Elaine
diminutives: Lainey, Ellie
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Elaine |
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| FOR REAL: Elaine is most likely an Old French form of Helen. Though Elaine appears as Sir Lancelot's lover in Mallory's 15th century Morte d'Arthur, It wasn't used in English until Tennyson's Idylls of the King (1859). In the mid 1800s, people seemed to be quite taken with the image of "Elaine the fair, Elaine the lovable, Elaine the lily-maid of Astolat" and the Lady of Shalott, which was later painted by John William Waterhouse. Since most of the characters of Arthurian legend have Celtic-based names, some scholars have suggested that in this case Elaine may be connected to a Welsh word for "fawn." | |||||
diminutives: Lainey, Ellie |
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