ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2488 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2488 ************************************ 26 Aug 2002 From: Ursula Whitcher Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You asked whether we could suggest any appropriate diminutives of the 13th century Occitan feminine name . Before we start, we'd like to apologize for our slow response time; we hope the following information is still useful to you. is one form of a name that appears in early medieval Latin records from France as ca.1030, 988, 1082-97, 994, 942-54, 993-96, 1032-64, 1113, 12th c., 970, 1024, ca.1050, 1043, and 1027. All of these forms of the name are based on the Germanic root or . [1] In fact, we believe this name was originally a double diminutive of a shorter name based on or , though seems to have become a name in its own right. The formation of from the root or follows a general pattern: during your period, diminutives of names based on Germanic roots were usually formed by adding a diminutive suffix to the root. [2, 3, 4] Typical feminine suffixes included <-a>, <-eta>, <-etta>, <-essa>, <-ina>, <-ona>, <-asia>, <-ella>, <-auda>, <-elia>, <-ena>, <-aria>, and <-ista>. [5] Since you expressed interest in names that are shorter than , we looked for other names based on the same root. In documents from France written in Latin, we found 966, 9th-10th c., 1019, 1129, and 1046. [1] However, we are not certain what form these names might have taken in Occitan. Our best guess is a form like , pronounced \EYE-dzah\, or , pronounced \eye-DZEL-@\ or \eye-DZEL-ah\. (Here \@\ represents the sound of the letter 'a' in and . This sound is called schwa.) [6] We hope that this letter has been useful to you and that you will not hesitate to write again if any part of this was unclear or if you have further questions. Research and commentary on this letter were provided by Talan Gwynek, Adelaide de Beaumont, Arval Benicoeur, Galiana de Baiona, Iago ab Adam, Mari neyn Brian, and Catriona inghean ui Bhraonain. For the Academy, Argantgui filia Catmaili et Ursula filia Georgii -- References [1] Morlet, Marie-Therese, _Les Noms de Personne sur le Territoire de l'Ancienne Gaule du VIe au XIIe Siecle_, (Paris: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 1972). I:19b [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. 135. [3] Arval Benicoeur, "Languedoc Names circa 1300" (WWW: privately published, 1998) http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/arval/toulouse/. Actual examples of Occitan diminutives that we found tended to add syllables to a name, rather than remove them. Masculine examples that we found in the 13th century are from , from , and from . [4] Talan Gwynek, "Late Period Feminine Names from the South of France" (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1999) http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/talan/latefrenchfem/. In the 15th-16th centuries, we find from and from ; the only examples that we have of names being shortened in diminutive form are , probably from , and , from . [5] Compan pp. 140-1. [6] Brenon, Anne, _Le petit livre aventureux des pre/noms occitans au temps du Catharisme_ (Tolosa: Loubatie\res, 1992) s.n. . Brenon cross-references this name to or , apparently a Latin form, which she has from the 13th century. She says that it may be the same name as and that the Occitan form might better be .