Griselda as a Baby Name. Meaning and Origin of Griselda

What is the meaning of the name Griselda ?

The baby name Griselda is a girl name , 3 syllables long and is pronounced grih-ZEL-duh.

Griselda is Germanic, Italian in Origin.

Griselda is a medieval feminine name of Germanic formation, although its best-known early written shape is Italian Griselda in Boccaccio’s Decameron, c. 1353. The usual analysis links the first element to Proto-Germanic *grīsaz, grey, and the second to *hildiz, battle, a common name-forming element in women’s names such as Brunhild and Mathildis. Its literal sense is therefore grey battle, sometimes expanded in older name books as grey battle-maid.

The literary Griselda entered European culture as the patient wife in Boccaccio’s final Decameron tale, retold by Petrarch in Latin and by Chaucer in The Clerk’s Tale; later operas by Scarlatti and Vivaldi kept the figure visible. English records show Grisell and Scots Grizel, while Spanish and Italian preserve Griselda, with Gricelda and Criselda influenced by Iberian spelling habits. In the United States it appeared mainly in the twentieth century and left the Top 1000 after 1996.