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Title: History of Christian names
Author: Yonge, Charlotte M. (Charlotte Mary)
Language: English
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Transcriber’s Note:
This version of the text cannot represent certain typographical effects.
Italics are delimited with the ‘_’ character as _italic_.
Footnotes have been moved to follow the paragraphs in which they are
referenced.
The alphabetic portion of the Glossary (pp. xviii–cxliii), which serves
as an Index, was printed in two columns, which cannot be duplicated in a
‘pageless’ medium. Nearly all entries reference the physical page in the
main section of the volume where it is discussed.
Footnotes have been collected at the end of each section.
Tables that fell within a paragraph are moved to the nearest paragraph
break.
Minor errors, attributable to the printer, have been corrected. Please
see the transcriber’s note at the end of this text for details regarding
the handling of any textual issues encountered during its preparation.
HISTORY
OF
CHRISTIAN NAMES
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Illustration]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
HISTORY
OF
CHRISTIAN NAMES
BY
CHARLOTTE M. YONGE,
AUTHOR OF “THE HEIR OF REDCLYFFE,” “UNKNOWN TO HISTORY,” ETC. ETC.
_NEW EDITION, REVISED._
=London=
MACMILLAN AND CO.
1884
[_All rights reserved._]
LONDON
R. CLAY, SONS, AND TAYLOR, PRINTERS,
BREAD STREET HILL.
PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION.
I cannot put forth this attempt without a few words of apology for
having undertaken it at all. The excuse is, chiefly, the attraction that
the subject has had for me for at least twenty years, from the time when
it was first taken up as matter of amusement. The difficulty of gaining
information, and the inconsistencies of such as I did acquire, convinced
me that the ground was almost untrodden; but the further I advanced on
it, the more I perceived that it required a perfect acquaintance with
language, philology, ethnology, hagiology, universal history, and
provincial antiquities; and to me these were so many dark alleys, up
which I only made brief excursions to knock my head against the wall of
my own ignorance.
But the interest of the subject carried me on—often far beyond my depth,
when the connection between names and words has lured me into the realms
of philology, or where I have ventured upon deductions of my own. And I
have ventured to lay the result of my collections before the public, in
the hope that they may at least show the capabilities of the study of
comparative nomenclature, and by classifying the subject, may lead to
its being more fully studied, as an illustration of language, national
character, religion, and taste.
Surnames and local names have been often discussed, but the Christian
name has been usually considered too fortuitous to be worthy of notice.
Camden did indeed review the current ones of his own day, and gave many
correct explanations, chiefly from the German author Luther Dasipodius.
Verstegen followed him up, but was more speculative and less correct;
and since that date (as far as I am aware) no English author has given
any real trustworthy information to the subject, as a subject. A few
lists of names and meanings now and then have appeared in magazines and
popular works, but they have generally been copies of Verstegen, with
childishly shallow and incorrect additions. One paper which long ago
appeared in _Chambers’ Journal_, was the only really correct information
on English names _en masse_ that I have met with.
The Anglo-Saxon names had been, however, treated of by Sharon Turner in
his history, and Mr. Kemble put forth a very interesting lecture on
_Names, Surnames, and Nicknames among the Anglo-Saxons_. Thierry,
moreover, gives several explanations, both of Saxon and Frank ones, in
the notes to his _Conquête d’Angleterre_ and _Récits des Rois
Mérovingiens_. These were groundwork. Neither Turner nor Thierry is
always right, for want of having studied the matter comparatively; but
they threw light on one another, and opened the way to the dissection of
other names, neglected by them, with the aid of an Anglo-Saxon
dictionary.
The Scriptural class of names was studied with less difficulty. Every
Hebrew one has been fully discussed and examined by the best scholars;
and the Greek, both biblical and classical, have received the same
attention, and are in fact the most easy of all, as a class. With regard
to Latin, much must be doubtful and inexplicable, but the best
information at present attained to was easily accessible.
The numerous race of German appellations has received full attention
from many ripe German philologists, and I have made much use of their
works. The Scandinavian class has been most ably treated by Professor
Munch of Christiania, in a series of contributions to the _Norsk
Maanedskrifts_, of which I have been kindly permitted to make free use,
and which has aided me more than any other treatise on Teutonic
nomenclature.
Our Keltic class of names has presented far greater difficulties. for
the Cymric department, I have gathered from many quarters, the safest
being Lady Charlotte Guest’s notes to the _Mabinogion_ and M. de
Villemarqué’s elucidations of King Arthur’s romances, Rees’s _Welsh
Saints_, Williams’s _Ecclesiastical Antiquities_, and Chalmers’s
_Caledonia_; the least safe, Davies’s various speculations on British
antiquities and the _Cambro-Briton_. These verified by Dr. Owen Pugh’s
_Welsh Dictionary_, and an occasional light from Diefenbach and Zeuss,
together with a list kindly extracted for me from the _Brut_, have been
my authorities in the Welsh and Breton departments. In the Erse and
Gaelic names I was assisted by a very kind letter from the lamented Dr.
O'Donovan, whose death deprived me of his promised revision of this
extremely difficult class, and left me to make it out to the best of my
ability from his contributions to the publications of the Archæological
Society, from the notes to those of the Ossianic Society, Chalmers’s
_Caledonia_, and the Highland Society’s _Gaelic Dictionary_.
From the first, however, I had perceived that the curiosity of the study
does not lie merely in the meanings of the sounds by which men in one
country are distinguished from one another. The changes through which
the word passes is one great interest, and for this I had been
collecting for years, from dictionaries, books of travels, histories,
and popular tales, whenever people were so good as to give the genuine
word, instead of translating it into English. Dr. G. Michaelis'
_Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der Gebrauchlichsten Taufnamen_ left in me
little to desire in this respect, especially with regard to German
dialects, and I have used it copiously.
The history of names, however, seemed to have been but little examined,
nor why one should be popular and another forgotten—why one should
flourish throughout Europe, another in one country alone, another around
some petty district. Some of these questions were answered by history,
some by genealogy, many more by the tracing of patron saints and their
relics and legends. Here my great aid has been a French edition of Alban
Butler’s _Lives of the Saints_, where, in the notes, are many accounts
of the locality and translations of relics; also, Mrs. Jamieson’s
_Sacred and Legendary Art_, together with many a chance notice in
histories or books of travels. In each case I have tried to find out
whence the name came, whether it had a patron, and whether the patron
took it from the myths or heroes of his own country, or from the meaning
of the words. I have then tried to classify the names, having found that
to treat them merely alphabetically utterly destroyed all their interest
and connection. It has been a loose classification, first by language,
then by meaning or spirit, but always with the endeavour to make them
appear in their connection, and to bring out their interest.
In general I have only had recourse to original authorities where their
modern interpreters have failed me, secure that their conclusions are
more trustworthy than my own could be with my limited knowledge of the
subjects, which could never all be sufficiently studied by any one
person.
Where I have given a reference it has been at times to the book whence I
have _verified_ rather than originally obtained my information, and in
matters of universally known history or mythology, I have not always
given an authority, thinking it superfluous. Indeed, the scriptural and
classical portion is briefer and less detailed than the Teutonic and
Keltic, as being already better known.
I have many warm thanks to render for questions answered and books
consulted for me by able and distinguished scholars, and other thanks
equally warm and sincere to kind friends and strangers who have
collected materials that have been of essential service to me.
Lastly, let me again present my apologies for my presumption, when the
necessity of tracing out the source and connections of a word has led me
to wander beyond my proper ken; let me hope that apparent affectations
may be excused by the requirements of the subject, and express my wish
for such corrections as may in time render the work far more accurate
and complete. Let it be remembered, that it is the popular belief, not
the fact, that spreads the use of a name, and that if there is besides
matter that seems irrelevant, it has been rather in the spirit of
Marmion’s palmers,—
‘To charm a weary hill
With song, romance, or lay.
Some ancient tale, or glee, or jest,
Some lying legend at the least,
They bring to cheer the way.’
_March 9th, 1863._
------------------
After one-and-twenty years, I have been able to bring out the revised
edition for which I have long wished, having noted corrections as they
were kindly sent to me, and as I was able to make them. I am sensible
that the work is entirely incomplete, and as I have not studied
philology much in the interval, I fear the book has not gained by the
delay as much as it ought to have done. But at any rate, many errors
have been taken out, as well as much that was entirely useless and
irrelevant; and as no subsequent publication has taken quite the same
ground, I hope that the present form of the History of Christian Names
may occupy the niche all the better for the cutting off its
excrescences. With thanks to the many who have aided in the correction,
C. M. YONGE.
_July 25th, 1884._
CONTENTS.
PAGE
GLOSSARY OF CHRISTIAN NAMES xvii
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.
THE SPIRIT OF NOMENCLATURE 1
------------------
PART I.
CHAPTER I.
HEBREW NOMENCLATURE 7
CHAPTER II.
PATRIARCHAL NAMES 10
§ 1. Adam 10
2. Abi 11
3. Jacob 16
4. Simeon 19
5. Judah 20
6. Joseph 22
7. Benjamin 24
8. Job 26
CHAPTER III.
ISRAELITE NAMES 27
§ 1. Moses and Aaron 27
2. Elisheba, &c. 32
3. Joshua, &c. 36
4. Names from Chaanach 39
5. David 46
6. Salem 47
7. Later Israelite Names 48
8. Angelic Names 52
------------------
PART II.
NAMES FROM THE PERSIAN 56
§ 1. The Persian Language 56
2. Esther 57
------------------
PART III.
CHAPTER I.
NAMES FROM THE GREEK 59
CHAPTER II.
NAMES FROM GREEK MYTHOLOGY 61
§ 1. 61
2. Names from Zeus 61
3. Hera 63
4. Athene 64
5. Apollo and Artemis 64
6. Hele 66
7. Demeter 69
8. Dionysos 70
9. Hermes 71
10. Heroic Names 73
CHAPTER III.
NAMES FROM ANIMALS, &c. 76
§ 1. The Lion 76
2. The Horse 77
3. The Goat 79
4. The Bee 80
5. NAMES FROM FLOWERS 80
CHAPTER IV.
HISTORICAL GREEK NAMES CONSISTING OF EPITHETS 82
§ 1. Agathos 82
2. Alexander, &c. 83
3. Aner, Andros 85
4. Eu 86
5. Hieros 89
6. Pan 90
7. Polys 92
8. Phile, &c. 93
9. Names connected with the Constitution.—Laos, &c. 95
CHAPTER V.
CHRISTIAN GREEK NAMES 99
§ 1. 99
2. Names from Theos 99
3. Names from Christos 104
4. Sophia 106
5. Petros 107
6. Names of Immortality 109
7. Royal Names 111
8. Irene 112
9. Gregorios 113
10. Georgos 114
11. Barbara 116
12. Agnes 118
13. Margaret 119
14. Katharine 121
15. Harvest Names 123
16. Names from Jewels 124
17. Kosmos and Damianos 125
18. Alethea, &c. 126
------------------
PART IV.
CHAPTER I.
LATIN NOMENCLATURE 127
CHAPTER II.
LATIN PRÆNOMINA 131
§ 1. Aulus, Caius, Cnæus, Cæso 131
2. Lucius 132
3. Marcus 134
4. Posthumus, &c. 136
5. Numeral Names 137
CHAPTER III.
NOMINA 140
§ 1. Attius 140
2. Æmilius 140
3. Antonius 141
4. Cæcilius 143
5. Cœlius 145
6. Claudius 145
7. Cornelius, &c. 146
8. Julius 148
9. Lælius, &c. 151
10. Valerius 152
CHAPTER IV.
COGNOMINA 155
§ 1. 155
2. Augustus 157
3. Blasius 158
4. Cæsar, &c. 159
5. Constantius 161
6. Crispus, &c. 162
7. Galerius, &c. 163
8. Paullus and Magnus 165
9. Rufus, &c. 167
CHAPTER V.
NAMES FROM ROMAN DEITIES 169
§ 1. 169
2. Florentius 171
3. Laurentius 172
4. Sancus 175
5. Old Italian Deities 176
6. Quirinus 177
7. Sibylla 178
8. Saturn, &c. 179
CHAPTER VI.
MODERN NAMES FROM THE LATIN 181
§ 1. From Amo 181
2. ” Beo 182
3. ” Clarus 185
4. ” Columba 186
5. ” Durans 187
6. Names of Thankfulness 188
7. Crescens, &c. 189
8. Military Names 189
9. Names of Gladness 191
10. Jus 192
11. Names of Holiness 193
12. Ignatius 194
13. Pater 195
14. Grace, &c. 195
15. Vinco 197
16. Vita 197
17. Wolves and Bears 198
18. Names from Places and Nations 199
19. Town and Country 202
20. Flower Names 203
21. Roman Catholic Names 207
CHAPTER VII.
NAMES FROM HOLY DAYS 209
§ 1. 209
2. Christmas 209
3. The Epiphany 210
4. Easter Names 215
5. Sunday Names 216
------------------
PART V.
CHAPTER I.
§ 1. The Keltic Race 220
2. The Keltic Languages 221
3. Keltic Nomenclature 222
CHAPTER II
ANCIENT KELTIC NAMES 226
§ 1. Welsh Mythic Names 226
2. Lear and his Daughters 228
3. Bri 232
4. Fear, Gwr, Vir 237
CHAPTER III.
GAELIC NAMES 240
§ 1. Scottish Colonists 240
2. The Feen 242
3. Finn 243
4. Cu, Cun, Gal 245
5. Diarmaid and Graine 249
6. Cormac 250
7. Cath 251
8. Fiachra 252
9. Names of Complexion 253
10. Feidlim, &c. 256
11. Names of Majesty 257
12. Devotional Names 259
CHAPTER IV.
NAMES OF CYMRIC ROMANCE 264
§ 1. The Round Table 264
2. Arthur 266
3. Gwenever 268
4. Gwalchmai, Sir Gawain, and Sir Owen 272
5. Trystan and Ysolt 274
6. Hoel and Ryence 276
7. Percival 278
8. Llew 281
------------------
PART VI.
TEUTONIC NAMES 283
CHAPTER I.
THE TEUTON RACE 283
§ 1. Ground occupied by the Teutons 283
CHAPTER II.
NAMES FROM TEUTON MYTHOLOGY 285
§ 1. Guth 285
2. The Aasir 289
3. Odin, or Grîmr 292
4. Frey 294
5. Thor 300
6. Baldur and Hodur 303
7. Tyr 305
8. Heimdall 308
9. Will 311
10. Hilda 317
11. Ve 320
12. Gerda 321
13. Œgir 322
14. Ing—Seaxnot 324
15. Eormen 326
16. Erce 328
17. Amal 329
18. Forefathers 331
CHAPTER III.
NAMES FROM OBJECTS CONNECTED WITH MYTHOLOGY 334
§ 1. Day 334
2. The Wolf 335
3. Eber, the Boar 337
4. The Bear 338
5. The Horse 340
6. The Eagle 342
7. The Raven 344
8. The Swan 345
9. The Serpent 346
10. Kettle 347
11. Weapon Names 348
12. Thought 352
CHAPTER IV.
HEROIC NAMES OF THE NIBELUNG 355
§ 1. The Nibelung 355
2. Sigurd 356
3. Brynhild 359
4. Gunther 362
5. Hagen 364
6. Ghiseler 365
7. Ghernot 367
8. Folker 370
9. Dankwart 371
10. Theodoric 372
11. Uta, Ortwin 375
12. Sintram 379
13. Elberich 380
CHAPTER V.
THE KARLING ROMANCES 383
§ 1. The Paladins 383
2. Charles 384
3. Roland, &c. 387
4. Renaud 394
5. Richard 399
6. Astolfo 400
7. Ogier le Danois 402
8. Louis 403
CHAPTER VI.
DESCRIPTIVE NAMES 408
§ 1. Nobility 408
2. Command 413
3. Brightness 414
4. War 416
5. Protection 419
6. Power 421
7. Affection 426
8. Appearance 427
9. Locality 429
10. Life 433
------------------
PART VII.
NAMES FROM THE SLAVONIC 435
§ 1. Slavonic Races 435
2. Slavonian Mythology 438
3. Warlike Names 440
4. Names of Might 441
5. Names of Virtue 443
6. Names of Affection 444
7. Names from the Appearance 445
CONCLUSION.
