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Dictionary of Medieval Names
from European Sources
☙

Petronilla f. A fem. dim. of Latin Petronius, a Roman nomen possibly derived from Latin petra 'a rock, stone'.

The name of a apocryphal virgin martyr and a 12th C queen of Aragon.

Because of the supposed derivation from the same root as Peter, in the Middle Ages, Petronilla was the more common feminine form of that, as opposed to the actual feminine form, Petra.

England
Latin
● 1279–80 Petronilla (nom) WaHR-SK p. 41, Pretronilla (nom) ibid. p. 46; 1381 Petronilla (nom) Suffolk1381 p. 69
English
● 1555 Petronill bruton-vol1 p. 27; 1556 Petronylle BarnstapleBap p. 9; 1559 Parnella BUmar-vol2 p. 60, Petronell bruton-vol1 p. 30; 1563 Peternell COmar-vol2 p. 47; 1568 Petroinel bruton-vol1 p. 5; 1574 Parnell BEmar-vol1 p. 9; 1576 Pernell SaxhamSf p. 3; 1587 Parnell DEmar-vol2 p. 14; 1589 Parnell ibid. p. 18, Petronell bruton-vol1 p. 49; 1593 Peternel DEmar-vol2 p. 26; 1594 Peternel ibid. p. 29; 1599 Parnell ibid. p. 40, Peternell ibid. p. 43
France
Latin
● 11thC Petronilla (nom) St-Bernard-Romans no. 115; 1147 Petronilla (abl) clairvaux-12thc 18; 1180 Petronille (gen) RotScaNor p. 5; 1259 Petronilla (nom) ArrestReg-volI XXI, Pentecost, Petronillam (acc) ibid. XXI, Pentecost, Petronille (gen) ibid. XXI, Pentecost; 1273 Petronilla (nom) RegToul-13thC p. 21, Petronillam (acc) ibid. p. 23; 1274 Petronille (gen) ibid. p. 56; 1301 Petronilla (nom) MemPic-vol17 p. 248
Old French
● 1296 Perrenele paris1296 p. 2; 1313 Perronelle Paris1313 p. 1, Perronnelle ibid. p. 38; 1327 Pernelle lecoy p. 190
Germany
Early New High German
● 1497 Peternella Nurn1497 304
Spain
Catalan
● 1510 Patronilla valencia1510 2213
Preview. DO NOT cite as: S.L. Uckelman. "Petronilla". In S.L. Uckelman, ed. The Dictionary of Medieval Names from European Sources, Edition 2015, no. 1. http://dmnes.org/2015/1/name/Petronilla.