Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 649

Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 649

This report is available at http://www.s-gabriel.org/649

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Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!

You asked for information on the names <Sabine>, <Gabriella>, and <Gianetta>, and for advice on constructing an Italian form of <Gabrielle Jeanette d'Orleans>. Here is what we have found.

<Sabine> is a French or English name. It was relatively common among the Anglo-Normans in the centuries following the Conquest [1, 2]. The Italian form <Sabina> was probably in use among Normans in Italy, and apparently remained in occasional use to the present day [3].

<Gabriella> is an Italian form of the French <Gabrielle>. In French, the name came into use only late in our period. We found one example recorded in the 16th century [4]. Masculine forms appeared much earlier [5], but were not common until late period [6, 7]. We believe that the Italian forms were also late-period innovations, probably 15th or 16th century. The name was most common in Tuscany, and the variant <Gabbriella> was found in Lombardy [3].

<Gianetta> is recorded in Florence in the 14th and 15th centuries [8]. The root name <Giana> was in use in Perugia as early as the 13th century, and it is quite likely that the diminutive form was used earlier, too [9].

Before we can put all the elements together, we need to discuss your other name, <Gabrielle Jeanette d'Orleans>. Each of the elements of this name is French, and the combination is possible in late-period France. Double given names (or middle names) are an innovation of the late Middle Ages. They are fairly common in southern France as early as the 13th century, but did not become common in northern France until quite late; possibly not until after the end of our period. Your byname <d'Orleans> places your persona in northern France, so unless you want a very late-period persona, you should consider dropping one of the given names.

The situation is pretty much the same in period Italy: We have found double given names as early as the 14th century, but they didn't become common until the 16th century. In both countries, double given names seem to have been treated as compound names rather than two separate given names, i.e. <Gianpaulo> rather than <Giovanni Paulo>. These compounds tended to be constructed from common given names. When an unusual name was used, it tended to follow the common element. Therefore, we believe that <Jeanne-Gabrielle> and <Giana Gabriella> are somewhat more likely that <Gabrielle-Jeanette> and <Gabriella Gianetta>. A single given name is even more likely at any time in our period.

You wrote that you want to adapt your French name to Italian. If you are choosing a completely new name, then you're ready to go: Combine an Italian given name with an Italian locative like <da Torino> and you will have a fine period-style name. On the other hand, we also considered that you may want to know what your French persona would have been called if she had moved to Italy. It is most likely that a Frenchwoman in Italy would have been known to the natives by the Italian form of her given name. Italians might have translated her byname (something like <da Orleano>) or they might simply have called her <Francesa> "the Frenchwoman" [10].

I hope this letter has been useful. Please write us again if any part of it has been unclear or if you have other questions. I was assisted in researching and writing this letter by Margaret M'fee and Talan Gwynek.

For the Academy,

Arval Benicoeur


References

[1] Talan Gwynek, Feminine Given Names in 'A Dictionary of English

Surnames' (SCA: KWHS Proceedings, 1994; WWW: privately published, 1997).

[2] Nicolaa de Bracton, 'A Statistical Survey of Given Names in Essex Co.,

England, 1182-1272', Known World Heraldic Symposium Proceedings 1995 (SCA Inc.)

[3] De Felice, Emidio. Dizionario dei Nomi Italiani (Arnoldo Mondadori

Editore, Milan, 1992).

[4] Perouas, L.; B. Barrie\re, B.; J. Boutier; J.-C. Peyronnet; & J.

Tricard. _Léonard, Marie, Jean et les Autres: Les Prénoms en Limousin depuis un Millénaire. Paris: E/ditions du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 1984.

[5] Colm Dubh, "An Index to the Given Names in the 1292 Census of Paris",

Proceedings of the Known World Heraldic Symposium 1996 (SCA: Montgomery, Alabama).

[6] Cateline de la Mor, Sixteenth Century Norman Names (SCA: KWHS

Proceedings, 1994; re-published 1997 by Arval Benicoeur).

[7] Luana de Grood, "Flemish Given Names from Bruges, 1400-1600", (Academy

of Saint Gabriel, 1996).

[8] Rhian Lyth, Italian Renaissance Women's Names (WWW: Privately

published, 1996).

[9] Grohmann, Alberto, L'Imposizione Diretta nei Comuni della'Italia

Centrale nel XII Secolo: La Libra di Perugia del 1285 (Paris, Torino: Ecle Francaise de Rome, 1986).

[10] De Felice, Emidio, Dizionario dei Cognomi Italiani (Arnoldo Mondadori

Editore, 1978).