On 17/05/2017 11:52 AM, Peter Stewart wrote: > > > On 17/05/2017 10:47 AM, Chris Hampson wrote: >> In Walter Chetwynd's History of Pirehill Hundred, the primary text >> says that both a father and son married women named Maud (with >> details of their fathers). In parallel with this is the text from a >> earlier book where these two women are named Matilda (same fathers >> are named). Clearly the same people, but was it normal for Maud to be >> Matilda, or vice versa? > > Matilda is one (of many) Latinised forms of the compound Germanic name > Mahthild - Maud is one (of several) English forms of the same name, or > rather of the first element of the Germanic name. To be more precise, at least from the 12th century onwards Maud is usually not a representation of just Maht-, but rather a contraction of the French form Mahaud that represents both elements of the Germanic name. Peter Stewart