ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2235 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2235 ************************************ 10 Feb 2001 From: Judith Phillips Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked us whether the name would be appropriate for an Italian woman living between 1450 and 1600. Here is the information we found. In your period, there was no single Italian language. Rather, there was a set of related dialects, some of which were quite different from one another. As a result, spellings of many names varied from one region of Italy to another. We found the name in Palermo in the early 1560's and in Florence in the 14-15th centuries [1, 2]. It is an excellent choice for your time and place. We also found your name spelled in Florence and Venice [2, 3] and in Florence [4]. Unfortunately, your pronunciation, \Made-lean-ah\, is not quite correct; the usual pronunciation is \mah-dah-LAY-n@\, where \@\ represents the sound of in or . Your byname, , needs a small adjustment. In modern Italian, is the phrase meaning "from Palermo." In Renaissance Italy the situation was a bit more complicated. Locative bynames -- names that describe where a person is from -- were formed using at least three different particles, , , and [1, 5, 6]. (We found no example of used in this manner.) The choice of particle seems to have depended on the local dialect. In Palermo, it appears that was slightly more common, and we actually found an example of from 16th century Palermo [1]. In northern and central Italy, would have been the more common form. It is worth noting that locative bynames based on large places such as Palermo were usually used by people who had moved away from their homes. In Palermo, wasn't a particularly distinctive description of a person, so it wouldn't have been a very useful name. In Messina, there were relatively few people from Palermo, so would have been a rather distinctive name. By the 16th century most people in Italy used inherited surnames, so a family descended from a man named might have moved back to Palermo; however, as a general rule, the name would have been much more common elsewhere. In summary, the spelling of your name would have depended on where you were living. In Sicily, your full name would probably have been , pronounced \mah-dah-LAY-n@ dee pah-LAIR-mo\. In Venice or Florence, would have been more typical. In general, your surname would probably have been more common outside Palermo. We hope that this letter has been useful to you. Please do not hesitate to contact us again if any part of it has been unclear or if you have any further questions. I was assisted in writing this letter by Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Julie Stampnitzky, Maridonna Benvenuti, Arval Benicoeur, Talan Gwynek, and Juliana de Luna. For the Academy, Adeliza de Saviniaco 10 February 2001 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- References: [1] Lyneya Fayrebowe (Audrey Parks), "Names from Baptismal Records of Palermo, 1561-63" (unpublished research, 2000). Based on a baptismal register in the library of the Church of the Latter Day Saints, index number 1740126. [2] Rhian Lyth, "Italian Renaissance Women's Names" (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1996) [URL:http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/italian.html]. [3] Arval Benicoeur and Talan Gwynek, "Fourteenth Century Venetian Personal Names" (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1999) [URL:http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/arval/venice14/]. [4] 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]. [5] Gerhard Rohlfs, _Dizionario dei Cognomi e Soprannomi in Calabria_, A. Longo, editor, Ravenna, IT,1978, s.n., , . [6] Talan Gwynek, "15th Century Italian Men's Names" (WWW: Academy of Saint Gabriel, 1998) [URL:http://www.s-gabriel.org/docs/italian15m.html].