ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2897
http://www.s-gabriel.org/2897
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26 Jul 2004
From: Josh Mittleman 


Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!

You asked whether <Petra> was used as a feminine name in medieval
German.  As far as we can tell, it was not.

We can't find any evidence that <Petra> was used at all as a woman's
name before modern times [1, 2].  We found some other feminine forms
of <Peter> in medieval German sources [3, 4]:

  Petrissa    ca.1128
  Betirsha    1193
  Petrissa    12th c.
  Petrischa   12th/13th c.
  Peterescha  12th/13th c.
  Petrissa    once in 1250-1300, four times in 1300-1350
  Petrissa    1280
  Peterscha   1297
  Peterscha   1300
  Petirsche   once in 1300-1350
  Pedirse     twice in 1350-1400
  Pedrisse    once in 1350-1400

  Petronilla  987
  Petronilla  1136
  Petronella  1165
  Petronilla  1171
  Petronella  1163x1200
  Petronella  1279

Strictly speaking, <Petronilla> is a feminine form of the Latin name
<Petronius>, but it was treated as a form of <Peter> in medieval
Europe.

In all of these names, the final <-a> may be a Latinization, so the
German forms of the names may be <Petronell>, <Petrische>,
<Petersche>, etc.  We also found two names that are probably pet forms
of <Petrische> [4]:

  Petza       once in 1300-1350
  Patze       twice in 1350-1400

Note that a final <-e> was pronounced as a separate syllable in
German.


Your note led us to wonder if you would be interested in joining the
Academy.  We welcome people interested in learning about medieval
names and heraldry.  As a member, you'd be able to post a question
like this one directly to our mailing list.  If you're interested,
please read our members' guide at
http://www.s-gabriel.org/membersguide/.  It explains how we work and
includes instruction for subscribing to our mailing list.


We hope this letter has been useful.  Please write us again if any
part of it has been unclear or if you have other questions.  I was
assisted in researching and writing this letter by Aryanhwy merch
Catmael, Talan Gwynek, Adelaide de Beaumont, and Juetta Copin.


For the Academy,


  Arval Benicoeur
  26 Jul 2004


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References

[1] Drosdowski, Guenther, _Duden Lexikon der Vornamen_, 2nd ed. (Mannheim:
Dudenverlag, 1974).  He says <Petra> came into use in German in the
first half of the 20th century.

[2] Dunkling, Leslie and William Gosling, _The New American Dictionary
of First Names_ (New York: Signet Books, 1983), s.n. Petra.  It
reports that <Petra> has been in use as a feminine name only since the
1960s; before that, it was used only as a place name (e.g. the city
southeast of Jerusalem in the classical period).

[3] Socin, Adolf, _Mittelhochdeutsches Namenbuch. Nach oberrheinischen
Quellen des 12. und 13. Jahrhunderts_ (Basel: Helbing & Lichtenhahn,
1903; Hildesheim: Georg Olms Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1966), p.93.

[4] Mulch, Roland, _Arnsburger Personennamen: Untersuchungen zum
Namenmaterial aus anrsburger Urkunden vom 13. - 16. Jahrhundert_
(Darmstadt & Marburg: Hessischen Historischen Kommission Darmstadt and
the Historischen Kommission fu:r Hessen, 1974), pp.38-9.