ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1405 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1405 ************************************ 4 Jan 1999 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked for help choosing a 13th or 14th century French name meaning "John Michael from the south of Toulouse"; your guess was . Here is what we have found. As it happens, we have a very good sample of names from Toulouse in your period. You can find an article on-line: Languedoc Names circa 1300 http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/arval/toulouse/ We recommend that you read the article; it will tell you more about names of your period than we can possibly fit into one letter. Compound given names like are rare in your period; they are much more typical of modern French naming than period French naming. Although we have found some examples of double given names in Toulouse in your period, none of them are compounds of . Since appears to be a rare name in southern France in your period, we recommend that you drop it and use an appropriate form of . The modern French spelling wasn't used in medieval Languedoc, though: We have found , , and (also pronounced as two syllables, \zho-AHN\) in records from that region in your period [1, 2]. Unfortunately, we do not think that a man of your period could have been called "from the south of Toulouse". We couldn't find any examples of similarly-formed names. The French seem not to have used surnames based on directions (north, south, etc.), and we know no language which combined a place name with a direction in a single name [3, 4, 5]. A man living in Toulouse would be unlikely to be known by the city's name; that description wouldn't distinguish him from any of his neighbors, which was the basic purpose of surnames in your period. If you look down the list of names from medieval Toulouse, which you can find at http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/arval/toulouse/toulouseraw.html#raw you'll see that only a very few people are identified by the name of the city, including the local count and bishops. If a man moved away from his home city, then he is much more likely to be identified its name, perhaps in this case [1, 7]. If he lived in the southern part of the city, he might have been known by the district where he lived or by the name of a church or other landmark near which he lived. Unfortunately, we don't have a map of 13th or 14th century Toulouse, so we can't suggest possibilities. If he lived outside the city, to the south, he might be known by the name of his village. We found a few towns south of Toulouse that might interest you. They are listed here first in their modern spellings, and then in a spelling that we think might have been used in your period [8]. In the names, a slash or backslash represents an accent on the preceding letter. Muret: Murello Carbonne: Carbone Caze\res: Casalia Auterive: Autarribe Montesquieu: Montesquivo Saverdun: Savardo Pamiers: Appamia Bazie/ge: Bazegia Villefranche de Lauragais: Villafranca A name like would be a fine choice for your period. If you'd like to consider other surnames, you can find a list of possibilities from Toulouse in the article we mentioned above. The names are in Latin; if you see a few that interest you, we can try to translate them for you. Many of the surnames are patronymic, i.e. identify the person as his father's son. For example, means "Arnaldus, son of Bernardus" and probably corresponds to the Old French name . Other surnames are based on place names, like , or on occupations, like "weaver" [1]. We 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 Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, Talan Gwynek, and Blaise de Cormeilles. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 4 Jan 1999 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Arval Benicoeur, "Languedoc Names circa 1300" (WWW: privately published, 1998). http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/arval/toulouse/ [2] Ramons lo Montalbes, "French/Occitan Names From The XII And XIII Century" (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1997). http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/ramon/occitan/ [3] Dauzat, Albert, _Dictionnaire Etymologique des Noms de Famille et Prenoms de France_ (Paris: Libraire Larousse, 1987). [4] Morlet, Marie-Therese, _Dictionnaire E/tymologique des Noms de Famille_ (Librairie Acade/mique Perrin, 1997). [5] Morlet, Marie-Therese, _Etude d'anthroponymie picarde, les noms de personne en Haute Picardie aux XIIIe, XIVe, XVe siecles_ (Amiens, Musee de Picardie, 1967). [6] Dauzat, Albert & Ch. Rostaing, _Dictionnaire Etymologique des Noms de Lieux de la France_ (Paris: Librairie Larousse, 1963). [7] The byname appears in reference [1], along with the Latin adjective that uses a similar spelling. We have also found a reference to "the city of Toulouse" in a late-14th century text, apparently in Languedocien. Leah L. Otis, _Prostitution in Medieval Society_ (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987), p.171, note 57. [8] Muret, Murello: Reference [6] has 961 for and for modern . The suffix <-ello> appears in several place names in reference [1]. Carbonne, Carbone: Period forms of several similar place names in [6] have a single . Reference [1] contains a similarly-formed given name . Caze\res, Casalia: derives from , a diminutive of . The Old Provenc,al form of Latin was , so is another possibility. There's a lot of guesswork here, but compare , [1], (1322) [6]. Auterive, Autarribe: The place is 1268, and another place not far away 13th C [6]. Montesquieu, Montesquive: [1]. Saverdun, Savardo: [1]. Pamiers, Appamia: 1111 [6]. The French town was named after in Syria by returning crusaders. Bazie/ge, Bazegia: Ref. [6] does not know the source of the name, but notes that it includes the Gaulish element <-egia>. Villefranche de Lauragais, Villafrancha: 13th C in Bas-Pyrenees [6].