ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2791 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2791 ************************************ ************************************************* * * * NOTE: Later research turned up additional * * information relevant to this report. * * See the end of the letter for details. * * * ************************************************* 23 Dec 2003 From: Femke de Roas Greetings from the Academy! You asked us if or would be appropriate as a name for a 16th century woman from the north of England. You also asked for the earliest evidence we had available for the use of the name . Although we have some evidence of the name, we cannot recommend as a good choice for an Englishwoman: It appears to have been an unusual Latinization of some English name, but we are not sure what English name underlies it. We do not think was used in spoken English until well after our period. In 1255, a Latin document refers to , the wife of John de Montpync,on [1]. (The symbol represents c-cedilla.) This is the only example of that we found before 1600; and in a Latin document of this period, is most likely a purely documentary form representing , as discussed below. Otherwise, is an 18th century form of a name we find recorded primarily in Scotland in the 16th and 17th centuries as or [1, 2]. The most prominent bearer of this name was Arbell or Arbella Stuart, Duchess of Somerset (1575 - 1615); we know from existing letters that she signed her name as [3, 5]. This name was most likely pronounced \ar-BELL-a\, where \a\ represents the sound of in and . Though Arbella lived most of her life in England, she was strongly connected with Scotland. We found no 16th century native Englishwomen with this name, but we believe it is a plausible choice for a woman from the north of England. There is an earlier name , probably from Latin 'easy to be entreated'. We find the following forms recorded [2]: Orabilis 1221 Orabla 1243 Orable 1243 Orabilia 1273 Orabella 1275 The name also appears as a surname in 1279 as and in 1327 as [2]. The only evidence we have that this may be the same name as is that the woman recorded in 1243 as and also appears in the same document as [2]. It's possible that and are later forms of ; it's also possible that the names are unrelated. could be related to a different name, and the form could have developed later from a mistaken connection to forms of the older name like [4]. For the byname , we find 1192 and 1546, and 1221 [2,4]. We also find the following forms for Strangeways 1513 Strangways 1527 Strangwayes 1546 Strangewayes 1601 Strangwaies 1589 The first citation is from York. This makes it a particularly good choice for a woman from the north of England. [2, 4]. Given this evidence, and appear to be reasonable names for a 16th century woman from the north of England, though the given name was apparently not at all common. We hope this letter has been helpful. Please don't hesitate to contact us if something is unclear or you have additional questions. Commentary and research for this letter was provided by Adelaide de Beaumont, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Talan Gwynek, Mari neyn Brian, Ursula Georges, and Juliana de Luna. For the Academy, Femke de Roas December 23, 2003 ______________________________________________________________________ References [1] Withycombe, E.G., _The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names_, 3rd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988). s.n. Arabel(la). [2] Reaney, P. H., & R. M. Wilson, _A Dictionary of English Surnames_ (London: Routledge, 1991; Oxford University Press, 1995). s.n. Strange, Strangeway [3] Castelli, Jorge H., "Bess of HARDWICK (C. Shrewsbury) and her Royal grand daughter, Lady Arabella STUART," (WWW - self-published). http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/Bios/BessofHardwick.htm [4] Bardsley, Charles, _A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames_ (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1980). s.n. L'Estrange, Strangewayes, Orable. [5] Baker, John, "Marlowe and Arbella Stuart (~Arabella)," (WWW - self-published). http://www2.localaccess.com/marlowe/arbella.htm - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Correction, Arval, 22 Jul 2004: Added the 13th century citation and revised the first paragraph on to reflect it.