ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 3180 http://www.s-gabriel.org/3180 ************************************ 22 Sep 2006 From: Aryanhwy merch Catmael Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You wanted to know if is an authentic name for a woman living in southern France in the late 14th century, during the Albigensian period. Here is what we have found. We have found the following Provencal examples of in various spellings: Gualiana [1] 11-13th century Galiana [1,3] mentioned in the vida of Uc Brunenc, a troubadour who died around 1223; also 12th-13th C Galliena [2] Lyon, probably 9th-10th century However, we haven't found any Provencal examples of the name later than the 13th century, so we cannot recommend it as a good choice for the 14th century. In your period, the byname could either have been inherited or used literally. That is, the daughter of Pierre de Beaumarchais might have been called Johanna de Beaumarchais even if neither of them lived in that town; and Johanna from Beaumarchais might have been identified the same way regardless of her father's name. We found several towns called ; one is located near Vende/e, north of Bordeaux. [4] There is also a town , in Gers, in southwest France. [5] We haven't found a medieval example of either of these names, but we believe that both and are plausible medieval spellings, and that , which derives from , is a more suitable choice for an Occitan woman than . Both and would have been pronounced roughly \d@ boe-mar-shay\, where \@\ represents the sound of in and , \boe\ rhymes with and \ay\ rhymes with . In some cases, especially if the next word in the sentence began with a vowel, it might be pronounced \d@ boe-mar-shays\. If you'd like to consider a different given name, one which we know was used in the 14th century, we recommend the following articles: "Occitan Townspeople in the 14th Century" http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/juliana/occitan/ "Feminine Names from Perigueux, 1339-1340" http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/french/perigueux.html "Occitan names from Saint Flour, France, 1380-1385" http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/french/saintflour.html "Names from Fourteenth Century Foix" http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/cateline/foix.html 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 Juliana de Luna and Arval Benicoeur. For the Academy, -Aryanhwy merch Catmael, 22 September 2006 -- References: [1] Chambers, Frank M., _Proper Names in the Lyrics of the Troubadours_ (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1971). The date for the death of Uc Brunenc is from: Jean-Paul Fraysse, Daude de Pradas http://perso.wanadoo.fr/jean-paul.fraysse/oc/daude.htm [2] The following forms related to are patronymics. The forms in <-i> and <-j>, in particular, look to be in origin genitives of a masculine name ending in <-us>. var.: , 1205 1252 undated but between 13th & 15th C 1296 1297 1333 1333 1362 1388 1419 Compan, Andre/, _E/tude d'Anthroponymie Provenc,ale: Les Noms de Personne dans le Comte/ de Nice aux XIIe, XIVe, et XVe Sie\cles_, thesis at the Universite/ de Paris IV, Dec. 1975 (Paris: Librarie Honore Champion, 1976), volume II, p. 691. [3] Ramons lo Montalbes, "French/Occitan Names From The XII And XIII Century" (WWW: Academy of Saint Gabriel, 1997). http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/ramon/occitan/ [4] Dauzat, Albert & Ch. Rostaing, _Dictionnaire Etymologique des Noms de Lieux de la France_ (Paris: Librairie Larousse, 1963). s.n. Beaumarchais, they identify places called in the departements Corse-du-Sud (southern Corsica), Eure (in Normandy), Eure-et-Loire (just south of Eure), Indre-et-Loire (a bit south of that), Seine-et-Marne (SE of Paris), and Vende/e (on the Atlantic, north of Bordeaux). [5] ibid., s.n. Beaumarche\s, they indicate that the city (in Gers, in SW France) was founded in 1290 by Eustache de Beaumarchais, who was originally from the north of France where there was several hamlets called . The change of to may be an example of how a French name was adapted into Occitan. Note that the spelling is the modern form. We are fairly certain that the accent would not have been used in your period, but we have found only modern examples, so we cannot say whether is a period form of the town's name.