medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
On Friday, February 24, 2006, at 8:14 pm, Phyllis wrote:
> Today (25. February) is the feast day of:
> Caesarius of Nazianzen (d. 369) The less famous brother of Gregory
> of Nazianzen,
Rather, 'of Nazianzos' (if we're Latinizing, 'of Nazianzus'). Greek
'Nazianzenos' (Latin, 'Nazianzenus'), of which 'Nazianzen' is the
English-language counterpart, is an adjective meaning 'of Nazianzos'.
See Greg's hompe page at:
http://nazianzos.fltr.ucl.ac.be/
> Gerland of Girgenti (1100) (I confess that I remember a discussion
> about this city's name, but can't remember which the current form
> is.) Gerland was a Burgundian, apparently of Norman blood and a
> relative of Robert Guiscard. When the Normans conquered Sicily, G.
> was made bishop of G, where he rebuilt the cathedral and converted
> a lot of Muslims.
Short answer: since 1927, Girgenti has been Agrigento. As it's a
provincial capital of some size, the failure of Phyllis' source to
reflect its no longer exactly new current name suggests that the
source's compilers are/were indifferent to such matters. Whether they
would be/would have been equally indifferent in the case of a re-named
British, Irish, or North American city of similar regional importance is
an interesting question.
Long answer: Girgenti was ancient Greek Akragas, then Latin Agrigentum.
Probably by the beginning of the Middle Ages the unstressed initial 'a'
was no longer being pronounced, just as it wasn't in the 'apotheca' that
became Italian 'bottega' and Spanish 'bodega'; the final 'm' will also
have been lost in pronunciation. Like all of the other surving old
Latin toponyms from west of the Salso (and like many east of that river
as well), Agrigentu/Grigentu was Arabized in some fashion. Girgenti is
a standardized version of how the Arabic name sounded to central and
later medieval Sicilians. It managed to escape the classicizing
re-naming that occurred in other places shortly after Italian
unification in nineteenth century but in 1927 it fell victim to an
unevenly implemented Fascist desire to "purify" Italian toponymy by
ridding it of certain foreign elements. I'm told that the Girgentani
(people of Girgenti) of the time were very unhappy about the
Romanization of their accustomed city and district name. But their
descendants seem reconciled to being Agrigentini.
'Burgundian' is good for Gerland, as long as we think of the territorial
extent of the kingdom so named rather than of the later duchy. Our one
reliable source on this point, Geoffrey Malaterra, says he was 'natione
Allobrogum'. In the same sentence he refers to G. as 'Gerlandum
quendam', which does not suggest either a known relative of the
Hautevilles (Geoffrey's hero was Robert Guiscard's brother, Roger I, and
he was knowledgable about their family) or someone particularly well
thought of by Geoffrey (writing at the Benedictine house at Catania
founded by Roger) or his intended audience. The assertion that G. was
related to Robert Guiscard comes several centuries later and is not
particularly cogent.
Best,
John Dillon
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