ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 3043 http://www.s-gabriel.org/3043 ************************************ 30 Apr 2005 From: Aryanhwy merch Catmael (no address) Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You asked for information about the name or , particularly as an Italian feminine name before 1600. Here is the information we have found. is a French derivative of the Germanic feminine name , with the diminutive suffixes <-el-> and <-ine>. We have found it in use in France as early as the 11th century (in the spelling and ) [1] and in England from the 12th century through the 16th [2], but we have found no evidence at all that it was used in Italy. The Italian usage of is modern, probably adopted from the English name; a likely source for the import is the 1778 novel _Evelina_ by Fanny Burney. [8] is particularly unlikely as an Italian name; Italian rarely uses the letter at all. The most similar names that we found are , found in Apulia sometime after 1100 [9], and , found in Imola, south-east of Bologna, in 1312. [10] If you would like suggestions for an appropriate surname to use with any of these names, please write us again and we'll be happy to help. 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 Maridonna Benvenuti, Juetta Copin, Juliana de Luna, Arval Benicoeur, Sara Marino, Gunnvor silfraharr, and Talan Gwynek. For the Academy, -Aryanhwy merch Catmael, 30 April 2005 -- References: [1] Morlet, Marie-The/re\se, _Les Noms de Personne sur le Territoire de l'Ancienne Gaule du VIe au XIIe Sie\cle_, three volumes (Paris: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 1972) I:48a s.v. AWI- [2] and its variant are found in a number of places in England from the 12th century through the 16th century. [3,4,5,6,7] [3] Nicolaa de Bracton, "A Statistical Survey of Given Names in Essex Co., England, 1182-1272", Known World Heraldic Symposium Proceedings 1995 (SCA Inc.; WWW: privately published, 1997) http://members.xoom.com/nicolaa/names.html [4] Talan Gwynek, "Feminine Given Names in _A Dictionary of English Surnames_" (SCA: KWHS Proceedings, 1994; WWW: J. Mittleman, 1997) http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/talan/reaney/ [5] Talan Gwynek, "Late Sixteenth Century English Given Names" (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1997) http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/talan/eng16/ [6] Talan Gwynek, "Given Names from Early 13th Century England" (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1997) http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/talan/eng13/ [7] Mari Elspeth nic Bryan, "Given Names in Chesham, 1538-1600/1" (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1999) http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/mari/chesham/ [8] De Felice, Emidio, _Dizionario dei nomi italiani_ (Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, Milan, 1992). s.n. Evelina [9] Patricia Skinner, '"And Her Name Was ...?" Gender and Naming in Medieval Southern Italy', _Medieval Prosopography_ 20 (1999), footnote 39. [10] Pini, Antonio Ivan, _La popolazione di Imola e del suo territorio nel XIII e XIV secolo_; in appendice L'estimo di Imola del 1312. (Bologna: Pa\tron, c1976.), p. 153