ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2289
http://www.s-gabriel.org/2289
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19 Apr 2001
From:  (Josh Mittleman)


Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!

You asked whether <Armand de Molay> is an appropriate name for a mid-12th
century French Templar.  This letter is a brief answer to your question.

<Armand> is a modern French form of a name that ultimately derived from the
Old French name <Hermans>.  In Old Provencal (the medieval language of
southern France), the name became <Armans>, and this form was imported back
to the north.  (The final <-s> is a grammatical ending in Old French and
Old Provencal; it marks the nominative case, which is used in the subject
of a sentence or in direct address.  In other grammatical contexts, these
languages used the oblique case, which was formed for this name simply by
dropping the final <-s>.)  We've found the name recorded as <Hermans> in
13th century Lorraine, as <Armannus> c.1157 in the region of Lyons, and as
<Armans> in Provence 1171 [1].  The final <-d> in the modern form of the
name was added after your period; we're not sure exactly when.

Jacques de Molay, grandmaster of the Templars, was born in Franche-Comte, a
district in east-central France.  We've found references to a couple modern
villages called <Molay> in that region, one of which was mentioned in Latin
records as <Modelagius> 859 and <Modolaius> 863 [2, 3].  The modern
spelling <Molay> was in use by the 12th century: We found a 12th century
document that refers to an earlier <Jaque de Molay> [4].

We can therefore recommend <Armans de Molay> as an excellent name for your
period.  In Latin, the common written language of your period, your name
could have been <Armannus de Modolaio>, using the correct grammatical form
of the place name.


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 Adelaide de Beaumont, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Talan Gwynek, and Margaret
Makafee.

For the Academy,


  Arval Benicoeur
  19 Apr 2001


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References

[1] Jacobsson, Harry, _E/tudes d'Anthroponymie Lorraine les Bans de
Tre/fonds de Metz (1267-1298)_ (Go:teborg: Gumperts Fo:rlag, 1955), nr. 52
Herman. 

[2] Morlet,  Marie-Therese, _Dictionnaire E/tymologique des Noms de
Famille_ (Librairie Acade/mique Perrin, 1997), s.n. Molay.

[3] Dauzat, Albert & Ch. Rostaing, _Dictionnaire Etymologique des Noms de
Lieux de la France_ (Paris: Librairie Larousse, 1963), s.n. Molay.

[4] Guillame de Tyr, "Historia rerum in partibus transmarinis gestarum"
[History of Deeds Done Beyond the Sea] (WWW: Medieval Sourcebook, 1998),
part 5 "Chronique du Templier" section 694.
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/GuillaumeTyr5.html