ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2665 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2665 ************************************ From: Sara L Friedemann 24 Jan 2003 Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You wanted to know how the following masculine names would have been pronounced in England between 1000 and 1350: , , , , and . Here is a brief letter with the information we have found. These names are all recorded in England between 1182 and 1272, and not all of these spellings are appropriate for the entire period you're interested in. [1] We have therefore discussed the usage of the names, in addition to their pronunciations. The only name in the list that is native to England is . The others were probably imported to England by Norman settlers after the Conquest in 1066; we do not recommend them for any earlier time. is a Middle English descendent of the Old English name <{AE}{dh}elwine>, where the {AE} represents the letter aesc, which is written as an A-E ligature and {dh} represents the letter edh, which looks like a backwards '6' with a crossbar. Before the Conquest, we would expect the name to appear in the Old English spelling, or a similar variant. in particular is not very likely until the late 12th century; before that, it was more commonly spelled . By the middle of the 13th century, the name had become rather rare. [2,3,4,5,6] The pronunciation of this name is tricky; around the 11th century, was probably pronounced \ILE-win\, with \ILE\ rhyming with . By the middle of the 13th century or so, however, the initial diphthong had changed from \AH-ee\ to something closer to \A-ee\, where \A\ is the sound of in . Our earliest examples of or are from the middle of the 12th century; we believe the name was in use by the late 11th century, but have not found explicit examples. [2,5] After the end of the 13th century or so it was also fairly rare. It was pronounced \BAR-dulf\, with the \u\ as in . is derived from the Old French [7]; it is pronounced roughly \ay-LEE\. The earliest example that we've found of this name is in 1150-60. [2] The name was never common, and we can recommend it only for the early 12th century through the late 13th century. also derives from the Old French, from the name . [3] Early instances of the name in England retained the French spelling. We find in England c.1110 and c.1150 [2,3], and a man between c.1230 and c.1247 recorded as both and . [4]. It is found as in 1332. [8] is a fine choice from the early 12th century on, though spellings with the initial (which was silent in pronunciation) are more common earlier. For the 12th century, we believe the English name was still pronounced like the French form, making it \@-lee-AHS\, where the \@\ is the sound of in or . By the 14th century, or was mostly a documentary (written) form only; it represented the spoken , which was pronounced \EL-is\. in this spelling is found throughout your period. [2,3,4] It was pronounced \WAH-rin\. We hope that this brief 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, Adelaide de Beaumont, and Julie Stampnitzky. For the Academy, -Argantgui filia Catmaili, 24Jan03 -- References: [1] Nicolaa de Bracton, "A Statistical Survey of Given Names in Essex Co., England, 1182-1272", Known World Heraldic Symposium Proceedings 1995 (SCA Inc.; WWW: privately published, 1997). http://members.tripod.com/nicolaa5/articles/names.html [2] Reaney, P. H., & R. M. Wilson, _A Dictionary of English Surnames_ (London: Routledge, 1991; Oxford University Press, 1995). s.nn. Aylwin, Bardolph, Ely [3] von Feilitzen, Olof. 'The Personal Names and Bynames of the Winton Domesday', in Martin Biddle, ed., _Winchester in the Early Middle Ages_, Winchester Studies 1 (Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1976); pp. 147, 161, 176. [4] Talan Gwynek, "Given Names from Early 13th Century England" (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1997). http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/talan/eng13/ [5] Bardsley, Charles, _A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames_ (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1980). s.nn. Aylwin, Bardolph [6] Selte/n, Bo, _The Anglo-Saxon Heritage in Middle English Personal Names_, Volumes 1 & 2. (Lund, Sweden: Royal Society of Letters at Lund, 1979). (II:38) [7] More precisely, is from an Old French form of the Greco-Roman borrowings of the Hebrew 'Elijah'.