ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1898 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1898 ************************************ 29 Dec 1999 From: Jodi McMaster Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You asked about the Italian equivalent for the name which would be appropriate for a Venetian living around 1450. The Italian version of is . [1] As you're probably aware, is one of the heroes of the Arthurian Romances. These were quite popular between the 12th and 15th century in northern Italy and the Norman influence in Sicily took them to southern Italy as well. Rusticiano, who wrote _The Travels of Marco Polo_, also wrote down a version of the Arthurian romances for the king of Naples in the fourteenth century. [1] Just because heroes' names were known in literature, it does not always follow that the names were used by people to name their children. The Arthurian romances are an exception to that general rule. Names of the most popular Arthurian heroes passed into common usage in many western European countries. We found more direct evidence that this particular name was used in Venicein your period: , 14th-15th c. Venetian Crete. [3] This name probably indicates a woman named was the daughter of a man named . We also found several instances of other Arthurian names being used in the late middle ages: , , , (), , . [1, 4] Therefore, we think is an appropriate name for a Venetian man living in 1450. We believe it would have been prounounced \tree-STAHN-oh\. We hope this letter has been helpful. Please write us again if any part of it has been unclear or if you have other questions. Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Pedro de Alcazar, Maridonna Benvenuti, Antonio Miguel Santos de Borja, Arval Benicouer, Raquel Buenaventura, Walraven van Nijmegen, and Talan Gwynek contributed comments and/or research for this letter. For the Academy, AElfwyn aet Gyrwum __________________ References: [1] De Felice, Emidio, _Dizionario dei Nomi Italiani_ (Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, Milan, 1992), s.nn. Ivano, Tristano, Galvano, Galgano, Lancillotto, Arturo, Ginevra, Isotta. [2] Craig Levin, "An Investigation into the Symbolism of Heraldry in the Legend of Tristram and Isoud" (WWW: Self-published, access date 12/15/99): http://pages.ripco.net/~clevin/tristram.html [3] McKee, Sally, _Wills from Late Medieval Venetian Crete 1312-1420_, 3 vols. (Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 1998, ISBN 0884022455). [4] De Felice, Emidio, _Dizionario dei Cognomi Italiani_ (Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, 1978) s.nn. Ivi, Lancelloti.