ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1579 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1579 ************************************ 8 Mar 1999 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether is an appropriate name for a Frenchman living between 1100 and 1600. This letter is a brief answer to your question. It is basically a fine name, though we will suggest different spellings depending on exactly when you want to set your persona. is either a very early spelling or a very learned spelling of a name that was usually or in Old French [1, 2]. It was pronounced roughly \PAY-yen\. In Latin documents -- which were common until at least the end of the 14th century -- it would have been recorded as , but in the vernacular is was . More precisely, it was . The final is a grammatical ending used in Old French in the nominative case, i.e. when the name was used as the subject of a sentence or in direct address. When it was used otherwise, it was written . Thus, one would write (in Old French, of course) "Paiens wrote to us" but "We answered Paien". The final dropped out of use sometime around the end of the 13th century [5]. is the modern name of a city in Normandy. It was recorded as between 1011 and 1025 and in at least one source as in 1087 and 1105 [3, 4]. The or represented the sound of the in . That sound probably disappeared from the pronunciation in the early 12th century, but persisted in the written form, especially in Latin documents, somewhat later [5]. For example, we found it in a 13th century Latin phrase "in the church of the Blessed Stephan of Caen" and also in the adjective form 1315. [6]. In a Latin document, your name would likely have been written or . In the vernacular, it would have been at the very beginning of your period, changing to in the 12th century and in the 13th. We believe dropped out of use in France around 1300. We hope this brief letter has been useful. Please write us again if you have any questions. I was assisted in researching and writing this letter by Talan Gwynek. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 8 Mar 1999 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Reaney, P. H., & R. M. Wilson, _A Dictionary of English Surnames_ (London: Routledge, 1991; Oxford University Press, 1995), s.n. Pain. [2] Villehardouin, Geoffroy, _La Conque^te de Constantinople_, ed. & trans. Edmond Faral (Paris: Socie/te/ d'E/dition Les Belles Lettres, 1961), chapt. 6. [3] Dauzat, Albert & Ch. Rostaing, _Dictionnaire Etymologique des Noms de Lieux de la France_ (Paris: Librairie Larousse, 1963). [4] Cecily Clark, 'Domesday Book -- A Great Red-Herring: Thoughts on Some Late-Eleventh-Century Orthographies' in _Words, Names and History: Selected Papers_, ed. Peter Jackson (Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 1995). [5] Einhorn, E., _Old French: A Concise Handbook_ (London & New York: Cambridge University Press, 1974), p.5. [6] Delisle, Leopold, ed., _Rouleaux des Morts du IXe au XVe Siecle_ (New York: Johnson Reprint Corporation, 1968 [1866]), pp.424, 446.