Gisela is not in the Bible. It is Germanic, and it means a pledge — specifically the kind given by handing over a person. Which turns out to be exactly the image the New Testament uses for the Holy Spirit. What the name means Gisela comes from the Old German element gisal, meaning pledge or hostage. The same root appears in Giselle and in the second part of several older Germanic names. In early medieval Europe this was not a…

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