A female name. Greek Σίβυλλα, MedLj Sibilla, Sibylla, Sibulla, the name of the women who acted as mouthpieces of the ancient oracles. From about 200 b.c. collections of alleged sibylline oracles were written and propagated by the Jews, and later by Christians. St Augustine admits the sibyl to the City of Cod, and in general it was believed that the sibylline oracles represented one form of divine revelation (cf. the Dies Irae, ‘teste David cum sibylla’). Sibylla, accordingly, came to be used as a christian name and it was introduced into England after the Norman Conquest. Robert, Duke of Normandy, s. of the Conqueror, m. Sibylla of Conversane. From the 12th C onwards the name was common. Its spelling was erratic, and the misspelling Sybil is common to the present day. Sibley was the usual Middle English form of the name. The surnames Sibley, Sibbs, Sibson, Sibbet are derived from it and its abbreviation Sib. Sibyl went out of fashion after the Reformation, but never became obsolete. Its revival in the 19th C may have been partly due to Disraeli’s novel Sybil (1845). The Latin forms Sibylla, Sibella are sometimes used.

Sibilla Curia Regis Rolls 1196-1215, Feudal Aids 1316, Yorks Poll Tax of West Riding of Yorkshire 1379 1379. Sibilia Hundred Rolls 273, Yorks Poll Tax of West Riding of Yorkshire 1379 1379. Sibilie, Sibely Hundred Rolls 1273. Sybyle, Sybbly, Sibbe Promptorium Parvulorum 1440. Sibell The Coventry Leet Book 1434. Sybill Lincs 1455. Sybell Lincs 1533. Sibota Yorks Poll Tax of West Riding of Yorkshire 1379 1379. Sybby Cocke Lorelle's Bote c 1515. Sybyly Coventry Mysteries 15th C.

SYBIL. Greek σίβυλλα (sibŭlla), ‘a Sybil,’ ‘a prophetess,’ and, derivatively, Latin sibylla, show the correct spelling; cf. the equation Silvester, Silvanus:: Sylvanus, Sylvester. The origin of this important word is problematic, but ‘Doric Σιβόλλα (Siobolla) for Attic θεοβύλη (Theoboulë) divine wish’ (Weekley) seems a happy guess, despite its ancientry and Charlotte Yonge’s ‘wise old woman’ from sab(i)us, an old Italian, but not a Roman word. It became popular among English ladies of Norman blood; in Scotland and Ireland it may have been adopted for the Gaelic Selbhflaith, ‘lady of possessions’ (Yonge).

A Greek name, meaning: Counsel of God: a wise woman: a sibyl. A seer or prophetess among the ancients, who was believed to interpret the will of deity.