ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 3248 http://www.s-gabriel.org/3248 ************************************ 23 Dec 2006 From: Aryanhwy merch Catmael Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You wanted to know if is an authentic name for a Spanish man living before 1600. Here is what we have found. The first example of the name that we find in Spanish contexts is references in the 1600's to "Cardenal Armando Juan de Plessis", i.e., the French Cardinal Richelieu. [1] While forms of were used in France, particularly southern France, during our period, the name does not appear to have spread outside of the country until after 1600. [2,3,4,5] We therefore do not recommend as good re-creation for a pre-1600 Spanish man. The Old Spanish word means 'famed, noted, renowned'. [6] Unfortunately, we don't know when this word first developed into a byname, but we haven't found any pre-1600 examples of this word used as a byname. If the word was used, we expect it would be in the spelling (for a man) or (for a woman), as is a plural form. However, without a clear example of used as a byname before 1600, we cannot recommend it as good re-recreation. If you'd like to consider alternatives, we recommend as sources the articles found here: Medieval Names Archive: Iberian Names http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/iberian.shtml 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 Walraven van Nijmegen, Leonor Martin, and Talan Gwynek. For the Academy, -Aryanhwy merch Catmael, 23 December 2006 -- References: [1] Real Academia Espan~ola, _Corpus Diacro/nico del Espan~ol_ (WWW: RAE) http://corpus.rae.es/cordenet.html [2] 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 [3] For example, the name wasn't used in Italian until the 19th century, according to de Felice, Emidio, _Dizionario dei nomi italiani_ (Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, Milan, 1992), s.n. Armando. [4] Uckelman, Sara L., "Occitan names from Saint Flour, France, 1380-1385" (WWW: Self-published, 2005) http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/french/saintflour.html [5] 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/ [6] Heidelberg Academy of Sciences, "Diccionario del Espan~ol Medieval" (WWW: University of Heidelberg, no date) http://www.adw.uni-heidelberg.de/dem/fichero/ficherof.html