More on Origin of the Name "Madore"
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In reply to:
Origin of the Name "Madore"
Kathleen Campbell 12/19/99
Just received this from a John Madore:
Since you carry the name you might be interested in the following - which
I found the same night I wrote you.(I was trapped in my Institute in
Vienna by a rain storm a good part of the night.)It confirms what I was
told some time ago by a specialist in Arthurian legends. Sir Mador(e) of
the Gate was a rather mediocre knight of the round table who is said to
have a Irish cousin. The name `Mader' mentioned below is common in
Austria.
I am more interested in the linquistics than the geneology but our family
mythe has it that we come from a Madore who arrive around 1800 (from
somewhere!) in Fort William on the Ottawa valley across from Chalk River.
The grave yard there is now a park but in the nearby Scheenborough almost
all of the names are familiar to me.
I have also a colleague (Barry) who's family participated in the Riel
uprising in Manitoba.
There is a Madore avenue in Coquitlam B.C. and a Madore Island somewhere
in the St. Lawrence. I lived for some time in Paris right across from the
St. Medard church. I was very surprised to find it linked to Madore in
that news group in which you participate. To be frank I find that
suspious. `Medor' is a common dog's name in France - the equivalent of
Fido. My son, who grew up there, had to put up with that for a few years
in grade school.
An Israeli colleague of mine is called Maor and he claimed, when I
jokingly asked him how he lost the `d' in his name, that Mador is also
possible there. An Indian colleague told me that Mador(e) is a Bengali
girl's first name. Last - and quite least - `mador, madoris' means
`humidity' in latin. That about exhausts my knowlege of the subject.
But the most interesting thing I learned from you. If one's name is Smith
then maybe one is really a Jones. Juliette would have loved that
possibility....
Yours, John
MADORE
Le patronyme MADORE est port en France par un demi millier de personnes
environ dont 38% vivent en Bretagne et pour
moiti dans le Pays Vannetais.
MADORE est le plus souvent crit avec un accent mais d'un point de vue
tymologique il est plus exact de le noter la bretonne, sans accent sur E.
MADORE est insparable des noms MADEC, MADER, MADEUX, MADIGOU, MADIOT,
MADOUAS, etc, tous bass sur le terme AR MAD "le bien" qui alterne avec
l'adjectif MAT "bon.
MADORE est une volution d'une forme bretonne qui pourrait tre crite
aujourd'hui MADER en breton moderne avec sans doute MADOUR comme variante
vannetaise, sachant qu'en breton ancien on a pu crire ce nom MADOR et
peut-tre mme MATOR.
L'ajout d'un E est une francisation qui a t prononcela bretonne {mador}
d'ou l'ajoutnouveau d'un accent.
Quel a pu tre le sens et l'origine de MADORE, sachant que MAD signifie
"bien moral ou matriel" ? En comparant avec le contraire de MAD "bien" qui
est AR GWALL "le mal" on notera que GWALLER signifie "celui qui est
caractris par le mal". Nous pouvons donc conclure que le sens de MADER est
"celui qui est caractris par le bien".
Le breton moderne considre le mot MAD avec le sens principal de "bien
matriel" et le sens moral est secondaire. Ainsi MADEK signifie "fortun"
puis seulement "bon dans l'me". De mme MADIG est "bon au got". Il ne faut
donc pas tre emport par un lan romantique qui ferait de l'anctre des
MADORE un homme bon envers ses semblables. Plus concrtement il a d s'agir
d'un homme ais, d'un aeul qui avait du bien, ce qui du reste n'en faisait
pas forcment un homme priv de bont, soyons en persuads.
Analyse texte et carte de Patrick Jouanns.