ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2355 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2355 ************************************ 03 Oct 2001 From: Ursula Whitcher Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked for a feminine form of and a surname related to horses appropriate for southern France near Italy, around 1300. Here is what we found. In your period, France was not unified politically, culturally, or linguistically. One of the most significant divisions was between the langue d'oil or French, spoken in the north, and the langue d'oc, also called Occitan or Provencal, spoken in the south. These were different languages, not just dialects of the same language, and names in them were quite different. Since you said you were interested in southern France, we focused on Occitan names. We found several different feminine forms of in use during your time period. A fourteenth-century tax roll has three instances of .[1] We believe this name was pronounced \STAY-v@\, where the \@\ represents the sound of the in and . (This sound is called schwa.)[7] We also found one person named , pronounced \stay-ven-ESS-s@\, and a troubadour poem about a character named , pronounced \ay-stay-FAH-nya\. Although we don't have exact dates for these two forms, both were recorded in southern France close to your period.[2, 3] Another possibility is , pronounced \ay-stay-VAHN-@\. We believe this is a correct Occitan form of a name found in Latin documents as .[5, 6] The Occitan byname means "horse", while means "horseman" or "knight". We believe that , pronounced \kah-VAHL\, and , pronounced \kah-vah-LYAIR-@\, are the appropriate forms of these names for a woman living around 1300.[4] During your time period, inherited bynames were still unusual. Many bynames were literal, so that a man named could have been a knight or an accomplished horseman. A woman might have been given a byname in the same way, or she might have shared her husband's or father's byname. Thus, could have been the wife of a horse-trader; might have been the daughter of a knight, or a skilled horsewoman in her own right. You may want to consider another possibility: a name that sounds like the word for "horse". In medieval France, it was quite common for a family to adopt arms using a charge whose name sounded similar to the family's surname, such as a lion for a family . This practice was called "canting". There is a town in Vaucluse, near Avignon, whose name was recorded as or in poetry of your period. (Both would have been pronounced \cah-VAH-lyoh\.) [3] A noblewoman whose family held lands in or near that town might have been called , pronounced \STAY-v@ day cah-VAH-lyoh\. Using that name and using a horse as the central charge in your arms would be excellent re-creation. Putting things together, we find that is a fine name for a woman living in southern France around 1300. Other combinations, such as or , would also be appropriate. I was assisted in writing this report by Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Arval Benicoeur, Talan Gwynek, and Juliana de Luna. For the Academy, Ursula Georges 3 Oct. 2001 References: [1] Arlette Higoinet-Nadal, Les Comptes de la Taille et les Sources de l'Histoire De/mographique de Pe/rigueux au XIVe Sie\cle (Paris: E/cole Pratique des Haute E/tudes - VIe Section, Centre de Re/cherches Historiques: De/mographique et Socie/te/s IX; S.E.V.P.E.N., 1965) 3 instances of in 1367; many examples of the masculine and from 1339 to 1400. [2] Compan, Andre/, _E/tude d'Anthroponymie Provenc,ale: Les Noms de Personne dans le Comte/ de Nice aux XIIe, XIVe, et XVe Sie\cles_, thesis at the Universite/ de Paris IV, Dec. 1975 (Paris: Librarie Honore Champion, 1976) p. 801 s.n. Steve. [3] Chambers, Frank M., _Proper Names in the Lyrics of the Troubadours_ (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1971). s.nn. Cavalho, Estefania. The modern name for the town of Cavalho is Cavaillon. [4] Compan. s.nn. Caval, Cavallier. 1284 and 1303; 1296 and 1468. [5] Anne Brenon, _Le petit livre aventureux des pre/noms occitans au temps du Catharisme_ (Tolosa: Loubatie\res, 1992) s.n. Stephana. Brenon gives as the probable but unattested Occitan form. [6] Anne Brenon, _Les Femmes Cathares_ (Paris: Librairie Acade/mique Perrin, 1992) p. 325. A woman from Toulouse whose first name was recorded in Latin as was condemned for heresy in 1307. [7] The stress given in these pronunciations is an extrapolation largely based on our knowledge of modern Occitan dialects.