From: Brian M. Scott
Message: 49715
Date: 2007-08-31
> From Wikipedia:According to Dauzat, <de Gaulle> is a calque of a locative
> "The 'de' in 'de Gaulle' is not a nobiliary particle,
> although the de Gaulle family were an ancient family of
> ennobled knighthood. The earliest known de Gaulle ancestor
> was a squire of the 12th-century King Philip Augustus. The
> name 'de Gaulle' is thought to have evolved from a
> Germanic form, 'De Walle', meaning 'the wall (of a
> fortification or city)', 'the rampart'. Much of the old
> French nobility descended from Frankish and Normannic
> Germanic lineages and often bore Germanic names. Although
> not strictly a nobiliary particle, the 'de' in 'de Gaulle'
> has for centuries been written with a lower-case d."
> So "de" was a definite article? I know some families named
> "Wall" but not any named "The Wall". Somehow, I'm not
> convinced.