ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1645 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1645 ************************************ 12 May 1999 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether , meaning "Lucretia Rabbit", is an appropriate name for an Italian/French woman in our period. Here is what we have found. The Italian name , used in the Renaissance by the infamous , derived from the ancient Roman family name ; or more precisely, from its feminine form . There was a 4th century St. Lucretia in Spain, and we found an instance of the same name in 10th century France [1, 2]. The name very likely wasn't used in medieval Italy: quite a number of classical names were revived in the Renaissance, and was probably one of them. Therefore, if you choose to use it in an Italian name, we recommend setting your persona in the 14th century or later. The modern French word for "rabbit" is . This word was a late addtion to the French language, first recorded in the 15th century [3]. By that point, the French were already using inherited surnames, so it is unlikely that any surname derived from . And indeed, we find none. In medieval French, the word for "rabbit" was or , and there are several French surnames based on that word. and are both found in the south of France [4]. The Italian word for "rabbit" is a cognate: . became an Italian surname, particularly in Sicily [5]. Languages were rarely mixed together in period names. It is sufficiently unusual that we do not recommend it without specific evidence of the same type of combination of the same languages. When a person moved to a new country, she might have been known there by some sort of translation of her name. For example, an Italian Renaissance woman named Lucrezia, daughter of Antonio Coniglio, would have been known in Italian as . In the late 15th or 16th century, she might have been called . If she had moved to Provence, she might have been known there as [6]. 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 Talan Gwynek. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 12 May 1999 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] De Felice, Emidio, _Dizionario dei Nomi Italiani_ (Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, Milan, 1992). [2] Morlet, Marie-Therese, _Les Noms de Personne sur le Territoire de l'Ancienne Gaule du VIe au XIIe Siecle_, three volumes (Paris: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 1972). [3] Robert, Paul, _Le Petit Robert 1: Dictionnaire alphabe/tique et analogique de la langue franc,ais_ (Paris: Le Robert, 1985). [4] Dauzat, Albert, _Dictionnaire Etymologique des Noms de Famille et Prenoms de France_ (Paris: Libraire Larousse, 1987), s.n. Conil. [5] De Felice, Emidio, _Dizionario dei Cognomi Italiani_ (Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, 1978). [6] was used in England in the 16th century [7], and it is the likely late-period French form of the name as well. The Latin is in medieval French, is ; following the same pattern, would be expected to become . [7] Bardsley, Charles, _A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames_ (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1980), s.n. Vinson.