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ArchivesRe: Double meaning of Alfred? Male, German
in reply to a message by Dorchadas
Wow, interesting Dorchadas. Thanks!
So, if Æðelfrið started to fall out of use after the Norman conquest, is it possible that the Normans imported the Adalfrid cognate to England? Like how Hrodger was imported, replacing Hroðgar, and how Hrodebert replaced Hreodbeorht. Could the same process have brought Adalfrid to England, replacing Æðelfrið and then derived Alfred from Adalfrid in some cases later?
So, if Æðelfrið started to fall out of use after the Norman conquest, is it possible that the Normans imported the Adalfrid cognate to England? Like how Hrodger was imported, replacing Hroðgar, and how Hrodebert replaced Hreodbeorht. Could the same process have brought Adalfrid to England, replacing Æðelfrið and then derived Alfred from Adalfrid in some cases later?
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This is technically possible, given the fact that this happened to more names than the ones that you listed as an example. I don't know whether Adalfrid or Æðelfrið is one of them, however. You would have to try to verify this yourself using scientific literature about names in medieval England (especially after the Norman conquest). If it turns out that this has not been documented, then likely this has either never happened or has simply not been researched yet.
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Alfred in English use is almost always derived from Alfred the Great. However Alfred is a Latinised abbreviation (in coinage Ælfred). His real name was Æþelfriþ, son of Æþelwulf, and brother of Æþelræd, Æþelberht, Æþelbald, Æþelstan and Æþelswiþ, his daughters were Æþelflæd, Æþelgifu and his son Æþelweard (he had another daughter, whose name is unclear, it is recorded as Elfreda [Æþelfreoþu] and Elstrudis [Æþelþryþ?]). The Wiktionary derivation is a folk-etymology, but an early one — within two generations both Æþel- and Ælf- are recorded as the first element of names in this family, although there is confusion as to who is who, and some forms are known only from much later copies of charters or letters and may have been "corrected" later.
This message was edited 2/7/2019, 4:14 AM
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