View Message

I was doing some wikipedia research on "Troilus and Cressida" - juct curiosity research, nothing academically essential. Anyway, as I browsed the article, I noticed that several of the earliest Western European versions of the tale named the heroine Briseida, a derivative of Briseis (rather than to the original character Chryseis). Boccaccio would later reconnect the character to Chryseis by naming her Criseida, and then Chaucer would follow suit with Criseyde, and of course, Shakespeare would later use Cressida.

---

But when I looked back at Briseida, it was like someone reconnected wires in my brain that had previously been cut. I suddenly remembered: I went to elementary school with a girl named Briseida!

---

Briseida (bri-SAY-duh) was Hispanic, I believe, and I remember that she had really long black hair that was usually in pigtails (although the back was still loose - I remember her having a lot of hair). She stayed kindergarten through second grade at our school, and then moved away (I have no idea where), but she was really nice. I remember thinking her name was so unbelievably cool, even then - most of the girls in my school were Ashley, Jessica, Stephanie, Tiffany, etc. Even my name, Erica, was fairly common - although other girls usually spelled it Erika. But *Briseida*... that's not a name you see every day, and it's not a name I've encountered since.

---

Anyway... what do you think of Briseida? I love it, but I think I've made that obvious. :-)

---