‖ Fitz
(fɪts)
Forms: 3–4 fiz, (3 fyz), (5 fice, fytz), 4– fitz.
[AF. spelling of OF. fiz (pronounced fits):—earlier filz:—Lat. fīlius son.
The form is due to the phonetic law in OF. that a palatalized l caused a succeeding s to become ts (written z).]
The Anglo-French word for ‘son’; chiefly Hist. in patronymic designations, in which it was followed by the name of a parent in the uninflected genitive. Some of these survive as surnames, e.g. Fitzherbert, Fitzwilliam, etc.; in later times new surnames of the kind have been given to the illegitimate children of royal princes. † Also in 12–15th c. used occas. in adopted AF. phrases, beau fitz = ‘fair son’; fiz a putain = ‘whoreson’.
| 1297 R. Glouc. (1724) 432 Syre Roberd le Fyz Haim my fader name was. a 1300 Signa ante Judicium 179 in E.E.P. (1862) 12 Merci ihsu fiz mari. a 1300 Cursor M. 11879 (Gött.) ‘Fiz a putaines’, he said, ‘quat er ȝe?’ 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. x. 311 ‘Beau fitz’, quaþ þe fader, ‘we shulleþ for defaute’. c 1435 Torr. Portugal 2098 Antony fice Greffown. c 1450 Merlin 299 Leff the lady, traitour fitz aputain! c 1470 Harding Chron. ccxli. iii, Henry le Fytz Empryce. 1655 Fuller Ch. Hist. ix. Ded. 49 You shall be even in the language of the Apostle himself, Fitz-Dieu, A Son Of God. 1814 Mrs. West Alicia de Lacy II. 92 The contentions of Henry Fitz-empress with Eleanora of Guienne. |
b. nonce use. One whose surname begins with Fitz; i.e. an Irishman of Anglo-Norman extraction.
| 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. vi. (1858) II. 130 The Fitzes sometimes permitted themselves to speak with scorn of the O's and Macs. |