SOURCE: “Naming as a Source of Irony in Aucassin et Nicolette,” in Studi Francesi, No. 51, Sept.-Dec., 1973, pp. 401-09.

In the essay below, Williamson assesses the comic effect of the author's use of reversal in the naming of the lovers in Aucassin et Nicolette. Williamson also demonstrates that the “misnaming” of the characters makes the tale an “anti-idyll.”

It was not the custom for medieval authors to ascribe titles to their works. But it was inevitable that, when the thirteenth century French chantefable acquired a title, it should be based on the names of the two principle protagonists. Thus the caption in the only extant manuscript reads: C’est d’Aucasin et de Nicolete.¹ Not only does the author name his two lovers in both his opening and closing verses, but he also emphasizes them throughou his work.

The hero's name, Aucassin, is Arabic, while that of the...