Joan

Joan f, m

1 (f.) English: contracted form of Old French Jo(h)anne, from Latin Jo(h)anna (see JOANNA (SEE Joanna)). In England this was the usual feminine form of JOHN (SEE John) from the Middle English period onwards, but in the 16th and 17th centuries it was largely superseded by JANE (SEE Jane). It was strongly revived in the first part of the 20th century, partly under the influence of George Bernard Shaw's play St Joan (1923), based on the life of Joan of Arc (1412–31). In French, her name is Jeanne D'Arc; Schiller knew her as Johanna. She is also sometimes called ‘the maid of Orléans’. Claiming to be guided by the voices of the saints, she persuaded the French dauphin to defy the occupying English forces and have himself crowned, and she led the French army that raised the siege of Orléans in 1429. The following year she was captured by the Burgundians and sold to the English, and a year later she was burned at the stake for witchcraft at the age of 18 or 19. Her story has captured the imagination of many writers, and she is variously portrayed as a national and political hero, a model of apolitical straightforwardness and honesty, and a religious heroine. She was canonized in 1920.

2 (m.) Catalan form of JOHN (SEE John).

Cognate (of 1): Scottish Gaelic: SEONAG (SEE Seonag).

Pet forms (of 1): English: Joanie, Joni.