriksson.

Ásbjôrn, heimþegi Tóka (Ásbjôrn, Tóki’s retainer)
This name is in the nominative case.
In the byname, "Tóka" is the genitive form of "Tóki", as names ending in "-i" change their ending to "-a".
Ásulfs, drengs Knúts (Ásulfr, Knútr’s valiant man)
This name is in the genitive case.
The nominative form of the given name "Ásulfs" would be "Ásulfr".
In the byname, "Knúts" is the genitive form of "Knútr", and "drengs" is the genitive form of "drengr".
Eriksson gives this name in the nominative case as "Ásulfr Drengs Knútr", which might also be represented as "Ásulfr, drengs Knútr" or "Ásulfr drengs Knútr".

Bibliography

"A Simple Guide to Creating Old Norse Names". Aryanhwy merch Catmael (Sara L. Friedemann). [http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/sg-viking.htm]

"The Bynames of the Viking Age Inscriptions". Lindorm Eriksson (Chirster Romson). [http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/lindorm/runicbynames/]

"The Bynames of the Viking Age Inscriptions: Titles". Lindorm Eriksson (Chirster Romson).

[http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/lindorm/runicbynames/titles.htm#start]

"Collected Precedents of the S.C.A.: Non-Roman Alphabets / Transliteration".

[http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/precedents/CompiledNamePrecedents/NonRomanAlphabetsTransliteration.html]

"The Danish History, Books I-IX by Saxo Grammaticus (‘Saxo the Learned’)".

[http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/OMACL/DanishHistory/book9.html]

Egils saga. Snorri Sturluson. [http://www.snerpa.is/net/isl/egils.htm]

Gesta Danorum, Liber IX. Saxo Grammaticus.

[http://www.kb.dk/elib/lit/dan/saxo/lat/or.dsr/9/11/index.htm]

An Icelandic-English Dictionary (online version). Richard Cleasby and Gudbrand Vigfusson.

[http://penguin.pearson.swarthmore.edu/~scrist1/scanned_books/html/oi_cleasbyvigfusson/b0707.html]

Scanned original:

[http://penguin.pearson.swarthmore.edu/~scrist1/scanned_books/png/oi_cleasbyvigfusson/b0707.png]

"Viking Names found in the Landnámabók". Aryanhwy merch Catmael (Sara L. Friedemann). [http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/landnamabok.html]

"XI. Helgi Hundingbani, A Danish King." The Home of the Eddic Poems With Especial Reference to the Helgi-Lays. Sophus Bugge, translated by William Henry Schofield. [http://www.northvegr.org/lore/poems/011_01.php]