ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 3328 http://www.s-gabriel.org/3328 ************************************ 16 Jul 2007 From: Aryanhwy merch Catmael Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You wanted to know if is an authentic name for a Venetian woman living in the 16th century. Here is what we have found. Italy during the 16th century did not have a single standard language. It was home to various dialects, and it was not until the 19th century that standard modern Italian was adopted throughout the country. Even today, very distinct dialects of Italian remain in common use. The dialects of medieval Italian can be grouped into three main families: northern, central, and southern. The Venetian dialect falls in the northern family. Unfortunately, we do not have any good resources for Venetian names in the 16th century; our data is primarily from the 14th and 15th centuries. is a feminine form of , which is a pet form of or , and occasionally and . [1] We find in Florence in 1427; this is both before your desired period and in a different dialect group (Florentine is one of the central dialects) so this is not the best support for the name in 16th century Venice. [2] The masculine form of the name was particularly common in Tuscany in the 14th century, and during that period we also find , which is typically Venetian form. [3] In the 15th century, we have two examples of in Venice, and an example of the Latin form in records from Pavia. [4,5] Additionally, in Latin records from Verona in 1502, we find the feminine form . [7] Altogether, this gives us fairly good reason to conclude that was also used in Venice in the 16th century, and it's not unlikely that the feminine form was used too. However, we do not have any examples of the diminutive in Venice at any period. Without any example, we cannot recommend this choice as the best re-creation. In the 14th century, we find both and the diminutive in Venice; the spelling is particularly common in Tuscan areas. [3] In records from Florence in 1427, is the most popular feminine name, occurring nearly twice as many times as the next most common feminine name. [2] In 1502, Latin records from Verona have both and . [7] Because of the name's popularity, we have little doubt that it was also used in Venice in the 16th century, though we don't know whether or is more likely. As you know, is the surname of the father of Margherita, the mistress of the Renaissance painter and architect Raphael Sanzio. Margherita's father was from Siena, in Tuscany, so this gives us evidence for in the early 16th century. [6] However, we do not have any examples of this surname in Venice or elsewhere in northern Italy, so we cannot confirm that this is an authentic choice for 16th century Venice. 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. For the Academy, -Aryanhwy merch Catmael, 16 July 2007 -- References: [1] De Felice, Emidio, _Dizionario dei nomi italiani_ (Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, Milan, 1992), s.n. Meo. [2] Arval Benicoeur, "Feminine Given Names from the Online Catasto of Florence of 1427" (WWW: Academy of Saint Gabriel, 1998). http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/arval/catasto/ [3] Arval Benicoeur and Talan Gwynek, "Fourteenth Century Venetian Personal Names" (WWW: Academy of Saint Gabriel, 1999). http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/arval/venice14/ [4] Uckelman, Sara L., "Fifteenth Century Venetian Masculine Names" (WWW: Self-published, 2004). http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/italian/venice.html [5] Talan Gwynek, "15th Century Italian Men's Names" (WWW: Academy of Saint Gabriel, 1998). http://www.s-gabriel.org/docs/italian15m.html [6] "Raphael" (WWW: Wikipedia.org, 5 June 2007) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raphael [7] Herlihy, David and Christiane Klapisch-Zuber. Census and property survey of Florentine domains and the city of Verona in the fifteenth century Italy [machine- readable data file]. Cambridge, Mass.: David Herlihy, Harvard University, Department of History and Paris, France: Christiane Klapisch-Zuber, Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes [producers], 1977. Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin, Data and Program Library Service [distributor], 1988 and 1996. http://dpls.dacc.wisc.edu/Catasto/index.html