ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2834 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2834 ************************************ 1 Jun 2004 From: Femke de Roas June 1, 2004 Greetings from the Academy of St. Gabriel! You asked us if is an appropriate name for a person in the Basque region in 1050-1350. is one form of a Basque masculine given name that derived from the Latin name . Examples around your period include [1, 2, 3]: Azenar 950-1076 Accenare 1008 Azenari 1045-1049 Azinari 1052 Asnare 1065 Azinar 1072 Azari 1111 Aznar 1114-1279, 1350-1366 Aznari 1115 Aceari 1218 Note that the form appears just before your period. We suggest you consider one of the forms recorded in your period. The name is probably not appropriate as a surname. The only place we have found it used is as the name of a super-human figure in Basque folklore, the female companion of "The Old Man of the Woods". is a parallel construction, meaning "The Lady of the Woods" [4]. We have not found evidence that either of these names was used in period as a given name or surname. If you would like a surname that refers to the forest, you might consider one of these, each of which includes the Basque word "woods" [5, 6]; Basoraco 1072 Uassoco 1099 Bassauilco 1258 Bassoqo 1258 Bassoco 13th century We hope that this 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 Juliana de Luna, Talan Gwynek, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Tangwustyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, Arval Benicoeur, Kolozsvari Arpadne Julia, and Karen Larsdatter. For the Academy, Femke de Roas ____________________________________________________________________ REFERENCES [1] Diez Melcon, R. P. Gonzalo, Apellidos Castellano-Leoneses: Siglos IX-XIII, ambos inclusive (Universidad de Granada, 1957), pp. 104, 166, 172, 185, 187, 190. [2] Carrasco Perez, Juan. La Poblacio/n de Navarra en el siglo XIV. Pamplona: Ediciones Universidad de Navarra, 1973. [3] Gorrochategui, Joaquin. "Basque Names." Namenforaschung: ein internationales Handbuch zur Onomastik (1995) 747-756. [4] Trask, Larry, "Some Important Basque Words (And a Bit of Culture)," (WWW: SUssex University, 1996) http://web.archive.org/web/20030605105054/http://www.cogs.susx.ac.uk/u sers/larryt/basque.words.html [5] Arzamendi, Jesus. Terminos vascos en documentos medievales de los ss. XI-XVI. Bilbao: Argitarapen Zerbitzua Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea, 1985. [6] LaCarra, José Maria. "Onomástica vasca del siglo XIII." Revista internacional de los estudios vascos 21 (1930): 247-254.