ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2030
http://www.s-gabriel.org/2030
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18 Apr 2000
From:  (Josh Mittleman)


Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!

You asked whether <Roland d'Avignon> is an appropriate name for a man of
the Languedoc in the 13th century.  This letter is a brief answer to your
question.

Your name is basically fine, but the spelling isn't exactly right for your
culture.  The spellings you've used are modern French.  The language of the
Languedoc was Occitan, a Romance language that was distinct from Old
French.

In various forms, the name <Roland> was not uncommon in western Europe [1,
2, 3].  In Occitan literature, it was variously spelled <Rotlan>,
<Rotland>, <Rotlans>, <Rolant>, <Rollant>, and <Roullant> [4, 5].  The
place name <Avignon> appears in Occitan literature of your period as
<Avinho>, <Avignon>, <Avinoun>, and <Avinhon> [4, 6].  Any combination of
these spellings, like <Rotlan d'Avinho> or <Rolant d'Avinhon>, would be a
fine choice for your culture.  In all cases, the name was pronounced quite
similar to modern name <Avignon>.

Medieval Occitan was an inflected language, i.e. nouns took different
endings depending on the grammatical context in which they were used.  The
spelling <Rotlans> is an example of the nominative case, used when the name
is the subject of a sentence or in direct address:

  Rotlans swings a mighty sword.
  Hey, Rotlans, come fight with us!

The final <-s> became <-t> or <-d> in the oblique case, used in all other
grammatical contexts:

  Let Rotland lead us into battle.
  Give that large shield to Rollant.

If you choose to register your name, someone may worry that your name
alludes too strongly to the literary hero Roland.  This should not be a
concern [7].


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 Antonio Miguel Santos de Borja, Talan Gwynek, and Juliana de Luna.

For the Academy,


  Arval Benicoeur
  18 Apr 2000


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References

[1] Colm Dubh, "An Index to the Given Names in the 1292 Census of Paris",
Proceedings of the Known World Heraldic Symposium 1996 (SCA: Montgomery,
Alabama; WWW: SCA, Inc., 1997).  The name appears as <Rolant>, <Rollant>,
and <Roulant>. 
http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/paris.html

[2] Marsa/, Francisco, et al.  _Onoma/stica Barcelonesa del Siglo XIV_
(Barcelona: University of Barcelona, 1977).  Several examples of the name
<Rotlan> were recorded in 1389.

[3] Morlet, Marie-Therese, _Les Noms de Personne sur le Territoire de
l'Ancienne Gaule du VIe au XIIe Siecle_, v.3 (Paris: Centre National de la
Recherche Scientifique, 1972).  She notes the modern place name
<Maison-Roland> appearing in Old French as <Domus Rollandi> 1184, <Maison
en Rolant> 1399.

[4] Flutre, Louis-Fernand, _Table des noms propres avec toutes leurs
variantes, figurant dans les romans du Moyen Age e/crits en franc,ais ou en
provenc,al et actuellement publie/s ou analyse/s_ (Poitiers: Centre
d'e/tudes supe/rieures de civilisation me/die/vale, 1962), s.nn. Avignon,
Roland. 

[5] Ramons lo Montalbes, "French/Occitan Names From The XII And XIII
Century" (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1997).  
http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/ramon/occitan/

[6] Chambers, Frank M., _Proper Names in the Lyrics of the Troubadours_
(Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1971), s.nn. Rotland,
Avinho. 

[7] As far as we can tell, the famous literary Roland had no association
with Avignon.  The name of that city does not appear in the translation of
The Song of Roland that we found on the web,
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/roland-ohag.html.