בלשת

[Julie Kahan]

In the book “Hebrew Deeds of English Jews before 1290” there is a feminine name בלשת, presumably derived from the French phrase “belle assez” (very beautiful).

How should this name be transliterated, Belaset or Belases?

-Julie Kahan

[Alexandre Beider]

The analysis of all known references to Jewish female names in England and Northern France leaves no doubt that בלשת (also known in France) is the same name that the one spelled Belle-Assez or Belaces in various other document written in Latin characters. The transliteration from Hebrew to Latin characters would be purely formal, according to the conventional rules you decide to use (for example, blšt). If you mean (phonetic  or morpho-phonetic) transcription rather than transliteration, then you could, for example, write 

*Belases (בלשת), *Belaseth (בלשת), or even *Belle-Assez (בלשת).

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[geo...@jochnowitz.net]

I believe that it is unlikely to be a [t]. The French spelling "belle
assez" does not suggest a [t]. I would expect it to be either [s] or
"theta" (unvoiced interdental fricative).

George