ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2517 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2517 ************************************ 01 May 2002 From: Sara L Friedemann Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You wanted to know if would be an appropriate name for a 16th century woman living in the Low Countries. Here is the information we have found. You noted a couple of examples of women named or marrying into the Dutch royal line. Names of royal people are not always the best guide to names of common people from the same area; with intermarriage, it could be the case that these women named were not native Dutch women, but instead from France or Germany. However, William, Prince of Orange, had a daughter born in 1581 who is modernly recorded as ; this gives evidence for the name being used by Dutch people, though we cannot recommend this spelling. [4] We have also found the name recorded as in 1584-5. [1] would probably have been pronounced \AW-may-lee\ with all vowels except the first short in duration, or perhaps \aw-MAY-lee\ with all the vowels short in duration [6]. A similar, closely-related name, is recorded in the second half of the 14th century; our source has the lower case 'a'. [5] The place in the Low Countries has been in existence since at least the 9th century, where its name is recorded in Latin as or . In the 12th century, we find a man recorded as "Luzechin of Davender." [2] In your period, we find a man recorded as , who died in 1575. [3] is a fine name for a late-period Dutch woman. It would probably have been pronounced \AW-may-lee vawn DAY-ven-t@r\, where all the vowels except the first are short in duration and \@\ stands for the sound of the in [6]. We hope that this letter has been useful to you, and that you will not hesitate to write again if any part was unclear or if you have further questions. Research and commentary on this letter were provided by Adelaide de Beaumont, Talan Gwynek, Arval Benicoeur, Maridonna Benvenuti, and Walraven van Nijmegen. For the Academy, ~Aryanhwy merch Catmael, 01May02 --------------------------------------- References: [1] Jongbloet-van Houtte, Gisela, ed. _Brieven en Andere Bescheiden Betreffende Daniel Van der Meulen, 1584-1600: Deel 1, Augustus 1584-Sepetember 1585_ ('s-Gravenhage : M. Nijhoff, 1986-). [2] Kuenzel, R.E., D.P. Blok, & J.M. Verhoeff. Lexicon van nederlandse toponiemen tot 1200 (Amsterdam: P.J. Meertens-Instituut, 1989); s.n. Deventer [3] Brechenmacher, Josef Karlmann, _Etymologisches Woerterbuch der deutschen Familiennamen_ (Limburg a. d. Lahn, C. A. Starke-Verlag, 1957-1960). s.n. Deventer [4] Louda, J., & M. Maclagan, _Heraldry of the Royal Families of Europe_ (New York: Clarkson N. Potter, Inc., 1981). [5] Beele, Wilfried, _Studie van de Ieperse Persoonsnamen uit de Stads- en Baljuwsrekeningen 1250-1400_ (Handzame, 1975). p. 83 [6] We aren't certain of the pronunciation of this name in 16th century Dutch; this is our recommendation based on the best information we've been able to gather. We think the stress in was probably on the first syllable, but may have been on the second.