MODERN NOMENCLATURE 446
§ 1. Greece 446
2. Russia 447
3. Italy 450
4. Spain 453
5. France 455
6. Great Britain 459
7. Germany 466
8. Scandinavia 469
9. Comparative Nomenclature 470
GLOSSARY OF CHRISTIAN NAMES.
The names here given are referred, as far as possible, first to the
language in which the form occurs, then to their root.
The original names, in their primary form, are in capitals, the shapes
they have since assumed are in Roman type, the contractions in italics.
A table is here given of the main stems and branches, with the
abbreviations used for them in the glossary.
HEBREW { Modern Jew (Jew.)
(Heb.) { Aramæan (Aram.)
ANCIENT PERSIAN { Persian (Pers.)
(Zend) {
GREEK { Modern Greek (Mod. Gr.)
(Gr.) { Russian (Russ.)
{ Italian (It.)
{ Venetian (Ven.)
{ Spanish (Span.)
LATIN { Portuguese (Port.)
(Lat.) { Provençal (Prov.)
{ Wallachian (Wall.)
{ French (Fr.)
{ Ancient British
{ (Brit.)
{ Welsh
{ Cymric { Breton
{ (Cym.) { (Bret.)
{ { Cornish
{ { (Corn.)
KELTIC {
(Kelt.) { { Ancient Irish
{ { (Erse)
{ { Modern Irish Dialect
{ { (Ir.)
{ Gadhaelic { Gaelic
{ (Gad.) { (Gael.)
{ Scottish
{ (Scot.)
{ Manx
{ Icelandic
{ (Ice.)
{ Norwegian
{ (Nor.)
{ Northern { Swedish
{ (Nor.) { (Swed.)
{ { Danish
{ { (Dan.)
{ { Norman
{ { (Norm.)
{
{ { English
{ { (Eng.)
{ { Scottish
{ { (Scot.)
{ Anglo-Saxon { Frisian
{ (A.S.) { (Fris.)
{ { Dutch
{ { Irish
{ { American
{ { (Am.)
TEUTONIC {
(Teu.) { { German
{ { (Ger.)
{ { Bavarian
{ { (Bav.)
{ Old German { Hamburgh
{ (O. G.) { (Ham.)
{ { Dantzig
{ { (Dan.)
{ { Swiss
{
{ Frank French
{
{ Gothic { Spanish
{ (Goth.) { (Span.)
{ { Portuguese
{ { (Port.)
{
{ Lombardic { Italian
{ (Lomb.) { (It.)
{ Russian (Russ.)
{ Slovak (Slov.)
{ Bohemian (Bohm.)
{ Polish (Pol.)
SLAVONIC { Hungarian (Hung.)
{ Lithuanian (Lith.)
{ Lettish (Lett.)
{ Illyrian (Ill.)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
A
Aaron, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. mountain, 27
AASBJORN, _m._ _Nor._ Ten. divine bear, 290
AASIR, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. the gods, 289.
AASOLFR, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. divine wolf, 290
AASTA, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. love, 401
AASVALDR, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. divine power, 291
Abacuck, _m._ _Scot._ Heb. embracing, 51
_Abban_, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. white, 157
Abel, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. breath, 11
Abelard, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. noble firmness.
Abellona, _f._ _Dan._ Gr. of Apollo, 65
Abigail, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. father of joy, 12
Abimelech, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. father of the king, 12
Abishalom, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. father of peace, 12
Abner, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. father of light.
_Abiud_, _m._ _Eng._ Dan. Heb. father of praise, 20
_Abra_, _f._ _Cambrai_, Heb. father of a multitude, 11
Abram, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. father of height, 11
Absalom, _m._ _Eng._ Dan. Heb. father of peace, 12
_Aby_, _m._ _Am._ Heb. father of multitudes, 12
Accepted, _m._ _Eng._ Accius, _m._ Lat. 140
Achaius, _m._ _Lat._ Kelt, horseman, 276
Achashverosh, _m._ _Heb._ Zend, venerable king, 57
Achill, _m._ _Ger._ Gr. without lips (?), 74
Achilla, _f._ _Lat._ Gr. without lips (?), 74
Achille, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. without lips (?), 74
Achillea, _f._ _It._ Gr. without lips (?), 74
Achilles, _m._ _Eng._ Gr. without lips (?), 74
ACHILLEUS, _Gr._(?) without lips, 74
Achim, _m._ _Ger._ Heb. the Lord will judge, 38
Achsah, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. anklet, 38
_Acim_, _m._ _Ill._ Heb. the Lord will judge, 38
_Actma_, _f._ _Ill._ Heb. the Lord will judge, 38
Ada, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. happy.
Adah, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. ornament, 7
Adalard, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. nobly firm, 412
ADALBERT, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. nobly bright, 410
Adalfieri, _m._ _It._ Teu. noble pledge, 409
ADALGAR, _m._ _Lom._ Teu. noble spear, 412
ADALGISE, _f._ _Fr._ Teu. noble pledge, 409
ADALGISL, _m._ _Lom._ Teu. noble pledge, 409
ADALHARD, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. nobly stern, 412
ADALHEID, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. noble cheer, 412
ADALPOLT, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. nobly bold, 412
ADALRIK, _m._ _Goth._ Teu. noble king, 412
Adalrik, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. noble ruler, 412
ADALTAC, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. noble day, 413
Adam, _m._ _Eng._ Fr. Dutch, Ger. Dan. Heb. red earth, 10
Adamina, _f._ _Scot._ Heb. red earth, 10
_Adamk_, _m._ _Lus._ Heb. red earth, 10
_Adamnan_, _m._ _Scot._ Heb. Lat. dwarf Adam, 10
_Adamnanus_, _m._ _Lat._ Heb. dwarf Adam, 10
Adamo, _m._ _Ital._ Heb. red earth, 10
_Adams_, _m._ _Lett._ Heb. red earth, 10
_Addala_, _f._ _Lett._ Teu. noble cheer, 412
_Addo_, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. noble cheer, 412
_Addy_, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. noble threatener, 411
_Ade_, _m._ _Flem._ Heb. red earth, 10
Adela, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. noble cheer, 411
Adelaïda, _f._ _Rom._ Russ. Teu. noble cheer, 411
Adelaide, _f._ _Fr._ Eng. Ger. Teu. noble cheer, 411
Adelaïs, _f._ _Old. Fr._ Teu. noble cheer, 411
Adelajda, _f._ _Slov._ Teu. noble cheer, 411
ADELAR, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. noble eagle, 412
ADELBERN, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. noble bear, 412
Adelbert, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. nobly bright, 412
Adelberta, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. nobly bright, 412
Adelbold, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. nobly bold, 412
Adelbrecht, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. nobly bright, 412
Adelburg, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. noble protection, 412
Adelchis, _m._ _Lat._ Teu. noble pledge, 412
Adèle, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. Teu. noble cheer, 411
Adeleve, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. noble gift, 412
ADELFRID, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. noble peace, 412
ADELGAR, noble spear, 412
Adelgard, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. noble guard, 412
Adelgis, noble pledge, 412
Adelgonda, _f._ _Rom._ Teu. noble war, 412
Adelgonde, _f._ _Fr._ Teu. noble war, 412
Adelgunde, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. noble war, 412
ADELHART, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. nobly firm, 412
Adelhelm, noble helmet, 412
ADELHELM, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. noble helmet, 412
ADELHILD, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. noble battle maid, 413
Adelhold, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. nobly firm, 412
Adelicia, _f._ _Lat._ Teu. noble cheer, 412
Adelina, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. noble manner, 413
Adelinde, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. noble snake, 413
Adeline, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. noble snake, 413
Adelschalk, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. noble servant, 413
Adelswinde, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. noble strength, 413
Adeltrude, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. noble maid, 412
Adelulf, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. noble wolf, 412
Adelwin, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. noble friend, 412
Ademaro, _m._ _Ital._ Teu. fierce greatness, 304
Adeodat, _m._ _Ger._ Lat. by God given, 188
ADEODATUS, _m._ _Lat._ by God given, 188
Adhémar, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. fierce greatness, 304
Adilo, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. noble, 412
_Ado_, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. noble, 412
Adolf, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. noble wolf, 409
Adolfine, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. noble wolf, 409
Adolfo, _m._ _Ital._ Teu. noble wolf, 409
Adolphe, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. noble wolf, 409
Adolphus, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. noble wolf, 409
Adoncia, _f._ _Span._ Lat. sweet, 196
Adosinda, _f._ _Span._ Teu. fierce strength, 305
Adriaan, _m._ _Dutch_, Lat. from Adria, 156
Adrian, _m._ _Eng._ Ger. Lat. from Adria, 156
Adriana, _f._ _Ital._ Lat. from Adria, 156
Adriane, _f._ _Ger._ Lat. from Adria, 156
Adriano, _m._ _Ital._ Lat. from Adria, 156
ADRIANUS, _m._ _Lat._ N.L.D. Lat. from Adria, 157
Adrien, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. from Adria, 156
Adrienne, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. from Adria, 156
Aed, _m._ _Welsh_. Kelt. fire, 226
Aeddon, _m._ _Welsh_. Kelt. 226
AEDH, _m._ _Erse_. Kelt. fire, 226
Ægidius, _m._ _Lat._ Gr. with the Ægis, 79
ÆLF, _m._ _A. S._ Teu. elf, 380
ÆLFGIFU, _f._ _A. S._ Teu. elf gift, 380
ÆLFHÆG, _m._ _A. S._ Teu. high as an elf, 381
ÆLFHELM, _m._ _A. S._ Teu. elf helmet, 381
ÆLFRED, _m._ _A. S._ Teu. elf council, 381
ÆLFRIC, _m._ _A. S._ Teu. elf ruler, 381
ÆLFTHRYTH, _f._ _A. S._ Teu. threatening elf, 382
ÆLFWINE, _m._ _A. S._ Teu. elf darling, 382
ÆLFWOLD, _m._ _A. S._ Teu. elf ruler, 382
ÆLIANUS, _m._ _Lat._ Gr. of the sun, 191
Ælla, _m._ _A. S._ Teu. elf friend, 382
Ælle, _m._ _A. S._ Teu. elf friend, 382
ÆMILIA, _f._ _Lat._ work (?), 141
Æmiliana, _f._ _Lat._ work (?), 141
Æmilianus, _m._ _Lat._ work (?), 141
ÆMILIUS, _m._ _Lat._ work (?), 141
Æneas, _m._ _Lat._ praise (?), 74
AENGHAS, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. excellent virtue, 242
ÆTHELBALD, _m._ _A. S._ Teu. noble prince, 349
ÆTHELBRYHT, _m._ _A. S._ Teu. nobly bright, 412
ÆTHELFLED, _f._ _A. S._ Teu. noble increase, 412
ÆTHELGIFU, _f._ _A. S._ Teu. noble gift, 409
ÆTHELHILD, _f._ _A. S._ Teu. noble battle maid, 412
ÆTHELRED, _m._ _A. S._ Teu. noble council, 410
ÆTHELRIC, _m._ _A. S._ Teu. noble ruler, 409
ÆTHELSTAN, _m._ _A. S._ Teu. noble stone, 412
ÆTHELTHRYTH, _f._ _A. S._ Teu. noble threatener, 411
ÆTHELWARD, _m._ _A. S._ Teu. noble guard, 412
ÆTHELWINE, _m._ _A. S._ Teu. noble friend, 412
ÆTHELWOLF, _m._ _A. S._ Teu. noble wolf, 409
_Aëtius_, _m._ _Lat._
Afanassij, _m._ _Russ._ Gr. undying, 109
Affonso, _m._ _Port._ eagerness for war, 305
Affrica, _f._ _Manx_, Irish, Kelt. pleasant, 230
Afonso, _m._ _Port._ eagerness for war, 305
Agafia, _f._ _Russ._ Gr. good, 82
Agafon, _m._ _Russ._ Gr. good, 82
Agape, _f._ _Gr._ love, 113
Agapit, _m._ _Russ._ Gr. loved, 113
Agata, _f._ _It._ Span. Swed. Slov. Ger. good, 82
AGATHA, _f._ _Eng._ Hung. Gr. good, 82
_Agathe_, _f._ _Fr._ Ger. Gr. good, 82
AGATHIAS, _m._ _Gr._ good, 82
Agathocles, _m._ _Gr._ good fame, 82
Agathon, _m._ _Ger._ Gr. good, 82
Aggate, _f._ _Lett._ Gr. good, 82
Aggie, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. pure, 119
Agilard, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. formidably bright, 328
Agilbert, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. formidably bright, 323
Agilo, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. formidable, 322
Agiltrude, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. formidable maiden, 323
Agilulf, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. formidable wolf, 323
Agilward, _m._ _Norm._ Teu. formidable guardian, 323
AGINHAR, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. formidable warrior, 323
Aglaé, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. brightness, 72
AGLAIA, _f._ _Lat._ Gr. brightness, 72
Aglaja, _f._ _Ger._ Gr. brightness, 72
_Agmund_, _m._ _Nor._ awful protection, 323
Agnar, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. formidable warrior, 323
_Agne_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. formidable warrior, 323
Agnello, _m._ _It._ Gr. pure, 119
AGNES, _f._ _Dan._ Eng. Ger. Fr. Gr. pure, 119
Agnesca, _f._ _It._ Gr. pure, 119
Agnese, _f._ _It._ Gr. pure, 119
Agnesija, _f._ _Russ._ Gr. pure, 119
Agnessa, _f._ _Russ._ Gr. pure, 119
Agneta, _f._ _Eng._ Swiss, Gr. pure, 119
Agnete, _f._ _Dan._ Gr. pure, 119
Agnies, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. pure, 119
Agnizka, _f._ _Pol._ Gr. pure, 119
Agnola, _f._ _It._ Gr. angel, 53
Agnolo, _m._ _It._ Gr. angel, 53
Agnyta, _f._ _Lett._ Gr. pure, 119
Agostina, _f._ _It._ Lat. venerable, 158
Agostinha, _f._ _Port._ Lat. venerable, 158
Agostinho, _f._ _Port._ Lat. venerable, 158
Agostino, _m._ _It._ Lat. venerable, 158
Agoston, _m._ _Hung._ Lat. venerable, 158
Agrafina, _f._ _Russ._ Lat. born with the feet foremost, 156
AGRICOLA, _m._ _Lat._ Lat. field tiller.
AGRIPPA, _m._ _Lat._ Lat. born with the feet foremost, 156
Agrippina, _f._ _Lat._ Lat. born with the feet foremost, 156
Agrippine, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. born with the feet foremost, 156
Agueda, _f._ _Port._ Gr. pure, 57
Ahasuerus, _m._ _Eng._ Pers. venerable king.
_Ahrens_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. powerful eagle, 342
Ahrold, _m._ powerful eagle, 342
AIAS, _m._ _Gr._ Gr. eagle, 342
Aidan, _m._ _Eng._ Kelt. fire, 226
AIGIDIOS, _m._ _Gr._ with the Ægis, 79
Aileen, _f._ _Ir._ Gr. light, 67
Aileve, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. elf gift, 380
_Ailie_, _f._ _Scot._ Teu. famed war, 406
Aimable, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. lovable.
Aimée, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. loved.
