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Historisk tidskrift 127:3 • 2007

Innehåll (Contents) 2007:3

Uppsatser (Articles)

Riddare Nils – från Dannäs eller rättrådig? Om ortnamnet Dannäs och en medeltida riddare

Gunlög Josefsson

Fulltext (pdf)

Summary

Sir Nils of Dannäs or Sir Nils the Righteous? On the place name Dannäs and a medieval knight

Dannäs is a parish and a manor located in Västbo, in the southwest of Jönköping County, Småland. Traditionally the place name Dannäs has been associated with the medieval knight Nils Dannæs, known from around 25 letters dating from 1335 to 1357. The connection between the place name Dannäs and Nils Dannæs was rejected by Lars-Olof Larsson, who assumed that the name Dannæs is an instance of the adjective dande, dandes meaning ’righteous’. On the basis of evidence drawn from orthography, morphology, and syntax it is shown that Larsson’s conclusion is improbable. The second part of the article shows that is it conceivable to assume a connection also in re between Nils Dannæs and the parish and manor Dannäs. It therefore seems reasonable to read Nils’ name Dannæs as referring to Dannäs.

The purpose of the article is not only to shed light on a particular historical problem, but to make a general point about the use of linguistic evidence and linguistic methods to solve problems in the historical sciences.

Keywords

Nils Dannæs, Dannes, Dannäs, dande, donde, orthography, morphology, linguistic methods