Page:The Complete Peerage Ed 2 Vol 3.djvu/637

 APPENDIX C 617 appearance to, are both distinct from, Anne. Ankaret (Welsh Angharat) is often written Aukaret, owing to the confusion of " n " and "u " referred to above. Rose, Clarice, Pernele, Eleyne, Felice, Jounette, Margrete and Denote (.''Devote) are among women's names in Piers Ploughman, and Alisoun (= Alice), Gille, and Grisild, in Chaucer's rustic pieces. John Cobham (father of Henry Lord Cobham), who d. 1300, left a widow whose name is latinized as Methania, and was presumably Methan or Mathan, which is found as a Norman surname; Maiheut or Maeut, forms of the Prankish Mahthild, being also a woman's name in northern France. Will. Walensis and Maisent his wife, held lands in Fordham, co. Cambridge, before 1227 (Phillipps MS. 32046); Roger Uphill, too, who occurs in Fine Rolls, 6 June 1302, had a wife Maisant, which name cannot be related to Maria Sancta or to the modern Maisie, for the terminal "sant" is the French representation of the Frankish "swinth,"(') the "May" being probably, according to Stevenson, the old German " Mag," Megisend actually occurring in Germany. Moisent (O.Fr. for Moses) was a man's Christian name in Wilts late in the twelfth century (Campbell Ch. XIII, 15) and a surname, Helyas and Walter Moysant having been tenants in CO. Line, temp. Henry II (Harl. Ch. 48 C. 10 and 52 B. 12); as Moissant it occurs in some MSS. of the Song of Roland. Tecent or Tecenta, which was borne by a woman in Notts in late twelfth century, seems to be a name of the same type as Maisant. Jacoba occurs infrequently as a woman's name, but whetherthe English name James had any modification when used fora woman the Editor cannot say, probably Jacobine or Jacquette. Scholastica, now quite obsolete, was not very uncommon formerly. Lecia and Brictive were fairly common in the twelfth century, the former is a latinization of the Old French Lece (^Letitia). Sarra, or Sarah, probably «o/ the Old Testament name, is found in the early thirteenth century, but was never very common. Wymark (cf. the Breton Guiomark) is not Infrequent as a woman's name in the twelfth century, and Wymark Auuteyn was a nun of Sempringham in 1366. Hawise, otherwise Avice, has by some been wrongly supposed to be another form of Alice, but Alice Parlebien and Hawyse Pykeworth were nuns of Sempringham in 1366. Hawise, which occurs as Hadewisa and in other forms in charters, is from the Old French Ha(u)e'ls, represen- tative of the Frankish Hathuwidis, whereas Alice is the Frankish Adaliz through the Old French Aaliz, and is a pet form of Adelaid or the like. Joan {lat. Johanna), though very common in the thirteenth century and onwards, was very uncommon before that date. As Egidius was certainly the latinization of Giles, the English equivalent of Egidia is assumed to be Gille, but Gille in France certainly and in England probably, was also a diminutive of Gilian, Julian. Delicia, which is sometimes given as a woman's name in early times, is a mere ghost word, and in fact nothing but {teste H. J. Ellis) a misreading for Aelicia, otherwise Alice. Devorgild, da. of (») Anglo-Saxon Sw{S, as in Frideswith (corresponding to O.Fr. Fressende). The n was lost in English in prehistoric times (as in mouth = Germ, mund), and swinth became sent in French. 78