_Aimerich_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. work ruler, 331
_Aimery_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. work ruler, 331
AINÈ, _f._ _Erse_. Kelt. joy, 230
Aineceallach, _m._ _Gael._ Kelt. joyful war, 230
AINEIAS, _m._ _Gr._ Gr. praise, 174
AISTULF, _m._ _Ger._ Gr. swift wolf, 335
Akilina, _f._ _Russ._ Lat. eagle, 156
_Akim_, _m._ _Russ._ Heb. the Lord will judge, 38
Akulnia, _f._ _Russ._ Lat. eagle, 156
Ala, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. holy (?), 402
Alaf, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. forefather’s relic, 332
Alain, _m._ _Fr._ It. Lat. cheerful (?), Kelt. harmony, 279
Alan, _m._ _Scot._ Ger. Lat. cheerful (?), Kelt. harmony, 279
Alane, _f._ _Ger._ Lat. cheerful, Kelt. harmony, 279
_Alard_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. nobly stern, 409
Alaric, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. noble ruler, 409
Alarich, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. noble ruler, 409
Alaster, _m._ _Gael._ Ger. helper of men, 85
Alatea, _f._ _Span._ Gr. truth, 126
ALAWN, _m._ _Cym._ Kelt. harmony, 279
Alban, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. white, 157
ALBANUS, _m._ _Lat._ white, 157
Albany, _m._ _Scot._ Kelt. white, 157
Albar, _m._ _Lat._ Span. white, 157
Alberia, _f._ _Span._ Lat. white (?), 157
Alberic, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. elf king, 380
Alberich, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. elf king, 380
Alberico, _m._ _It._ Teu. elf king, 380
Albert, _m._ _Eng._ Fr. Russ. Pol. Teu. nobly bright, 410
Alberta, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. nobly bright, 410
Albertine, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. nobly bright, 410
Albertino, _m._ _It._ Teu. nobly bright, 410
Alberto, _m._ _It._ Teu. nobly bright, 410
Albin, _f._ _Erse_. Kelt. white (?), 157
Albin, _m._ _Ger._ Lat. white, 157
Albina, _f._ _Ger._ Lat. white, 157
Albinia, _f._ _Eng._ Kelt. white (?), 157
Albino, _m._ _Rom._ Lat. white, 157
Alboin, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. elf friend, 380
Alboino, _m._ _Lomb._ Teu. elf friend, 380
Albrecht, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. nobly bright, 412
Albwin, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. elf friend, 380
_Alcuin_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. hall friend, 382
_Alcuinus_, _m._ _Lat._ Teu. hall friend, 382
Alda, _f._ It. _Lat._ Eng. Teu. rich, 376
Aldclatha, _f._ _Gael._ Kelt. decaying beauty.
Aldebert, _m._ _Eng._ Ger. Teu. nobly bright, 410
Aldegonde, _f._ _Flem._ Teu. noble war, 410
Alderich, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. noble ruler, 412
Aldgitha, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. noble gift, 412
Aldhelm, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. noble helmet, 412
Aldobrando, _m._ _Ital._ Teu. battle sword, 318
Aldonça, _f._ _Span._ Lat. the sweet, 196
Aldrovando, _m._ _Ital._ Teu. battle sword, 318
Aléard, _m._ _Prov._ Teu. nobly stern, 412
Aléarda, _f._ _Prov._ Teu. nobly stern, 412
Aleardo, _m._ _Ital._ Teu. nobly stern, 412
Aleixo, _m._ _Port._ God helper, 85
Alejandro, _m._ _Span._ Teu. helper of men, 85
Alejo, _m._ _Span._ Gr. helper, 85
Aleks, _m._ _Lett._ Gr. helper, 85
Aleksa, _m._ _Serv._ Gr. helper, 85
Aleksajeder, _m._ _Slav._ Gr. helper of men, 85
Aleksander, _m._ _Russ._ Gr. helper of men, 85
Aleksije, _m._ _Russ._ Gr. helper of men, 85
_Ales_, _m._ _Slav._ Gr. helper, 85
Alessandra, _f._ _Ital._ Gr. helper of men, 84
Alessandro, _m._ _Ital._ Gr. helper of man, 85
_Alessio_, _m._ _Ital._ Gr. helper, 85
Aletea, _f._ _Span._ Gr. truth, 126
ALETHEA, _f._ _Eng._ Ger. Gr. truth, 126
Alexander, _m._ _Eng._ Gr. helper of men, 85
Alexandr, _m._ _Bohm._ Gr. helper of men, 84
Alexandra, _Eng._ Gr. 84
Alexandre, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. helper of men, 85
Alexandrina, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. helper of men, 84
Alexandrine, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. helper of men, 84
ALEXANDROS, _m._ _Gr._ helper of men, 85
Alexe, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. helper, 85
Alexia, _f._ _Ger._ Gr. helper, 84
Alexis, _m._ _Eng._ Ger. Gr. helper, 85
ALEXIOS, _m._ _Gr._ Gr. helper, 85
Alexius, _m._ _Lat._ Gr. helper, 85
ALFDIS, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. household spirit, 380
ALFGEJR, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. elf spear, 380
ALFGERDUR, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. elf woman, 380
ALFHEIDUR, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. elf cheerfulness, 380
_Alfhild_, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. elf battle maid, 380
_Alfliotr_, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. elf terror, 380
Alfonso, _m._ _Span._ Teu. eager for battle, 320
Alfred, _m._ _Eng._ Fr. Teu. elf council, 380
Alfreda, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. elf council, 380
Alfredo, _m._ _It._ Teu. elf council, 380
Alfried, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. elf council, 380
ALFR, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. elf, 380
_Algar_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. hall spear, 380
ALGERNON, _m._ _Eng._ Fr. with whiskers, 427
Alice, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. noble cheer, 409
Alicia, _f._ _Ir._ Teu. noble cheer, 409
_Alick_, _m._ _Scot._ Gr. helper of men, 85
Alienor, _f._ _Prov._ Gr. light, 67
_Aline_, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. noble, 409
Alison, _f._ _Scot._ Teu. famous war, 406
Alitea, _f._ _It._ Gr. truth, 126
Alix, _f._ _Fr._ Teu. noble cheer, 409
Allan, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. cheerful (?), 280
Allen, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. cheerful (?), 280
Allighiero, _m._ _Ital._ Teu. noble spear, 412
ALMA, _f._ _Lat._ fair, 224
ALMA, _f._ _Erse_, Kelt. all good, 224
_Alma_, _f._ _Eng._ Russ. (from the river), 224
Almedha, _f._ _Welsh_, Kelt. shapely (?), 273
Almeric, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. work ruler, 331
Almerigo, _m._ _Sp._ Teu. work ruler, 331
Almund, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. hall protection, 382
Aloïs, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. famous war, 405
Aloisia, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. famous war, 405
Aloïsio, _m._ _It._ Teu. famous war, 405
Aloizia, _f._ _Bohm._ Teu. famous war, 405
Alonso, _m._ _Span._ Teu. eager for battle, 320
Aloys, _m._ _Prov._ Teu. famous war, 405
Alphege, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. tall as an elf, 381
Alphonse, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. battle eager, 320
Alphonsine, _f._ _Fr._ Teu. battle eager, 320
Alphonso, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. battle eager, 320
_Alpin_, _m._ _Scot._ Kelt. elf, 380
_Alpinolo_, _m._ _Ital._ Teu. elf friend, 380
_Alric_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. hall ruler, 380
Alswytha, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. hall strength, 380
ALTHEA, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. wholesome, 126
_Alured_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. elf peace, 380
Alvar, _m._ _Span._ Port. Lat. white, 157
Alwine, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. elf friend, 380
Alysander, _m._ _Eng._ Gr. helper of man, 85
Amabel, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. lovable, 182
AMABILIS, _m._ _Lat._ lovable, 182
Amable, _m._ _Fr._ lovable, 181
AMADAS, _m._ _Eng._ Kelt. husbandman, 182
Amadé, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. love God, 182
Amadeo, _m._ _Ital._ Lat. love God, 182
AMADEUS, _m._ _Ger._ Lat. love God, 182
Amadigi, _m._ _Ital._ Lat. love God, 182
Amadis, _m._ _Span._ Lat. love God, 182
Amadore, _m._ _Flor._ Lat. lover, 182
AMAETHON, _m._ _Kymric._ Kelt. husbandman, 182
AMALA, _f._ _Lomb._ work, 330
Amalasontha, _f._ _Lat._ Teu. work strength, 330
AMALASWIND, _f._ _Lomb._ Teu. work strength, 330
AMALBERGA, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. work protection, 330
AMALBERT, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. work bright, 330
AMALBERTA, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. work bright, 330
AMALFRIED, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. work peace, 330
AMALFRIDA, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. fair work, 330
AMALGAID, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. work, or spotless (?), 330
_Amalgund_, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. work war, 330
Amalia, _f._ _Ital._ Teu. work, 330
Amalie, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. work, 330
Amalija, _f._ _Russ._ Slov. Teu. work, 330
_Amalilda_, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. work battle maid, 330
AMALINA, _f._ _Goth._ Teu. work serpent, 330
AMALRICH, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. work ruler, 330
_Amaltrude_, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. work maiden, 330
Amand, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. worthy to be loved, 181
Amanda, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. worthy to be beloved, 181
Amandine, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. worthy to be beloved, 181
Amando, _m._ _Ital._ Lat. worthy to be beloved, 181
AMANDUS, _m._ _Lat._ worthy to be loved, 182
AMATA, _f._ _Lat._ beloved, 181
AMATUS, _m._ _Lat._ Lat. beloved, 182
_Amaury_, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. work ruler, 330
Amberkelleth, _m._ _Gael._ Kelt. joyful war, 231
Ambrogio, _m._ _Ital._ Gr. immortal, 109
Ambroise, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. immortal, 109
Ambrose, _m._ _Eng._ Gr. immortal, 109
Ambrosio, _m._ _Span._ Gr. immortal, 109
AMBROSIOS, _m._ _Gr._ immortal, 109
Ambrosius, _m._ _Lat._ Gr. 109
Ambroz, _m._ _Bohm._ Gr. immortal, 109
Ambrozij, _m._ _Pol._ Gr. immortal, 109
Ambrus, _m._ _Hung._ Gr. immortal, 109
Amé, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. loved, 182
Amedée, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. love God, 182
Amelia, _f._ _Eng._ Port. Teu. work, 330
Amélie, _f._ _Fr._ Teu. work, 330
Amelius, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. work, 330
_Amelot_, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. work, 330
AMELUNG, _m._ _Teu._ work, 330
Americo, _m._ _Port._ Teu. work ruler, 331
Amerigo, _m._ _Ital._ Teu. work ruler, 331
Amias, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. love God, 182
Amice, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. beloved, 182
Amicia, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. beloved, 182
Amicie, _f._ _Cambrai._ Lat. beloved, 182
Amlaidh, _m._ _Erse_, Teu. forefather’s relic, 332
AMMA, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. grandmother, 332
Amone, _m._ _Ital._ Teu. home, 311
AMOS, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. burthen, 50
Amund, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. awful protection, 323
_Amvrossij_, _m._ _Russ._ Gr. immortal, 109
Amy, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. beloved, 182
Amyas, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. love God, 182
Amyot, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. love God, 182
Ana, _f._ _Span._ Bohm. Slov. Heb. grace, 42
Analo, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. ancestral, 332
ANANIAS, _m._ _Gr._ Heb. grace of the Lord, 42
Anarawd, _f._ _Welsh_, free of shame, 279
Anastagio, _m._ _Ital._ Gr. who shall rise again, 110
Anastase, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. who shall rise again, 110
Anastasia, _f._ _Eng._ Ital. Russ. Gr. who shall rise again, 110
Anastasij, _m._ _Russ._ Gr. who shall rise again, 110
ANASTASIOS, _m._ _Gr._ who shall rise again, 110
Anastasius, _m._ _Lat._ Gr. who shall rise again, 110
Anastasl, _m._ _Bav._ Gr. who shall rise again, 110
Anastazy, _m._ _Pol._ Gr. who shall rise again, 110
Anatola, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. eastern, 200
Anatolia, _f._ _Gr._ Gr. eastern, 200
Anatolius, _m._ _Gr._ Gr. eastern, 200
_Anbiorn_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. eagle bear, 342
_Anca_, _f._ _Bohm._ Heb. grace, 42
_Ancela_, _f._ Pol. Gr. angel, 53
Ancelin, servant, 262
Ancelot, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. servant, 262
Ancelote, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. servant, 262
_Ancika_, _f._ _Bohm._ Gr. grace, 42
Ancilée, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. servant, 262
_Anders_, _m._ _Dan._ Gr. man, 86
ANDRAGATHIUS, _m._ _Gr._ good man, 86
_André_, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. man, 86
Andrea, _m._ _Ital._ Gr. man, 86
Andreana, _f._ _Ital._ Gr. man, 86
Andréas, _f._ _Ger._ Gr. man, 86
Andrée, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. man, 86
Andreian, _m._ _Russ._ Lat. from Adria, 156
Andrej, _m._ _Lus._ Gr. man, 86
Andrejek, _m._ _Slav._ Gr. man, 86
Andres, _m._ _Span._ Gr. man, 86
Andrew, _m._ _Eng._ Gr. man, 86
_Andrezej_, _m._ _Pol._ man, 86
Andrien, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. man, 86
Andries, _m._ _N.L.D._ Gr. man, 86
Andrija, _m._ _Serv._ Gr. man, 86
Andronicus, _m._ _Lat._ Gr. man’s victory, 86
_Andy_, _m._ _Ir._ Gr. man, 86
_Ane_, _f._ _Lith._ Heb. grace, 42
Anessil, 242
_Aneta_, _f._ _Serv._ Heb. grace, 42
Aneurin, _m._ _Welsh_, Gr. man of excellence.
_Anezka_, _f._ _Bohm._ Gr. pure, 119
ANGANTYR, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. favourite of Tyr, 306
Ange, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. angel, 53
Angel, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. angel, 53
Angela, _f._ _Eng._ Span. It. Gr. angel, 53
Angèle, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. angel, 53
Angelica, _f._ _Ital._ Ger. Gr. angelic, 53
Angelico, _m._ _Ital._ Gr. angelic, 53
Angelina, _f._ _Eng._ Ital. Gr. angel, 53
Angeline, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. angel, 53
Angelino, _m._ _Ital._ Gr. angel, 53
Angelique, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. angelic, 53
ANGELOS, _m._ _Gr._ Gr. angel, 53
Angelot, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. angel, 53
Anges, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. angels, 53
Angharawd, _f._ _Welsh_, Kelt. free from shame, 279
ANGILBALD, Ing’s prince, 325
ANGILRICH, Ing’s king, 325
ANGILTRUD, Ing’s maid, 325
_Angiolo_, _m._ _It._ Gr. angel, 53
Angus, _m._ _Scot._ Kelt. excellent virtue, 242
Anicet, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. unconquered, 90
Aniceto, _m._ _Rom._ Gr. unconquered, 90
_Anicsika_, _f._ _Serv._ Heb. grace, 42
_Aniello_, _m._ _Neap._ Gr. angel, 53
Anikita, _m._ _Russ._ Gr. unconquered, 90
_Anikke_, _f._ _Lith._ Heb. grace, 42
_Anisia_, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. complete, 94
_Anita_, _f._ _Span._ Heb. grace, 42
Anjela, _f._ _Bohm._ Gr. angel, 53
Anjelika, _f._ _Bohm._ Gr. angelic, 53
Anjelina, _f._ _Bohm._ Gr. angel, 53
_Anjuska_, _f._ _Serv._ Heb. grace, 42
_Anjutoka_, _f._ _Serv._ Heb. grace, 42
Ankaret, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. Kelt. free from shame, 279
ANLAFF, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. ancestor’s relic, 332
ANMCHA, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. courageous, 224
Ann, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. grace, 42
Anna, _f._ _Gr._ It. Swed. Serv. Heb. grace, 42
Annabel, _f._ _Teu._ Heb. eagle heroine (?), 41
Annabella, _f._ _Teu._ Heb. eagle heroine (?), 41, 343
_Annali_, _f._ _Swiss_, Heb. grace, 42
_Annaple_, _f._ _Scot._ Heb. eagle heroine (?), 41, 343
Annas, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. grace of the Lord, 41
_Annchen_, _f._ _Ger._ Heb. grace, 42
_Annchet_, _f._ _Flem._ Heb. grace, 42
_Anne_, _f._ _Eng._ Fr. Heb. grace, 42
_Annerl_, _f._ _Bav._ Heb. grace, 42
_Annes_, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. complete, 94
_Annetta_, _f._ _Ital._ Heb. grace, 42
_Annette_, _f._ _Fr._ Heb. grace, 42
Annibal, } _m._ 41
Annibale, } _f._ _Ital._ Phœn. grace of Baal, 40
_Annibas_, } 40
_Annice_, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. grace, 42
_Annika_, _f._ _Dan._ Heb. grace, 42
_Anninka_, _f._ _Russ._ Heb. grace, 42
_Annjuscha_, _f._ _Russ._ Heb. grace, 42
Annonciada, _f._ _Span._ Lat. announced, 30
Annonciade, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. announced, 30
Annora, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. grace (?), 68, eagle of Thor, 343
Annot, _f._ _Scot._ Heb. Light, 42
Annunciata, _f._ _Lat._ announced, 30
Annunziata, _f._ _Ital._ Lat. announced, 30
_Annusche_, _f._ _Lett._ Heb. grace, 42
_Annuschka_, _f._ _Russ._ Lat. grace, 42
Annusia, _f._ _Russ._ Gr. complete, 94
Annys, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. complete (?), 94
_Annze_, _f._ _Lith._ Heb. grace, 42
Anquetil, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. divine kettle, 290
_Ans_, _m._ _Lett._ Heb. grace of the Lord, 45
ANSBRANDO, _m._ _Pol._ Teu. divine sword, 290
Anschar, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. divine spear, 290
Anselm, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. divine helmet, 290
Anselme, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. divine helmet, 290
Anselmo, _m._ _Rom._ Teu. divine helmet, 290
Anselot, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. servant, 263
ANSGAR, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. divine war, 290
Ansgard, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. divine guard, 290
Ansgisil, _f._ _Lom._ Teu. divine pledge, 290
ANSHELM, _m._ _Lom._ Teu. divine helmet, 290
_Ansis_, _m._ _Lett._ Heb. grace of the Lord, 45
ANSKETIL, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. divine cauldron, 291
Ansmunt, divine protection, 291
Anso, _m._ _Gr._ Teu. divine helmet, 291
Anstace, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. resurrection, 110
Anstice, _m._ _Eng._ resurrection, 110
Anstys, _m._ _Eng._ resurrection, 110
ANSVALD, _Gr._ _Teu._ _m._ divine power, 292
_Anta_, _m._ _Lapp._ Gr. man, 86
_Antal_, _m._ _Hung._ Lat. inestimable, 142
_Antek_, _m._ _Pol._ Lat. inestimable, 142
Antelmo, _m._ _It._ Teu. divine helmet, 290
Anthiball, _m._ _Corn._ Gr. surrounding.
