ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2215 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2215 ************************************ ************************************************* * * * NOTE: Later research turned up additional * * information relevant to this report. * * See the end of the letter for details. * * * ************************************************* From: "Sara L Friedemann" 3 Feb 2001 Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You wanted to know if would be an appropriate late 12th century English masculine name, and said you wanted your surname to refer to a polluted lake near your home. Here is the information we have found. or was brought to Britain by the Normans. It was reasonably popular in England in your period. We found these examples in England: [1,2] Ade Quintinus c 1190-1220 Geoffrey Quintin 1205 William Quintin 1222 William Quentyn 1262 In each of these names, a form of is used as a byname. In your period, such a surname would have been understood to mean "son of Quentin." You said that you wanted to use the surname to reflect the fact that you lived near contaminated water. While it is true that people were often known as living at places of certain geographical curiosities, we do not believe that would have been an appropriate way to indicate poisoned or contaminated water. We did find, however, a variety of English place names in your period that described dirty water: [3] From Old English 'dirty river' Fulna c.1175 Fulne 1350 From Old English 'dirty brook' Fulebroch 1169, 1192 Fulebroc 1191, 1198, 1236 From Old English 'dirty ford' Fuleford 1167 From Old English 'dirty stream' Fulewell 1190 Fulewella c.1200 From Old English 'dirty small stream' [*] Fulrea 1196 Fulrithi 1428 Any of these would be reasonable place names from which a byname could be created. A man named Quintin who lived at Fuleford would have been known as ; is the Latin word for "of," and was used in this style of byname throughout your period. If any of these appeals to you, we'll be happy to give you the pronunciation appropriate for your period. While there are place names in England that use the Old English element 'dragon,' these by and large are in connection with a hole in the ground or a cave, which was apparently associated with a dragon or serpent in popular legend. [2,4] We found no place names based on water that used in their name. While to the modern mind the step between "bad water" to "dragon-poisoned water" seems quite reasonable, this isn't the type of metaphor that was used in medieval naming practices. Without any evidence for bodies of water named after dragons, we cannot recommend any form of for your surname. We hope that this letter has been useful, and that you will not hestitate to write again if you have any further questions. Research and commentary on this letter was provided by Arval Benicoeur, Maridonna Benvenuti, Adelaide de Beaumont, Juliana de Luna, Talan Gwynek, and Dietmar von Straubing. For the Academy, -Aryanhwy merch Catmael, 03Feb02 ------------- References & Notes: [1] Withycombe, E.G., _The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names_, 3rd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988). s.n. Quentin [2] Reaney, P. H., & R. M. Wilson, _A Dictionary of English Surnames_ (London: Routledge, 1991; Oxford University Press, 1995). s.nn. Drakeley, Quinton [3] Ekwall, Eilert, _The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names_, 4th edition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991) s.nn. Foulness, Fulbrook, Fulford, Fulwell, Fulready [4] Smith, A.H., _English Place-Name Elements_ (Cambridge: At the University Press, 1956). s.v. draca [*] The {th} represents the letter thorn, which looks like a

and a superimposed on each other; it is pronounced \th\. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Correction, Arval 13 Jan 2005: Corrected a headword in note [2].