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This was my great-great-great grandmothers name. On her birth record it was spelled Osite, and on her death record is was spelled Ozide, so we've never been exactly sure of how it was originally said.
We never knew the meaning and had always thought it was a Native American name because she was part French-Canadian and part Native American. However a year or two ago we discovered it was the name of a saint.
Osyth, who was martyred nun, she was the daughter of a cheiftain in England around the year 700. In later life she joined a convent, and established a monastery in Essex. She was killed by Danish invaders by beheading. Her feast day is October 7th.
I wonder how my French-Canadian ancestors came to learn about this seemingly little known saint of English origin?
I was also wondering just how common is this name, and has anyone every heard of it before? How is it pronounced?
We never knew the meaning and had always thought it was a Native American name because she was part French-Canadian and part Native American. However a year or two ago we discovered it was the name of a saint.
Osyth, who was martyred nun, she was the daughter of a cheiftain in England around the year 700. In later life she joined a convent, and established a monastery in Essex. She was killed by Danish invaders by beheading. Her feast day is October 7th.
I wonder how my French-Canadian ancestors came to learn about this seemingly little known saint of English origin?
I was also wondering just how common is this name, and has anyone every heard of it before? How is it pronounced?
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Replies
My great grandfather Ferdinand Brow had a grandmother named Osithe St. Marie. This is what I know about her:
Joseph III and Marie Anne's last child was Nazaire (Narcée) Brault, born in 1809 in
Laprairie. In 1836, he married Osithe Sainte Marie, daughter of Joseph St. Marie and
Félicité Lemieux. She was born in 1811 in Laprairie. They farmed in Notre Dame Parish
in Laprairie at least until 1853. Their 8 children (5 sons, 3 daughters) were born in
Laprairie. All but one lived to adulthood and marriage. By 1861, the family had moved to
St. Antoine Abbé, Chateauguay, Québec. It is unknown when or where Nazaire and
Osithe died.
Note: Joseph III is the 6th generation descendant of Vincent Brault (Brot or Beraud or Brau or Breau) who was born in about 1629 in the Department of Vienne in central France. Vincent
sailed to Acadie (now Nova Scotia) from the port of La Rochelle on Easter Sunday in 1652. His descendants were all born either in Canada or the US (beginning with Ferdinand who was born in 1868 in Malone, Franklin Co., NY. He moved as a
child with his parents to Leelanau Co. in Michigan.
Joseph III and Marie Anne's last child was Nazaire (Narcée) Brault, born in 1809 in
Laprairie. In 1836, he married Osithe Sainte Marie, daughter of Joseph St. Marie and
Félicité Lemieux. She was born in 1811 in Laprairie. They farmed in Notre Dame Parish
in Laprairie at least until 1853. Their 8 children (5 sons, 3 daughters) were born in
Laprairie. All but one lived to adulthood and marriage. By 1861, the family had moved to
St. Antoine Abbé, Chateauguay, Québec. It is unknown when or where Nazaire and
Osithe died.
Note: Joseph III is the 6th generation descendant of Vincent Brault (Brot or Beraud or Brau or Breau) who was born in about 1629 in the Department of Vienne in central France. Vincent
sailed to Acadie (now Nova Scotia) from the port of La Rochelle on Easter Sunday in 1652. His descendants were all born either in Canada or the US (beginning with Ferdinand who was born in 1868 in Malone, Franklin Co., NY. He moved as a
child with his parents to Leelanau Co. in Michigan.
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We learned many years ago of a 6th great grandmother to my husband. Her Name was Osithe Saint Marie. She married a man with last name Brault (Browe). Seems she was from Ontario Canada and he immigrated from France/Belgium. The family worked their way down to Northern Lower Michigan. My husbands great Grandmother, Mary Browe married Dennis Richard. Their son Aurthur was accidentally given the last name of Richards. Hence our now surname.
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I think she is my 5th great grandmother. My Osite is also Native and French. I was just looking for the origins or meaning of her name.
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I couldn't help but reply to this. I know it has been a while since it was posted. My name is actually Osithe. I am a french Acadian Canadian and was born in 1968. I was named after my grandmother who was also named Osithe. I have yet to meet someone else with the same name or come across someone who has when I introduce myself.
Osithe
Osithe
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Wow...Thanks for this info. My great-grandfather had this as a middle name. French Canadian as well.
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I can't help you with the meaning, but thought you might be interested to know that in Essex, England there is a village called St Oysth, just by the coast, and there is still some remains of a monastery there I think. In Essex we pronounce it 'OH sith'
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Your ancestor was undoubtedly given a French form of the name, which wouldn't necessarily be pronounced the same as the English form. The English form is probably "OH-sith", but as almost all French names are accented on the last syllable, your ancestor probably pronounced it something like "oh-SEET".
I remember reading a scholarly paper by a Canadian name expert several years ago where he pointed out that the French Canadians may have actually been the first group in the modern world to create the fashion of consciously looking for unusual names for their children. They did it by searching for unusual names in the Roman Catholic church's saints calendar. Many other unusual saints' names, such as Telesphore, Emerence, Lomer, Herminigilde, Zenon, Zephirin, and Narcisse, are found among French Canadians in the 19th century.
I remember reading a scholarly paper by a Canadian name expert several years ago where he pointed out that the French Canadians may have actually been the first group in the modern world to create the fashion of consciously looking for unusual names for their children. They did it by searching for unusual names in the Roman Catholic church's saints calendar. Many other unusual saints' names, such as Telesphore, Emerence, Lomer, Herminigilde, Zenon, Zephirin, and Narcisse, are found among French Canadians in the 19th century.
This message was edited 1/19/2009, 4:10 PM
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This is a standard Germanic dithematic name, of which the first element is Os "deity", which has a long "o" (in English there is loss of |n| before the |s| of the root ans-, with compensating lengthening of the vowel). The second element is gyþ "battle" (again with lengthening of the vowel with loss of |n| before |þ| of the root form gunþ-). In this case the vowel in English underwent i-umlaut due to the earlier nominative stem, and y represents this i-umlaut of u, a sound similar to Greek Υ, and German ü. In most English dialects, this y lost its rounding and merged with i, with the y spelling only retained in words of foreign (usually Greek) origin, like Cyprus, Lydia, etc.. Now, front vowels such as i and e cause a preceding (and final) Old English g to be palatalized to |j| (but still spelled g), and if the front vowel is an i, then final or medial g may vanish altogether, as in Godiva, from Godgifa (medial f is frequently pronounced as v, and later spelled as such, cf. wolf v. wolves; leaf v. leaves - the actual condition is whether the preceding/following letters cause the f to be "voiced"). The English pronunciation would have developed from OHS-gooth>>OHS-yeeth>>OHZ-eeth>>OH-sith; since french does not have a consonant |þ|, this normally becomes t or d, while |z| is simply the voiced allophone of |s| and frequently retains the "s" spelling; since in French the second syllable is accented, the s is naturally voiced to |z|; similarly |d| is the voiced allophone of |t|, so Osithe seems to have been pronounced oh-ZEED, which explains the later record.
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