ANTHONIUS, _m._ _Dutch_, Lat. inestimable, 142
Anthony, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. inestimable, 142
Antoine, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. inestimable, 142
Antoinette, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. inestimable, 142
Antolin, _m._ _Ger._ Lat. inestimable, 142
Anton, _m._ _Ger._ Russ. Lat. inestimable, 142
Antonetta, _f._ _Russ._ Lat. inestimable, 142
_Antonetta_, _f._ _Swiss_, Lat. inestimable, 142
_Antoni_, _m._ _Pol._ Lat. inestimable, 142
Antonia, _f._ _Ital._ Span. Lat. inestimable, 142
Antonie, _f._ _Ger._ Lat. inestimable, 142
_Antoniea_, _f._ _Rom._ Lat. inestimable, 142
Antonietta, _f._ _Rom._ Lat. inestimable, 142
Antonina, _f._ _Ital._ Span. Eng. Lat. inestimable, 142
Antonino, _m._ _Ital._ Lat. inestimable, 142
Antonio, _m._ _Ital._ Span. Lat. inestimable, 142
ANTONIUS, _m._ _Lat._ inestimable, 142
_Antons_, _m._ _Lett._ Lat. inestimable, 142
Antony, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. inestimable, 142
_Antoonje_, _m._ _Dutch_, Lat. inestimable, 142
_Antos_, _m._ _Pol._ Lat. inestimable, 142
_Ants_, _m._ _Esth._ Heb. grace of the Lord, 45
_Anty_, _f._ _Ir._ Gr. resurrection, 110
_Anysia_, _f._ _Gr._ complete, 94
_Anzioleto_, _m._ _Ven._ Gr. angel, 53
_Anziolina_, _f._ _Ven._ Gr. angel, 53
_Anziolo_, _Ven._ Gr. angel, 53
AODH, _m._ _Gael._ Kelt, fire, 227
_Aodhfin_, _m._ _Gael._ Kelt, white fire, 227
Aogostino, _m._ _Pol._ Lat. venerable, 158
AOIBHIN, _f._ _Erse_, Kelt, pleasant, 227
AOIBHIR ALLUIN, _f._ _Gad._ pleasantly excellent, 227
AOIBHIR CAOMHA, _Gad._ pleasantly amiable, 227
AOIDHNE, _f._ _Erse_, Kelt, fire, 227
AOIFE, _f._ _Erse_, Heb. pleasant, 227
AONGHAS, _f._ _Erse_, Kelt, excellent virtue, 242
Aonio, _m._ _Ital._ Gr. inestimable, 142
APER, _Lat._ boar, 152
_Apolline_, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. of Apollo, 65
APOLLODORUS, _m._ _Lat._ Gr. gift of Apollo, 65
APOLLONIA, _f._ _Lat._ Gr. of Apollo, 65
APOLLOS, _m._ _Eng._ Gr. of Apollo, 65
_Appo_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. wild boar, 337
AQUILA, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. eagle, 156
Aquilina, _f._ _Lat._ Lat. eagle, 156
Arabella, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. eagle heroine (?), 343
_Arbell_, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. eagle heroine (?), 343
Archambault, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. holy prince, 328
Archangel, _m._ _Eng._ Gr. archangel, 73
Archibald, _m._ _Scot._ Teu. holy prince, 329
_Archie_, _m._ _Scot._ Teu. holy prince, 329
Archimbald, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. holy prince, 329
Arcibaldo, _m._ _Ital._ Teu. holy prince, 329
ARDH, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt, high, 266
_Ardisheer_, _m._ _Pers._ Zend, fire king, 224
AREGWYDD, _Cym._ Kelt.
_Arch_, _m._ _Slov._ Teu. ever king, 400
_Arend_, _m._ _Dutch_, Teu. eagle power, 343
_Areta_, _f._ _Corn._ Gr. virtuous rule, 64
ARETHUSA, _f._ _Gr._ Gr. virtuous, 83
Aretino, _m._ _Ital._ Gr. virtuous, 83
ARGYRO, _f._ _Gr._ Gr. silver, 125
_Ari_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. eagle, 342
ARIANWEN, _f._ _Welsh_, Kelt, silver, 125, 282
ARINBIORN, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. hearth bear, 342
Ariovistus, _m._ _Lat._ Teu. host leader, 342
_Arisa_, _f._ _Russ._ Arab, 449
_Aristagoras_, _Gr._ Eng. best assembly, 83
Aristarchus, _m._ _Lat._ Gr. best governor, 83
Aristide, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. son of the best, 83
ARISTIDES, _m._ _Eng._ Gr. son of the best, 83
_Aristippus_, _Gr._ Eng. best horse, 83
Aristobulus, _m._ _Lat._ Gr. best council, 83
_Aristocles_, _Gr._ Eng. best fame, 83
_Arje_, _m._ _Dutch_, Lat. from Adria, 156
_Arkles_, _m._ _Eng._ Gr. noble fame (?), 63
Armand, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. public, 327
Armando, _m._ _Span._ Teu. public, 327
Armanno, _m._ _It._ Teu. public, 327
Armantine, _f._ _Fr._ Teu. public, 327
Armine, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. public, 327
Arminius, _m._ _Lat._ Teu. public, 327
Armyn, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. public, 327
Arnaldo, _m._ _Span._ Prov. Teu. eagle power, 342
Arnalldr, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. eagle power, 342
Arnaud, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. eagle power, 342
_Arnaut_, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. eagle power, 342
ARNBIORG, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. eagle defence, 342
ARNBIORN, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. eagle bear, 342
ARNDIS, _f._ _Nor._ eagle spirit, 342
_Arne_, _m._ _Dutch_, Lat. from Adria, 156
_Arneidur_, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. eagle haste, 342
ARNFINN, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. white eagle, 342
ARNFRIDUR, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. fair eagle, 342
ARNGEIR, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. eagle spear, 342
ARNGRIM, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. eagle mask, 342
ARNGRIMER, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. eagle mask, 342
Arnhold, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. eagle power, 342
Arnkatla, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. eagle cauldron, 342
Arnkjell, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. eagle cauldron, 342
_Arnlaug_, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. eagle liquor, 342
Arnleif, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. eagle relic, 342
Arnliotor, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. eagle terror, 342
Arnmodr, _Nor._ Teu. eagle wrath, 342
Arnold, _m._ _Ger._ Eng. Teu. eagle power, 342
Arnoldine, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. eagle power, 342
Arnolf, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. eagle wolf, 342
Arnost, _m._ _Bohm._ Teu. eagle stone (?), 342
_Arnostinrka_, _f._ _Bohm._ Teu. eagle stone, 342
Arnoud, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. eagle power, 342
_Arnoul_, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. eagle wolf, 342
ARNRIDUR, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. eagle haste, 343
ARNSTEIN, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. eagle stone, 342
ARNTHONA, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. eagle maiden, 343
ARNTHOR, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. eagle of Thor, 343
Arnthora, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. eagle of Thor, 343
Arnulf, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. eagle wolf, 343
ARNULV, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. eagle wolf, 343
ARNVALLDR, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. eagle power, 343
ARNVID, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. eagle of the wood, 343
_Arri_, _f._ _Lith._ Lat. honourable, 191
_Arrian_, _m._ _Dutch_, Lat. of Adria, 156
_Arrighetta_, _f._ _Ital._ Teu. home ruler, 310
_Arrighetto_, _m._ _Ital._ Teu. home ruler, 310
_Arrigo_, _m._ _Ital._ Teu. home ruler, 310
_Arrigozo_, _m._ _Ital._ Teu. home ruler, 310
_Arriguccio_, _m._ _Ital._ Teu. home ruler, 310
Arsaces, _m._ _Gr._ Zend, venerable, 57
ARSHA, _m._ _Pers._ Zend, venerable, 57
ARSHK, _m._ _Pers._ Zend, venerable, 57
ARSINOE, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. venerable, 57
Artabanus, _Pers._ fire worshipper.
Artabanus, fire guardian.
Artamenes, _Pers._ great minded.
ARTAKSHATRA, _m._ _Zend_, fire king, 56
_Artaxerxes_, _m._ _Gr._ Zend, fire king, 56
Artemidore, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. gift of Artemis, 65
Artemidorus, _m._ _Lat._ Gr. gift of Artemis, 65
Artemise, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. of Artemis, 65
Artemisia, _f._ _It._ Gr. of Artemis, 65
ARTH, _m._ _Scot._ Kelt, high, 266
Arthegal, _m._ _Eng._ Kelt, high courage, 266
ARTHGAL, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt, high courage, 266
Arthmael, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt, high chief, 266
ARTHUR, _m._ _Eng._ Kelt, high, 266
_Arthurine_, _f._ _Eng._ Kelt, high, 266
Arthwys, _m._ _Welsh_, 266
Arturo, _m._ _Ital._ Kelt, high, 266
Artus, _m._ _Fr._ Kelt, high, 266
_Arve_, _m._ _Dan._ Teu. eagle of the wood, 342
Arviragus, _m._ _Lat._ Kelt, high king, 267
Arwystli, _m._ _Welsh_, Gr. best council, 83
ASBERA, _f._ _Nor._ Teu, divine bear, 291
ASBJORG, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. divine protection, 291
ARBJORN, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. divine bear, 291
ASBRAND, _m._ _Ice._ Teu. divine sword, 291
Ascelin, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. servant, 268
ASGARD, _f._ _Ice._ Teu. divine guard, 291
_Asgaut_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. divine good, 291
_Asgjer_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. divine spear, 291
_Asgrim_, _m._ _Ice._ Teu. divine wrath, 291
_Asher_, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. blessed, 7
Askatla, divine cauldron, 290
_Askel_, _m._ _Ice._ Teu. divine cauldron, 290
ASKETYL, _m._ _Ice._ Teu. divine cauldron, 290
_Askjell_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. divine cauldron, 290
ASLAK, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. divine sport, 290
ASLAVG, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. divine liquor, 290
ASLEIF, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. divine relic, 290
ASMUNDR, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. divine hand, 290
_Asmus_, _m._ _Dutch_, Gr. beloved, 113
ASPAMIRTAS, _m._ _Gr._ Pers. horse lover, 78
ASPASIA, _f._ _Gr._ Gr. welcome, 60
Assrenta, _f._ _Ital._ Lat. taken up into heaven, 30
_Assur_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. the gods, 289
_Asta_, _f._ _Ger._ Lat. venerable, 158
Astolfo, _m._ _Ital._ Teu. swift wolf, 335, 401
ASTRID, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. impulse of love, 401
Asuerues, _m._ _Fr._ Zend, venerable king, 57
ASVALD, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. divine power, 290
ASVARD, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. divine ward, 290
ASVOR, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. divine prudence, 290
ASVORA, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. divine prudence, 290
_Ata_, _m._ _Lapp._ Gr. man, 86
ATALIK, _m._ _Hung._ Tatar, father-like, 13
Atanacko, _m._ _Serv._ Gr. undying, 109
Atanagio, _m._ _Ital._ Gr. undying, 109
Atanasia, _m._ _Ital._ Gr. undying, 109
Atanasio, _m._ _It._ Gr. undying, 109
Athanase, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. undying, 109
ATHANASIOS, _m._ _Gr._ undying, 109
Athanasius, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. Ger. Gr. undying, 109
Athelstan, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. noble stone, 349
Athelwold, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. noble power, 349
ATHENAGORAS, _m._ _Gr._ Athene’s assembly, 64
ATHENAIOS, _m._ _Gr._ Gr. of Athene, 64
ATHENAIS, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. of Athene, 64
Athenodorus, _m._ _Lat._ Gr. Athene’s gift, 64
_Atli_, _m._ _Nor._ Tatar, father-like, 13
Atte, _m._ _Lett._ Teu. rich, 376
Attila, _m._ _Lat._ Tatar, father-like, 13
ATTILIUS, _m._ _Lat._ father-like (?), 13
_Attinsch_, _m._ _Lett._ Teu. rich, 376
_Attok_, _m._ _Lapp._ Gr. man, 86
Atty, _m._ _Ir._ Kelt, high, or horseman, 266
Aubrey, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. elf ruler, 380
Aubri, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. elf ruler, 380
Aud, _f._ _Ice._ Teu. rich, 376
Auda, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. rich, 376
Audafrei, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. rich peace, 376
_Audard_, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. people’s firmness, 375
AUDGRIE, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. rich helmet, 376
AUDGUNNR, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. rich war, 376
_Audoacer_, _m._ _Goth._ Teu. treasure watcher, 376
AUDOENUS, _m._ _Lat._ Teu. rich friend, 376
Audofled, _f._ _Frank._ Teu. rich increase, 376
Audoin, _m._ _Lomb._ rich friend, 376
AUDOVARD, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. rich guard, 376
AUDR, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. rich, 376
Audrey, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. noble threatener, 410
