ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2402 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2402 ************************************ 11 Nov 2001 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether is an appropriate name for a late 15th century Venetian woman. This letter is a brief answer to your question. was common in 15th century Florence [1] (and no doubt in many other places), but we haven't found an example in Venice. It appears not to have been a common name in Venice. We did find early 14th century examples of and in Latin records from the Venetian colony of Crete; these probably correspond to and . We also found , and early 15th century examples of and [2, 3]. It was common in the Venetian dialect to use at the beginning of names that were spelled elsewhere in Italy, so these names correspond to , , and . We found in 14th and early 15th century Latin records from the Venetian colony of Crete [4]; it is a fine choice. It is undoubtedly a variant of "man from Brescia". Brescia is a city in Lombardy, in northwestern Italy. would be an excellent Venetian name for your period, pronounced \zo-AH-n@ breh-shee-AH-noh\, where \@\ represents the sound of the in or and \oh\ stands for the vowel sound in . is also plausible. This given name is apparently more typical of other parts of Italy, perhaps Florence; it would likely have been written and pronounced \djo-VAH-n@ breh-shee-AH-noh\. We hope this brief letter has been useful. Please write us again if you have any questions. I was assisted in researching and writing this letter by Talan Gwynek, Adelaide de Beaumont, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Julie Stampnitzky. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 7 Nov 2001 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Arval Benicoeur, "Feminine Given Names from the Online Catasto of Florence of 1427" (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1998). http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/arval/catasto [2] McKee, Sally, _Wills from Late Medieval Venetian Crete 1312-1420_, 3 vols. (Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 1998, ISBN 0884022455). [3] Arval Benicoeur and Talan Gwynek, "Fourteenth Century Venetian Personal Names" (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1999). http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/arval/venice14/ [4] McKee