ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 3218 http://www.s-gabriel.org/3218 ************************************ 29 Nov 2006 From: Aryanhwy merch Catmael Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You wanted to know if is an appropriate given name for an Occitan speaking Cathar living in the 12th century, and whether a byname meaning 'the big' is an authentic choice. Here is what we have found. The given name is derived from the adjective and noun '[woman] from Catalonia'. [9,10] We did not find any examples of this name in the 12th century, but we did find one woman named from Cha^teauverdun at the end of the 13th century (the represents an with a circumflex accent). [1] It's not at all implausible that the name was also used during your period. There was a fairly strong pattern of ethnic adjectives and nouns being used as feminine given names in Occitan - other examples of this type of name that we've found include the following: Alamanda 14th C [6] Albigensia 1200-1350 [8] Anglesa 12th C [4] Anglica 1200-1350 [8] Tholosana 1200-1350 [8] We also found a number of other names which are simply identical with a city or a country: Escalona 1200-1350 [8] Francia 1200-1350 [8] India 1200-1350 [8] Irlanda 1200-1350 [8] Maienca 12th C [4] Paris 1200-1350 [8] Spania 13th C [7] Valencia 12th C [5] Yspania 13th C [7] Based on these, we believe would be unremarkable in the 12th century. We also were unable to find any Occitan byname meaning 'the large' or 'the big' during your period. The earliest that we found is an from Toulouse in 1318; this is a Latinized form of the byname. [2] But even though we don't have any earlier examples, a simple descriptive like this would be unremarkable in the 12th century, and so it is a fine choice. We believe that in the 12th century the Occitan form would be . [3] This byname could either follow or precede the given name, e.g. or . In Latin, both names could be recorded as . 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 Ursula Georges, Maridonna Benvenuti, Eleyne de Comnocke, Talan Gwynek, and Arval Benicoeur. For the Academy, -Aryanhwy merch Catmael, 29 November 2006 -- References: [1] Brenon, Anne, _Le petit livre aventureux des pre/noms occitans au temps du Catharisme_ (Tolosa: Loubatie\res, 1992), s.n. Catalana [2] Arval Benicoeur, "Languedoc Names circa 1300" (WWW: privately published, 1998). http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/arval/toulouse/ [3] Some 16th century examples occur in Talan Gwynek, "Late Period Feminine Names from the South of France" (WWW: Academy of Saint Gabriel, 1999) http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/talan/latefrenchfem/ 1514 1514 [4] Juliana de Luna, "Catalan Names in Latin Contexts: the late 12th century" (WWW: Academy of Saint Gabriel, 1999). http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/juliana/catalan12/ [5] Arval Benicoeur, "Catalan Names from 12th and 13th Century Charters" (WWW: privately published, 1997). http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/arval/catalan/ [6] Juliana de Luna, "Occitan Townspeople in the 14th Century" (WWW: Academy of S. Gabriel, 2002). http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/juliana/occitan/ [7] Uckelman, Sara L., "Names from 13th- and 14th-Century Latin Records from Gascony" (WWW: Self-published, 2006) http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/french/earlygasconlatin.html [8] Brenon, op. cit.; the spellings we list are the header spellings. [9] "Catalan-English Dictionary" (WWW: DACCO: Open Source English-Catalan Dictionary Project, 2003-2006) http://www.catalandictionary.org/dict/cateng/engSpeakers/full/main.htm [10] Dauzat, Albert, _Dictionnaire Etymologique des Noms de Famille et Prenoms de France_ (Paris: Libraire Larousse, 1987), s.n. Catala