ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 947 http://www.s-gabriel.org/947 *********************************** ************************************************* * * * NOTE: Some of the Academy's early reports * * contain errors that we haven't yet * * corrected. Please use it with caution. * * * ************************************************* ************************************************* * * * NOTE: Later research turned up additional * * information relevant to this report. * * See the end of the letter for details. * * * ************************************************* 02 Jun 1998 From: Jaymi Bouziden Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel. You asked for information on the English feminine name , which you want to use for a 13th century Englishwoman. You also asked if this was the name of Alfred the Great's niece. First, we would like to thank you for your enthusiastic endorsement. We appreciate your confidence in us. The feminine name <{AE}lfwyn> is from the Wessex dialect of Old English, or Anglo-Saxon. It was the name of Alfred the Great's granddaughter, the daughter of Alfred's daughter {AE}thelfl{ae}ed and {AE}thelred, ealdorman of Mercia, rather than his niece. [1] (The {AE} represents the Anglo-Saxon character "{ae}sc", or "ash", which is written as a combined "ae".) The name is recorded in a variety of spellings in the 10th and 11th centuries, including {AE}lfwyn 919, c.1050 {AE}lfwynne 948 (The <-e> is a grammatical ending instead of part of the standard form of the name.) {AE}lfwynn 11th century Elwina 10th or 11th century [2] There is also the very similar feminine name <{AE}lfwen>, which appears as {AE}lfwenna c.975 (This is lightly Latinized; the <-a> is purely a result of the Latinization.) {AE}lfwenne c.1030 (Again, the <-e> is a grammatical ending) {AE}lfwen 1050 (?) Aluuen 1086 Aluene 1086 [2] We also found examples of , 12th century and , 1088, which derive from either <{AE}lfwynn> or <{AE}lfwen>. [3] While quite a few Anglo-Saxon names were still in use around 1200, by the middle of the 13th century many of these names have either fallen into disuse or have acquired a distinctly Middle English look. However, we did find some examples of names that may derive from <{AE}lfwyn>, including Aluinnia 1257 (in a Latin, rather than Middle English, context) Helvynya 1359 (the was not pronounced) [4] Aluina 1206 Elvina 13th century [5] So might be a possible given name for the very beginning of your period; certainly would be. We hope this letter has been useful. Please write us again if you have any more questions or if any of this letter has been unclear. AElfwyn aet Gyrwum, Blaise de Cormeilles, Talan Gwynek, and Arval Benicouer contributed research and commentary for this letter. For the Academy, Livia Montgomery __________________________ [1] _Anglo-Saxon Chronicle_, trans., with an intro., by G.N. Garmonsway. London : J.M. Dent, 1967. [2] Boehler, Marie. _Die altenenglischen Frauenamen_. Nendlem, Liechtenstein : Krauss Reprint, 1967. Originally published 1930. [3] Clark, Cecily. "L'Hagiografie anglo-latine de l'Angleterre anglo- normande", in _Words, Names, and History: Selected Papers_, ed. by Peter Jackson. Cambridge : D.S. Brewer, 1995. [4] Selte/n, Bo. _The Anglo-Saxon Heritage in Middle English Personal Names_, 2 vols. Lund, Sweden : Royal Society of Letters at Lund, 1979. [5] Talan Gwynek. "Feminine Given Names in _A Dictionary of British Surnames". SCA, Known World Heraldic Symposium Proceedings, 1994. WWW : J. Mittleman, 1997. http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/reaney/ __________________________ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Correction, 27 Sep 2004, Aryanhwy and Arval: Fixed a typo, {AE}fwen.