ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2618 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2618 ************************************ 26 May 2003 From: Raquel Buenaventura Greetings from the Academy of St. Gabriel! You wrote to us asking whether was an appropriate name for a Jewish woman in England between 1100 and 1300, and requesting suggestions about heraldry for such a woman, if appropriate. You also wanted to know how this woman would be known if she were living in Muslim Iberia, and if would be appropriate in this case, or whether a form of might have been used. is an excellent choice of name for a Jewish woman in England from 1070-1290 (1), since it was widely popular in the English and French Jewish communities of that time. The spelling you've indicated may be a standardized one, since we haven't found it in any period source. The spellings used most commonly in England seems to be or . (2) The pronunciation you've indicated is not quite correct. The final , while it would be silent in modern French, was pronounced as a final consonant in the Middle Ages. was pronounced roughly as \bel-uh-SAYTS\ in the 11th century and \bel-uh-SACE\ in the 13th. It's been theorized that was used as a French version of the Hebrew name , since the literal meaning of the name may refer to a description of the biblical matriarch Rakhel.(3) However, it's not clear to what extent the two names were actually seen as interchangeable, since we've only found evidence of one woman who is referred to as both and . (4) We've given what information we have on the use of in the Iberian Peninsula below. is a fine choice of name for your father. Both the given name and byname appear in the English Jewish community during your period. (5) As you note, may be a diminutive form of used as an independent name. However, the construction you've given for your byname, is a fine written form, but wouldn't have been used in speech. is an abbreviation of or , 'son of' and 'daughter of', respectively, in Latin. Unfortunately, since most of our information about medieval Jewish names in England comes from Latin legal documents, we're not totally sure what vernacular form it might represent. It seems most likely that it stands for a French patronym, which in this case would be formed as . It's also possible that a Jewish woman might use an unmarked patronymic, , a style of byname common in English in this period, and used by some Jewish men during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. We don't know for sure which of these is more likely to have been in use during your period. Both forms might have been used at the same time in the same community, or even by the same individual in different contexts. was pronounced . was pronounced roughly as \lay-VESK-uh\ for most of your period, in the thirteenth century it would have become \lay-VEK\ or \lay-VESK\. You asked whether a woman would ever use a name meaning "Cohen" independently of her father's name. We don't have an example of this being done in your period and we wouldn't expect to find one. Inherited family names were not used in Northern European Jewish communities during your period, and since a woman would not have carried out the social role of a cohen, she probably wouldn't have used the description as part of her name except in reference to a male relative who was a cohen. We weren't entirely clear from your question about Iberia whether you were inquiring about an equivalant form of the English name you selected that might have been used by a Jewish woman in Muslim Iberia, or if you wanted to know how a Jewish woman from England named might have been known if she had moved to Iberia. Since we don't have an example of a medieval Jewish woman moving from England to Iberia, we can't provide a definitive answer to the second question. However, we do have a little information about the names you're interested in and the forms in which they appeared in Iberia. We have not found evidence that was used in Arabic-speaking Iberian Jewish communities. Some Romance-language names do appear to have been used in Arabic speaking communities, however we have no evidence that was one of these names. From our research so far it appears to be a uniquely French name, so without evidence that it could have been used that way we can't recommend it. We do have evidence that , recorded in Hebrew, was used in Arabic- speaking Jewish communities.(6) The Hebrew form of is ; in Arabic it is . A Jewish woman in Muslim Iberia would have identified herself as her father's daughter, hence a woman called Rakhel whose father's name was Yakub would have been known as . She might also identify herself in Hebrew contexts as or . In Arabic Jewish records from your period, it seems that there was no particular concern with keeping the language of the names and name particles used consistent, and forms like may also be correct. Jews in Western Europe in the latter part of your period did make use of heraldic devices and seals. There are several examples of heraldic seals used by Jews in _Medieval Jewish Seals from Europe_ by Daniel Friedenberg. (7) There is also a KWHS article on Jewish heraldry that contains quite a number of Iberian Jewish arms. (8) You may want to look at these for some ideas and come back to us to discuss what you'd like for your own heraldry. To sum up, is a good choice of name for a Jewish woman in Angevin England, and is another suitable form. or would be good names for a Jewish woman living in an Arabic- speaking community. We hope that this letter has been useful to you and that you won't hesitate to write again if any part was unclear or if you have further questions. I was assisted in researching and writing this letter by Julie Stampnitzky, Talan Gwynek, Juliana de Luna, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, Arval Benicoeur, Laurensa de Chambord, Aleksandr Traveller and Dietmar von Straubing. For the Academy, Raquel Bonastrug de Narbona, May 25, 2003 Notes and References: (1) The Jewish community of medieval England migrated from France at the request of William I, following his conquest of England in 1066, and was expelled in 1290 by Edward I. (Grazyel, Solomon, A History of the Jews, New York, The Jewish Publication Society of America, 1968) (2) Jacobs, Joseph, The Jews of Angevin England; documents and records, from Latin and Hebrew sources, printed and manuscript, for the first time collected and translated by Joseph Jacobs, London, Gregg International Publishers, 1969 (3) Cecil Roth,. The Jews of Medieval Oxford. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1951 (4) Jacob ben Meir, with notes from Ephraim Zalman Margaliot and Shraga Rosenthal. Sefer Ha-Yashar. Berlin: Tzvi Hirsch Itzakovsky, 1898; Jerusalem, 1972 (5) Jacobs, op. cit. (6) Jewish National and University Library, http://campuscgi.princeton.edu/~batke/geniza/all_search/JNUL4_577_4_98 .html (7) Friedenberg, Daniel, _Medieval Jewish Seals from Europe_ (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1987). (8) Eleazar ha-Levi, "Jewish Heraldry", Caidan Heraldic Symposium and Scribe's Conclave_ July 8-9, 1989, Los Angeles, Califor