ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2640
http://www.s-gabriel.org/2640
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16 May 2003
From: Ursula Whitcher 


Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!

Before we begin, we'd like to apologize for the amount of time this letter 
has taken.

You asked about a fourteenth-century French surname based on lands held in 
the Loire valley.  In particular, you were interested in a surname based on 
the places Sainte-Radegonde, Les Essards, Les Trois Moutiers, Avon, or 
Crouzilles.  Here is what we have found.

There are several modern places called <Sainte-Radegonde> in France.  The 
towns in Deux-Sevres and Vienne lie in the Loire valley; these places are 
mentioned as <parocchia Beatae Radegundis> in 1251 and <Eccl. S. Radegundis 
de Gastina> in the fourteenth century, respectively. [1]  We believe that 
by your period, the most likely French spelling for this place name is 
<Sainte Radegonde>.  A fourteenth-century man named <Jacques> from 
Sainte-Radegonde might have been known as <Jacques de Sainte 
Radegonde>.  We believe that the byname <de Sainte Radegonde> was 
pronounced \d@ se~nt rah-d@-goo~n-d@\.  Here \@\ represents the sound of 
<a> in <about> and <soda>. (This sound is called schwa.)  The symbol <~> 
indicates that the preceding vowel is nasalized. [10]

There are many French towns known as <Les Essards>; we found the town in 
Indre-et-Loire recorded as <des Essarz> in 1247, and the modern Les Essarts 
in Loir-et-Cher recorded as <Essars> circa 1330.  Since we found <Essars> 
closer to your period, we believe that the form <des Essars> is most 
appropriate.  A man named <Jacques> from Les Essards would most likely have 
been known as <Jacques des Essars>. [2]  We believe that the byname <des 
Essars> was pronounced \day-zeh-sar\ in your period.

We found the name of Les Trois Moutiers recorded as <Troys Moustiers> in 
1408. [3]  The form <troys> for the word "three" is typical of the Old 
French dialect spoken at the French court in Paris; in this dialect, 
<troys> might have been pronounced \trweh\.  The dialect used in the Loire 
valley in the fourteenth century was different; there, the word for "three" 
was pronounced \treh\.  We believe that documents written in the Loire 
valley would probably have used the form <treis>, reflecting the local 
pronunciation.  However, by the end of your period the Parisian-influenced 
form <troys> is also possible. [8, 11]  A man named <Jacques> from Les 
Trois Moutiers could thus have been known as either <Jacques de Treis 
Moustiers> or <Jacques des Treis Moustiers>.  We found the similar place 
name <Pierre de Treis Molins> in 1309; based on this example, we believe 
that a form like <Jacques de Treis Moustiers> is more likely in your 
period.  At the end of your period, <Jacques de Troys Moustiers> is also 
possible. [7]  The byname <de Treis Moustiers> was probably pronounced \d@ 
treh-moo-tyayr\.

We found records of four different modern towns named <Avon> during or 
before your period.  In particular, we found <Avum> and <Avo> in the 
eleventh century, <Avun> in 1087, <Avo> in 1381, and <Abonis villa> in 836. 
[4]  This last town also appears as <Avonh> in 1177, <Avuns> in 1190, and 
<Avons> in 1191. [5]  We believe that by your period, the town of Avon in 
the Loire valley was probably known by the modern form <Avon>.  A man named 
<Jacques> from Avon would have been known as <Jacques d'Avon>.  We believe 
the byname <d'Avon> was pronounced \dah-voo~n\, where \oo~\ represents a 
nasalized form of the vowel in <hoot>.

We did not find a reference to the town of Crouzilles in your period.  We 
did find records of several towns with similar names, including <Crosilles> 
for the modern Crossilles in Calvados in 1208, <Croissilliez> for a 
Crossilles in Eure-et-Loir around 1250, and <Croissillae>in 1142 for yet 
another modern Crossilles, this one in Pas-de-Calais. [6]  Consideration of 
the etymology of Crouzilles (from a diminutive of Latin <crux> 'a cross') 
and the western dialect of the Loire valley leads us to think that 
<Crosilles> is an especially likely spelling in your period, though other 
spellings doubtless were used as well.  In particular, <Croisilles> shows 
the most common French development of the Latin and is also a reasonable 
possibility, especially in an official document. [12]  Thus, a man named 
<Jacques> from Crouzilles might have been called <Jacques de Crosilles> or 
<Jacques de Croisilles>.  The local pronunciation of the byname <de 
Crosilles> was probably something like \d@ kroo-zee-l(y)@\; in the language 
of the French court the name was pronounced roughly \d@ 
krweh-zee-l(y)@\.  We've used \l(y)\ to represent the sound of <lli> in the 
French word <million> 'million' and Italian <degli> 'of the'. [9]

I hope this letter has been useful. Please write us again if any part of it 
has been unclear or if you have other questions. I was assisted in 
researching and writing this letter by Arval Benicoeur, Mari neyn Brian, 
Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Adelaide de Beaumont, Juliana de Luna, and Talan 
Gwynek.

For the Academy,

Ursula Georges
16 May 2003

References:

[1]  Albert Dauzat & Ch. Rostaing, _Dictionnaire Etymologique des Noms de 
Lieux de la France_ (Paris: Librairie Larousse, 1963) s.n. Ste-Radegonde 
note places of this name in Aveyron, Charente-Maritime, Dordogne (S. 
Radegundis, 1365), Gers, Girondre, Saone-et-Loire, Deux-Se\vres (parocchia 
Beatae Radegundis, 1251), Somme (villa S. Radegundis, 977), Vienne (eccl. 
S. Radegundis de Gastina, 14th C), and other compound forms.

[2]  Dauzat and Rostaing s.n. Essards, Les.

[3]  Dauzat and Rostaing s.n. Troischamps.

[4] Dauzat and Rostaing s.n. Avon.  Dauzat assigns <Abonis villa> a 
different etymology from the first three.

[5]  Morlet, Marie-Therese, _Les Noms de Personne sur le Territoire de 
l'Ancienne Gaule du VIe au XIIe Siecle_, three volumes (Paris: Centre 
National de la Recherche Scientifique, 1972), III:211b.

[6]  Dauzat and Rostaing s.n. Croix.

[7]  Marie-Therese Morlet, _Etude d'anthroponymie picarde, les noms de 
personne en Haute Picardie aux XIIIe, XIVe, XVe siecles_ (Amiens, Musee de 
Picardie, 1967) p. 351.

[8]  E. Einhorn, _Old French: A Concise Handbook_ (London & New York: 
Cambridge University Press, 1974), p.136.  The Loire valley is mostly in 
the Western dialect area of Old French. In this region the diphthong [ei] 
(roughly our \ay\) did not become [oi] (roughly what it looks like) in the 
12th c., but was lowered through [Ei] (no English equivalent) to [E] 
(roughly the vowel of <met>), spelled <ei> and <e>.

[9]  Many Americans will find the sound we have represented as \l(y)\ 
similar to \ly\; however, it is a single sound that cannot be split between 
two syllables. Thus, French <million> is closer to \mee-LYOH~\ than to 
\meel-YOH~\.

[10]  A nasalized vowel is produced with open nasal passages, so that some 
air escapes through the nose as well as through the mouth.  One example is 
the negative 'unh-unh', which has a nasalized schwa in the first syllable.

[11]  R. Anthony Lodge, _French: from Dialect to Standard_ (New York: 
Routledge, 1993), p. 123.

[12]  Pope, M.K., _From Latin to Modern French_ (Manchester: Manchester 
University Press, 1966).