Gender: Feminine
Usage: Literature, Theatre, French (Rare), Dutch (Rare)
Rating: 23% based on 6 votes
Meaning uncertain, from the name of a character in medieval legend, possibly first recorded by Spanish writer Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo. Perhaps it was derived from an older form of Spanish
corazón "heart" (e.g., Old Spanish
coraçon; ultimately from Latin
cor "heart", with the hypothetic Vulgar Latin root
*coratione,
*coraceone) or the Greek name
Chrysanthe. As a nickname it was used by a mistress of King Henry IV of France: Diane d'Andoins (1554-1620),
la Belle Corisande. Some usage may be generated by Jean-Baptiste Lully's opera
Amadis (1684; based on Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo), in which it belongs to the lover of the prince Florestan. The name was also used by Benjamin Disraeli for a character in his play
Lothair (1870).