Hildegard

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A feminine first name of Germanic origin, borne famously by the twelfth-century German abbess and composer Hildegard of Bingen
2. A female personal name of Germanic origin, notably associated with the medieval mystic and musician Hildegard of Bingen
3. The Germanic feminine forename that belonged to a celebrated twelfth-century German nun, visionary writer and composer

Etymology: Hildegard is a name first, and its meaning comes from two Germanic elements: "hild", meaning battle, and "gard", meaning enclosure or protected place, so the name carries the sense of a protected stronghold in battle. The forename itself belongs to the older Germanic naming tradition that produced many similar compounds, and its earliest form reconstructed for the period before the Old English and Old High German split is *Hildigardu. English took the name in the 19th century, borrowing it directly from German, and the bearer who made it famous lived centuries earlier. Hildegard of Bingen (1098–1179) was a Benedictine abbess, visionary writer, composer and natural philosopher whose music and theological writings remain widely performed and read today. Her fame is why the name is most often associated with her rather than with its meaning.