Who first said "Real women have curves"? Joan of Arc.
It's a funny name. Most people, including myself until I looked it up, would probably assume that there is a place somewhere in France called Arc and that Joan or her family hailed from there. There isn't. Apostrophes were not used in those days, and Jeanne d'Arc is likely just as much a mistake as, say, Jacques of Fenbach or Jefferson d'Avis. Her father's surname (never applied to herself during her lifetime) just happened to begin with the letter d and was later misinterpreted. Joan's father is most often called Jacques Darc in contemporary sources, but variant spellings include Dare, Dars, Dart, Darx, Day, Tarc, and Tart.
I mentioned in a comment to my last post that d'Arc suggests the black (dark) rainbow (arc). The variant Dart is also interesting, since an arc is a bow and a dart is an arrow.
Dare as an alternative form of Joan's surname is interesting because it suggests Virginia Dare -- whose given name, Virginia, has the same meaning as La Pucelle. Legend has it that Virginia Dare was transformed into a white doe. An unknown woman is referred to as Jane Doe -- Jane being nowadays more common than Joan as the English form of the name Jeanne.
And of course no post like this would be complete without a guest appearance by our favorite bird. When Virginia Dare and her fellow colonists disappeared, one of the only clues they left behind was three letters carved on a tree: CRO.
3 comments:
Never knew that about Joan of Arc! Amazing how often this kind of thing happens.
Perhaps it was an attempt to imply aristocratic status to her, since to call someone 'of' some place, is to identify lordship of that place.
In Britain, lords are simply called by the placename - for example the ex Archbishop of Canturbury is now called Oyster Mouth among his acquaintances...
I'm sorry, I'll read that again: Oystermouth, which is the place-name from Wales he took when he became a peer.
Nowadays, the placename is just chosen for whatever personal reason's, as a fromality, and there is now lordship of that place implied. So long as some other peer hasn't grabbed the placename first.
"Perhaps it was an attempt to imply aristocratic status"
Funny you should say that on December 29, Bruce (or should I call you Jesmond?). It was on this very day, in 1429, that Joan was ennobled by Charles VII.
Sorry I have been working my way through your blog from the earliest posts, and am nearly caught up to real-time, so this comment comes rather late.
In today's evil, inverted world, xe would be transformed into M. Jean Nedarc, n'est-ce pas? Or in English, Joe Nuvdark.
Sigh
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