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I've encountered the name "Huon" in various sources of medieval writing. It's a man's name, presumably Frankish, since it seems to occur among various French military figures of the Crusades (say, 1100 to 1250), but also before, as early as Charlemagne's time (ca. 800).
All the references I can find even in Google relate to some river valley district in southern Tasmania, so no help there. Any bright ideas as to its meaning?
- Da.
All the references I can find even in Google relate to some river valley district in southern Tasmania, so no help there. Any bright ideas as to its meaning?
- Da.
1
Replies
Here ya go, Old Hoot :)
I Googled the words "etymologie, noms, Huon" and ran across a site (www.infini.fr/~geneal29/vocabula.htm) which discusses two grammatical forms of Old French, the "accusative case" (cas régime) and "subjective case" (cas sujet). It provides the following examples: The "subjective" "gars, compain, sire" correspond to the "accusative" "garçon, compagnon, seignor". The site goes on to provide a corresponding anthroponymic example: Huon corresponds to Hue (Bingo!!!)
I looked up Hue in my trusty Oxford English Dictionary, et voila: "Hue", a now-obsolete English word, is derived from the Old French verb Huer meaning "hoot, cry, shout…especially by a multitude in a war or the chase". According to dictionary.com, the modern day meaning of Hue is, simply, "hoot".
One can only conclude that Huon in OF meant "Mr War Cry" and in contemporary French means, well, "Mr Hooter".
I Googled the words "etymologie, noms, Huon" and ran across a site (www.infini.fr/~geneal29/vocabula.htm) which discusses two grammatical forms of Old French, the "accusative case" (cas régime) and "subjective case" (cas sujet). It provides the following examples: The "subjective" "gars, compain, sire" correspond to the "accusative" "garçon, compagnon, seignor". The site goes on to provide a corresponding anthroponymic example: Huon corresponds to Hue (Bingo!!!)
I looked up Hue in my trusty Oxford English Dictionary, et voila: "Hue", a now-obsolete English word, is derived from the Old French verb Huer meaning "hoot, cry, shout…especially by a multitude in a war or the chase". According to dictionary.com, the modern day meaning of Hue is, simply, "hoot".
One can only conclude that Huon in OF meant "Mr War Cry" and in contemporary French means, well, "Mr Hooter".
1
Nonpareil! A remarkable piece of detective work, Monsieur P! Merci beaucoup!
Did the ancient Franks have wet t-shirt contests? :p
Did the ancient Franks have wet t-shirt contests? :p
1
Don't really have any ideas on the origins of this one Daividh, but here are a couple of websites you might find useful.
This list of names from 13th-century Paris includes a few names which may be related (Hugon, Huet, Hue).
http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/paris.html
Kate Monk includes Huon on her site.
http://www.flick.com/onomastikon/Europe-Medieval/France.htm
Where did you find references to this name?
This list of names from 13th-century Paris includes a few names which may be related (Hugon, Huet, Hue).
http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/paris.html
Kate Monk includes Huon on her site.
http://www.flick.com/onomastikon/Europe-Medieval/France.htm
Where did you find references to this name?
1
Mike,
There were several citations of Frankish soldiers or minor nobles named Huon in Evan Connell's Crusades chronicle, "Deus Lo Volt!", which I mentioned some months ago here I was reading and have since settled into one chapter at a time. (The frightful barbarism and carnage of the period must be taken in bite-size chunks or not at all. No CNN then, and it was probably a good thing!)
Also encountered the name in one of the early French tales of Charlemagne -- don't recall which one.
The French name links you provided here, altho without meanings, are very interesting. Kate Monk mentions that the names in her list differ from the more Latin names in Languedoc (southern France), but I also noted in Evan Connell's book that the Provencal (Languedoc) names he cited were often interesting variants of both Monk's name list and the more normal run of medieval French (Languedoui?)names we're accustomed to.
I'm still trying to decide which it was more horrifying to be in 12th-century France, a Jew or an Albigensian...
- Da.
There were several citations of Frankish soldiers or minor nobles named Huon in Evan Connell's Crusades chronicle, "Deus Lo Volt!", which I mentioned some months ago here I was reading and have since settled into one chapter at a time. (The frightful barbarism and carnage of the period must be taken in bite-size chunks or not at all. No CNN then, and it was probably a good thing!)
Also encountered the name in one of the early French tales of Charlemagne -- don't recall which one.
The French name links you provided here, altho without meanings, are very interesting. Kate Monk mentions that the names in her list differ from the more Latin names in Languedoc (southern France), but I also noted in Evan Connell's book that the Provencal (Languedoc) names he cited were often interesting variants of both Monk's name list and the more normal run of medieval French (Languedoui?)names we're accustomed to.
I'm still trying to decide which it was more horrifying to be in 12th-century France, a Jew or an Albigensian...
- Da.
1