Iseult

Iseult, alternatively Isolde and other spellings, is the name of several characters in the legend of Tristan and Iseult. The most prominent is Iseult of Ireland, the wife of Mark of Cornwall and the lover of Tristan. Her mother, the queen of Ireland, is also named Iseult. The third is Iseult of the White Hands, the daughter of Hoel of Brittany and the sister of Kahedin. Name Her name is variably given as Iseult, Isolde, Yseult, Ysolt, Isode, Isoude, Iseut, Isaut (Old French), Iosóid (Irish), Esyllt (Welsh), Ysella (Cornish), Isolda (Portuguese, Spanish), Izolda (Serbian) and Isotta (Italian), among others. The oldest source, Béroul's 12th-century romance, spells her name as Yseut or Iseut. The etymology is uncertain, with most sources linking it to the Old High German words īs ("ice") and hiltja ("battle"). Other writers derive it from a Brythonic *Adsiltia, "she who is gazed upon." Iseult of Ireland The Irish princess, Iseult of Ireland is the daughter of King Anguish of Ireland and Queen Iseult the Elder. She is a main character in the Tristan poems of Béroul, Thomas of Britain, and Gottfried von Strassburg and in the opera Tristan und Isolde by Richard Wagner.