_Audulf_, _m._ _Ice._ Teu. rich wolf, 335
AUDUR, _m._ _Ice._ Teu. rich, 376
AUDVAKR, _m._ _Goth._ Teu. treasure watcher, 376
AUDWINE, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. rich friend, 376
_Augen_, rich war, 376
AUGMUND, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. awful protection, 323
August, _m._ _Ger._ Lat. venerable, 157
Augusta, _f._ _Eng._ Ger. Lat. venerable, 157
Auguste, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. venerable, 157
Augusteen, _f._ _Ir._ Lat. venerable, 158
Augustin, _m._ _Eng._ Ger. Lat. venerable, 158
Augustina, _f._ _Ger._ Lat. venerable, 158
Augustine, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. venerable, 158
Augustino, _m._ _Span._ Lat. venerable, 158
Augustinus, _m._ _Lat._ Lat. venerable, 158
Augusts, _m._ _Lett._ Lat. venerable, 157
AUGUSTUS, _m._ _Lat._ Eng. Lat. venerable, 157
Augustyn, _m._ _Pol._ Lat. venerable, 158
_Auhy_, _Ir._ Kelt. horseman, 276
AUJUSTS, _m._ _Lett._ Lat. venerable, 157
AULUS, _m._ _Lat._ Lat. sustaining (?), or cockle (?), or hall, 131
Aurelia, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. golden, 143
Aurélie, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. golden, 143
AURELIUS, _m._ _Lat._ golden, 143
AURORA, _f._ _Eng._ Ger. Lat. dawn, 169
Aurore, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. dawn, 169
_Austin_, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. venerable, 158
Authaire, _m._ _Teu._ rich warrior, 378
_Avald_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. 323
AVARDDWY, _m._ _Cym._ Kelt. 224
_Avel_, _m._ _Russ._ Heb. breath, 11
Aveline, _f._ _Norman_, Heb. pleasant, 232
_Averil_, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. wild boar battle maid, 337
_Averkie_, _m._ _Wall._ Teu. noble ruler, 412
Avgust, _m._ _Russ._ Lat. venerable, 157
Avgusta, _f._ _Russ._ Lat. venerable, 157
Avgusta, _f._ _Russ._ Slov. Lat. venerable, 157
Avgustin, _m._ _Russ._ Slov. Lat. venerable, 157
Avice, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. war refuge, 305
Avicia, _f._ Lat. Teu. war refuge, 305
Avis, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. war refuge, 305
_Avraam_, _m._ _Russ._ Heb. father of multitudes, 12
_Avramij_, _m._ _Russ._ Heb. father of multitudes, 12
Awdry, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. noble threatener, 310
_Awel_, _m._ _Russ._ Heb. breath, 11
Awlay, _m._ _Scott._ Kelt. work, 330
_Awnan_, _m._ _Ir._ Heb. Lat. Adam, the dwarf, 10
Awst, _m._ _Welsh_, Lat. venerable, 157
_Axel_, _m._ _Dan._ Teu. divine reward, 13
_Ayelt_, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. formidable firmness, 323
_Ayldo_, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. formidable firmness, 323
_Aylmer_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. formidable fame, 323
_Aylward_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. formidable guard, 323
_Aylwin_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. formidable friend, 323
_Aylwin_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. formidable fame, 323; elf friend, 266
Aymar, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. work ruler, 331
Aymon, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. home, 311
_Ayoub_, _m._ _Arab._ Heb. persecuted, 26
Azalaïs, _f._ _Prov._ Teu. noble cheer, 411
Azalbert, _m._ _Prov._ Teu. nobly bright, 411
_Azelin_, _m._ _Norman_, Tatar, fatherlike, 13
_Azemar_, _m._ _Prov._ Teu. fierce fame, 412
Azo, _m._ _Ital._ Lat. from Acca, 140
Azor, _m._ _Norman_, Teu. the gods, 289
Azzo, _m._ _Ital._ Lat. from Acca, 140
Azzolino, _m._ _Ital._ Lat. from Acca, 140
B
_Baaje_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. bow, 351
_Bab_, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. stranger, 117
_Baba_, _f._ _Lus._ _Swiss_, Gr. stranger, 117
_Babali_, _f._ _Swiss_, Gr. stranger, 117
_Babbe_, _f._ _Lett._ Gr. stranger, 117
_Babeli_, _f._ _Swiss_, Gr. stranger, 117
_Babet_, _f._ _Fr._ Heb. God’s oath, 35
_Babette_, _f._ _Fr._ Heb. God’s oath, 35
_Babiche_, _f._ _Fr._ Heb. stranger, 117
_Babichon_, _f._ _Fr._ Heb. God’s oath, 35
_Babie_, _f._ _Scot._ Gr. stranger, 117
_Babuscha_, _f._ _Lus._ Gr. stranger, 117
_Baccio_, _m._ _Ital._ Lat. babbler, 159
Badezom, _m._ _Bret._ Gr. baptizer, 44
Badilo, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. messenger, 413
Bado, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. messenger, 413
BAEZ, _m._ _Welsh_, Kelt. boar, 152
Bahee, _f._ _Manx_, life, 243
_Bal_, _m._ _Lus._ Pers. war council (?), 211
_Bal_, _m._ _Lus._ Lat. healthy, 152
_Balas_, _m._ _Hung._ Lat. babbler, 159
_Balawn_, _m._ _Welsh_, Lat. strong, 153
BALBUS, _m._ _Lat._ stammerer, 159
BALDAG, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. white day, 303
Baldassare, _m._ _Ital._ Pers. war council, 211
Baldbrecht, _m._ _Ger._ princely splendour, 303
BALDEFLEDE, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. princely increase, 303
BALDEGISEL, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. prince pledge, 303
BALDEMAR, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. princely fame, 303
BALDEMUND, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. princely protection, 303
BALDERICH, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. prince ruler, 303
BALDERIK, _m._ _Swiss_, Teu. prince ruler, 303
Balderik, _m._ _Swed._ Teu. prince ruler, 303
Balderyk, _m._ _Pol._ Teu. prince ruler, 303
BALDETRUD, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. princely maid, 303
BALDFRIED, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. prince peace, 303
_Baldie_, _m._ _Scot._ Teu. sacred prince, 303
_Baldo_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. prince, 303
Baldovino, _m._ _Ital._ Teu. prince friend, 303
BALDRAMM, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. prince raven, 303
BALDRED, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. prince council, 303
BALDRIC, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. prince ruler, 303
BALDUR, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. white, 303
Baldwin, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. prince friend, 304
BALDWINE, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. prince friend, 304
_Balint_, _m._ _Lith._ Lat. strong, 153
_Balk_, _m._ _Lus._ Pers. war council (?), 211
_Balk_, _m._ _Lus._ Lat. healthy, 153
_Balsys_, _m._ _Lith._ Pers. war council (?), 211
_Balta_, _m._ _Ill._ Pers. war council (?), 211
Baltasar, _m._ _Span._ Pers. war council (?), 211
Baltasard, _m._ _Fr._ Pers. war council (?), 211
Baltassare, _m._ _Ital._ Pers. war council (?), 211
Baltazar, _m._ _Ill._ Pers. war council(?), 211
Balthasar, _m._ _Ger._ _Eng._ Pers. war council (?), 211
_Balto_, _m._ _Ill._ Pers. war council (?), 211
_Baltramejus_, _m._ _Lith._ Heb. son of furrows, 25
_Baltras_, _m._ _Lith._ Heb. son of furrows, 25
_Baltyn_, _m._ _Lus._ Pers. war council (?), 211
_Bältzel_, _m._ _Swiss_, Pers. war council (?), 211
_Balz_, _m._ _Swiss_, Pers. war council (?), 211
BANAN, _Erse_, white, 244
_Banej_, _m._ _Slov._ Lat. of the city, 202
_Bandi_, _m._ _Hung._ Gr. man, 86
Banquo, _m._ _Eng._ Kelt. white, 244
BAOTHGALACH, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. youthful courage, 224
Baptist, _m._ _Russ._ _Ger._ _Eng._ Gr. baptizer, 44
Baptista, _m._ _Port._ Gr. baptizer, 44
Baptiste, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. baptizer, 44
Baptysta, _m._ _Pol._ Gr. baptizer, 44
Barak, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. lightning.
_Barba_, _f._ _Ill._ _Span._ _Eng._ Slav. Gr. stranger, 117
BARBARA, _f._ _Ger._ _It._ _Russ._ Gr. stranger, 117
Barbary, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. stranger, 117
Barbe, _f._ _Fr._ _Lett._ _Ger._ Gr. stranger, 117
_Barbeli_, _f._ _Gr._ Gr. stranger, 117
_Barbica_, _f._ _Slov._ Gr. stranger, 117
Barbora, _f._ _Lus._ Gr. stranger, 117
_Barbota_, _f._ _Bohm._ Gr. stranger, 117
_Barbraa_, _f._ _Dutch_, Gr. stranger, 117
_Barbule_, _f._ _Lett._ Gr. stranger, 117
_Barbutte_, _f._ _Lith._ Gr. stranger, 117
Barca, _m._ _Lat._ Phœn. lightning,
_Bardo_, _m._ _Dan._ Heb. son of furrows, 25
Bardolf, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. bright wolf, 335
BARDR, _m._ _Nor._ Ice. beard, 427
_Barend_, _m._ _Dutch_, Teu. firm bear, 339
_Barna_, _m._ _Ital._ Heb. son of consolation, 24
Barnaba, _m._ _Ital._ _Ger._ Heb. son of consolation, 24
Barnabas, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. son of consolation, 24
Barnabé, _m._ _Fr._ Heb. son of consolation, 24
Barnaby, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. son of consolation, 24
Barnard, _m._ _Ir._ Teu. firm bear, 339
_Barney_, _m._ _Ir._ Teu. firm bear, 339
Barry, _m._ _Ir._ Kelt. looking straight at the mark, 224
_Bart_, _m._ _Dutch_, Heb. son of furrows, 25
_Bartek_, _m._ _Pol._ Heb. son of furrows, 25
_Bartel_, _m._ Heb. son of furrows, 25
_Barteo_, _m._ _Ill._ Heb. son of furrows, 25
_Barthel_, _m._ _Ger._ Heb. son of furrows, 25
Barthelemi, _m._ _Fr._ Heb. son of furrows, 25
Bartholomœus, _Lat._ Heb. son of furrows, 25
Bartholomao, _m._ _Port._ Heb. son of furrows, 25
Bartholomew, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. son of furrows, 25
Bartholomieu, _m._ _Fr._ Heb. son of furrows, 25
Barthram, _m._ _Scot._ Teu. bright raven, 415
_Bartl_, _m._ _Bav._ Heb. son of furrows, 25
_Bartleme_, _m._ _Swiss_, Heb. son of furrows, 25
_Bartley_, _m._ _Ir._ Heb. son of furrows, 25
_Bartli_, _m._ _Swiss_, Heb. son of furrows, 25
_Bartlme_, _m._ _Bav._ Heb. son of furrows, 25
_Bartlomiej_, _m._ _Pol._ Heb. son of furrows, 25
_Barto_, _m._ _Lus._ Heb. son of furrows, 25
Bartold, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. bright power, 415
_Bartolik_, _m._ _Ill._ Heb. son of furrows, 25
_Bartolo_, _m._ _Span._ Heb. son of furrows, 25
Bartolomée, _m._ _Fr._ Heb. son of furrows, 25
Bartolome, _m._ _Span._ Heb. son of furrows, 25
Bartolomeo, _m._ _Ital._ Heb. son of furrows, 25
_Bartram_, _m._ _Litt._ Teu. bright raven, 345, 415
_Bartramusch_, _m._ _Litt._ Teu. bright raven, 345
BARTULF, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. bright wolf, 345
_Bartuo_, _m._ _Ill._ Heb. son of furrows, 25
Barzillai, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. son of iron, 25
_Bascho_, _m._ _Swiss_, Gr. awful, 111
Basil, _m._ _Ger._ _Eng._ Gr. kingly, 112
Basile, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. kingly, 112
Basilia, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. kingly, 112
Basilio, _m._ _Ital._ Gr. kingly, 112
Basine, _f._ _Prov._ Gr. kingly, 112
_Baste_, _m._ _Nor._ Ger. awful, 111
_Basti_, _m._ _Bav._ Gr. awful, 111
_Bastia_, _m._ _Swiss_, Gr. awful, 111
_Bastiali_, _m._ _Swiss_, Gr. awful, 111
_Bastian_, _m._ _Ger._ Gr. awful, 111
_Bastiano_, _m._ _Ital._ Gr. awful, 111
_Bastiao_, _m._ _Port._ Gr. awful, 111
_Bastien_, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. awful, 111
_Bat_, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. son of furrows, 25
BATHANAT, _m._ Kelt, son of the boar, 224
BATHILDA, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. commanding battle maid, 338, 413
Bathilde, _f._ _Fr._ Teu. commanding battle maid, 413
Bathsheba, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. daughter of the oath.
Bathshua, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. daughter of the oath.
Bâtiste, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. baptizer, 44
_Batiste_, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. baptizer, 44
_Batram_, _m._ _Lus._ Teu. bright raven 345, 415
_Batramusch_, _m._ _Lus._ Teu. bright raven, 345, 415
Battista, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. baptizer, 44
_Baud_, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. prince, 303
BAUDOUIN, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. princely friend, 303
_Baudoin_, _f._ _Fr._ Teu. princely friend, 303
Baudri, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. bold ruler, 303
BAUDHILDUR, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. commanding battle maid, 413
Baudrand, _m._ _Fr._ Teuton, prince raven, 303
Baudouin, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. prince friend, 303
BAUGE, _m._ _Ice._ Teu. bow, 351
BAUGISEL, _m._ _Ice._ Teu. bow pledge, 351
Bauista, _m._ _Span._ Gr. baptizer, 44
_Bazyli_, _m._ _Pol._ Gr. kingly, 112
BEADWEIG, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. battle war.
