Lingua Anglica

François la Flamme

2002.06

From Pelican: Some Issues Regarding the Lingua Anglica AllowanceIn the November 2001 Cover Letter, I called for comments regarding aspects of the Lingua Anglica Allowance. Specifically at issue were: Should there be a weirdness for use of the Lingua Anglica allowance? Should Lingua Anglica elements be viewed as English name elements or elements of their native language/culture? For example, would William of Saxony be viewed as an all-English name or a mix of English and German? Similarly, would Wilhelm of Saxony be viewed as a mix of German and English or as an all-German name? Should the Lingua Anglica allowance permit the mixing of name elements from languages/cultures that are not otherwise registerable in a name? For example, barring evidence of significant contact in period, mixing German and Welsh in a name is not currently registerable. Would Rhys of Saxony be viewed as mixing Welsh and English? Or would it be viewed as mixing German and Welsh and, therefore, be unregisterable?Much commentary was received on this topic and opinions were split on all of the issues. As Laurel, Bruce Draconarius of Mistholme outlined the purpose behind the Lingua Anglica Allowance (otherwise known as the Lingua Franca Allowance) in the Cover Letter that accompanied the January 1993 LoAR: A few recent registrations have left some commenters wondering about the exact status of the College's lingua francarules. Originally, these were simply the acknowledgement of a hard fact: that the grand majority of SCA folk speak modern English, not Russian, Saxon, Latin, Old Norse, or whatever. The principle was first expressed as a Board ruling (after they'd received correspondence written in medieval Latin!), and codified in the 1986 edition of the Rules for Submissions: "The official language of the Society is and shall be correct modern English ...Simple particles, such as 'of', may be used without necessarily increasing the counted number of languages contained in the name. The formula, whatever the original languages, is acceptable. This is the usual historian's manner, and therefore Otto of Freising is a familiar form, though he would have been Otto von Freising or some other more Geman or Latin version in most contemporary documents." [NR1]The same allowance for of is found in the current Rules (Rule III.2.a), though not spelled out in such detail. (28 March, 1993 Cover Letter (January, 1993 LoAR), pp. 2-3) Keeping this purpose in mind, the fairest way address the current issues is to not count the use of the Lingua Anglica Allowance as a weirdness and to view it as the original language when examining the name for lingual mixes. This policy upholds the precedent We have in the past returned such epithets as Fyrlocc, on the grounds that they didn't follow known period models for English bynames. However, given the recent documentation of Pyrsokomos "flame-hair" as a valid Greek epithet, we are now inclined to permit its lingua franca translation -- but only for names where the original Greek epithet would be acceptable. The submitter will have to demonstrate regular period interaction between Ireland and Greece before this name meets that criterion -- or else show the construction follows period English models. [Fiona Flamehair, R-An Tir, LoAR 05/93]Similarly, there would be no weirdness for use of the byname of Saxony as a Lingua Anglica version of the German byname von Sachsen. In the case of William of Saxony, this name would be considered a mix of the English William and the German von Sachsen. As mixing English and German in a name is registerable with a weirdness, this name has one weirdness for the lingual mix. Rendering von Sachsen as of Saxonyvia Lingua Anglica does not carry a weirdness. Therefore, this name has one weirdness and is registerable. In the case of Wilhelm of Saxony, the name combines the German Wilhelm with the German byname von Sachsen. Rendering von Sachsen as of Saxonyvia Lingua Anglica does not carry a weirdness. Therefore, the name has no weirdnesses and is registerable. In the case of Rhys of Saxony, this name combines the Welsh Rhys with the German byname von Sachsen. As mixing Welsh and German in a name is not registerable, this name is not registerable under the Lingua Anglica Allowance. To quote Bruce's ruling again, this policy "seems to be the best compromise between the needs of authenticity and ease of use." (March 28, 1993 Cover Letter (January 1993 LoAR), pp. 2-3). [Cover Letter for the 06/2002 LoAR]