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Use of native names by the Banu Qasi
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taf
Aug 9, 2021, 6:34:26 PM8/9/21
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As we have discussed here before, the Banu Qasi were a fractious linage of muwalad (descended from native Christian converts) nobility that at various times controlled the so-called Upper March of the Cordoba Emirate and ruled some of its towns.
One characteristic that has been noted in this family is its occasional use of names that originated in the local Basque and Hispano-Roman population.
One of these, Furtun, is easily recognizable as the Fortun that was one of the standard stable of names in neighboring medieval Pamplona. Its use by the family is no mystery. The name of the founder, recorded in the genealogy of Ibn Hazm as Qasi, is thought to represent the name Cassius, and it is his son, Furtun ibn Qasi, who is the earliest family member to bear this name. As he is the first-named son of the founder, and the remaining sons are given Arabic names or kunya (nicknames), it is thought that Furtun received his name before his father's 712 conversion, while the other sons were born afterwards (though the use of kunya may hide native names for the sons Abu Tawr and Abu Salima). There then follows a period where the surviving pedigree seems (based on chronology and passing mention of some family members in chronicles) to be inaccurate, but the only other non-Arabic name occuring during this period is that of Furtun ibn Musa (d. 802), presumably named after Furtun ibn Qasi, his presumed grandfather.
Where we again see an infusion of native names is among the siblings of Musa ibn Musa, who died in 862. His father was a Musa ibn Furtun, in the original pedigree son of Furtun ibn Qasi, but instead probably son of Furtun ibn Musa. We also know of one uncle, with the Arabic name of Zahir ibn Furtun. Where things get interesting is in the siblings of Musa ibn Musa. Here we see a constelation of novel names for the family: Garsiya, Lubb, Yunus and Yuartas. At least the first two of these are native names, equating to Garcia and Lope, while Yunus could have been Johanes (which was not common in Basque lands). In subsequent generations, Lubb joins Furtun as a frequently-used name in the family.
What spured this post was a sudden realization. Here we have, about 800, seemingly of a sudden following a period with no native names save Furtun, in the family since before 712, the appearnce of at least two and perhaps three novel native names, and notably, in the same generation with an attested religious intermarriage. Musa ibn Musa is reported by Ibn Hayyan to have been maternal half-brother of Inigo Arista of Pamplona and his brother Fortun Iniguez.
It could be just coincidence. These names could have been circulating unrecorded in the clearly incomplete Banu Qasi pedigree we have, or Musa ibn Furtun could just have 'gone native' in his onomastics during a period when the family was disenchanted with the Cordoba leadership. Still, I have to wonder if this isn't indicative of a strong native mother, and that the names of Lubb and Garsiya (at least) might mark them as full brothers of Musa and Inigo's immediate kinsmen. For Garsiya this is of no particular consequence as he has no known descendants but Lubb had three daughters who married Christian princes, so he may have surviving progeny, though definitive lineages from them are probably unattainable given the relevant records are sparse and error-prone.
If this marriage was a conduit for native names to be brought into the family, it might also explain the appearance of the name Awriyyah (i.e. the Christian/native name Aurea/Oria) in the next generation, given a daughter of Musa ibn Musa.
taf
One characteristic that has been noted in this family is its occasional use of names that originated in the local Basque and Hispano-Roman population.
One of these, Furtun, is easily recognizable as the Fortun that was one of the standard stable of names in neighboring medieval Pamplona. Its use by the family is no mystery. The name of the founder, recorded in the genealogy of Ibn Hazm as Qasi, is thought to represent the name Cassius, and it is his son, Furtun ibn Qasi, who is the earliest family member to bear this name. As he is the first-named son of the founder, and the remaining sons are given Arabic names or kunya (nicknames), it is thought that Furtun received his name before his father's 712 conversion, while the other sons were born afterwards (though the use of kunya may hide native names for the sons Abu Tawr and Abu Salima). There then follows a period where the surviving pedigree seems (based on chronology and passing mention of some family members in chronicles) to be inaccurate, but the only other non-Arabic name occuring during this period is that of Furtun ibn Musa (d. 802), presumably named after Furtun ibn Qasi, his presumed grandfather.
Where we again see an infusion of native names is among the siblings of Musa ibn Musa, who died in 862. His father was a Musa ibn Furtun, in the original pedigree son of Furtun ibn Qasi, but instead probably son of Furtun ibn Musa. We also know of one uncle, with the Arabic name of Zahir ibn Furtun. Where things get interesting is in the siblings of Musa ibn Musa. Here we see a constelation of novel names for the family: Garsiya, Lubb, Yunus and Yuartas. At least the first two of these are native names, equating to Garcia and Lope, while Yunus could have been Johanes (which was not common in Basque lands). In subsequent generations, Lubb joins Furtun as a frequently-used name in the family.
What spured this post was a sudden realization. Here we have, about 800, seemingly of a sudden following a period with no native names save Furtun, in the family since before 712, the appearnce of at least two and perhaps three novel native names, and notably, in the same generation with an attested religious intermarriage. Musa ibn Musa is reported by Ibn Hayyan to have been maternal half-brother of Inigo Arista of Pamplona and his brother Fortun Iniguez.
It could be just coincidence. These names could have been circulating unrecorded in the clearly incomplete Banu Qasi pedigree we have, or Musa ibn Furtun could just have 'gone native' in his onomastics during a period when the family was disenchanted with the Cordoba leadership. Still, I have to wonder if this isn't indicative of a strong native mother, and that the names of Lubb and Garsiya (at least) might mark them as full brothers of Musa and Inigo's immediate kinsmen. For Garsiya this is of no particular consequence as he has no known descendants but Lubb had three daughters who married Christian princes, so he may have surviving progeny, though definitive lineages from them are probably unattainable given the relevant records are sparse and error-prone.
If this marriage was a conduit for native names to be brought into the family, it might also explain the appearance of the name Awriyyah (i.e. the Christian/native name Aurea/Oria) in the next generation, given a daughter of Musa ibn Musa.
taf
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