ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 3343 http://www.s-gabriel.org/3343 ************************************ From: Coblaith Mhuimhneach 3 May 2008 You asked us to evaluate , as a name preferably from the 12th or 13th century, but definitely from the 15th or before. You indicated that you believe the name to be Portuguese. Here's what we found. In this document, represents the letter enya, an with a tilde on top, as in the Spanish , and represents an with an acute accent. Various forms of the feminine personal name were popular in Iberian Christian kingdoms from the 10th century on [1]. However, the Portuguese examples we found used the letter "J" rather than "S". Two women named and one named are mentioned in chronicles written in the late 14th and early 15th century [2]. is the form of this name most common in those areas in which Castilian was spoken [3]. We find examples of in Castile and Leon (the regions of Spain through which the Douro river—known there as the —flows) between 1050 and 1200 [4, 5]. One collection of Spanish legal documents from the 12th and 13th centuries contains over 700 additional instances of the name [3]. The byname in which you indicated interest, , is a locative byname (a byname that identifies the bearer by reference to a location). Locative bynames using the preposition are common in both Portuguese and Spanish. We found no evidence of Spanish or Portuguese bynames based on the names of rivers. However, topographic bynames (based on generic terms for natural or man-made topographic features), are seen in both languages. In 16th-century Portuguese we find and , both meaning "by the river" [6]. In late-15th-century Spanish sources we find both ("by [the] river") and ("by [the] stream") [7]. Another option, if you wish to indicate a connection with the Douro River in your byname, is to select a locative based on the name of a city that is situated along its banks or a region through which it passes. Here are some Portuguese examples from the 16th century [6]: (the referenced location is in Spain) And here are some Spanish examples from the late 15th century [7]: (the referenced location is in Portugal) We will be happy to research the appropriate 12th and 13th century form of such a locative for you if you choose a city or region to reference. 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. I was assisted with research and commentary for this letter by Adelaide de Beaumont, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Talan Gwynek, Ursula Georges, Leonor Martin, and Eleyne de Comnocke. For the Academy, Coblaith Mhuimhneach ------------------------------------------------------------------------ --------------- [1] McMaster, Jodi, "Concerning the Name Teresa, Theresa, Tracy, and Treasa" (WWW: The Problem Names Project, Sharon L. Krossa, 1999) http://www.medievalscotland.org/problem/names/teresa.shtml [2] Juliana de Luna, "Portuguese Names 1350-1450" (WWW: Academy of Saint Gabriel, 1998). http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/juliana/portuguese/ [3] Real Academia Espan~ola, _Corpus Diacro/nico del Espan~ol_ (WWW: RAE) http://corpus.rae.es/cordenet.html [4] _Webster's Geographical Dictionary_ (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam Co., 1949) s.n. . [5] Mundoz, Diego, "A Partial List of Leonese and Castillian Given Names 1050-1126" (WWW: Arval Benicoeur, 2004). http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/diego/reilly.html [6] Friedemann, Sara L., "Portuguese Surnames from Lisbon, 1565" (WWW: Self-published, 2004) http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/portuguese/sur1565.html [7] Juliana de Luna, "Spanish Names from the Late 15th Century" (WWW: Academy of Saint Gabriel, 1999-2000). http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/juliana/isabella/