Dave Postles wrote: >The book that Christopher might have been thinking of is possibly the erudite Marie-Therese Morlet, _Les noms de personne sur le territoire de l'ancienne Gaule du vie au xiie siecle_, of which the first 2 vols appeared in 1968 and 1972 (the 3rd in 1985). Yep. Was right on the tip of my tounge. >This is a rare book and I don't have access to it. Scarce, rather than rare I'd say, professionally speaking. I.U.'s copy (of vols. 1 & 2 only) was, mirabile dictu, on the shelf (we don't have the 1991 edition of her _Dictionnaire_, however, which I take to be indicitative of *its* rarity); and vol. I (germanique & gallo-germanique origins) offers at least one entry, which I, being so challenged, am having some trouble reconciling with the lady's final word on the subject which you quote: >p. 525 'Hodierne n. de personne fem. d'origine germ. Odigerna (-od richesse; -gern desireux). [On releve dans le Cartul. de l'Hotel Dieu de Paris Odierne/Hodierne xiiie s. <*Audigerna]. [Her square parenthesis] >From vol. I, p. 108: "GERN-: Cet element que nous avons releve seulement dans deux composes se rattache au got. _garins_ v. h. a. _ge"rn_, v. a. _georn_ ardent, ze'le'. The two names with this element: Gernhardus and Gernildis. So, when she says "only two" here she means "there are only two names in which this element is found as a *prototheme*" and buries the "deuterothematic" (wonderful, multi-syllabic word, BTW) usages in some other main entry. (?) Which one finds by.....knowing where to look, I suppose. My trying to use this book is somewhat like a pearl-tossed swine trying to make a cow's ear out of a silk purse, I'm afraid: I'll be jiggered if I can find *any* entries for "Hodierna"; "Odigerna" (or "-od", for that matter); or "Audigerna" (though there is: "AUD-: Cet element se rattache au got. _audags_: felicite....v. sax _od_…"[p. 43]). I feel a bit like the Wizard of Oz, in his flying baloon: "Come back," said Dorothy. "I can't," said the Wizard, "I don't know how it works." An amazing resource, this book; but threading my way through the elements (just "roots", to me) is, I'm now remembering, something of a challenge. I'll keep looking, however, since I seem to have the only copy on the planet. Best from here, Christopher ____________________________________________________________________ Get your own FREE, personal Netscape WebMail account today at http://webmail.netscape.com. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%