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Proposal for updates to SENA Appendix A: Czech, part 1

One of the best resources for consulting heralds is Appendix A of SENA, as that provides lists of name patterns that do not require further documentation, sorted by language group. If you're not particularly familiar with a given language (and even if you are!), it's a fantastic resource to help you construct historically-plausible names using a structure that's been previously documented to period, without needing to reinvent the wheel every time. Things like "late period English names can use double bynames" or "French descriptive/occupational bynames may use the article le, la, l', les or un/une or omit it." Not every language is represented, but it's a fantastic starting point and one that I point every new consulting herald towards.

The Czech table, so far, has been empty, with merely the note "Czech: All patterns in Czech must be documented. Academy of Saint Gabriel report 3244 (http://www.s-gabriel.org/3244.txt) gives some leads for documenting Czech forms" below it as a starting point. This is minimally helpful, but as has been amply pointed out to me, there are very few people doing research into Czech names in the SCA, and similarly few people looking to register Czech names, so fixing it hasn't been a high priority for the College of Arms as a whole.

In the course of doing research into my own name a few years ago, I began making notes of the patterns I was seeing in Czech names, with an eye toward eventually (a) writing some papers in English about it (as there are plenty of papers in Czech about historical Czech names, but none in English) and (b) making updates to Appendix A, so that the answer for consulting heralds looking for help with Czech doesn't need to always be "go ask Anežka," as it's been the last few years. This past summer, finally tired of needing to yet again document a locative phrase (which is probably the single most common byname type in period Czech), I started trying to figure out what the actual process is for proposing an update.

ffride wlffsdotter taught a class at one of the recent Known World Heraldic and Scribal Symposia on making updates to Appendix A, since she'd recently proposed a number of updates to Latvian and Livonian; I attended that but didn't take very good notes, oops, so my process here was to go to OSCAR and look up the rules letters that contained those proposed updates, and borrow as much of the format as reasonably made sense. For example: https://oscar.sca.org/index.php?action=100&loi=7105.

The proposal I finally finished yesterday and sent in to Palimpsest, to be included on an upcoming rules letter, was what I would consider incomplete; there are several other byname types that appear regularly in period Czech, but I haven't gotten around to sufficiently cataloguing them yet. Fortunately, this isn't a "must be done all at once" sort of thing, so now that I've got locatives off my plate, I can start focusing on the other patterns.

I also feel very strongly that this proposal is likely lacking in detail and clarity, since it's the first one I've ever done, but that's part of why we have a commentary process before anything is accepted or returned for further work, and I'm trying not to let the perfect be the enemy of the good here. So: a first proposal for updates to the Czech table in SENA Appendix A.

Column 3: Locatives

Current: [blank]

New: Phrase: z/ze X (place-name in genitive case); adjectival (see notes)

New Note: Locative byname phrases in Czech-language documents take the preposition z/ze (“from/of”), followed by the place name in the genitive case. Use z in all cases except when the place name begins with z or s, in which case ze is correct.

Alternately, an adjectival form can be created by adding a suffix to the place name, following these general guidelines:

Place names ending in vowels drop their final vowels, then proceed from the final consonant. If the final consonant is c or s, add -ký for masculine names or -ká for feminine names. If the final consonant is k, replace it with -cký (masc.) or -cká (fem.). For most other final consonants, add -ský (masc.) or -ská (fem.); the main exception to this is final -h, which changes to final -ž before adding -ský or -ská. 

There are other types of locatives as well; those listed above are the most common and easiest to form for non-Czech speakers.

Documentation:

Adjectival locative bynames, all from Marta Štefková, Antroponyma v urbářích z 15.–17. století, https://is.muni.cz/th/u1ye5/:

  • Jan Pučovský, from Pučov, 1483

  • Vavřinec Benešovský, from Benešov, 1581

  • Matěj Bludovský, from Bludov, 1581

  • Jan Drnholecký, from Drnholec, 1581

  • Havel Frýdecký, from Frýdek, 1581

  • Petr Krmelínský, from Krmelín, 1581

  • Jan Ostravský, from Ostrava, 1581

  • Jan Rybský, from Rybí, 1581

  • Kristýn Skalický, from Skalice, 1581

  • Jakub Smolický, from Smolice, 1581

  • Martin Zábřežský mlynář dolní, from Zábřeh, 1581

Locative phrases:

From Štefková, cited above:

  • Mikeš z Světnova, from Světnov, 1483 

  • Šimko s synem jeho z Počítek, from Počítky, 1483

  • Pavlík z Drnholce, from Drnholec, 1581

  • Jiřík Karas z Příbora, from Příbor, 1581

  • Moc Šitavanc z Klokočova, from Klokočov, 1581


From Inventař: Zemské desky cúdy olomoucké (an index of digitized town records from period; the given names are all in the genitive case and spelling has been normalized), http://www.mza.cz/a8web/a8apps1/A3/A3-Inventar.pdf:

