New Post
Search
Help
ArchivesGalswinthe, Fredegund and Brunhaut
What do the female Frankish names Galswinthe, Fredegund and Brunehaut mean? They probably ceased to be used after the Middle Ages.
Claire
Claire
1
Replies
GALSWINTHE: The forst element GAL is not clear. Most probably it's a romanised form of Germanic GAIL* ("frisky, randy"). SWINTH is Middle High German "swinde" or "swint" ("strong, fast").
FREDEGUND: Old High German "fridu" ("peace", roughly) + "gund" ("fight, combat")
BRUNEHAUT: OHG "brun" ("brown", usually meaning the bear, which the Teutons didn't dare call by its "real" name for fear it might turn up) + "hadu" (?**) (same as "gund")
* This is taken from H.Kaufmann, Ergänzungsband zu E.Förstemann, Personennamen, 1967
** The hadu part is just an educated guess
FREDEGUND: Old High German "fridu" ("peace", roughly) + "gund" ("fight, combat")
BRUNEHAUT: OHG "brun" ("brown", usually meaning the bear, which the Teutons didn't dare call by its "real" name for fear it might turn up) + "hadu" (?**) (same as "gund")
* This is taken from H.Kaufmann, Ergänzungsband zu E.Förstemann, Personennamen, 1967
** The hadu part is just an educated guess
1
Brunhaut as Brunhilde/French...
... e.g. in Britannica:
http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?tocId=9016782
... e.g. in Britannica:
http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?tocId=9016782
This message was edited 2/3/2005, 12:02 PM
1