Gender: Female
Origin: French/Celtic
Meaning: debated
Pronunciation French (pah-lah-TEEN); English (pal-uh-TINE)

The name is found in French folklore as the name of the daughter of Pressyne and Elynas, and the sister of Mélusine.

Palatine was cursed by her mother to be locked in the Aragonese mountains with her father’s treasures, accompanied by a bear and serpent. Only a knight could free her and save her, on the condition that he be of the same bloodline as her father’s.

Throughout the years, many knights did just that, but had failed. However, a knight of King Arthur’s court, and the relative of Tristan, decided to climb the mountain and free the princess. He had to scale a mountain covered in venemous snakes, and then face the bear that guarded the entrance to the cave, all of which he killed. Finally he was able to enter the cave, but within the first chamber was a large serpent with one eye. The snake swallowed him up, and the knight was defeated in his quest, because, as it turned out, he was not of the right lineage.

Years later, Geoffrey-with-the-great-tooth, the nephew of Palatyne, had spent his life saving time, money and energy to rescue his aunt. However, he grew old, and died before he was able to commence his quest, and it is said that till this day, Palatyne still awaits within her mountain top for the right knight of the right lineage to free her. http://www.encylopediamythica.com

This is also the name of one of the 7 hills of Rome, a location which has its own legends.

In Ancient Roman folklore, the Palatine is where the Lupercal cave is to be found, the cave where Romulus and Remus were rescued and milked by a wolf. Another legend holds that Hercules defeated the monster Cacus, on the same hill.

The etymology of the name is debated, whether the fairy Palatyne and the name of the hill are related is not proven, but very possible. The fact that both legends contain a mountain top or hill top as their focal point makes it plausible.

According to the Roman historian Livy (59 BC-Ad 17), the hill got its name from the Arcadian settlement of pallatium, which is derived from the Latin palatum meaning “palate.” According to another ancient source, Ennius, the name is derived from an Etruscan word meaning “sky” or “heavens.” The term palace gets its name from the Palatine hill.

Other sources point its etymology to a Breton source, it is suggested that Palatine, (or Palestine in some instances), is a medieval French corruption of the Breton Bac’h C’hesten, bac’h means “cell; unit” and c’hesten means “hive; beehive.” Hence “hive pupa.” This is supported by the fact that in the legend, Palatine is an enclosed in a cell in the mountains like a bee in a beehive.

The name was borne by an early Christian martyr, Saint Palatino, and its masculine form is still in usage in Italy today. There is also a more obscure feminine version of Palatina.

Another French form is Palestine (pah-le-STEEN), and a possible Breton form is Kestenn.