ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1742 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1742 ************************************ 22 Jun 1999 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked for the discussion of the French placename that we offered in our previous letter [1]. We discussed the possible construction of names beginning in the previous report. We noted 1390, which derives from the Old French given name [2]. The element <-court> is quite common in French place names. It derives from the Latin "estate". It was often compounded with both Latin and Old French given names. For example, 1656 (modern Vexaincourt) derives from the Old French masculine name . 1201, c.1222 (modern Verricourt) derives from . 1131-42 (modern Vernancourt) derives from the Old French [3]. The same reference contains hundreds of other examples. The compound + meaning "Warimund's estate" could very easily have evolved into a 13th or 14th century place name . 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 22 Jun 1999 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Academy of Saint Gabriel report 1586 http://www.panix.com/~gabriel/public-bin/showfinal.cgi?1586+0 [2] Morlet, Marie-Therese, _Les Noms de Personne sur le Territoire de l'Ancienne Gaule du VIe au XIIe Siecle_ (Paris: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 1972), III:465b, 477-8. [3] ibid., s.nn. Vernancourt, Verricourt, Vexaincourt.