Footnote 125
(The word "Commère")
This is another word that doesn't translate well, since there's no
direct equivalent in modern English. The term "commère" ("commater" in Latin)
was used by a parent or godparent when referring to a woman who had
been chosen to be a fellow godparent for a child; hence,
a godfather or godmother would address such a woman as "ma commère" (which perhaps
could be translated as "my co-godparent"). In this case the mother,
Isabelle d'Epinal, is using the term in the same fashion to refer to
Jehanne, who served as one of the many godmothers for her son. The word also took on the
connotation of "friend".
In the Latin version of the transcript, the phrase in which this
word appears is rendered as: "... quia dicta Johanneta la Pucelle erat
sua commater et tenuerat ad fontem quemdam Nicolaum, filium suum..."
("...because the said Joan (Jhenette) the Maiden was her 'commère'
and she held at the font a certain Nicholas, her son...".
(see DuParc's "Procès en Nullité...",
Vol I, pp. 282 - 283).