Brearck, Lat. Ill. babbler, 158
Beat, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. blessed, 183
Beata, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. blessed, 183
Beate, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. blessed, 183
Beatrica, _f._ _Slov._ Lat. blesser, 183
Beatrice, _f._ _Ital._ _Eng._ _Ger._ Lat. blesser, 183
Beatriks, _f._ _Russ._ Lat. blesser, 183
BEATRIX, _f._ _French_, _Port._ Lat. blesser, 183
BEATUS, _m._ _Lat._ blessed, 183
_Bebba_, _f._ _Swiss_, Heb. God’s oath, 35
_Bebbeli_, _f._ _Swiss_, Heb. God’s oath, 35
BEBINN, _f._ _Gael._ Kelt. melodious, 224
_Becky_, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. noosed cord, 14
BEDAWS, _m._ _Cym._ Kelt. life, 254
Bede, _m._ _Eng._ Kelt. life, Teu. prayer, 254
_Bedrich_, _m._ _Bohm._ Teu. peace ruler, 296
_Bedriska_, _f._ _Bohm._ Teu. peace ruler, 296
BEDWULF, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. commanding wolf, 335, 413
Bees, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. praying—Kelt. life, 253
_Beffana_, _f._ _It._ Gr. manifestation, 212
Bega, _f._ _Eng._ Kelt. life—Teu. prayer, 253
Begga, _f._ _Nor._ Kelt. life—Teu. prayer, 253
_Beìeli_, _m._ _Swiss_, Heb. goodness of the Lord, 49
_Bejmia_, _m._ _Lus._ Gr. fair fame, 88
_Bela_, _f._ _Span._ Heb. God’s oath, 35
_Bela_, _m._ _Hung._ Teu. nobly bright, 410
Belinda, _f._ _Eng._ Ital. (?) serpent, 464
Belisarius, _m._ _Lat._ Slav. white prince, 211
BELITZAR, _m._ Slav. white prince, 211
_Belle_, _f._ _Eng._ Phœn. oath of Baal, 35
BELLONA, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. warlike, 169
Bellovisus, _m._ _Lat._ beautiful to behold, 352
Belphœbe, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. far light, 65
Beltran, _m._ _Span._ Teu. bright raven, 415
_Bema_, _f._ _Lus._ Gr. fair speech, 88
_Ben_, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. son of the right hand, 7
_Bendik_, _m. Nor._ Lat. blessed, 184
Bendikkas, _m._ _Lett._ Lat. blessed, 184
_Bendzus_, _m._ _Lett._ Lat. blessed, 184
Benedek, _m._ _Hung._ Lat. blessed, 184
Benedetta, _f._ _Ital._ Lat. blessed, 184
Benedetto, _m._ _Ital._ Lat. blessed, 184
Benedict, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. blessed, 184
Benedicta, _f._ _Port._ _Eng._ Lat. blessed, 184
Benedictine, _f._ _Ger._ Lat. blessed, 184
Benedicto, _m._ _Port._ Lat. blessed, 184
BENEDICTUS, _m._ _Lat._ blessed, 184
Benedikt, _m._ _Ger._ Lat. blessed, 184
Benedickta, _f._ _Ger._ Lat. blessed, 184
_Benedit_, _m._ _Ill._ Lat. blessed, 184
_Benedix_, _m._ _Ger._ Lat. blessed, 184
_Benedykt_, _m._ _Pol._ Lat. blessed, 184
Bengt, _Swed._ Lat. blessed, 184
Benigna, _f._ _Ger._ Lat. kind, 183
Benigne, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. kind, 183
BENIGNUS, _m._ Lat. kind, 183
_Beniesch_, _Lus._ Lat. blessed, 184
_Benin_, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. kind, 183
Benita, _f._ _Span._ Lat. blessed, 184
Benito, _m._ _Span._ Lat. blessed, 184
BENJAMIN, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. son of the right hand, 7
Benjamino, _m._ _It._ Heb. son of the right hand, 7
_Benjie_, _m._ _Scot._ Heb. son of the right hand, 7
_Bennéad_, _m._ _Bret._ Lat. blessed, 184
_Bennéged_, _m._ _Bret._ Lat. blessed, 184
Bennet, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. blessed, 183
_Benno_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. firm bear, 339
Benoit, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. blessed, 184
Benoite, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. blessed, 184
Benoni, _m. Eng._ Heb. son of sorrow, 7
_Bent_, _m._ _Dan._ Lat. blessed, 184
_Benvenuto_, _m._ _It._ welcome, 185
Benyna, _f._ _Lith._ Lat. kind, 183
_Benzel_, _m._ _Swiss_, Lat. blessed, 184
_Benzli_, _m._ _Swiss_, Lat. blessed, 184
BEORN, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. bear, 339
BEORNULF, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. bear wolf, 339
BEORNWALD, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. bear power, 339
BEORHTRIC, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. bright ruler, 415
BEOWULF, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. harvest wolf, 335
_Beppo_, _m._ _It._ Heb. addition, 23
Bera, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. bear, 339
BERACH, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. looking straight at the mark, 224
Béranger, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. bear spear, 339
Bérengère, _f._ _Fr._ Teu. bear spear, 339
_Berault_, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. bear power, 340
BERCHTA, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. bright, 415
BERCHTHILDA, _f._ _Frank._ Teu. bright battle maid, 415
BERCHTIRAMM, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. bright raven, 345, 415
BERCHTVOLD, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. bright power, 339, 415
_Berdrand_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. bright raven, 345, 415
_Berend_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. firm bear, 339
Berengar, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. bear spear, 339
Berengaria, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. bear spear, 339
Berenger, _m._ _Eng._ _Span._ Teu. bear spear, 339
Berenguela, _f._ _Span._ Teu. bear spear, 339
BERENICE, _f._ _Macedonian_, Gr. bringing victory, 90
_Berents_, _Lett._ Teu. bear firm, 339
Berghild, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. protecting battle maid, 419
BERGLIOT, _f._ _Swed._ Teu. mountain terror, 419
_Berge_, _f._ _Lett._ Kelt. 236
BERGSWAIN, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. protecting youth, 419
BERGTHOR, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. protecting Thor, 419
BERGTHORA, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. protecting Thor, 419
Bernal, _m._ _Span._ Teu. firm bear, 339
_Bernaldo_, _m._ _Fr._ _It._ Teu. bear’s power, 339
Bernard, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. firm bear, 340
_Bernardek_, _m._ _Slov._ Teu. firm bear, 339
_Bernardin_, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. firm bear, 339
Bernardina, _f._ _Ital._ Teu. firm bear, 339
Bernardine, _f._ _Fr._ Teu. firm bear, 339
_Bernardino_, _m._ _Ital._ Teu. firm bear, 339
Bernardo, _m._ _Ital._ Teu. firm bear, 339
Bernardu, _m._ _Wallach._ Teu. firm bear, 339
_Bernat_, _m._ _Hung._ Teu. firm bear, 339
Bernclo, _m._ _Bav._ Teu. bear’s claw, 339
_Bernd_, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. bear firm, 339
Berner, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. bear warrior, 339
Berngard, _m._ _Russ._ Teu. bear firm, 339
Bernhard, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. bear firm, 339
Berngard, _f._ _Dan._ Teu. bear spear, 339
Bernhardine, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. bear firm, 339
_Bernice_, _Eng._ Gr. bringing victory, 90
Bernold, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. bear power, 339
_Berns_, _m._ _Lett._ Teu. bear firm, 339
Bersi, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. bear, 339
Berta, _f._ _Ital._ _Pol._ Teu. bright (Epiphany night), 212, 415
Bertalda, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. bright battle maid, 415
Bertaldo, _m._ _It._ Teu. bright firm, 415
Bertar, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. bright warrior, 415
_Bertel_, _m._ _Ger._ Heb. son of furrows, 25
_Bertel_, _Dan._ Teu. noble brightness, 415
_Bertelmes_, _m._ _Dutch_, Heb. son of furrows, 25
BERTHA, _f._ _Eng._ _Ger._ Teu. bright (Epiphany night), 212, 415
Berthe, _f._ _Fr._ Teu. bright (Epiphany night), 212, 415
Berthilda, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. bright battle maid, 414
Berthold, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. bright firm, 415
Bertille, _f._ _Fr._ Teu. bright battle maid, 414
Bertin, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. bright friend, 415
Berto, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. bright.
_Bertok_, _m._ _Hung._ Teu. bright raven, 414
Bertold, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. bright power, 414
Bertoldo, _m._ _Ital._ Teu. bright firm, 414
Bertolf, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. bright wolf, 335
Bertoud, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. bright firm, 415
Bertrade, _f._ _Fr._ Teu. bright speech, 415
Bertram, _m._ _Ger._ _Eng._ Teu. bright raven, 415
Bertran, _m._ _Prov._ _Span._ Teu. bright raven, 415
Bertrand, _m._ _Fr._ _Ger._ Teu. bright raven, or shield, 415
Bertrăo, _m._ _Span._ Teu. bright raven, 415
Bertrich, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. bright rule, 415
Bertrud, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. bright maid, 415
_Bertuccio_, _m._ _Ital._ Teu. bright friend, 415
Bertulf, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. bright wolf, 335, 415
BERTWINE, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. bright friend, 415
_Berzske_, _f._ _Lett._ Kelt. strength, 236
_Bess_, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. God’s oath, 35
Besse, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. bear, 339
_Bessie_, _f._ _Scot._ Heb. God’s oath, 35
_Bessy_, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. God’s oath, 35
_Bet_, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. God’s oath, 35
_Beta_, _f._ _Lus._ Heb. God’s oath, 35
BETH, _f._ _Gael._ Kelt. life, 253
_Betha_, _f._ _Swiss_, Heb. God’s oath, 35
Bethia, _f._ _Eng._ Kelt. life, 253
_Bethlem_, _m._ _Hung._ Heb. house of bread, 39
BETHOC, _f._ _Gael._ Kelt. life, 253
_Betsey_, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. God’s oath, 35
_Betta_, _f._ _It._ Lat. blessed, 183
_Bette_, _f._ _Ger._ Heb. God’s oath, 35
_Bettina_, _f._ _It._ Lat. blessed, 183
_Bettine_, _f._ _Ger._ Heb. God’s oath, 35
_Bettino_, _m._ _Ital._ Lat. blessed, 183
_Betto_, _m._ _Ital._ Lat. blessed, 183
Bettrys, _f._ _Welsh_, Lat. blesser, 183
_Betty_, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. God’s oath, 35
Bevis, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. bow, 351
Biagio, _m._ _Ital._ Lat. babbler, 159
Bianca, _f._ _Ital._ Teu. white, 428
Biasio, _m._ _Ital._ Lat. babbler, 159
Bibiana, _f._ Lat. living, 197
Bibianus, _m._ Lat. living, 197
Biddulph, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. commanding wolf, 413
_Biddy_, _f._ _Ir._ Kelt. strength, 235
_Bice_, _f._ _It._ Lat. blesser, 183
_Bildaberta_, _f._ _Ger._ 212
Bilichilde, _f._ _Fr._ Teu. resolute battle maid, 314
_Bilippos_, _m._ _Macedonian_, Gr. loving horses, 79
_Bill_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. helmet of resolution, 314
_Bille_, _f._ _Lith._ Lat. wise old woman, 313
_Bindus_, _m._ _Lett._ Lat. blessed, 183
_Bine_, _f._ _Serv._ Lat. kind, 184
Binkentios, _m._ _Gr._ Lat. conquering, 197
BIORGULV, _m._ _Nor._ protecting wolf, 419
_Birge_, 419
Birger, _m._ _Dan._ Teu. protecting warrior, 419
_Birre_, _f._ _Esth._ Kelt. strength, 236
_Bisch_, _Swiss_, Gr. baptism, 44
_Bischeli_, _Swiss_, Gr. baptism, 44
_Bjorgulv_, _m._ _Ice._ Teu. mountain wolf, 419
BJORN, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. bear, 339
BJORNAR, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. bear warrior, 339
BJORNGJAR, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. bear spear, 339
Bjorngjerd, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. bear spear.
BJORNHARD, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. stern bear, 339
BJORNHEDINN, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. bear fury, 339
BJORNSTERN, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. bear star, 339
BJORNULV, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. bear wolf, 339
Blaas, _m._ _Dutch_, Teu. babbler, 159
Blagodvoj, _m._ _Ill._ Slav. good war, 444
BLAGOGOST, _m._ _Slav._ good guest, 444
_Blagoje_, _Ill._ Slav. good war, 444
BLAGOROD, _m._ _Ill._ Slav. good birth, 444
BLAGOSLAV, _m._ _Ill._ Slav. good glory, 444
Blaise, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. babbler, 159
_Blaisot_, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. babbler, 159
Blanca, _f._ _Ger._ _Span._ Teu. white, 429
Blanch, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. white, 428
BLANCHE, _f._ _Fr._ Teu. white, 429
Blanchefleur, _f._ _Fr._ Teu. white flower, 172, 428
Blanco, _m._ _Span._ Teu. white, 429
Blas, _m._ _Span._ Lat. babbler, 159
Blase, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. babbler, 159
_Blasek_, _m._ _Ill._ Lat. babbler, 159
_Blasi_, _m._ _Ger._ Lat. babbler, 159
Blasia, _f._ _Ger._ Lat. babbler, 159
Blasio, _m._ _It._ Lat. babbler, 159
BLASIUS, _m._ _Ger._ _Lat._ Lat. babbler, 159
_Blasko_, _m._ _Ill._ Lat. babbler, 159
_Blasok_, _m._ _Bav._ Lat. babbler, 159
Blaszej, _m._ _Pol._ _Bohm._ Lat. babbler, 159
Blathnaid, _f._ _Erse_, Kelt, white flower, 428
Blaz, _m._ _Ill._ Lat. babbler, 159
Blaze, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. babbler, 159
Blazek, _m._ _Ill._ Lat. babbler, 159
BLAZENA, _f._ _Slav._ Slav, happy, 444
_Blazko_, _m. Ill._ Lat. babbler, 159
BLENDA, _f. Swed._ Teu. dazzling, 429
Boadicea, _f._ _Lat._ Kelt, victory, 227
Boaventura, _m._ _Port._ Ital. well met, 185
_Bob_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. bright fame, 392
_Bobbo_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. father, 333
_Bobo_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. father, 333
_Bodil_, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. commanding battle maid, 413
_Bodild_, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. commanding battle maid, 413
BODMOD, _m._ _Dan._ Teu. battle fury, 414
BODNAR, _m._ _Dan._ Teu. battle leader, 414
_Bodo_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. commander, 413
Bodulf, _m._ _Dan._ Teu. commanding wolf, 413
BODVULF, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. commanding wolf, 413
BODVULF, _m._ _Dan._ Teu. battle wolf, 414
_Boel_, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. commanding battle maid, 413
Boemondo, _m._ _It._ Slav. God’s love (?).
Boethius, _m._ _Lat._ Kelt. youthful courage.
_Bogasav_, _m._ _Ill._ Slav. God’s glory, 438
BOGDAN, _m._ _Slav._ Slav. God’s gift, 438
BOGDANA, _f._ _Slav._ Slav. God’s gift, 438
BOGE, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. bow, 352
Bogislaus, _m._ _Eng._ Slav. God’s glory, 438
BOGO, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. bow, 352
BOGOBOJ, _m._ _Slav._ Slav. God’s battle, 438
BOGOHVAL, _m._ _Slav._ Slav. God’s praise, 438
BOGOMIL, _m._ _Ill._ Slav. God’s love, 438
BOGOSLAV, _m._ _Slav._ Slave, God’s glory, 438
_Bogue_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. bow, 352
Bohdan, _m._ _Bohm._ Slav. God’s gift, 438
Bohdana, _m._ _Bohm._ Slav. God’s gift, 438
Bohemond, _m._ _Eng._ Slav. God’s love (?), 438
_Bohumil_, _m._ _Bohm._ Slav. God’s love, 438
_Bohumir_, _m._ _Bohm._ Slav. God’s peace, 438
BOIDH, _m._ _Gadhaelic_, Erse, yellow, 252
_Boldisar_, _m._ _Hung._ Pers. war council, 211
Boleslao, _m._ _Span._ Slav. stronger glory, 441
Boleslas, _m._ _Fr._ Slav. strong glory, 441
Boleslau, _m._ _Port._ Slav, strong-glory, 441
BOLESLAV, _m._ _Slav._ Slav. strong glory, 441
_Bolta_, _m._ _Ill._ Pers. 211
Boltazar, _m._ _Slov._ Pers. 211
BONA, _f._ _It._ Ger. Lat. good, 185
BONAVENTURA, _m._ _It._ well met, 185
Bonaventure, _m._ _Fr._ It. well met, 185
BONDR, _m._ _Nor._ farmer, 332
Bonifac, _m._ _Bohm._ Lat. well doer, 185
Boniface, _m._ _Eng._ _Fr._ Lat. well doer, 185
Bonifacij, _m._ _Russ._ Lat. well doer, 185
Bonifacio, _m._ _It._ Lat. well doer, 185
BONIFACIUS, _m._ _Ger._ Lat. well doer, 185
Bonifacy, _m._ _Pol._ Lat. well doer, 185
