medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
On Sunday, December 3, 2006, at 11:08 am, Jim Bugslag wrote:
> > Today (3. December) is the feast day of:
> >
> > Galganus (d. 1181).
>
> John,
> Is it just me, or are there echoes here of Monte "Gargano"?
Jim,
The spelling 'Gargan-' is standard in classical Greek and Latin references to the promontory in northern Puglia. But in many forms of Italo-Romance 'l' and 'r' are interchangeable in consonsant clusters. Older IR texts (and older Latin texts written by speakers of forms of IR) frequently spell this toponym as 'Galgano'; there's an instance in Machiavelli's _Istorie fiorentine_ on this page:
http://tinyurl.com/y6dl96
Conversely, I have heard the site of G.'s abbey referred to as 'San Gargano'.
'G(u)algano' (Latin, 'G[u]alganus') is a well-attested Tuscan first name. Two twelfth-century instances in the spelling 'Galganus' occur in the onomastic thickets here:
http://digilander.libero.it/gasparo/pagina6.htm
The name seems Germanic in origin and is probably Lombard.
Curiously (given the sword-in-the-stone motif) there is an Arthurian name 'Walgan', 'Walewein', etc. that's presumably Celtic in origin.
Best again,
John Dillon
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