Chat
|
Daily Search
|
My GenForum
|
Community Standards
|
Terms of Service
|
|
|
Bonjour, Thank you for responding to my inquery. I can read French but after 45 years of being away from the French language I would have a real hard time to respond in French. I trust that you must read English or you would not have broused thru GenForum. Since I am related to several of the original Bouchards I had most of what you sent in my genealogy files already.
In April I did not know the sorce of the word 'Dorval' or d'Orval'. I have since found this out and this is what I have: Most of the descendants of Claude Bouchart d'Orval use the name of Dorval, some that of Desgroseilliers. In the documents of the 17th century where he is mentioned, one finds sometimes the spelling Bouchart, sometimes that of
Bouchard or Bouchar, sometimes that of Dorval or dorval. His signature, however, which appears frequently in the contracts of his friend, the notary Audouart,is invariably the same; "Claude Bouchart". Never does he refer to
himself as Dorval, Bouchart d'Orval, or Bouchard-Dorval. Why did he have another surname? He had a namesake, Claude Bouchard, the tailor, which must have caused some confusion. They were called "big Claude", the surgeon, & "little Claude", the tailor. In addition, the ancestor was designated under a totally different name, "the sieur dorval". Since there is a hamlet near Montigny-Lengrain which is called Orval, it is reasonable to assume that, as
many of his contemporaries, he took as his name that of the place where he was born. Orval means "val d'or" or a rich, fertile valley. Bouchart is a common name in the north of France, particularly in Champagne & Picardy. It belongs
to a group of names whose origins arose from the Francs & Saxons, two germanic tribes. When the frankish nation over ran the Gauls & settled there, it also brought along some of its language & proper names of germanic origin. Frankish elite gradually took the place of gallo-roman elite & frankish names became fasionable. Burchart was one of them, but this name was very hard on french ears. The French softened it to Bouchardt & finally Bouchart in the north & Bouchard elsewhere. It meant literally "illustrious warrior".
Since all 8 of my great grandparents' ancestors come from Quebec in the 1600s, I am sure that you are one of my nice Canadian cousins. Merci et a bientot, Janet
Notify Administrator about this message?
Followups:No followups yet |
| http://genforum.genealogy.com/bouchard/messages/840.html | ||
 |
Link to GenForum Add Forum |
|