Bonifaz, _m._ _Ger._ Lat. well doer, 185
Bonifazio, _m._ _It._ Lat. well doer, 185
Bonne, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. good, 185
_Bopp_, _m._ _Swiss_, Heb. supplanter, 17
_Boppi_, _f._ _Swiss_, Heb. addition, 23
BORIS, _m._ _Russ._ fight, 441
_Borka_, _m._ _Russ._ Slav. fight, 441
_Borinka_, _m._ _Russ._ Slav. fight, 441
Borivor, _m._ _Bohm._ Slav. fight, 441
BORGNY, protecting freshness, 419
_Borny_, protecting freshness, 419
_Borbola_, _Hung._ stranger, 117
_Boris_, _Hung._ stranger, 117
Bors, _m._ _Eng._ Kelt. boar, 152
_Bortolo_, _m._ _It._ Heb. son of furrows, 25
Boso, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. commander, 413
_Bostej_, _m._ _Sl._ Gr. awful, 111
_Bostjan_, _m._ _Sl._ Gr. awful, 111
Botheric, _m._ _Goth._ Teu. commanding king, 413
Bothild, _f._ _Dan._ Teu. commanding heroine, 413
_Botho_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. commander, 413
Botolph, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. commanding wolf, 413
Botzhild, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. commanding heroine, 413
_Botzo_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. commander, 413
Botzulf, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. commanding wolf, 413
Boyd, _m._ _Scot._ Kelt. yellow, 252
Bozena, _m._ _Slov._ Slav. Christmas child, 438
_Bozicko_, _m._ _Slov._ Slav. Christmas child, 438
BOZIDAR, _m._ _Slov._ Slav. God’s gift, 438
BOZIDARA, _m._ _Slov._ Slave, God’s gift, 438
BOZO, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. commander, 413
BOZO, _m._ _Slov._ Slav. Christmas child, 438
BRAGICAN, _m._ _Ill._ Slav. brother, 444
_Brajan_, _m._ _Ill._ Slav. brother, 444
_Bram_, _m._ _Dutch,_ Heb. father of nations, 12
BRAN, _m._ _Gael._ Kelt. raven, 235
BRAN, _m._ _Cym._ Kelt. raven, 235
_Branca_, _Port._ Teu. white, 429
Brancaleone, _m._ _Ital._ arm of a lion, 77
BRAND, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. sword, 351
_Brandolf_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. sword wolf, 351
BRATOLJUB, _m._ _Ill._ Slav. brother’s love, 444
BRAVAC, _m._ _Ill._ Slav. wild boar, 441
Braz, _m._ _Port._ Lat. babbler, 159
Brazil, _m._ _Manx_, Kelt. strong, 235
BREASAL, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. 235
Brenda, _f._ _Scot._ Teu. sword (?), 351
Brengwain, _f._ _Eng._ Kelt. white bosom, 230
Brenhilda, _f._ _Span._ Teu. breast-plate battle maid, 360
Brennus, _m._ _Lat._ Kelt. strong, 232
_Brenzis_, _f._ _Esth._ Lat. laurel, 174
BRIAN, _m._ _Ir._ Kelt. strong, 235
Brichteva, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. bright gift, 415
BRICHTFLED, _f._ _A.S._ Teu. bright increase, 415
BRICHTFRID, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. bright peace, 415
BRICHTMAR, _A.S._ Teu. bright fame, 415
BRICHTRIC, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. bright king, 415
BRICHTSEG, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. bright warrior, 415
BRICHTSTAN, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. bright stone, 415
Bride, _f._ _Scot._ Kelt. strength, 236
Bridget, _f._ _Eng._ Kelt. strength, 236
Brien, _m._ _Fr._ Kelt. strength, 236
_Brietta_, _f._ _Ir._ Kelt. strength, 236
Brieuc, _m._ _Bret._ Kelt. strength, 236
BRIGHID, _f._ _Erse_, Kelt. strength, (goddess of smiths,) 236
Brigida, _f._ _It._ Kelt. strength, 236
Brigide, _f._ _Fr._ Kelt. strength, 236
Brigitta, _f._ _Swed._ _Ger._ Kelt. strength, 236
Brigitte, _f._ _Fr._ Kelt. strength, 236
_Brischia_, _f._ _Lus._ Kelt. strength, 236
_Brita_, _f._ _Swed._ Kelt. strength, 236
_Brites_, _f._ _Port._ strength, 236
_Brithomar_, _m._ _Kelt._ great Briton, 224
BRITHRIC, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. bright ruler, 415
BRITOMARTIS, _f._ _Crete_, Gr. sweet maid, 236
_Britle_, _f._ _Lett._ Kelt. strength, 236
_Brockwell_, _m._ _Eng._ Kelt. strong champion (?), 236
Brocmael, _m._ _Welsh_, Kelt. strong champion (?), 236
BRONISLAV, _m._ _Slav._ Slav. weapon glory, 441
BRONISLAVA, _f._ _Slav._ Slav. weapon glory, 441
BRONWEN, _f._ _Welsh_, Kelt. white bosom, 229
_Bros_, _m._ _Lus._ Gr. immortal, 109
_Brosk_, _m._ _Lus._ Gr. immortal, 109
Brunehault, _f._ _Fr._ Teu. breast-plate battle maid, 360
_Brunilla_, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. breast-plate battle maid, 360
BRUNO, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. brown, 428
_Brush_, _m._ _Eng._ Gr. immortal, 109
Bryan, _m._ _Ir._ Kelt. strong, 235
_Bryney_, _m._ _Ir._ Kelt. strong, 235
BRYNHILD, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. breast-plate battle maid, 360
BRYNJAR, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. breast-plate warrior, 360
BRUNULF, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. breast-plate wolf, 360
BUADHACH, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. victorious, 227
_Budhic_, _m._ _Bret._ Kelt. victorious, 227
_Buddud_, _f._ _Welsh_, Kelt. victory, 227
BUDDUG, _f._ _Welsh_, Kelt. victory, 227
_Bugge_, _m._ _Dan._ Teu. bow, 352
Buovo, _It._ _Nor._ Teu. bow, 352
BURAC, _m._ _Serv._ Slav. storm, 439
BURGENHILD, _A.S._ Teu. protecting battle maid, 419
_Burja_, _m._ _Serv._ Slav. storm, 439
BURRHED, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. pledge of council, 419
Byrger, _m._ _Dan._ Teu. protecting warrior, 419
C
CACCIAGUIDO, _m._ _It._ conquering war, 451
CADELL, _m._ _Welsh_, Kelt. war defence, 251
CADFER, _m._ stout in battle, 251
Cadffrawd, _m._ _Welsh_, Kelt. brother’s war, 252
Cado, _m._ _Welsh_, Kelt. 251
Cadoc, _m._ _Eng._ Kelt. 251
Cadogan, _m._ _Eng._ Kelt. 251
Cados, _m._ _Fr._ Kelt. war, 251
_Caduad_, _m._ _Brit._ Kelt. war, 251
Caduan, _m._ _Bret._ Kelt. war horn, 251
CADVAN, _m._ _Welsh_, Kelt. war horn, 252
CADWALADYR, _m._ _Welsh_, Kelt. battle arranger, 252
Cadwallader, _m._ _Eng._ Kelt. battle arranger, 251
CADWALLON, _m._ _Welsh_, Kelt. war lord (?), 251
CADWGAN, _m._ _Welsh_, Kelt. war, 252
CÆCILIA, _f._ _Lat._ blind, 144
_Cäcilie_, _f._ _Ger._ Lat. blind, 144
CÆCILIUS, _m._ _Lat._ blind, 144
_Caemhan_, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. handsome, 256
CÆSAR, _m._ _Lat._ hairy (?), 159
Cäsar, _m._ _Ger._ Lat. hairy (?), 159
CAETANO, _m._ _Span._ Lat. of Caieta, 132
_Caharija_, _f._ _Slov._ Heb. remembrance of the Lord, 51
Cahir, _m._ _Ir._ Kelt. battle slaughter, 252
CAIA, _f._ _Lat._ rejoiced in, 131
Caieta, _f._ _Lat._ rejoiced in, 131
Cailein, _m._ dove, 261
CAILLEACH, _f._ _Erse_, Kelt. handmaid, 261
CAILLEACH AONGHAS, _f._ _Erse_, Kelt. handmaid of Angus, 261
CAILLEACH COEIMGHIN, _f._ _Erse_, Kelt. handmaid of Kevin, 261
CAILLEACH DE, _f._ _Erse_, Kelt. handmaid of God, 261
Cain, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. possession, 7
Cainan, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. gaining, 7
CAINNEACH, _m._ _Gael._ Kelt. comely, 256
CAINTIGERN, _f._ _Erse_, Kelt. fair lady, 258
Caio, _m._ _Ital._ Lat. rejoiced in, 131
CAIRBRE, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. strong man, 250
_Caislav_, _m._ _Pol._ Slav. honour glory, 442
CAIUS, _m._ _Lat._ rejoiced in, 131
Cajetano, _m._ _Span._ Lat. of Gaeta, 131
Caleb, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. dog, 38
Caligula, _m._ _Lat._ of the sandal, 131
CALIXTUS, _m._ _Lat._ of the chalice.
Callum, _m._ _Gael._ dove, 261
Calvandre, _m._ _Fr._ 57
CAMILLA, _f._ _Lat._ _Eng._ _It._ Lat. attendant at a sacrifice, 160
Camille, _m._ _f._ _Fr._ Lat. attendant at a sacrifice, 160
Camillo, _m._ _Ital._ Lat. attendant at a sacrifice, 160
CAMILLUS, _m._ _Lat._ attendant at a sacrifice, 160
Camilo, _m._ _Span._ Lat. attendant at a sacrifice, 160
CANDIDE, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. white, 270
Cane, _m._ _It._ Lat. dog, 247
Canute, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. hill, 433
Canutus, _Lat._ Teu. hill, 433
CAOIMGHIN, _m._ _Kelt._ comely, 256
_Caoimhghin_, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. handsome, 256
CAOIN, _Erse_, Kelt. comely, 256
CAOINEACH, _Gael._ comely, Kelt. 256
CAOINNACH, _Erse_, Kelt. comely, 256
CAOMH, _Erse_, Kelt. comely, 256
_Cara_, _f._ _Gr._ Kelt. friend, 234
Caractacus, _m._ _Lat._ Kelt. beloved, 233
Caradoc, _m._ _Eng._ Kelt. beloved, 234
CARADWG, _m._ _Welsh_, Kelt. beloved, 234
_Carel_, _m._ _Dutch_, Teu. man, 386
Carl, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. man, 386
Carlina, _f._ _Ital._ Teu. man, 386
Carlo, _m._ _Ital._ Teu. man, 386
Carloman, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. strong man, 386
Carlos, _m._ _Span._ Teu. man, 386
Carlota, _f._ _Span._ Teu. man, 386
Carlotta, _f._ _Ital._ Teu. man, 386
Carmela, _f._ _Ital._ Heb. vineyard, 36
_Carmichael_, _m._ _Scot._ Kelt. friend of Michael, 260
Carmine, _f._ _Ital._ Heb. vineyard, 36
Carnation, _Gyp._ Lat. incarnation, 31
Carolina, _f._ _Ital._ Teu. man, 386
Caroline, _f._ _Eng._ _Fr._ _Ger._ Teu. man, 386
Carolus, _m._ _Lat._ Teu. man, 386
_Carry_, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. man, 386
Carvilius, _m._ _Lat._ Kelt. friend of power, 224
Casimir, _m._ _Fr._ Slav. show forth peace, 443
Casimiro, _m._ _Ital._ Slav. show forth peace, 443
_Caslav_, _m._ _Slav._ honour glory, 443
Casparo, _m._ _Ital._ Pers. treasure master, 211
Cassandra, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. 75
Cassivellaunus, _m._ _Lat._ Kelt. lord of great hate, 224
CASTIBOG, _m._ _Slav._ fear God, 444
CASTIMIR, _m._ _Slav._ honour peace, 442
CASTISLAV, _m._ _Slav._ honour glory, 444
Caswallon, _m._ _Eng._ Kelt. lord of great hate (?), 224
Catalina, _f._ _Span._ Gr. purer, 123
_Cataut_, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. pure, 123
Categern, _m._ _Eng._ Kelt. head chief, 258
Caterina, _f._ _It._ Gr. pure, 123
Caterino, _m._ _It._ Gr. pure, 123
Cathal, _Irish_, eye of battle, 252
CATHAOIR, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. battle slaughter, 252
Catharina, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. pure, 123
Catharine, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. pure, 123
CATHBAR, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. battle chief, 252
CATHBAT, _m._ _Gael._ Kelt. battle (?), 252
Catherine, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. pure, 123
Cathir, _m._ battle slaughter, 252
Cathmor, _m._ _Gael._ great in battle, 252
CATHUIL, _m._ _Gael._ Kelt. eye of battle, 252
_Cathwg_, _f._ _Welsh_, Gr. pure, 123
_Catin_, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. pure, 123
CATO, _m._ _Lat._ cautious, 164
Caton, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. cautious, 164
_Caton_, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. pure, 123
CATTWG, _m._ _Welsh_, Kelt. war, 252
Ceadda, _m._ _Lat._ Kelt. war, 252
Ceadwalla, _m._ _A.S._ Kelt. war lord, 252
CEARA, _f._ _Erse_, Kelt. ruddy, 256
CEARAN, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. black, 256
_Cecca_, _f._ _Ital._ Teu. free, 299
_Ceccarella_, _f._ _It._ Teu. free, 299
_Ceccina_, _f._ _It._ Teu. free, 299
_Cecco_, _m._ _Ital._ Teu. free, 299
Cecil, _m._ _f._ _Eng._ Lat. blind, 144
Cecile, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. blind, 144
Cecilia, _f._ _It._ _Eng._ Lat. blind, 144
Cecilie, _f._ _Ger._ Lat. blind, 144
Cecilija, _f._ _Ill._ Lat. blind, 144
Cecilio, _m._ _Ital._ Lat. blind, 144
Cecily, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. blind, 144
Cedd, _m._ _A.S._ Kelt, war, 252
CEDOLJUB, _m._ _Sl._ child love, 444
CEDOMIL, _m._ _Sl._ child love, 444
CEILE PETAIR, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. vassal of Peter, 261
CEIN, _f._ _Welsh_, Kelt. jewel, 260
CEINWEN, _f._ _Welsh_, Kelt. jewel, the virgin, 260
Ceirin, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. black, 255
_Celamire_, _f._ _Fr._ 57
Celeste, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. heavenly, 193
Celestin, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. heavenly, 193
Celestine, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. heavenly, 193
Celestino, _m._ _Ital._ Lat. heavenly, 193
Celia, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. 145
Celie, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. 145
Celine, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. 145
CENBYRHT, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. bold brightness, 424
CENFUS, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. bold eagerness, 424
CENFUTH, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. bold peace, 424
CENHELM, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. bold helmet, 424
CENRED, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. bold council, 423
CENVULF, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. bold wolf, 423
CEOL, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. ship, 429
CEOLNOTH, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. ship compulsion, 429
CEOLRED, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. ship council, 429
CEOLWALD, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. ship power, 429
CEOLWULF, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. ship wolf, 429
CEORL, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. man, 386
CEPHAS, _m._ _Eng._ Aram. stone, 107
Cesar, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. hairy (?), 159
Cesare, _m._ _It._ Lat. hairy (?), 159
Cesarina, _f._ _It._ Lat. hairy (?), 159
_Ceslav_, _m._ _Ill._ Slav. honour glory, 443
_Cestislav_, _m._ _Ill._ Slav. honour glory, 443
Chad, _m._ _Eng._ Kelt. war, 252
CHARALMPIOS, _m._ _Gr._ joy lamp, 216
CHARIBERT, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. bright warrior, 417
Charilaus, _m._ _Eng._ Gr. grace of the people, 73
CHARIMUND, _m._ _Teu._ 417
Charinus, _m._ _Eng._ Gr. grace, 73
Chariovalda, _Pat._ Teu. warrior power, 417
Charissa, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. love, 73
CHARITON, _f._ _Gr._ Gr. love, 73
Charity, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. love, 73
CHARIWULF, warrior wolf, 417
Charlemagne, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. Lat. Charles the Great, 386
Charles, _m._ _Eng._ _Fr._ Teu. man, 386
Charlet, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. man, 386
_Charley_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. man, 386
_Charlie_, _m._ _Scot._ Teu. man, 386
_Charlot_, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. man, 386
Charlotte, _f._ _Eng._ _Fr._ _Ger._ Teu. man, 386
_Chatty_, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. man, 386
_Chérie_, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. fair, 196
_Cherry_, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. love, 73
Cherubino, _m._ _Ital._ Heb. little cherub, 53
Chiara, _f._ _Ital._ Lat. famous, 185
Childebert, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. battle bright, 318
Childeberte, _f._ _Frank._ Teu. battle bright, 318
Childebrand, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. battle brand, 318
Childerich, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. battle ruler, 318
Chilperic, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. helping ruler, 318
_Chim_, _m._ _Ger._ Heb. the Lord will judge, 38
_Chlaus_, _m._ _Swiss_, Gr. victory of the people, 92
CHLODHILDA, _f._ _Lat._ _Frank._ Teu. famous battle maid, 404
CHLODOALD, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. famous power, 404
CHLODOBERT, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. famously bright, 404
Chlodobeu, _m._ _Prov._ Teu. holy fame, 404
Chlodio, _m._ _Frank._ fame, 404
CHLODOMIR, _Frank._ Teu. loud fame, 404
CHLODOSIND, _f._ _Frank._ Teu. famous strength, 404
Chlodoswintha, _f._ _Goth._ Teu. famous strength, 404
