English
Jocelyn
Jocelyn comes from Old French Joscelin.
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400Joscelin
- Englishearliest quotation 2006Jocelyn
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400Joscelin
- Englishearliest quotation 2006Jocelyn
Earliest quotation: 2006, Ted Freeman, Doctor in Vanuatu: “I drove Dorothy immediately to King George V Hospital…”
A compound of *Gautalinþiz + *linþaz ‘bendsome’
Proto-Indo-European *lént-o-s
Proto-Germanic *linþaz ‘bendsome’
The story
From the Middle English male given name from Old French Joscelin, German Gautzelin, diminutive of names beginning with the tribal name Gaut (‘a Geat, a Goth’), the root form of which probably comes from Proto-Germanic *Gautalinþiz (from *gautaz + *linþaz); also used as a diminutive form of the Breton name Josse (= Joyce). It survived as a surname and was revived as a given name in the nineteenth century.
Every English word from Old French Joscelin
Today it means
name A male given name from the Germanic languages.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Old French Joscelin / Jocelyn