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ArchivesSt. Gerald of Mayo and the Old English form of Gerald
I am presently in the middle of writing my next column, which will be on the name Gerald. I have run across a problem in the information on the origin of the name.
Every source seems to imply that the name Gerald was brought to England by the Normans in 1066 and didn't exist there before then. However, there is a saint in Ireland, Saint Gerald of Mayo, who died 731. He is said to be an Englishman who came to county Mayo to found a monastery for English monks there. There is a Roman Catholic church in a suburb of Omaha named St. Gerald's after him, so I feel like I have to mention him in my column which is written for the Omaha newspaper.
The problem is that St. Gerald of Mayo died in 731, over three centuries before the Normans invaded England. One of the articles on St. Gerald does say that the legends about him were not written down until several centuries after his death. By that time the name Gerald had been brought to Ireland by its own Anglo-Norman invaders and become prominent there because of the Fitzgerald family. So I suppose it's probable that St. Gerald's name, whatever it was, got assimilated to the Norman one when the stories about him were finally written down. I am going to assume in writing the column that there was actually an Old English equivalent to Gerald, something like "Garwalt", which was the original name of the English monk who came to Ireland and is today called St. Gerald, but I so far can't find any sure evidence of that. My Irish name dictionary says that the Irish language forms of the name are Geróit and Geralt, but that still doesn't tell me what St. Gerald's original name was in Old English.
Is there anyone on this board with expertise in 8th century English or Irish names who can solve this mystery?
Every source seems to imply that the name Gerald was brought to England by the Normans in 1066 and didn't exist there before then. However, there is a saint in Ireland, Saint Gerald of Mayo, who died 731. He is said to be an Englishman who came to county Mayo to found a monastery for English monks there. There is a Roman Catholic church in a suburb of Omaha named St. Gerald's after him, so I feel like I have to mention him in my column which is written for the Omaha newspaper.
The problem is that St. Gerald of Mayo died in 731, over three centuries before the Normans invaded England. One of the articles on St. Gerald does say that the legends about him were not written down until several centuries after his death. By that time the name Gerald had been brought to Ireland by its own Anglo-Norman invaders and become prominent there because of the Fitzgerald family. So I suppose it's probable that St. Gerald's name, whatever it was, got assimilated to the Norman one when the stories about him were finally written down. I am going to assume in writing the column that there was actually an Old English equivalent to Gerald, something like "Garwalt", which was the original name of the English monk who came to Ireland and is today called St. Gerald, but I so far can't find any sure evidence of that. My Irish name dictionary says that the Irish language forms of the name are Geróit and Geralt, but that still doesn't tell me what St. Gerald's original name was in Old English.
Is there anyone on this board with expertise in 8th century English or Irish names who can solve this mystery?
This message was edited 7/9/2024, 3:48 PM
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Replies
Gerald is plausibly OE although the bishop of Mayo is the only one I see recorded. Depending on dialect it could be Gerweald, Gerweld, and Henry Sweet's chapter on charters has an abbot Garweald but the Onomasticon doesn't give a date. OE typically shifts Germanic /a/ to /æ/, which breaks to /æa/ before l (written ea) or undergoes further umlaut to /e/.
Garwoldi looks Italian from Lombard, with w causing leveling of the a up and back.
Garwoldi looks Italian from Lombard, with w causing leveling of the a up and back.
This message was edited 7/11/2024, 6:45 PM
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One dmnes.org i find Garwoldi (source: https://dmnes.org/name/Gerald ). The Date IS 12th century but i did Not Check the original quotation.
--elbowin
--elbowin
3