ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2973 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2973 ************************************ 6 Feb 2005 From: Aryanhwy merch Catmael Greetings from the Academy of s. Gabriel! You wanted to know if or is an appropriate name for a southern French woman living between 1200 and 1250. You also asked about the arms "Sable, a tree blasted and eradicated Or". Here is what we have found. 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, each of which was used in a range of dialects, some quite similar, some quite different. 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. We found the following 11th to 13th century Provencal forms of : , , , , and [1], as well as in 1380. [14] We do not recommend the spelling . The development of to is a feature of Picard, and to a lesser extent Norman and Walloon, all of which are dialects of the northern language, French. [9] is a fine choice for your father's name. We found three instances of this name, recorded in the Latinized forms , , and in Toulouse circa 1300. is the normal Latinized form, and and are Latinized forms of , a double diminutive of . [3] We found the vernacular (spoken) form in 1204 near Chomelix [4], as well as , , and in the 12th and 13th centuries. [5] By the 13th century, hereditary surnames were already in use by the commoners; a woman might use her father's, husband's, or mother's surname, but usually in a feminized form, e.g. from . [12, 16] The byname isn't a good choice for a woman living in the south because it is French, not Occitan. The Occitan name for the region was or occasionally . The Occitan phrase for "from Provence" is . However, this is probably not the best way to identify yourself as a Provencal. When bynames were created from the names of regions in Old French and Occitan, they were usually constructed from the adjectival form of the place name. In a census of Paris from 1292, we find many examples, including [8]: Guille le Picart "the Picard" Galeren le Breton "the Breton" Genevieve la Flamenge "the Fleming" Guibe l'Englois "the Englishman" Provencal examples from the 11th-13th centuries include: [13] Raymunda, uxor Bernardi Gasqui "Raymunda wife of Bernat the Gascon" Guill. Flandinus "Guilhem the Fleming" Barth. Bergondi "Bertomieu the Burgundian" In 1380 we find: [14] P. Espanhol "P. the Spanish" Steve Champanhat Yzabels Champanhaga Durant Bergonho "Durant the Burgundian" Steve Avinhol And in 13th century Toulouse: [15] Arnaldus Tolsani "Arnaut the Toulousan" Bernardus Lombardi "Bernat the Lombard" Ferrandus Ispani "Ferran the Spaniard" Guillelmus Catalano "Guilhem the Catalan" The French for 'the Provencal woman' is . In Occitan, 'the Provencal woman' is . [11] Either of these is a better choice than , and even then this byname is more likely for someone originally from the south of France who is now living some place else. [6,7] If you'd like a byname appropriate for someone still living in the south of France, we recommend that you pick a specific city from which to be, and use that to form your byname. Whatever byname you pick, we do not recommend that you use both it and or at the same time; we have no evidence for woman using two bynames at the same time in your period. Both and are fine choices. We found examples of trees blasted in England in the 16th century. [10] We have not found any in France, however, and would be surprised to see them in the 13th century in any culture. We therefore recommend that you do not use a tree blasted on your arms. Additionally, your arms may be too similar to arms already registered with the SCA College of Arms to be registerable. [2] However, a tree with leaves is a fine choice. [17] 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 question. Research and commentary on this letter was provided by Arval Benicoeur, Juliana de Luna, Tala Gwynek, Walraven van Nijmegen, and Barak Raz. For the Academy, -Aryanhwy merch Catmael, 06 February 2005 -- References: [1] Chambers, Frank M., _Proper Names in the Lyrics of the Troubadours_ (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1971). s.nn. Isabel, Isabela [2] Your proposed design conflicts with * Ariadne of Alyson-tara: Sable, a blasted tree voided argent. * Huette Aliza von und zu A"hrens und Mechthildberg: Vert, a tree blasted throughout or. * Thomas Towlewardie: A tree blasted and couped the trunk transfixed by an arrow fesswise reversed Or, and Quarterly purpure and sable, a tree blasted the trunk surmounted by an arrow fesswise reversed Or. [3] Arval Benicoeur, "Languedoc Names circa 1300" (WWW: privately published, 1998) http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/arval/toulouse/. [4] Morlet, Marie-Therese, _Le Censier de Chomelix et de Saint-Just-pre/s-Chomelix (1204)_ (Lyon: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 1978). [5] Ramons lo Montalbes, "French/Occitan Names From The XII And XIII Century" (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1997) http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/ramon/occitan/ [6] Dauzat, Albert, _Dictionnaire Etymologique des Noms de Famille et Prenoms de France_ (Paris: Libraire Larousse, 1987). [7] Morlet, Marie-Therese, _Dictionnaire E/tymologique des Noms de Famille_ (Librairie Acade/mique Perrin, 1997). [8] Colm Dubh, "An Index to the Given Names in the 1292 Census of Paris", Proceedings of the Known World Heraldic Symposium 1996 (SCA: Montgomery, Alabama; WWW: SCA, Inc., 1997). http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/paris.html [9] Einhorn, E., _Old French: A Concise Handbook_ (London & New York: Cambridge University Press, 1974). p. 136 [10] Woodcock, Thomas, Janet Grant, & Ian Graham, _Dictionary of British Arms_, vol II. (The Society of Antiquaries of London, 1996). p. 402 has Thornton, 'Argent, a chevron between three thorn trees eradicated sans leaves sable' from Creswick's Roll, ca.1510. [11] Chambers, Frank M., _Proper Names in the Lyrics of the Troubadours_ (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1971). s.nn. Proensa, Proensal, Tibortz. [12] Talan Gwynek, "Names in Medieval Marseille" (WWW: Academy of S. Gabriel, 2002) http://www.panix.com/~gabriel/academy-library/talan/marseille/ [13] Chambers, op. cit., pp. 628, 685, 696 [14] Rigaudie\re, Albert, L'Assiette de L'Impot Direct a la Fin du XIVe Sie\cle: Le livre d'estimes des Consuls de St-Flour pour les anne\es 1380-1385 (Paris: Pressess Universitaires de France, 1977). [15] Arval Benicoeur, "Languedoc Names circa 1300" (WWW: privately published, 1998). http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/arval/toulouse/ [16] Friedemann, Sara L., "Feminine Names from Pe/rigueux, 1339-1340" (WWW: Self-published, 2003) http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/perigueux.html [17] We found examples of trees in England, and in Flanders in the 13th century; heraldic style had not diverged all that much in the 13th century, and so we believe a tree with leaves is fine for Provence as well. [18] [18] Brault, Gerard J., _Early Blazon: Heraldic Terminology in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries with Special Reference to Arthurian Heraldry_, 2nd ed. (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 1997). s.vv. arbre, chesne