ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2671
http://www.s-gabriel.org/2671
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12 Jun 2003
From: Ursula Whitcher 


Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!

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

You asked what form of <Benedicta> would be appropriate for a woman living
in Venice between 1100 and 1200 AD.  Here is what we have found.

<Benedicta> is the Latin form of a name that appears in modern Italian as
<Benedetta>.  We have not found any specifically Venetian form of this
name, but we did find it used in other parts of Italy around your
time period.  In particular, we found the Latin <Benedicta> in Amalfi 
between 1100 and 1200 and <Benadacta> in Perugia in 1285. [1, 2]  A form 
of  <Benedetta> was also used in Florence in 1427. [3]  Since the name 
appears in many different areas of Italy, we believe that some form of 
<Benedicta> is also appropriate for Venice during your period.  In 
particular, <Benedicta> is entirely appropriate as a written (Latin) 
form.  We believe that by your period <Benedetta>, pronounced 
\beh-neh-DAYT-tah\, is appropriate as a vernacular or spoken form. [4]

I hope this letter has been useful.  Please write to us again if any part
of it has been unclear or if you have other questions; in particular, 
please let us know if you would like help choosing a byname.  I was 
assisted in researching and writing this letter by Adelaide de Beaumont, 
Maridonna
Benvenuti, Talan Gwynek, Arval Benicoeur, Galiana de Baiona, and Juliana de 
Luna.

For the Academy,
Ursula Georges
12 June 2003

References:

[1]  Patricia Skinner, " 'And Her Name Was. . .?' Gender and Naming in
Medieval Southern Italy in Medieval Prosopography", History and Collective
Biography, vol. 20, 1999, pp. 23-49.

[2]  Arval Benicoeur, "Feminine Given Names from Thirteenth Century
Perugia" (WWW: Academy of Saint Gabriel, 1997).
http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/arval/perugia/

[3]  Arval Benicoeur, "Feminine Given Names from the Online Catasto of
Florence of 1427" (WWW: Academy of Saint Gabriel, 1998).
http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/arval/catasto/


[4]  Devoto, Giacomo.  The Languages of Italy.  V. Louise Katainen, trans. 
(Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1978), 163, 170f.  Between 500 and 1200 
AD, Classical Latin /i/ (as in <Benedictus>) became /e/ in northern Italy, 
and Latin /kt/ (spelled <ct>) was assimilated to /t:/ (spelled <tt>).