Chapter LXX: Section XIII: Margaret

No name has been the occasion of more pretty fancies than Μαργαρίτης (a pearl), itself taken from the Persian term for the jewel, Murvarid (child of light), in accordance with the beauteous notion that the oysters rising to the surface of the water at night and opening their shells in adoration, received into their mouths drops of dew congealed by the moon-beams into the pure and exquisite gem, resembling in its pure pale lustre nothing so much as the moon herself, “_la gran Margherita_,” as Dante calls her. The thought of the pearl of great price, and of the pearl gates of the celestial city, no doubt inspired the Christian choice of Margarite for that child of light of the city of Antioch in Pisidia, whose name as virgin martyr standing in the Liturgy without any authentic history, became, before the fifth century, the recipient of the allegory of feminine innocence and faith overcoming the dragon, even as St. George embodied the victory of the Christian warrior. Greek though the legend were, as well as the name, neither flourished in the Eastern Church; but Cremona laid claim to the maiden’s relics, and Hungary in its first Christianity eagerly adopted her name, and reckons two saints so called in the eleventh century, besides having sent forth the sweet Margaret Ætheling, the wife of Malcolm Ceanmohr, the gentle royal saint of the Grace Cup, who has made hers the national Scottish female name. From Scotland it went to Norway with the daughter of Alexander III., whose bridal cost the life of Sir Patrick Spens; and it had nearly come back again from thence with her child, the Maid of Norway; but the Maid died on the voyage, and Margaret remained in Scandinavia to be the dreaded name of the Semiramis of the North, and was taken as the equivalent of Astrid and of Grjotgard. From Cremona Germany learnt to know the child-like Margarethe, one of the saints and names most frequently occurring there; and Provence, then an integral part of the Holy Roman Empire, likewise adopted her. From her was called the eldest of the four heiresses of Provence, who married St. Louis, leaving Marguérite to numerous French princesses. Her niece, the daughter of Henry III., was the first English Margaret; but the name was re-imported from France in the second wife of Edward I., and again in Margaret of Anjou, from whom was called Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII., and founder of the Lady Margaret professorship.

In her grand-daughter, Margaret Tudor, it ceased to be royal in England, though it had taken root among the northern part of the population, while, strangely enough, it hardly ever occurs among the southern peasantry. The Italian reverence for Margherita, or Malgherita, as they called her, was increased by the penitence of Margherita of Cortona, whose repentance became so famed that she was canonized. Many are the contractions of this favourite name, since it is too long for the popular mouth. The oldest is probably the Scottish Marjorie, as Bruce’s daughter was called, and which cut down into Maisie, the “proud Maisie” of the ballad, and later into Mysie, and was treated as a separate name. Mr. Lower tells us that the surname of Marjoribanks is derived from the barony of Raltio, granted to Marjorie Bruce on her marriage with the High Steward of Scotland. Margaret turned into Meg before the time of “Muckle-moued Meg of the Border,” and this as well as Maggie was shared with England, which likewise had Margery and Marget, as well as the more vulgar Peggy and Gritty, and likewise Madge.

The French contraction was in the sixteenth century Margot, according to the epitaph, self-composed, of the Austrian, Flemish, or French damsel, who was so nearly Queen of Spain:

“Ci gît Margot, la gentille demoiselle,
Qui a deux maris et encore est pucelle.”

But Gogo is not an improvement. Marcharit is the Breton form.

In Germany Grethel figures in various ‘_Mahrchen_,’ but Gretchen is now most common, and is rendered classical by Goethe. Mete in the time of Klopstock’s sway over the lovers of religious poetry was very fashionable; and Meta almost took up her abode in England, though the taste for simplicity has routed her of late.

Denmark, where the Semiramis of the North has domesticated the name, calls it Mette and Maret, and places it in many a popular tale and ballad as Metelill, or little Margaret.

Even the modern German Jews use it and call it Marialit; and the Vernacular Gaelic contraction used in Ireland is Vread, though Mairgreg is the proper form.[48]

┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ Scotch. │ French. │ Italian. │
│Margaret │Margaret │Marguérite │Margherita │
│Margaretta │Marjorie │Margot │Malgherita │
│Margery │Maisie │Margoton │Ghita │
│Maggy │Maidie │Goton │Rita │
│Meggy │Maggie │Gogo │ │
│Madge │Meg │ │ │
│Marget │May │ │ │
│Peggy │ │ │ │
│Gritty │ │ │ │
│Meta │ │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Spanish. │ German. │ Swiss. │ Danish. │
│Margarita │Margarethe │Margarete │Margarete │
│ ————————— │Grete │Gretli │Mette │
│ Portuguese. │Gretchen │ │Maret │
│Margarida │Grethe │ │Melletel │
│ │Grethel │ │ │
│ │Grel │ │ │
│ │Marghet │ │ │
│ │Mete │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Polish. │ Bohemian. │ Slavonic. │ Finland. │
│Margareta │Markota │Marjarita │Reta │
│Malgorzata │ │Marjeta │ │
│Malgosia │ │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Lett. │ Esthonian. │ Lithuanian. │ Hungarian. │
│Margrete │Maret │Magryta │Margarta │
│Greta │Kret │Gryta │Margit │
│Maije │Krot │Greta │ │
│Madsche │ │ │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘

Footnote 48:

Reeves, _Conchology_; Liddell and Scott; Butler; Michaelis; Grimm;
Weber, _Northern Romance_.