ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2598
http://www.s-gabriel.org/2598
************************************

16 Dec 2002
From: Juan del Escobar 

Greetings from the Academy of St. Gabriel!

You wanted to know if <Cecily Bellethorne> would be an appropriate 
name for a 14th century English woman.  Here is the information that 
we have found.

The given name <Cecily> is found in various spellings before, during, 
and after your period.  Examples of this are <Cecily> (1279), 
<Cecely> (1296), <Cicely> (1326), and <Cicily> (1413). Other 
Latinized forms of the name, used only in writing, are <Sisilla> 
(1281), <Cecilia> (1296), <Cecelya> (1303), and <Cecillia> (1346) [1].

The surname <Bellethorne>, on the other hand, is questionable.  Like 
many 14th century surnames it has the form of a place-name (as 
indicated by the element <-thorne>), but we have found no evidence 
for <Bellethorne> as a place-name.  Of course our sources are not 
exhaustive, so we can still ask whether <Bellethorne> or something 
similar is a plausible medieval English place-name.

The element <thorn>, meaning 'a thorn-tree, a hawthorn', is quite 
common in English place-names.  When it is used as the second element 
of a place-name, the first element is very often an Old English 
personal name such as in modern <Glapthorn>, which derives from a 
phrase meaning "Glappa's thorn-tree" [2].  It is also found with 
first elements describing the thorn-tree in some way.  For example, 
the place-names <Rowthorne>, <Craythorne>, and <Owthorne> are from 
Old English names that meant 'rough thorn-tree', 'crow thorn-tree' 
(presumably a tree frequented by crows), and 'thorn-tree on the 
outskirts' [3].  Thus, we need to ask whether there is an Old English 
personal name, or an Old English word that might plausibly have been 
used to characterize a thorn-tree, that would have appeared as 
<Belle-> or something similar by the 14th century. 

The best way to do this is to look at the origins of existing place-
names that seem to contain an element <Bel->.  Some can quickly be 
eliminated as irrelevant [4].  In the end we're left with just a few 
possibilities deserving of serious consideration.

<Belford> may contain an Old English masculine name <Bella>, but 
there is no independent evidence that such a name existed.  
Alternatively, it may contain Old English <belle> 'a bell; a bell-
shaped hill' [7,8].  This would result in an Old English 
<Belle{th}orn> 'thorn-tree on or near a bell-shaped hill', if <belle> 
was actually used in this way, and there is reason to think that it 
was. [9]  The {th} in <Belle{th}orn> represents the Old English 
letter 'thorn', written as a lowercase 'b' superimposed on a 
lowercase 'p' so that they share a single loop and a single long 
vertical stroke. 

<Belaugh> may contain Old English <bel> 'a fire, a funeral pyre' 
[10,11].  An Old English <Bel{th}orn>, meaning 'thorn-tree near a 
funeral pyre' is a possibility.  The word <bel> definitely existed 
and is a likely source of modern <Bel-> in several place-names.  
There are at least two place-names in which a thorn-tree is described 
in terms of its location (<Owthorne>, mentioned above, and 
<Souldern>, which means 'thorn-tree in or near a gully or ravine' 
[12]), so the basic idea is probably authentic.  This would probably 
have resulted in a medieval <Belthorn>.

Old English <bel> 'a glade; dry ground in a marsh' may appear in any 
or all of <Belstead>, <Beltoft>, and <Belton> [13].  <Belthorn> is 
also the likeliest medieval form of an Old English <Bel{th}orn> 
meaning 'thorn-tree on dry ground in a marsh' or 'thorn-tree in a 
glade'.  The existence of the place-name element <bel> with these 
meanings is uncertain, but the possibility increases the likelihood 
of <Belthorn> as a medieval place-name.

