ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2837 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2837 ************************************ 8 Sep 2004 From: Josh Mittleman Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You wanted to know if is an appropriate name for a French woman living in the 1400's. We apologize for the time it has taken to complete this letter. While France today is a unified country with a common language, that was not true in our period. Pre-modern France was home to several languages. The most significant division was between the langue d'oil, or French, spoken in the north, and the langue d'oc, also called Occitan or Provencal, spoken in the south. These were different languages, not just dialects of the same language, and names in them were often quite different. is a fine surname for your period. It is an Occitan surname, derived from an Occitan word that means "grove of white poplars" [6, 7]. We do not have an example of it in your period, but we have no doubt it was used: A modern surname derived from Occitan was almost certainly in use in the 15th century; and there is no part of this name that we would expect to have changed in the transition from Occitan to modern French. The Occitan equivalent of is . It doesn't appear to have been common in the south, but we have found a few examples, with the place and date they were recorded: Clara (Dauphine/, 12th c) [5] Clariella (Nice, 13th c) [4] Claria (Perigueux, mid 14th c) [2] Clareta (Toulouse, early 16th c) [3] The slash represents an acute accent mark on the preceding letter. is a diminutive of , and is similarly a diminutive of . The existance of in the 16th century suggests that the base name, , would not be out of place in your period. 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 Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Talan Gwynek, Mari neyn Brian, and Maridonna Benvenuti. For the Academy, Richenda du Jardin and Arval Benicoeur 8 Sep 2004 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Morlet, Marie-The/re\se. _E/tude d'Anthroponymie Picarde: Les noms de personne en Haute Picardie aux XIIIc, XIV, XVc sie\cles_ (Le Presses du Palais Royal: Paris), page 112. [2] Friedemann, Sara L., "Feminine Names from Pe/rigueux, 1339-1340" (WWW: Self-published, 2003). http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/perigueux.html [3] Talan Gwynek, "Late Period Feminine Names from the South of France" (WWW: Academy of Saint Gabriel, 1999). http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/talan/latefrenchfem/ [4] Compan, Andre/, _E/tude d'Anthroponymie Provenc,ale: Les Noms de Personne dans le Comte/ de Nice aux XIIe, XIVe, et XVe Sie\cles_, thesis at the Universite/ de Paris IV, Dec. 1975 (Paris: Librarie Honore Champion, 1976), p.131. [5] "Noms de Femmes Releve/s dans les Divers Cartulaires e/tudie/s" at II:231 in Bourin, Monique, ed., _Genese medievale de l'anthroponymie moderne_ (Tours : Universite/ de Tours, [1989]). [6] Dauzat, Albert. _Dictionnaire E/tymologique des Noms de Famille et Pre/noms de France_ (Larousse: Paris), pg. 5, s.n. Albaret. [7] Morlet, The/re\se. _Dictionnaire E/tymologique des Noms de Famille_ (Perrin), page 31, s.n. Albar.