ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2827 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2827 ************************************ 3 May 2004 From: Kolosvari Arpadne Julia Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked for suggestions on an authentic 13th-14th century English feminine byname meaning "the Welsh woman". Here is what we have found. Bynames that meant "the Welshman" or "the Welshwoman" appeared in English records by the 12th century, and continued to be used throughout your time period. Many of those names evolved into a variety of modern surnames, like , , and . Bynames that derive from words meaning "the Welshman" can be split into two groups based on their etymology. Some bynames derive from the Old English word and its variants and , which means "foreigner; British (i.e., not Anglo-Saxon); Welsh; servile, unfree". (The symbol {ae} represents a-e ligature or ash, which looks like an a and an e squashed together to form a single letter.) Here are some examples from your time period. Names used by women are marked with a double asterisk (**). ** la Walesche 1277 [1] Welsche 1279 [2] le Walsche or le Walche 1327 [1] ** Walshe 1327 [6] ** Walssh 1327 [6] Walsshe 1327 [6] le Walsshe 1327 [6] le Walshe 1327 [6] Welsshe 1327 [6] le Welshe 1327 [6] le Welssh 1327 [6] le Welsshe 1327 [6] Welch 1334 [2] Walshe or Walche 1360 [1] Other bynames originate from the Anglo-French word or , which means "Welshman, Celt". Some examples from your time period include: Waleis 1156-85 [3] Walicus or Waleis 1166, 1169 [3] le Waleis 1200 [3] le Waleis or le Walles 1225, 1244 [3] Waleys 1279-80 [5] Walleys 1279-80 [5] le Valeys 1279-80 [5] le Walys 1279-80 [5] le Waleys 1279-80 [5] le Waleys 1283 [3] le Waleys 1327 [6] Waleys 1327 [6] ** Wellis 1327 [2] ** Walas 1379 [4] The name is a Latin form of and is appropriate only for written documents, not for everyday speech. The name written or was pronounced like : \WAW-liss\. As you may know, the word or seen in some of these bynames is the French definite article, which was conventionally used in writing in place of English . Properly is masculine and is feminine. Over time, English scribes increasingly tended to write for both, but if you choose to use a documentary form for writing your name, we recommend that you use the grammatically correct . Note, however, that use of the article was quite rare after about 1350. In summary, the names listed above are all authentic bynames for a Welsh person living in England in the 13th or 14th centuries. The ones used by women would be especially fine choices for you. We hope that you find this report helpful. Please feel free to write to us again if any part of it has been unclear or if you have other questions. Research and commentary for this letter was contributed by Maridonna Benvenuti, Arval Benicoeur, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, Mari neyn Brian, Juetta Copin, and Talan Gwynek. For the Academy, Katrein Adler and Kolosvari Arpadne Julia 3 May 2004 --------------- [1] Reaney, P. H., & R. M. Wilson, _A Dictionary of English Surnames_ (London: Routledge, 1991; Oxford University Press, 1995), s.n. Walsh. [2] Reaney & Wilson s.n. Welsh. [3] Reaney & Wilson s.n. Wallis. [4] Bardsley, Charles, _A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames_ (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1980), s.n. Wallace. [5] John, Trevor, ed., _The Warwickshire Hundred Rolls of 1279-80: Stoneleigh and Kineton Hundreds_, Records of Social and Economic History New Series XIX *for The British Academy by Oxford University Press, 1992). p. 74 Waleys, le Valeys; p. 264 Waleys; pp. 288, 299 le Waleys; p. 312 Walleys; p. 326 le Walys. [6] Franklin, Peter, _The Taxpayers of Medieval Gloucestershire: An Analysis of the 1327 Lay Subsidy Roll with a New Edition of its Text_ (Dover, NH: Alan Sutton Publishing Inc, 1993). p. 28 Waleys; p. 30 Walssh; p. 32 Waleys; p. 36 Walssh; p. 41 le Walshe; p. 43 ** Walshe; p. 54 le Welssh; p. 57 le Welshe; p. 59 le Welsshe; p. 77 le Walsshe; p. 78 ** Walssh; p. 80 le Waleys; pp. 82, 87 le Walsshe; p. 87 le Waleys; p. 91 Welsshe; pp. 94, 96 Walsshe; p. 110 le Welshe, pp. 112, 113 Waleys, p. 118 le Walshe.