<Belsay> contains an Old English masculine name <Bil> or <Bill> 
[14,15].  There is no doubt that <Bil> or <Bill> did exist, so an Old 
English place-name <Biles{th}orn> 'Bil's thorn-tree' or 
<Billes{th}orn> 'Bill's thorn-tree' is entirely possible.  By the mid-
thirteenth century it could easily have appeared as <Bilesthorn>, 
<Billesthorn>, <Belesthorn>, or <Bellesthorn>, to name only the 
likeliest forms, but it would not have lost the <-es> of the 
possessive to become <Bellethorn> as early as the fourteenth 
century.  

The safest choice for the surname is <Belesthorn> or <Bellesthorn>: 
both the elements and the type of construction are well-attested, and 
only this specific combination is not.  The place-name may not have 
existed, but it certainly could have, in which case it could 
certainly have been a fourteenth century surname.  <Belthorn> is a 
little more speculative, but we think that it's probably a reasonable 
historical re-creation.  Finally, <Bellethorn> is a little more 
speculative yet.  There's a good enough case for it that we cannot 
actively recommend against using it, but we think that <Belesthorn>, 
<Bellesthorn>, and <Belthorn> are better historical re-creation.  
Also, while we cannot rule out the possibility of spellings with 
final <-e> (e.g., <Belthorne>), we have seen very few <-thorne> 
spellings from the 14th century; they are much more characteristic of 
the 16th century.

I hope the information in this letter has been of use to you.  If you 
have any further questions please feel free to email us at the 
Academy.  I was assisted in this research by Adelaide de Beaumont, 
Talan Gwynek, Juliana de Luna, Arval Benicoeur, Maridonna Benvenuti, 
Blaise de Cormeilles, Ursula Georges, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Juliana 
la Caminante de Navarra.

For the Academy,
 
Juan del Escobar
16 December  2002


References


[1] Talan Gwynek, "Feminine Given Names in _A Dictionary of English
  Surnames_" (SCA: KWHS Proceedings, 1994; WWW: J. Mittleman, 1997).
  http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/talan/reaney

[2] Ekwall, Eilert.  The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-
names.  4th ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1960); s.n. 
<Glapthorn>.
 
[3] Smith, A.H.  English Place-Name Elements.  2 vols. (Cambridge: 
Cambridge University Press, 1956) ; s.v. <{th}orn>.
 
[4] There are a few names in which Old French <bel(e)> 'fine, fair, 
beautiful' appears (i.e. <Belgrave>, <Bellister>, <Belper>, and 
<Belvoir>).  However, in all but the first example it is combined 
with other Old French words, not with native English elements (<bel 
estre> 'fine place, fine site', <bel repaire> 'beautiful retreat', 
<bel vedeir> 'beautiful view')[5].  The place-name <Bellerby> doesn't 
actually contain a <Bel-> element at all: its first element is 
<Beller->, from <Belgjar>, the possessive form of the Old Norse name 
<Belgr>[6].

[5] Smith, op. cit., s.v. <bel>.  We have found just one exception to 
this rule, the place-name <Belgrave>, and it's a special case.  The 
name was originally Old English <Mear{th}graf> 'marten grove', but 
<mear{th}> sounded to the Normans too much like <merde> 'feces, 
filth', so they  replaced it with <bel>.  Since martens are not 
likely to be associated with single thorn-trees, an analogous origin 
for <Bellethorne> is also unlikely.

[6] Ekwall, op. cit., s.n. <Bellerby>.

[7] ibid., s.n. <Belford>.

[8] Mills, A.D.  A Dictionary of English Place-Names (New York: 
Oxford University Press, 1995); s.n. <Belford>.

[9] Smith, op. cit., s.v. <belle>.
 
[10] Mills, op. cit., s.n. <Belaugh>.

[11] Smith, op. cit., s.v. <bel>.

[12] Mills, op. cit., s.n. <Souldern>.
 
[13] ibid. s.nn. <Belstead>, <Beltoft>, <Belton>.

[14] ibid. s.n. <Belsay>.

[15] Ekwall, op. cit., s.n. <Belsay>.