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Dithematic names don't work like that. they don't create compounds with a new meaning, each element stands on it's own. It's possible Geno- means "family/kin" taken from Celtic or Latin, but probably more likely it is the Frankish version of Gain-, of uncertain meaning. The deuterotheme -waif also has no clear meaning. it does not, however, mean "woman" (the coincidental weib spelling is unique to modern German, and was /i/ in Middle and old High German and the cognate languages (curiously the word in Bavarian becomes Baib)). It is possible that -wefa ia a Latinization of -wifa, "woman", but the combination of Gallo-Roman Geno- and Frankish wifa (not otherwise recorded as a name element) into Genovefa would imply that name was newly fabricated in the vita for it's sense of allegory (in the same way that her aunt is named Lutetia; i.e. Paris).

This message was edited 7/29/2020, 4:52 PM

Etymologically, the German word Weib "woman", cognate to English wife, is very difficult to treat and explain, because it lacks cognates outside the Germanic languages. It is probably related to the Old High German verb weibon "to move to and fro", that is preserved in the military rank (German) Feldwebel or (Swiss) Weibel "sarge, staff sergeant".

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When you can read German, here are some relevant sections from Grimm's Deutsches Wörterbuch:

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http://www.woerterbuchnetz.de/cgi-bin/WBNetz/wbgui_py?sigle=DWB&lemid=GW12159
http://www.woerterbuchnetz.de/cgi-bin/WBNetz/wbgui_py?sigle=DWB&mode=Vernetzung&hitlist=&patternlist=&lemid=GW12169#XGW12169

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The German verb weben "to weave" is not related and has Indogermanic connections to Classical Greek and Sanskrit, but shows some contamination from weibon.

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http://www.woerterbuchnetz.de/cgi-bin/WBNetz/wbgui_py?sigle=DWB&lemid=GW10107