  • Jana z Kravař, from Kravaře, 1348

  • Jana z Kunštátu, from Kunštát, 1389

  • Viléma z Pernštejna, from Pernštejn, 1417

  • Jana z Cornštejna, from Cornštejn, 1437

  • Václava Boskovského z Boskovic, from Boskovice, 1480

  • Jana z Žerotína, from Žerotín, 1538

  • Zacharyáše z Hradce, from Hradec, 1558


From Eva Vepřeková, Edice Nejstarší městské knihy litovelské, https://is.muni.cz/th/z03m5/: 

  • Jacub z Michlowicz, from Michalovice, 1472

  • Bricci z Sternberka, from Šternberk, 1497

  • Bernart Zoubek ze Zdětína a na Chudobíně, from Zdětín, 1563

  • Hynek Bořek z Poličan, from Poličany, 1562

  • Jindřich Kobilka z Kobylího, from Kobylí, 1562

  • Hynek ze Zvole a na Dubčanech, from Zvole, undated but the source covers 1359-1577

Column 8: Double Bynames

Current: [blank]

New: Yes, all patterns late; see notes

New Note: Czech allows for double bynames where the second byname is either an occupational term or a locative phrase formed with the preposition z/ze and the place name in the genitive case. Occupational bynames are not capitalized. These patterns are all found no earlier than the 15th century.

Documentation:

Where the second byname is an occupational term, from Marta Štefková, Antroponyma v urbářích z 15.–17. století, https://is.muni.cz/th/u1ye5/:

  • Janek Vítkův mlynář (1483, Horní Bobrová, s. 137): mlynář = miller

  • Mikuláš Kocúr kovář (1581, Příbor, s. 34): kovář = blacksmith

  • Mikuláš Stehlík písař (1581, Příbor, s. 30): písař = scribe

Where the second byname is a locative phrase:

Štefková (cited above):

  • Jiřík Karas z Příbora (1581, Příbor, s. 41)

  • Moc Šitavanc z Klokočova (1581, Příbor, s. 32)


Eva Vepřeková, Edice Nejstarší městské knihy litovelské, https://is.muni.cz/th/z03m5/:

  • Bernart Zoubek ze Zdětína a na Chudobíně, 1563

  • Hynek Bořek z Poličan, 1562

  • Jindřich Kobilka z Kobylího, 1562

  • Bohuslaw Drahanovský ze Stvole, 1563

  • Martin Lisska z Wymperka, 1507

  • Martin Blanarz z Litomyšle, 1509

  • Vilem Berka z Dubé a z Lipého na Šternberku, 1562

Column 9: Order

Current: [blank]

New: 

given+byname

given+byname+locative phrase

given+byname+occupation

See the previous items for documentation of the new patterns.

---

Update: this proposal appears on the Palimpsest Rules Letter dated 02/12/2023 (https://oscar.sca.org/index.php?action=100&loi=7928), and additionally includes the following documentation for occupational bynames. My thanks to Jeanne Marie Palimpsest for asking relevant questions to get me to collate the data for this additional pattern.

Column 6: Descriptive/Occupational

Current: [blank]

New: Yes

Documentation:

All data from Marta Štefková, Antroponyma v urbářích z 15.-17. století, https://is.muni.cz/th/u1ye5/. Types and formats of occupational bynames:

In 1483, the name type "single occupational descriptor without other personal name" appears 43 times. These are not generally capitalized, and are things like "kovář" (blacksmith), "mlynář" (miller), "rychtář" (reeve or magistrate), "rytíř" (knight).

In 1483, the name type "given + occupation" appears 42 times. In these data from this year, the two names may appear in either order - "mlynář Škrob" vs "Múčka mlynář", e.g. The list of occupations is much broader in this dataset than in the no-personal-name dataset.

In 1581, the name type "given + occupation" appears 40 times. This dataset appears to exclusively have the given name precede the occupational term.

I have two examples of a feminized or diminutive ending "-ka" applied to one of these occupational bynames: "rychtářka" in 1483 (reeve or magistrate), and "Zuzka sklářka" in 1581 (glassblower, with a feminine given name).

A non-comprehensive set of examples of the type "given + occupation":

Jan Bednář (1483) - cooper
Vala/Vála Hudec (1483) - musician
Jiřík pastýř (1483) - shepherd
Míča topič (1483) - stoker
Mikuláš rychtář (1483) - reeve, magistrate
Vaněk kolář (1483) - cartwright
Vítek Košař (1581) - basket maker
Daniel Kramář (1581) - shopkeeper
Jan Misař (1581) - missionary
Jakub Kuchař (1581) - cook
Bartoš kovář (1581) - blacksmith
Bartošek hrnčíř (1581) - potter
Jura sklář (1581) - glassblower
Lukeš švec (1581) - shoemaker



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