Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 667

Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 667

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Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel!

You asked several questions about the name <Caesaria>, which you found in my collection of feminine given names from [3]. Since they are very precisely focussed, I've used them as an outline.

(1) Where did Reaney find the name <Caesaria>?

Both of his citations are from the 'Cartularius monasterii de Rameseia', i.e., the chartulary of the Abbey of Ramsey in Huntingdonshire.

(2) Was it used only in certain parts of England?

We don't know, but it may be significant that both of the known examples are from the same county: possibly the name was peculiar to a single family. On the other hand, the masculine <Cesar> is recorded in Yorkshire in 1185. [3]

(3) Why was it used only in the 12th and 13th centuries?

For a few decades around the year 1200 there seems to have been a fashion in England for unusual names, especially for women. They tend to be Classical or what might be described as fanciful and <Diamanda> (apparently 'diamond'), <Melodia> (Latin, 'melody'), <Philomena> (Classical), and <Primaveira> ('spring', of Latin origin) are some other examples from the same period. [3]

As with most fads and fashions, we can only speculate about the causes, but it seems likely that this one is connected with the so-called Twelfth Century Renaissance and perhaps the popularity of the new chivalric romances. It was at any rate a fairly general phenomenon; similar inventions Classical borrowings are found in other parts of Western Europe at about the same time.

(4) With what sort of byname would it most likely have been used?

We think that a rare name of Classical origin would most likely be found in a land-owning family. Members of that class used a variety of types of bynames, but notably the most common type was the locative byname, e.g., <de Warham> 'of Wareham', or <de Rammesye> 'of Ramsey'. In many cases the name referred to lands held by its bearer. For example, <Emma de Pery> or <de Waterpirie> was heiress to lands near Waterperry in Oxfordshire about 1154. [2] Any sufficiently old place-name from Huntingdonshire or one of the surrounding counties (Northamptonshire, Rutland, Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire, and Bedfordshire) would certainly be appropriate. And since medieval English land holdings were often quite scattered, a byname referring to a more distant place wouldn't be at all out of the question.

What you might do is examine a good map of England and see if any of the place-names appeal to you. Names of villages are especially suitable. Not only were many villages associated with feudal holdings, but the vast majority have names that go back to your period. Most of these names have changed a bit since then, but suitable forms can often be found in references [1] and [3]. These are widely available in reference collections, and of course we will also be happy to help you with the details.

I hope that this letter has been of use and that you will write us if you have any further questions.

For the Academy,

Talan Gwynek


[1] Ekwall, Eilert. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names, 4th ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1989).

[2] McKinley, Richard. _The Surnames of Oxfordshire_, English Surnames Series III (London: Leopard's Head Press, 1977).

[3] Reaney, P.H. & R.M. Wilson, _A Dictionary of English Surnames_ (London: Routledge, 1991).