tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8555107255854248187.post2311118992022066271..comments2024-01-11T08:55:52.505-06:00Comments on Amadis of Gaul: Chapter 8 [final half]Sue Burkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15725709764785276859noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8555107255854248187.post-1226383219928517502009-03-27T12:15:00.000-05:002009-03-27T12:15:00.000-05:00According to the footnotes in the Spanish edition ...According to the footnotes in the Spanish edition of "Amadís" by Juan Manuel Cacho Blecua (it's in the Amazon recommendations at left), almost all the names are from the Arthuric world via French -- medieval Arthurian, French and Spanish, of course. The few that come directly from Britain are rendered in medieval Spanish, too: Walter of Rothwell (Chapter VIII) is "Galdar de Rascuil" and Windsor is "Vindilisora."<BR/><BR/>It takes a linguistic detective, sometimes.Sue Burkehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15725709764785276859noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8555107255854248187.post-6630743363984395972009-03-26T04:21:00.000-05:002009-03-26T04:21:00.000-05:00Ah -- I didn't know names were being directly reus...Ah -- I didn't know names were being directly reused, since my knowledge of the genre doesn't extend much past the better-known personnel of Camelot.<BR/><BR/>I wonder if the names reflect the phonology of 12th-century Breton? Some of them look vaguely Welsh, but not more than vaguely. Or maybe they're just the product of a couple of centuries of international usage.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8555107255854248187.post-16716045222610698582009-03-26T03:26:00.000-05:002009-03-26T03:26:00.000-05:00Yes. "Amadis of Gaul" is part of the Arthurian cyc...Yes. "Amadis of Gaul" is part of the Arthurian cycle, and those stories were brought by bards from Wales and Brittany to the court of Eleanor of Aquitaine in the late 12th century. From there they spread all over Europe. With a very few exceptions (like the name Amadis), "Amadis of Gaul" uses the same names, many of the same locations, the same plot structure, and even some of the same jokes.<BR/><BR/>At that time, Western Europe had a generally shared culture, and the Arthurian romances are one aspect of it. Curiously, although we call them "Arthurian" now, King Arthur was not always central. Instead, stories about Tristan, Lancelot, Merlin, and Percival across were more popular in the 13th century. In the 16th century, books about Amadis flew off the shelves.Sue Burkehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15725709764785276859noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8555107255854248187.post-44555671708952020302009-03-26T00:45:00.000-05:002009-03-26T00:45:00.000-05:00I confess myself curious as to the naming protocol...I confess myself curious as to the naming protocols of these stories. You'd expect this story, being Spanish, to lean toward a Spanish phonology for naming, but these names mostly strike me as being indistiguishable from the ones I've seen in French and English romances. Is there some generalized Chivalric Romance Phonology shared across the European cultures writing such stories?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com