# Audectus (proper name)



## Maroseika

This is the name of a son of Scaliger. I failed to find it in any other context.
Can it be connected with _audacia_? I mean whether it is possible morphologically?


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## Scholiast

Greetings all round

I don't believe I have ever come across this name before, and to my mind any putative derivation from or relation with _audacia_ or its cognate adjective _audax_ looks unlikely, as the stem of both is _audac-_. But I am not an expert in the philology of mediaeval Latin, and will be open to correction if anyone else can provide a better answer.

Σ


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## Maroseika

Thank you, it also perplexed me. Maybe the name is distorted and it was actually Audactus.


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## Scholiast

saluete de nouo!

As Maroseika says (# 3), this is perplexing, but I have had two further thoughts which may be worth canvassing.

First, Scaliger had, like Ennius, three (linguistic) _corda_: Italian, Dutch and French (apart from his grasp of Latin and classical Greek). Some orthographical muddle might have easily arisen (especially in an era before regular and legal registration of births became normal, and printing was still in its infancy)—we know from his own 16th-17th century autograph-manuscripts that William Shakespeare was inconsistent in the spelling of his own surname.

Secondly, though this may seem far-fetched, it occurred to me that 'Audectus' could be a scribal corruption of 'Adjectus', with the sense of 'augment', 'addition', 'supplement'. As a personal name it would be highly unusual, if not unparalelled, so just a thought, which I shall cheerfully see shot down in flames by anyone with better ideas.

Σ


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## exgerman

J J Scaliger, via google books: 


> Mon petit frere Oder, devoit estre nomme Eudo, non Audectus. Il y a eu en Aquitaine des Roys de ce nom la, qui n'estoient pas Roys de France. Mon pere estoit etranger et ne scavait ce nom d'Eudo.



To me, this sentence only makes sense if Oder is a typo for Odet. Apparently there is a rare French name Audet/Odet. Possibly Odette is a female version of the name.

(sorry for the missing accents and cedillas in the transcription)


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## Scholiast

@exgerman (# 5)

Greetings. Fascinating—but can you tell us any more about this Aquitanian dynastic name 'Eudo' and its origins or etymology? 'Audet'/'Odet[te]' looks plausible, though I have never come across the former.

In (post-)Renaissance Europe, it was not unknown for parents to devise Latinised forms of names for their offspring, witness 'Wolfgang _Amadeus_ [= "Theophilus"/"Gottlieb"] Mozart'.

Σ


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## Maroseika

Very interesting. I've checked the source and so far don't understand the whole story. Their father being a foreigner, did not know the proper name Eudo. But how then he came to Audectus, if not having Latinized Eudo? Or this is the idea of Joseph to Frenchify (Occitanify?) it this way?


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## exgerman

JJ says that JC named his son Odet/Audactus. I have no idea why JJ thinks his father should have named the child Eudo.

JC was an Italian, or possibly a Pole, who made a career in France. He claimed to be a descendant of the noble della Scala family. Hence the name Scaliger.


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## Maroseika

Thank you.


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## Circunflejo

Scholiast said:


> 'Audet'/'Odet[te]' looks plausible, though I have never come across the former.


Nicolas Audet also known as Nicolaus Audectus or Nicolai Audecti (see: Questiones quolibetales ex quattuor Sententiarum voluminibus a Joanne Duns Scot... edite nuperrime revise et a preclaro doctore Antonio de Fantis Tarvisino... restitute. [Nicolai Audecti Cyprii Carmelite... terraeque sancte provincialis Carmen.Ad clarissimum doctorem d. Antonii de Fantis Tarvisinum Joannis Marii Albani... Carmen] | Base patrimoine | Catalogue collectif de France (CCFr)).


Scholiast said:


> can you tell us any more about this Aquitanian dynastic name 'Eudo' and its origins or etymology?


The note 1 may help: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eudes_d'Aquitaine


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