Naming as an Instrument of Strengthening Early Medieval Dynastic Power

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Originally published by the International Journal of Environmental and Science Education (IJESE) 11:14 (2016, 7195-7205), republished by LOOK Academic Publishers under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.

Dr. Marina R. Zheltukhina (Professor of Theory of English, Volgograd State Socio-Pedagogical University)
Dr. Larisa G. Vikulova (Professor of Roman Philology, Moscow City Teacher Training University)
Dr. Gennady G. Slyshkin (Head of Social Sciences and Professional Communication, Moscow State University of Railway Engineering of the Emperor Nicholas II)
Dr. Ekaterina G. Vasileva (Associate Professor of Foreign Languages, Karelian Branch of the Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration)

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Abstract

The article examines the onomastic aspect of a medieval worldview through the analysis of naming principles for the kings of the Merovingian, the Carolingian and the Wessex dynasties. The etymological, structural and semantic analysis of the first Frankish and Anglo-Saxon kings’ names and by names is used. The etymology of the first Frankish and Anglo-Saxon kings’ names is given,and the review of their by names is made. Special emphasis is placed on the idea that the name chosen for the successor was aimed at preserving the dynastic succession and the legitimization of power. In addition, king’s personal charisma was strengthened through a proper noun. The ways of analysis are useful for development of contrastive and historical linguistics, theory of linguistics,naming theory.

Introduction

In historiographical tradition, which is characteristic of medieval societies,the history of a nation is portrayed, first, as the history of its political elite. The images of power represent a specific historical and cultural phenomenon. Among these images of great interest is the representation of a king and his power,which being one of the basic concepts of medieval political culture has its origins in the heroic epoch of Germanic tribes (Sannikov, 2009). This kind of thinking is relevant for the Franks as well, who flooded Gaul following the fall of Rome and gave birth to the Frankish state, and for the Anglo-Saxons, representatives of the German tribes of the Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Frisians, who won Britain in the V-VI centuries. In science, this period of French and English history and language is known as “germanisation”. The first Frankish state was ruled by the Merovingian dynasty, which was in the VIII century succeeded by the Carolings (in the beginning known as Pippinids) (Skrelina & Stanovaya, 2001). The Wessex dynasty represents the aristocratic family since 519 governing the kingdom Wessex in the southwest of England from 871 to 1066 – the United English Kingdom. The power of the dynasty was interrupted during an era of Danelaw (area of the Danish right; in Old English – Dena lagu; in Danish –Danelagen), then in the years of usurpation of an English crown by Dane SweynI Forkbeard and his successors and was finally stopped in 1066 with Harold II Godwinson’s death and with the victory of Norman William I the Conqueror in the Battle of Hastings. Medieval historians and historians of the language focus their attention primarily on the actions of sovereigns and men of power who determine nations’ fates.