ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1883 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1883 ************************************ From: "Sara L Friedemann" 30 Dec 1999 Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You wanted to know if would be an authentic 15th or 16th century Italian name, and if would be a reasonable Italian form of the Austrian surname . Here is the information we have found. was a very popular name throughout medieval and renaissance Italy. It was the 9th most common feminine name in the 1427 census of Florence, and one of the most common women's names in a collection of wills from Venice in the same period. was rarer and used primarily in the north. [2,4,6] In Renaissance Italy, most people had only one given name; double given names were rare. For your period, we suggest that you use either or as your given name, but not both. We found the surname in 1400 in the Sudetenland, and would not be surprised to find it in Austria at the same time, though it appears to be rare enough not to be found in our standard German surname references. [3] is a feminine noun related to 'straw, litter, forage' [1]. We haven't found it used as a surname in Italy, but it could easily have been used for someone who grows, works with, or sells straw. It's entirely possible that it was substituted for in Italy; that was one way that foreign surnames were adapted to a new language. For example, the 14th century English adventurer Sir John Hawkwood was known in Florence as ; the surname was obviously chosen because it was a familiar word that sounded something like . [5] We hope that this letter has been useful to you, and that you will not hesitate to write again if any part was unclear or if you have further questions. Research and commentary on this letter was provided by Arval Benicoeur, Maridonna Benvenuti, and Talan Gwynek. For the Academy, ~Aryanhwy merch Catmael December 30, 1999 --------------------------------------- References: [1] Cassell's Italian Dictionary. Italian-English; English-Italian. Compiled by Piero Rebora with the assistance of Francis M. Guercio and Arthur L. Hayward (New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1967); s.vv. stramaglia, strame. [2] Arval Benicoeur, "Feminine Given Names from the Online Catasto of Florence of 1427" (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1998) [URL:http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/arval/catasto]. [3] Schwarz, Ernst, _Sudetendeutsche Familiennamen aus vorhussitischer Zeit_ (Koeln: Blehlau Verlag, 1957). s.n. Stra"mel [4] De Felice, Emidio, _Dizionario dei Nomi Italiani_ (Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, Milan, 1992). s.nn. Giovanni, Bella [5] "Hawkwood, Sir John" Encyclopędia Britannica Online. [Accessed 15 December 1999]. [6] McKee, Sally, _Wills from Late Medieval Venetian Crete 1312-1420_, 3 vols. (Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 1998, ISBN 0884022455).