ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 3036 http://www.s-gabriel.org/3036 ************************************ 18 May 2005 From: Gunnvor Silfraharr (no address) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked our opinion of a name meaning "Elizabeth of the Willows" for a Dutchwoman living near the towns of Ghent or Brugge in Flanders ca. 1200-1350, and specifically enquired whether Dutch , or French [1] would be appropriate. The slash represents an acute accent mark on the preceding letter. Here is what we found. You said that you preferred as the form of used in your name. The earliest occurrence of this spelling that we have been able to find is dated 1358-1361 [2], just after your period, with other examples in 1393-1396, 1422, 1432-33, 1478x81 [3, 4, 5]. Looking at forms of this name ca. 1200-1350, we find the following spellings [6]: Eilsabe [sic] Elisabeth Elizabeth Elyzabet Layse Lisbete Lisbette Lise Lisebette Lizebette Lysa Lyse Lysebet Lysebette Lyze Ysabella We also have examples from just after your period in 1358-1361 [2]: Lijsbet Liisbetten Lisebet Lisebetten Lizebetten Lysebet Your spelling includes the common modern Dutch vowel representation . At some point, Dutch scribes began writing long /i:/ as to distinguish it from short /i/, written . The combination developed as a more legible variant of [7]. The earliest example we have found in a name is the feminine name , recorded in 1281 [8], but seems to have come slowly into the transcription of names, and we are unsure whether it is appropriate before 1350. You also asked about the surname , however we didn't find an example with exactly this spelling. The closest example we found is "Francis of the Willow", 1488-9 in Ghent [9]. The Middle Dutch word for "willow" was feminine, which requires in this context rather than masculine [10]. The spelling of word for "willow" varied considerably in Middle Dutch [13]: we also found the surname in the name 1488-9, and it could just as easily have been written , , , etc., though we haven't found examples of those particular spellings [11, 12, 13, 14]. We should also note that in the names and the noun is singular, "of the willow". Hypothetically, "of the willows" would be [15], however we have not found any examples of names using this plural construction, and therefore we recommend that you avoid it. As you will note, we have not found examples of or other spellings of the name actually in your period. We did locate a in 1340, where the surname is the Latin translation of "of the willow" [16]. Latin was the language of most written documents in the Low Countries in your period. If your name had been written, it would most likely have been in Latin: . The spoken Dutch surname underlying the 1340 example could well have been , which is a plausible name at least for the second half of your period and probably for the entire timespan 1200-1350. In summary, or would be a fine name for a Dutch woman ca. 1200-1350. If you are willing to move your period to ca. 1350-1500, then would be a good choice for this later period. I 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, Arval Benicoeur, Talan Gwynek, Florens van Flardingh, Walraven van Nijmegen, Adelaide de Beaumont, and Mor inghean Chathail. For the Academy, Gunnvor Silfraharr 18 May 2005 ----------------------------------------------------- References [1] Since the Dutch forms of your name seemed to be your main interest, based on earlier correspondence, we didn't investigate the French form. If you are still interested in the French , please write us again and let us know; we'll be glad to research it further. [2] Friedemann, Sara L. (aka Aryanhwy merch Catmael), "Dutch Names 1358-1361" (WWW: privately published, 2000). http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/dutch/earlydutch14.html [3] Friedemann, Sara L. (aka Aryanhwy merch Catmael), "Dutch Names 1393-1396" (WWW: privately published, 2000). http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/dutch/dutch14.html [4] Aryanhwy merch Catmael (Sara L. Uckelman), "15th Century Dutch Names". (WWW: Privately Published, 2004). http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/dutch/dutch15.html [5] The notation "1478x81" means that we found one example between 1478 and 1481. [6] Nieuwenhuijsen, Kees C. "Given Names in the Low Lands 1250-1300". (WWW: Privately Published, 2003). http://www.keesn.nl/name13/ [7] "Crash-Course Dutch Grammar for Genealogists". http://www.rabbel.info/crashcourse.html [8] Debrabandere, F., _Kortrijkse Naamkunde 1200-1300, met een kumulatief familienamenregister_, Anthrophonymica XXII (Leuven : Instituut voor Naamkunde : Peeters, 1980). Nr. 724. [9] Janssens, Antoine. "Nieuwe gegevens over het kasteel van Nevele". (WWW: Het Land van Nevele, 1973). http://home.scarlet.be/~lvnevele/artikelen/1973_1.htm [10] The name has because the preposition requires the dative case, and the "willow" word is feminine, thus , the feminine dative singular form of the Middle Dutch definite article, is required. See: Hu"ning, Matthias. "The Middle Dutch Case System". (WWW: History of the Dutch Language, 1999). http://www.ned.univie.ac.at/publicaties/taalgeschiedenis/en/mnlcasus-schema.htm The represents a u-umlaut. [11] De Pauw, Tineke. "Hutten met ieptjes aan: een kleine etymologie van de Vlaamse woordenschat voor het begrip 'struik'". (WWW: Woordenboek van de Vlaamse Dialecten). http://fuzzy.arts.kuleuven.ac.be/rewo/Medwvd/wvd15/WVDco151struik.htm This article quotes a 1535 source that mentions "oaks, willows, ashes, poplars, or other trees". [12] Berten, D., ed. "Ontwerpcostumen van de Oudburg van Gent". In: _Coutume du Vieuxbourg de Gand_. Brussels. 1903. (WWW: Katholoeke Universiteit Leuven, 2001). http://tinyurl.com/arx3o The phrase in a document of 1546 is translated into French as , "willow pollards of three years or less". (A pollard is a tree whose top branches have been cut back to the trunk to encourage new shoots.) Here represents an e with a caret over the letter. [13] Verdam, J. _Middelnederlandsch Handwoordenboek_. (Leiden, Antwerpen: Martinus Nijhoff, repr. 1981). S.n. . [14] Note that while the names we found, and , are quite similar, they do represent two different individuals. [15] van Asseldonk, Martien. "'s Hertogs tienduizend bunders: Her Cijnsboek van de Hertog voor de Meijerij van 's-Hertogenbosch van 1340. Analyse en Bewerking". (WWW: Privately Published. 1998-1999). http://users.bart.nl/~leenders/10000bu/oerle.htm [16] Hu"ning, op. cit. (see note [10]).