Name of the Week

A historical relic which makes
a brave and bold heritage choice.

 

Origin:

Frideswide is the later form of the Old English name Friðuswīþ (Frithuswith), composed of the elements frið "peace, tranquilty, security, refuge," and swið "strong, mighty, powerful." The name became known thanks to St Frideswide (also known as Frithuswith, Frideswith, Frevisse and Fris) who was reputed to have been the daughter of a king of Mercia in the 8th century. Fleeing from an overzealous suitor, Frideswide founded a convent in Oxford. The church later became a cathedral -- which we now know as Christ Church Cathedral -- and in 1289 a splendid shrine was erected over St Frideswide's remains.  The Old Germanic cognate of Frideswide was Frithesuind, latinised as Fredesendis or Frethesenta.

Usage:

Thanks to the cult of St Frideswide, the name was one of the few Old English names to survive the Norman invasion and be used through to the late Tudor period, despite being rare.  The Old Germanic cognate Frithesuind had long since passed into Old French as Fredesendis, Frethesenta and Fressenda. It was used among the Norman nobility and they brought it with them to Britain. A Fredesenda was the second wife of Tancred of Hauteville (980 – 1041), and their daughter Fressenda married Richard I, Count of Aversa and Prince of Capua.  The step-father of William the Conqueror, Herluin de Conteville's (1001–1066) second wife was Fredesendis. Her son Raoul later held lands in Somerset and Devon.  Intriguingly, during the 12th and 13th century, Frideswide was not in use in Britain, yet the Latinised Germanic Fredesendis was. It may be that, in some cases, the Latinised Fredesendis was also applied to the Old English Frithuswith -- in 1450 Godstow says 'Fryswyde the English for Frediswitha' which does show a later connection between the two -- or it may be that Fredesendis only survived among Norman nobility. Henry III's Fine Rolls for the years 1216-1242 list two Frethesentas: Lady Frethesancia de la Haye of Hertfordshire and Lady Frethesenta de Scotney.  The Germanic form of the name seems to have died out in Britain by the 15th century. Frideswide was revived (or continued) thanks to the growing cult of the saint.  St Frideswide was formally adopted as patron of Oxford University in the early 15th century and later became the patron of the whole city. The saint also had a connection to neighbouring Berkshire. Legend has it that before she became Abbess in Oxford, Frideswide and her companions created a woodland oratory in the forest of Berkshire where they lived for three years and a miraculous well was sprung. Also in Berkshire it was said that Frideswide gave a sisterly kiss to a leper and he was miraculously cured.  It is understandable then that two early post-Norman examples of Frideswide are found in Berkshire in 1381. Later it was also, unsurprisingly, most common in and around Oxford. The gentry Savile family in South Yorkshire had connections to Oxford, which may explain Frideswide (Frissold) Savile of Grantham (b.c.1575) whose name was picked up in neighbouring villages in the following decades.  Variations in the spelling of the name was numerous and from it sprung several variant forms, seemingly adapted to local dialect. From the 15th century, Frideswide seems to have been the most standard form but also recorded are Frithswith, Friswith, Frydiswith, Fryswithe, Fryswyth, Frideswid, Fridswid, Frydiswide, Friddeswed, Frisewide, Fryswyde, Freswyd, Frysswyde, Ffrcyswth, Fridsweed, Fridaysweede, Fridayweed, Frizwith, Frizwed, Frissold, Frizwell and Frevisse. Some of the latter spellings explain the use of the diminutive Friday. This multitude of spellings gives us some clue as to the changing and varying pronunciation of the name. In modern terms the saint's name is pronounced FRĪS-wīde or FRĪDES-wīde (long i both times). The Anglo-Saxon Frithuswith would have been approximately pronounced FRITH-əs-weeth. In terms of Frideswide, in Chaucer's English the final e would have been pronounced, but was later dropped from FRID-əs-with-ə to FRID-es-with.  In the 16th century both the spellings Fryswyth / Fryswyde and Frizwed / Friswith suggest that both the short i and long i pronunctaion was in use in various localities.  Smith Bannister's rank of top 50 names from 50 parishes from 1538 to 1670 demonstrates that Frideswide survived quite widely up until 1600, after which it fell out of the top 50 ranks: 1550-9: #21, 1560-9: #18; 1570-9: #28; 1580-9: #36; 1590-9: #41  After the Reformation, Fridewide dramatically declined in use. In the whole of the 19th century, Frideswide was registered only 5 times in England and and Fryswith was used 6 times in Wales from 1885 to 1915. The shortform Friday survived a little longer thanks to it being bolstered by use of the surname.  Since 1930 in England and Wales, Frideswide has been used three times as a firstname and twice as a middle name.

Famous Bearers:

History: * Saint Frithuswith (c.650–727), Anglo-Saxon princess and abbess.  Literature and Other Media: * Dame Frevisse, a character in the Dame Frevisse detective novels by Margaret Frazer, set in England in the 1440s.

Variants:

Frithuswith, Fridswith, Frevisse

Pronunciation:

FRĪS-wīde, FRĪDES-wīde [key]

Possible  Diminutives:

Friday, Frida, Fifi

Sibling Names:

Kinborough     Amphyllis     Loveday     Merilda     Aldith     Petronella  Lambert     Ethelred     Kenhelm     Oswyn     Wolfram     Gospatric

Name Lists:

Terrifically Tudor

 

If you like Frideswide you may also like:  Godeleva, Hawise, Ermintrude, Wyborough, Etheldreda, Ascelina, Parnell, Devorgilla, Galiena, Euphroyne

 

Thanks to Jennie for requesting this post.