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Geoffrey is a French and English masculine given name. It is the Anglo-Norman form of the German name ''Gottfried''. It was introduced to Norman England alongside the form ''Godfrey''. It was also anglicized as ''Jeffrey'' from an early time. Popularity of the name declined after the medieval period, but it was revived in the 20th century. Modern hypocorisms include ''Geoff'', ''Jeff'' or ''Geof''. ''Jeffrey'' and its variants are found as surnames, usually as a patronymic ending in -s (e.g. ''Jefferies, Jaffrays''); The surname Jefferson is also a patronymic version of the given name. == Etymology == The Old French form of the name was ''Geoffrei'' (()), which developed into West Middle French ''Geoffrey'' and East Middle French ''Geoffroy''. Latinized forms include ''Jotfredus, Jozsfredus, Josfredus'' (10th century) and ''Jof()redus, Jofridus, Jaufredus'', ''Geffredus'' (11th century).〔Louis Guinet, ''Les emprunts gallo-romans au germanique (du Ier siècle à la fin du Ve siècle)'', éditions Klincksieck, 1982. 〕 The Old Frankish (Old High German) name ''Godefrid'' itself is from the elements ''god-'' and ''frid-''. The Middle Latin form is ''Godefridus'' (whence also ''Godfrey''). The second element is widely used in Germanic names, and has a meaning of "peace, protection". The first element ''god-'' is conflated from two, or possibly three, distinct roots, i.e. ''got'' and possibly '' *gaut'', in origin a tribal name (Geats, Goths) or a theonym (a byname of Wotan).〔 Ernst Förstemann, ''Altdeutsches Namenbuch'' (1856), (533 ).〕 Albert Dauzat (1951, rev. ed. 1980) argued that the Middle French name ''Geoffrey'' in fact retains a distinction between two Germanic names which became conflated in Old High German Gotfrid. According to this argument, ''Godfrey'' continues '' *goda-friþu-'', while ''Geoffroy'' continues '' *gaut-friþu-''.〔Albert Dauzat, ''Noms et prénoms de France'', édition revue et commentée par Marie-Thérèse Morlet, Librairie Larousse 1980, pp. 287b - 288a - 296ab.〕 If a strictly phonetical development is assumed, ''Geoffrey'' cannot be derived from ''Godfrid'', as '' *go-'' would result in Old French ''go-'' (()) and not ''geo-'' (''jo-'', ()), i.e. ''goda-fridu'' would yield ''Godefroy'' () but not ''Geoffroy''. On the other hand, '' *gau-'' () would regularly result in ''jo-'' (''geo-'' ()),〔 for example, Late Latin '' *gauta'' gave Old French ''jöe'' and Modern French ''joue'' "cheek", and Latin ''gaudia'' gave French ''joie'' "joy". 〕 i.e '' *gaut-fridu-'' would regularly result in ''Geoffroy'' (). Alternative suggestions which would derive the first element from Germanic ''gisal-'' "hostage", or ''w(e)alah'' "Gallo-Roman; stranger" are also rejected by Dauzat as phonetically impossible: ''gi'' would have resulted in Old French () (Modern French ()), as in ''Gisalbert'' > ''Gilbert'' (i.e. '' *Gisalfrid''>'' *Giffrey''), and '' *w(e)alh-'' would have resulted in '' *gaul-'' () (i.e. '' *Wealhfrid'' > '' *Gaulfrey, *Gauffrey''). 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Geoffrey (given name)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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