ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1090 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1090 ************************************ ************************************************* * * * NOTE: Later research turned up additional * * information relevant to this report. * * See the end of the letter for details. * * * ************************************************* 25 Jul 1998 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked for information about the French name <Andre/ D'Anju Le Rechin>, meaning "Andre/ of Anjou the smart alec". (The slash represents the accent on the <e>.) Here is what we have found. We find examples of <Andre/> in the 14th century and later [1, 2, 4]. Before that, the name seems to have been most often spelled <Andri> and <Andriu>. We also found some 13th century diminutive forms of the name: <Andriet>, <Andrion>, <Androuet>, <Andryet> [1, 3]. There were two common ways of identifying one's place of origin in medieval French names: a prepositional phrase with <de> and the place name, or an adjective based on the place name. A man from Anjou is called an Angevin, so the name <de Anjou> meant effectively the same thing as <l'Angevin>. The name <Anjou> was recorded as <Anjo> in the 12th and 13th centuries [2, 5]. <Anjou> appears to be a later-period spelling. The adjective form, <l'Angevin>, was recorded in Paris in 1292 [5]. A bit earlier, we find Anglo-Normans called <William Angeuin> 1150, <Reginald Langeuin> 1194, and <Godfrey Aungewin> 1247 [9]. The <u> and <w> in these bynames represent the \v\ sound in "Angevin". Fulk IV, count of Anjou in the late 11th century, was called <Foulques le Re/chin>, meaning "Fulk the Surly" [8]. We could not find this word in any of our French or Old French dictionaries, so we can't say whether your translation "smart alec" is valid. We did find the similar Old French words <rechin> means "mouth (of some animals), jaws, chops, the act of looking sulky, sullen, grim; the bray of an ass" [6], and <resque> "harsh, rough (of surface, wine, humor); crabbed, cross-grained (of human nature)" [7]. If <re/chin> is related to one of these words, then "surly" seems to us a more likely meaning than "smart alec". If you want to set your persona before the 14th century, then we recommend you consider a name like <Andriu d'Anjo>, <Andri l'Angevin>, or <Andrion li Re/chin>. You'll notice that we've spelled the article <li> rather than <le> in the last example. In Old French, the nominative form of masculine singular article was <li>. If you use both bynames, we suggest that you put the descriptive <li Re/chin> first; that matches patterns of usage that we've seen in period names [1]. You don't need to stick with only one of these forms: It would be quite authentic for you to use each of these three forms interchangably! If you want a later-period persona, then you could consider names like <Andre/ d'Anjou>, <Andre/ li Re/chin>, or <Andre/ Re/chin d'Anjou>. The later you go, the more likely it is that <Re/chin> would have been a family surname rather than a specific description of you. In that case, the article <li> or <le> would very likely have been dropped. This is particularly true because <re/chin> is not a modern French word, so any Frenchman living after the 15th century or so would have no idea that it had a meaning beyond its use as a surname. Finally, please note that in all the forms we've suggested, we spell the preposition <d'> with a lower-case <d>. The preposition was not capitalized in names. I hope this letter has been useful. Please write us again if any part of it has been unclear or if you have other questions. I was assisted in researching and writing this letter by Talan Gwynek, Walraven van Nijmegen, AElfwyn aet Gyrwum, Evan de Collaureo, and Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 25 Jul 1998 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Morlet, Marie-Therese, _Etude d'anthroponymie picarde, les noms de personne en Haute Picardie aux XIIIe, XIVe, XVe siecles_ (Amiens, Musee de Picardie, 1967). [2] Dauzat, Albert & Ch. Rostaing, _Dictionnaire Etymologique des Noms de Lieux de la France_ (Paris: Librairie Larousse, 1963). [3] Colm Dubh, "An Index to the Given Names in the 1292 Census of Paris", Proceedings of the Known World Heraldic Symposium 1996 (SCA: Montgomery, Alabama; WWW: SCA, Inc., 1997). http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/paris.html [4] Cateline de la Mor, "Sixteenth Century Norman Names" (SCA: KWHS Proceedings, 1994; WWW: J. Mittleman, 1997). http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/cateline/norman16.html [5] Lebel, Paul, _Les noms de personnes en France_, 6th ed. (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1968). [6] Godefroy, Fre/de/ric, _Lexique de l'ancien franc,ais_, J. Bonnard & Am. Salmon, eds. (Paris: Librairie Honore/ Champion, 1994). [7] Dauzat, Albert, _Dictionnaire Etymologique_ (Paris: Libraire Larousse, 1938). [8] "Fulk IV" Britannica Online. [Accessed 16 July 1998]. http://www.eb.com:180/cgi-bin/g?DocF=micro/222/59.html [9] Reaney, P. H., & R. M. Wilson, _A Dictionary of English Surnames_ (London: Routledge, 1991; Oxford University Press, 1995), s.n. Angwin. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Correction, Arval, 28 Feb 2005: Added note [9].