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1c.
This historiography was prepared individually for the Swetland surname on November 26, 1973 at
the request of Mr. Mark Swetland
The coat-of-arms
illustrated left was drawn by a heraldic artist based upon information
about the Swetland surname and its association with heraldry.
In the language of the ancient heralds, the arms are described as follows:
"Quartered: 1st, or; the letter "S"
sa.; 2nd and 3rd, gu.; a dragon rampant
vert,: 4th, cheguy or and sa. Charged with a small inner shield vert."
The Swetland arms is translated:
Divided into
quarters: 1st quarter, gold background; a black initial
"S", 2nd and 3rd quarters, red
background; a green dragon standing
upright; 4th quarter, checkered; alternating squares gold and
black. A small green inner shield placed over all.
A dragon is the
guardian of riches and knowledge. Seven
vivid colors were chosen for use on shields of armor-clad kniahts to
easily identify them at a distance. The heraldic colors gold, silver, purple,
blue, green, black, and red were preserved on colorless drawings by dot and line symbols. The Swetland coat-or-arms incorporated green.
The color green represents hope,
vitality, plenty.
Information
available indicates that in 1972 there were less than 300 households in the U. S. with the old and
distinguished Swetland name. In comparison, some family names represent over 400,000 households in the
United States.
This report does
not represent individual lineage of the Swetland family tree and no genealogical
representation is intended or implied.
©1973 Halberts
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1d.
YOUR
NAME AND YOUR
COAT OF ARMS Priceless
Gifts From History
Until about 1100
A.D. most people in Europe had only
one name (This is still true in
some primitive countries today). As
the population increased it became awkward
to live in a village wherein perhaps
1/3 of the males were named John,
another sizable percentage named William,
and so forth.
And so, to distinguish
one John from another a second
name was needed. There were four
primary sources for these second
names. They were: a man's occupation,
his location, his father's name or some
peculiar characteristic of his. Here
are some examples.
Occupation: The local house builder, food preparer, grain grinder and suit maker would be named respectively: John Carpenter, John Cook, John Miller, and John Taylor.
Location: The John who lived over the hill became known as John Overhill,
the one who dwelled near a stream
might be dubbed John Brook or
perhaps John Atbrook.
Patronymical: (father's name): Many of these surnames can be recognized by the termination—son, such as Williamson, Jackson, etc. Some endings used by other countries to indicate "son"
are: Armenian's—ian, Dane's
and Norwegian's —sen,
Finn's—nen, Greek's—pulos, Spaniard's—ez, and Pole's—wiecz . Prefixes denoting "son" are the
Welsh— Ap, the
Scot's and Irish-—Mac, and the Norman's—Fitz. The
Irish 0' incidentally denotes grandfather.
Characteristic: An
unusually small person might be labeled Small, Short, Little or Lytle. A large man might be named Longfellow, Large, Lang, or Long. Many persons having characteristics of a certain animal would be given the animal's name. Examples: a sly person might be named Fox; a good swimmer, Fish; a quiet man, Dove; etc.
In addition to
needing an extra name for identification,
one occupational group found it
necessary to go a step further. The
fighting man: The fighting man of the
Middle Ages wore a metal suit of armor
for protection. Since this suit of armor
included a helmet that completely covered
the head, a knight in full battle dress
was unrecognizable. To prevent friend
from attacking friend during the heat
of battle, it became necessary for each
knight to somehow identify himself. Many knights accomplished this by painting colorful patterns on their battle shields. These patterns were also woven into cloth surcoats which were worn over a suit of armor. Thus was born the term, "Coat of Arms."
As this practice
grew more popular, it became more
and more likely that two knights
unknown to each other might be using
the same insignia. To prevent this,
records were kept that granted the right
to a particular pattern to a particular
knight. His family also shared his
right to display these arms. In
some instances, these records have been
preserved and/or compiled into book form. The records list the family name and an exact description of the "Coat of Arms" granted to that family.
Interest in
heraldry is increasing daily. This
is especially true among people who have a measure of family pride and who resent attempts of our society to reduce each individual to a series of numbers stored somewhere in a computer. In our matter-of-fact day and age, a "Coat of Arms"is one of the rare devices remaining
that can provide an incentive to
preserve our heritage. We hope
you'll agree that it is much more
than just a wall decoration.
If you are
interested in a more in-depth study
of the subject of this paper, may we
suggest you contact the genealogical department of any fair-sized public library. We especially recommend the "Dictionary of American Family Names" published by Harper & Row and also
"The Surnames of
Scotland" available from the New
York Public Library as excellent sources
on the meaning of surnames.
Nancy L.
Halbert
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