ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2593 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2593 ************************************ From: Sara L Friedemann 27 Oct 2002 Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You asked for help finding an appropriate surname for a 14th century Occitan woman named from the St. Lizier area, living in the country rather than the city. Here is the information we have found. appears to be a very rare Occitan name; we find one example of it in Foix in the 14th century, but it does not appear in any of our other sources. [1] Saint-Lizier is in Ariege-Pyrenees, in the far southwest of France. We do not have any medieval examples of the place name, but based on analogous places we can suggest a possible form. The word "saint" in Occitan in your period was spelled , , or . [2] Two less common spellings from a slightly earlier period are and . [3] We have not found any medieval forms of , but we believe that this modern spelling is reasonable. would be a possible name for your place and time, though not especially probable given the rarity of the given name. We hope that this letter has been useful to you and that you won't hesitate to write us again if any part was unclear or if you have further questions. Research and commentary on this letter was provided by Arval Benicoeur, Talan Gwynek, and Adelaide de Beaumont. For the Academy, -Aryanhwy merch Catmael, 27Oct02 -- References [1] Cateline de la Mor, "Names from Fourteenth Century Foix" (SCA: Trimarian Known World Heraldic Symposium, AS XXIX; WWW: J. Mittleman, 1997) http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/cateline/foix.html. [2] Chambers, Frank M., _Proper Names in the Lyrics of the Troubadours_ (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1971). [3] Morlet, Marie-Therese, _Le Censier de Chomelix et de Saint-Just-pre/s-Chomelix (1204)_ (Lyon: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 1978). --