ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 3142 http://www.s-gabriel.org/3142 ************************************ 3 Aug 2006 From: Aryanhwy merch Catmael Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You wanted to know when and where the feminine name was used before modern times. Here is the information we have found. is a modern French and English form of the Old West Germanic name . While we have not found before modern times, various forms of can be found in 9th-12th century records from France, including the following: [4] Adalheid a. 830 Adelaidis a. 878, a. 1050, a. 1075, 11th C. Adeleydis a. 894 Adalais a. 898, a. 953, a. 996 Alheydis 10th C Aelaidis 10th-11th C Adheleidis a. 925 Aelaydis a. 929 Adaledis a. 934 Adelais a. 940, 11th C Adaleidis a. 956-84 Adilis a. 965-66 Adelaida a. 962-73 Adalehidis a. 966 Adaledis a. 975-93 Adeleidis a. 988 Aales 11th C Adalaizis a. 1011 Adalasia a. 1025 Adeledis v. 1027 Addeladis a. 1030 Adeladis a. 1032-64, a. 1037-64, v. 1070 Adalais a. 1077 Alaidis a. 1085 Adelix a. 1097 Aalaida a. 1111 Adilidis a. 1113 Aalidis a. 1122 With the exception of , all of these names are either the traditional Latinized Germanic forms (with minor variations), more or less Latinized Old French forms, or vernacular Old French forms. This name has a dual history in French, a popular development and a learned development. In the popular development the Latinized form gave rise to the Old French names and , which were originally pronounced something like \ah-dh@-LICE\ and \ah-dh@-LEETS\, respectively. (Here \dh\ stands for the sound of in and , not the sound in and , and \@\ stands for the sound of in and .) Normal processes in the historical development of the French language led in due course to a complete loss of the original , not just a weakening to \dh\, and came to be pronounced something like \ah-@-LEETS\; like and represent this stage of development. By later changes in Old French the pronunciation changed to \ah-LEETS\ and then \ah-LEECE\, stages represented by the spellings and , respectively. ( underwent similar changes.) The end result was the familiar name , forms of which were quite popular in England and France throughout the later Middle Ages. [1,2] In the normal course of events the Germanic name cannot have developed into , either in French or in English. There are two possible explanations for the existence of the modern French and English names: * Something approximating the old Germanic name was kept alive throughout the Old French period as a learned form alongside the vernacular form whose development followed the normal course of Old French sound changes. This is what happened with : the normally developed popular form is (French ), while English and French are the result of learned preservation of forms closer to the Latin. [5,6] * Only vernacular forms of the name were used during the Middle Ages, and something more closely approximating the old Germanic name was reintroduced later. An English example of this type is the name , a 19th century reintroduction of an Old English name whose normal vernacular development was . [7] The evidence that we've been able to examine points towards the second possibility, but our sources are too incomplete to justify more than a tentative conclusion. If you would like further information about naming practices in either medieval France or England, or any pronunciations not provided in this letter, please don't hesitate to write us again and we'll be happy to help. We hope that this letter has been useful to you and that you'll write again if any part was unclear. Research and commentary on this letter was provided by Adelaidis de Bello Monte, Talan Gwynek, and Guaire mac Guaire. For the Academy, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, 03 August 2006 -- References: [1] Withycombe, E.G., _The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names_, 3rd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988), s.n. Adelaide. [2] ibid., s.n. Alice. [3] Academy of S. Gabriel Report #2688 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2688 [4] Morlet, Marie-Therese, _Les Noms de Personne sur le Territoire de l'Ancienne Gaule du VIe au XIIe Siecle_, three volumes (Paris: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 1972), I:16b [5] Dauzat, Albert, _Dictionnaire Etymologique des Noms de Famille et Prenoms de France_ (Paris: Libraire Larousse, 1987), s.n. Marguerite. [6] Withycombe, op. cit., s.n. Margery. [7] ibid., s.nn. Albert, Ethelbert.