Marselius på Rudlebakken og Asseline Justine Gustava på Dokkeholen : namnebruken i Torvald Tus Jær-stubbar og hugnadssoger

Abstract

This article considers the use of names - personal names and place -names - in the short comic pieces by the Norwegian author Torvald Tu (1893-1955). Some 500 persons (300 men and 200 women) are mentioned in nine books published between 1920 and 1954. Derivations with the suffixes -ina, -ine, -ette and -(i)a, e.g. Mal(l)ina, Jorina, Gurina, Serina, Bertine, Josafine, Olette and Matea, belong to the most used female names, some of them appear in combination with other names, e.g. Anne Petrina, Darte Mallina and Asseline Justine Gustava. Such names were much used in Norway in the middle of the 19th century, however they were most likely regarded as outdated when Tu's books were published. A number of place-names, especially farm names, appearing in the pieces are identical with names from the author 's home place Klepp in Jæren (southwestern Norway). Identification of the per­sons by mentioning their first name and a popular name of the place (farm) where they live, e.g. Hallvard paa Reino, Marselius pa Rudlebakken and Inger i Lufto, is in accordance with traditional naming in Jæren. Some of the spellings fit with the dialect, e.g. Hauane, Brekkevodd'l, Lynghod'l and Hedlebrekko. Combination of long, sometimes pompous and old-fashioned personal names with farm names in the local dialect adds to the comic character of the persons, e.g. Marselius på Rudlebakken, Aksliane på Dontevod'l, Asseline Justine Gustava på Dokkeholen. This effect is enforced by the semantic content of some names: Darte Maria i Skrattlehagjen (skratla vb. 'laugh loudly'), Karl Kornelius i Surpebraatet (surpe fem. 'mud, dirt') and Sigvald i Sturtebakken (sturta vb. 'fall down').