ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1987 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1987 ************************************ 02 Jun 2000 Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked for our opinion of as a feminine given name for an Italian or Byzantine woman living in the 15th or early 16th century. Additionally, you asked about arms including a bumble bee or an elephant using the colors sanguine, azure, and or. Here is what we found. is the Latin word for "lily," but we found no evidence that was used as a name in our period. We aren't surprised at that result: common words were only very rarely used as given names. This word is particularly unlikely to have been used as a woman's name. The ending <-um> is neuter in Latin and thus inappropriate for a woman's name. More generally, the fashion for using the names of flowers as given names didn't arise in Europe until well after our period. There are a few exceptions, but we haven't found any word meaning "lily" used as a name in Italy or Greece in period. There is a modern name . It is basically a variant of the period name , an Italian form of , but may in part also derive from Italian 'lily'. However, we have no evidence the name was used in period [1] The word is also unlikely to have been a name in your culture because it's the wrong language. Latin was not the language of either Italy or Byzantium in the 15th or 16th centuries. Most Italians spoke various dialects of Italian; the Byzantines primarily spoke Greek. However, we must observe that the Byzantine Empire fell to the Turks in 1453. After that time, many Byzantines fled to Italy, so a woman born in Byzantium in the early 15th century might well have lived in Italy during her later years. We would be happy to help you choose a late-period Greek or Italian name. There was always extensive commerce between the Byzantine Empire and the various Italian states, so a persona combining the two cultures is quite reasonable. However, to choose an authentic name, you need to pick one language. A woman was named in the language of the country where she was born. She might later have been known in the language of any country she visited, but that name would have been adapted from her original name. If you would like to select a Greek name, we can send you a list of Italianized Greek names from the 14th and 15th century. Please write back to us with some guidance about what sort of name you'd like (e.g. the first letter of a name), and we'll send you information. We have several sources for Italian names as well at: http://www.s-gabriel.org/docs/#italy Our data about Byzantine arms is very limited, mostly because heraldry was not widely used in the Byzantine Empire [2]. This limits our ability to evaluate your ideas. However, both bees and elephants are found in Italian armory, which makes it possible that someone like your persona might have used them in their arms. We would be surprised to find both of them in a single set of arms, however. For more information about Byzantine heraldry, you could look at: Heraldry in Byzantium? http://www.heraldica.org/topics/national/byzantin.htm Your color choices have one small problem: "Sanguine," a dark burgundy-red, was not used in arms in period. It is not one of the original heraldic colors, but came to be used later [3]. We suggest you use red, which is called 'gules' in heraldry, instead. Gules, azure, and or are all common colors in Italian period arms; we recommend their use wholeheartedly. As you design your arms, you might find it useful to look at some period arms. Unfortunately, there are no easily available source for designing late-period Italian or Greek arms. You might try the book mentioned below, though you may find it hard to find. Borgia, L., et. al., eds., _Le Biccherne : tavole dipinte delle magistrature senesi (secoli XIII-XVIII)_ (Roma: Ministero per i beni culturali e ambientali, 1984). Alternately, you might look at Italian Renaissance art, especially portraits, to find examples of late-period Italian arms. Additionally, there is a brief descripive article about medieval Italian heraldry at: http://caltrap.bbsnet.com/distingu.htm There is a set of pictures of arms, which we think mostly date to at least late period at: Blasonario piemontese http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Musee/9348/ I 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, Arval Benicoeur, Raquel Buenaventura, Zenobia Naphtali, Adelaide de Beaumont, Walraven van Nijmegen, Maridonna Benvenuti, Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, Julie Stampnitzky, and Antonio Miguel Santos de Borja. For the Academy, Juliana de Luna 1 June, 2000 ----------------------------------------------------- References [1] De Felice, Emidio, _Dizionario dei cognomi italiani_ (Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, 1978), s.n. Giglio [2] Velde, Franc,ois, "Heraldry in Byzantium", (self published, WWW, 1997, accessed March 17, 2000), http://www.heraldica.org/topics/national/byzantin.htm [3] The color is mentioned in English treatises on armory written after 1550, but there is no evidence that it was actually used in arms in period. In fact, the SCA College of Arms will not register arms using sanguine. The Rules for Submissions, Section VII.2 specifically list the colors that are registerable (gules, azure, sable, vert, and purpure, as well as the metals and furs).