ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1180 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1180 ************************************ From: "S Friedemann" 15 Aug 1998 Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked for help documenting the word before the 17th century, specifically for use in the name or , in any language. Here is the information we have found. Before I start, I'd like to clarify the service that the Academy offers. We try to help Societyfolk in choosing and using names that fit the historical cultures they are trying to re-create. Our research can sometimes be used to support submissions to the College of Arms, but that it not our goal and our results are often incompatible with the College's needs. If your main goal is to register a particular name, then we may not be able to help you. While the root was used in 16th century English, the word was first used in the 19th century [1]. It would therefore not be appropriate in a pre-17th century name. The French cognate is noted in 1321, [2] but we have no evidence that it was used as part of a surname at any time in period. Since you told one of our members that you wanted an authentic name, we thought you might be interested in bynames with similar meanings. 1304 and 1338 do not have exactly the same meaning as [3], but the general concept is similar. would be appropriate to use with these bynames in this period; in fact, our reference for was a man named [3]. or are both authentic English names. We hope that this letter has been useful to you, and that you will not hesitate to write again if any part was unclear or if you have further questions. Research and commentary on this letter was provided by Talan Gwynek, Arval Benicoeur, Walraven van Nijmegen, and Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn. For the Academy, --Aryanhwy Prytydes merch Catmael August 15, 1998 --------------------------------------- References: [1] --, _The Compact Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary_ (New York: Oxford University Press, 1973). [2] Robert, Paul, _Le Petit Robert 1: Dictionnaire alphabe/tique et analogique de la langue franc,ais_ (Paris: Le Robert, 1985). [3] Jo:nsjo:, Jan, _Studies on Middle English Nicknames_, v.1 Compounds (CWK Gleerup, date unknown).