Chlodoweh, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. holy fame, 404
CHLOE, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. blooming, 70
CHLOTER, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. famous warrior, 407
Chochilaicus, _m._ _Lat._ Teu. sport of thought, 354
Chosroes, _m._ _Gr._ Zend. sun (?), 56
CHRAMNE, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. raven, 345
_Chresta_, _m._ _Swiss_, Gr. Christian, 105
_Chresteli_, _m._ _Swiss_, Gr. Christian, 105
Chrestien, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. Christian, 105
Chrestienne, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. Christian, 105
Chrestoffel, _m._ _Swiss_, Gr. Christ bearer, 106
Chrétien, _Fr._ Gr. Christian, 105
Chriemhild, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. helmeted battle maid, 360
_Chrissanth_, _m._ _Russ._ Fr. gold flower, 125
_Chris_, _Eng._ Gr. Christ bearer, 106
_Chrissie_, _f._ _Scot._ Gr. Christian, 105
Christabel, _f._ _Eng._ fair Christian, 104
_Christackr_, _m._ _M. Gr._ Gr. Christ bearer, 106
_Christal_, _m._ _Scot._ Gr. Christ bearer, 106
Christian, _f._ _Scot._ _Dan._ Gr. Christian, 105
Christiana, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. Christian, 105
Christiane, _f._ _Nor._ Gr. Christian, 105
Christiern, _m._ _Dan._ Gr. Christian, 105
Christina, _m._ _Eng._ Gr. Christian, 105
Christine, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. Christian, 105
Christinha, _f._ _Port._ Gr. Christian, 105
Christmas, _m._ _Eng._ 209
Christof, _m._ _Russ._ Gr. Christ bearer, 106
Christofer, _m._ _Russ._ Gr. Christ bearer, 106
Christoph, _m._ _Ger._ Gr. Christ bearer, 106
Christophe, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. Christ bearer, 106
Christopher, _m._ _Eng._ Gr. Christ bearer, 106
Christophera, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. Christ bearer, 106
CHRISTOPHOROS, _m._ _Gr._ Gr. Christ bearer, 106
CHRISTOPHILON, _Ger._ Gr. Christ loved, 106
Christophine, _f._ _Ger._ Gr. Christ bearer, 106
Christovao, _m._ _Port._ Gr. Christ bearer, 106
Chrodehilde, _f._ _Fr._ Teu. famous heroine, 404
CHRODO, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. fame, 404
Chrodogang, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. famed progress, 406
Chrodoswintha, _f._ _Fr._ Teu. famous strength, 407
Chrysanth, _m._ _Bav._ Gr. gold flower, 125
CHRYSANTHOS, _m._ _Gr._ Gr. gold flower, 125
Chryseis, _f._ _Gr._ golden, 125
Chrysostom, _m._ _Eng._ Gr. gold mouth, 43
Chrysostome, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. gold mouth, 43
CHRYSOSTOMOS, _m._ _Gr._ Gr. gold mouth, 43
CHRYSOUCHA, _f._ _M. Gr._ Gr. golden, 43
_Chuedi_, _m._ _Swiss_, Teu. bold council, 423
_Chuedli_, _m._ _Swiss_, Teu. bold council, 423
_Chuered_, _m._ _Swiss_, Teu. bold council, 423
CHUONMUND, _m._ _Old Ger._ Teu. bold protection, 423
CHUONRATH, _m._ _Old Ger._ Teu. bold council, 423
CIAN, _m._ _Erse_, vast, 258
CICERO, _m._ _Lat._ vetch, 129
Cicily, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. blind, 144
_Cila_, _f._ _Ill._ Lat. blind, 144
_Cile_, _f._ _Hamb._ Lat. blind, 144
_Cilika_, _f._ _Ill._ Lat. blind, 144
Ciprian, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. of Cyprus, 199
Cipriano, _m._ _It._ Lat. of Cyprus, 199
Ciriaco, _m._ _Ital._ Gr. Sunday child, 217
Ciril, _m._ _Ill._ Gr. lordly, 217
Cirilo, _m._ _Span._ _Ital._ _Ill._ Gr. lordly, 217
Cirjar, _m._ _Ill._ Gr. Sunday child, 217
_Cirko_, _m._ _Ill._ Gr. Sunday child, 217
_Ciro_, _m._ _Slov._ Ill. Gr. lordly, 217
_Cis_, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. blind, 144
_Cislav_, _m._ Slav. pure glory, 444
_Cistislav_, _m._ Slav. pure glory, 444
Clair, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. famous, 185
Claire, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. famous, 185
CLARA, _f._ _Eng._ _Span._ Lat. famous, 185
Clare, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. famous, 185
Clarina, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. famous, 185
Claribel, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. brightly fair, 185
Clarice, _f._ _Ital._ Lat. rendering famous, 185
Clarimond, _Eng._ 185
Clarinda, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. brightly fair, 185
Clarissa, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. rendering famous, 185
Clarisse, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. rendering famous, 185
CLARUS, _m._ Lat. famous, 185
_Clas_, _m._ _Dutch_, Gr. victory of the people, 92
Claud, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. lame, 146
Claude, _f._ _m._ _Fr._ Lat. lame, 146
CLAUDIA, _f._ _Ger._ _It._ Lat. lame, 146
Claudie, _f._ _Prov._ Lat. lame, 146
Claudina, _f._ _It._ Lat. lame, 146
Claudine, _f._ _Ger._ _Fr._ Lat. lame, 146
Claudio, _m._ _It._ Lat. lame, 146
CLAUDIUS, _m._ _Lat._ lame, 146
_Claus_, _m._ _Dutch_, Gr. victory of the people, 92
Cleanthe, _Fr._ Gr. famous bloom, 95
_Clem_, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. merciful, 160
Clémence, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. merciful, 160
Clemency, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. merciful, 160
CLEMENS, _m._ _Ger._ Lat. merciful, 160
Clement, _m._ _Eng._ _Fr._ Lat. merciful, 160
Clemente, _m._ _It._ Lat. merciful, 160
Clementia, _f._ _Ger._ _It._ Lat. merciful, 160
Clementina, _f._ _Eng._ _It._ Lat. merciful, 160
Clementine, _f._ _Ger._ _Fr._ Lat. merciful, 160
Clemenza, _f._ _It._ Lat. merciful, 160
Cleomachus, _m._ Gr. famous war, 407
Cleopatra, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. fame of her father, 95
_Clobes_, _m._ _Ger._ Gr. victory of the people, 90
Clodoveo, _m._ _Span._ Teu. holy fame, 404
Clodius, _m._ Lat. lame, 146
Clotilda, _f._ _Lat._ Teu. famous battle maid, 404
Clotilde, _f._ _Fr._ Teu. famous battle maid, 404
_Cloud_, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. famous power, 404
Clovis, _m._ _Lat._ Teu. holy fame, 404
CNÆUS, _m._ _Lat._ with a birth mark, 131
_Cnogher_, _m._ _Ir._ Kelt. strong aid, 247
Cnud, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. hill, 433
CŒLIA, _f._ _Lat._ 145
CŒLINA, _f._ _Lat._ 145
_Coenrad_, _m._ _Dutch_, Teu. bold speech, 423
_Cohat_, _Prov._ Teu. bold speech, 423
_Cort_, _Dan._ Teu. bold speech, 423
_Col_, _Welsh_, Kelt.
_Cola_, _m._ _It._ Gr. victory of the people, 92
Colan, _m._ _Corn._ Lat. dove, 261
_Colas_, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. victory of the people, 92
Colbert, _m._ _Fr._ _Eng._ Teu. cool brightness, 429
Colbrand, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. cool sword, 429
Colborn, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. black bear, 429
_Colin_, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. victory of the people, 92
Colin, _m._ _Scot._ Lat. dove, 261
_Colin_, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. victor, 90, 388
Colinette, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. dove, 261
Colman, _m._ _Ger._ Lat. dove, 187
Colombina, _f._ _Ital._ Lat. dove, 187
Columb, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. dove, 187, 261
COLUMBA, _m._ _Lat._ dove, 187, 261
Columbanus, _m._ _Lat._ Lat. dove, 187, 261
COLUMBINE, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. dove, 261
Columbkill, _m._ _Ir._ Lat. dove of the cell, 261
Côme, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. order, 125
Como, _m._ _It._ Heb. supplanter, 17
CON, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. wisdom, 247
Conachar, _m._ _Scot._ Kelt. strong help.
CONAN, _m._ _Bret._ Kelt. wisdom, 247
_Concepcion_, _f._ _Span._ Lat. in honour of the immaculate conception,
30
_Concetta_, _f._ _It._ Lat. in honour of the immaculate conception, 30
_Conchita_, _f._ _Span._ Lat. in honour of the immaculate conception,
30
CONCHOBHAR, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. strong help, 248
CONCORDIA, _f._ _Ger._ Lat. concord.
CONGAL, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. chief courage, 247
Coniah, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. appointed, 38
CONMOR, _m._ _Ir._ Kelt. strength great, 247
CONN, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. wisdom, 247
CONNAIRE, _m._ _Gael._ Kelt. hound of slaughter, 250
Connal, _m._ _Ir._ Kelt. chief’s courage, 247
Connel, _m._ _Ir._ Kelt. chief’s courage, 247
Connor, _m._ _Ir._ Kelt. hound of slaughter, 250
Connull, _m._ _Scot._ Kelt. wise strength, 247
_Conquhare_, _m._ _Scot._ Kelt. strong help, 248
Conrad, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. able speech, 423
Conrade, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. able speech, 423
_Conradin_, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. able speech, 423
Conrado, _m._ _Ital._ Teu. able speech, 423
Consalvo, _m._ _Ital._ Teu. war wolf, 363
Constança, _f._ _Span._ Lat. firm, 161
Constance, _f._ _Eng._ _Fr._ Lat. firm, 161
Constancia, _f._ _Eng._ _Port._ Lat. firm, 161
Constancio, _m._ _Port._ Lat. firm, 161
CONSTANS, _m._ _Ger._ Lat. firm, 161
Constant, _m._ _Ir._ _Eng._ Lat. 161
Constantine, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. firm, 161
Constantino, _m._ _Ital._ Lat. firm, 161
CONSTANTINUS, _m._ Lat. firm, 161
CONSTANTIUS, _m._ Lat. firm, 161
Constanz, _m._ _Ger._ Lat. firm, 161
Constanze, _f._ _Ger._ Lat. firm, 161
_Conwal_, _m._ _Scot._ Kelt. strength and valour, 247
_Cooey_, _m._ _Irish_, Kelt. hound of the meadow, 250
_Coppo_, _m._ _Ital._ Heb. supplanter, 17
Coralie, _f._ _Fr._ coral,
CORA, _f._ _Gr._ maiden, 60
CORCRAN, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. rosy.
Cordelia, _f._ _Eng._ Kelt. jewel of the sea, 230
Cordelie, _f._ _Fr._ Kelt. jewel of the sea, 230
_Cordula_, _f._ _Ger._ Kelt. jewel of the sea, 220
_Corinna_, _f._ Gr. maiden, 60
_Corinne_, _f._ _Fr._ a maiden, 60
CORMAC, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. son of a chariot, 249
_Cormick_, _Irish_, Kelt. son of a chariot, 249
_Corneille_, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. horn (?), 146
Cornelia, _f._ _Eng._ Ital. Lat. horn (?), 146
Cornelie, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. horn (?), 146
Cornelio, _m._ _Ital._ Lat. horn (?), 146
CORNELIUS, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. horn (?), 146
_Corney_, _m._ _Ir._ Lat. horn (?), 146
_Corradino_, _m._ _It._ Teu. bold council, 423
Cosimo, _m._ _Ital._ Gr. order, 125
Cosmo, _m._ _Ital._ Gr. order, 125
Cospatrick, _m._ _Scot._ Gael. Lat. boy of Patrick, 260
Costanza, _f._ _Span._ Lat. firm, 161
Costanza, _f._ _Ital._ Lat. firm, 161
Cotahelm, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. divine helmet, 287
Cotahram, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. good raven, 287
Cotalint, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. divine serpent, 287
_Court_, _m._ _Neth._ Teu. bold council, 423
_Cradock_, _m._ _Eng._ Kelt. beloved, 233
CREIRDYDDLYDD, _f._ _Welsh_, Kelt. jewel of the sea, 230
CREIRWY, _f._ _Welsh_, Kelt. token, 229
_Crepet_, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. curly, 162
Crepin, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. curly, 162
Crescence, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. growing, 198
Crescencia, _f._ _Ital._ Lat. growing, 198
Crescencio, _f._ _Ital._ Lat. growing, 198
CRESCENS, _m._ Lat. growing, 198
Crescent, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. growing, 198
Crescentia, _f._ _Ger._ Lat. growing, 198
Crescenz, _f._ _Bav._ Lat. growing, 198
Crisostomo, _m._ _Span._ Gr. golden mouth, 125
Crispian, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. curly, 162
CRISPIANUS, _m._ _Lat._ curly, 162
Crispin, _m._ _Eng._ _Fr._ Lat. curly, 162
Crispino, _m._ _It._ Lat. curly, 162
CRISPINUS, _m._ _Lat._ curly, 162
Cristiano, _m._ _Rom._ Gr. Christian, 105
Cristina, _f._ _It._ _Span._ Gr. Christian, 105
Cristinha, _f._ _Port._ Gr. Christian, 105
_Cristofano_, _m._ _Ital._ Gr. Christ bearer, 106
_Cristoforo_, _m._ _Ital._ Gr. Christ bearer, 106
_Cristoval_, _m._ _Span._ Gr. Christ bearer, 106
_Crogher_, _m._ _Irish_, Kelt. strong help, 248
_Crohoore_, _m._ _Irish_, Kelt. strong help, 248
CUCHAISIL, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. hound of Cashel, 248
Cuchullin, _m._ _Scot._ Kelt. hound of Ulster, 248
_Cuddie_, _m._ _Scot._ Teu. noted brightness, 423
CUGAN-MATHAIR, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. hound without a mother, 248
Cuillean, _m._ _Gael._ Kelt. whelp, 248
CUMHAIGHE, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. hound of the plain, 246
Cunibert, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. bold brightness, 423
Cunegonda, _f._ _Ital._ Teu. bold war, 423
_Cunegundis_, _Port._ Teu. bold war, 423
Cunegonde, _f._ _Fr._ Teu. bold war, 423
Cunobelinus, _m._ _Lat._ Kelt. lord of the sun (?), war (?), 232
_Cunzo_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. bold council, 423
Currado, _m._ _It._ Teu. bold council, 423
CU-SIONNA, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. hound of the Shannon, 248
CUSLIEBNE, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. hound of the mountain, 248
Custance, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. firm, 162
Cutha, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. skilled, 422
Cuthbert, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. well known splendour, 422
CUTHBURH, _f._ _A.S._ Teu. skilled pledge, 422
CUTHBRYHT, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. noted splendour, 422
CUTHWALD, _m._ _A.S._ skilled power, 422
CUTHWINE, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. skilled friend, 422
CU-ULADH, _m._ _Gadhael._ Kelt. hound of Ulster, 248
CWENBURH, _f._ _A.S._ Teu. queen pledge.
Cwrig, _m._ _Welsh_, Gr. Sunday child, 217
Cyaxares, _m._ _Eng._ Zend. beautiful eyed, 56
Cymbeline, _m._ _Eng._ Kelt. lord of the sun, war (?), 232
Cyndeyrn, _m._ _Welsh_, Kelt. head chief, 258
CYNEBALD, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. prince lineage, 424
CYNEBRIGHT, _m._ _A.S._ lineage of splendour, 424
CYNEBURH, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. pledge of kindred, 424
CYNEFRYTH, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. able kindred of peace, 424
Cynegundis, _f._ _Port._ Teu. bold war (?), 423
CYNRIC, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. royal kin, 424
CYNETHRYTH, _f._ _A.S._ Teu. threatening kindred, 424
CYNEWALD, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. kin of power, 424
Cynthia, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. of Cynthus, 65
Cynvelin, _m._ _Welsh_, Kelt. lord of war (?), 258
_Cyprian_, _m._ _Eng._ _Ger._ Gr. Lat. of Cyprus, 199
CYPRIANUS, _m._ Lat. of Cyprus, 199
Cyprien, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. Lat. of Cyprus, 199
Cyr, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. Sunday child, 217
Cyran, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. spear man, 177
Cyrenius, _m._ _Gal._ _Eng._ Lat. spear man, 177
Cyriac, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. the Sunday child, 217
Cyriacus, _m._ _Lat._ Gr. Sunday child, 217
Cyriak, _m._ _Ger._ Gr. Sunday child, 217
Cyril, _m._ _Eng._ Gr. lordly, 217
Cyrill, _m._ _Ger._ Gr. lordly, 217
Cyrilla, _f._ _Ger._ Gr. lordly, 217
Cyrille, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. lordly, 217
Cyrillo, _m._ _Port._ Gr. lordly, 217
Cyrin, _m._ _Gr._ Lat. spear man, 177
Cyrus, _m._ _Eng._ Pers. the sun (?), 56
Cystenian, _m._ _Welsh_, Lat. firm, 161
_Czenzi_, _f._ _Hung._ Lat. increasing, 198
D
_Daan_, _m._ _Dutch_, Heb. the judging God, 49
_Daarte_, _f._ _Dan._ Gr. gift of God, 102
_Dabit_, _m._ _Lus._ Heb. beloved, 46
_Dabko_, _m._ _Lus._ Heb. beloved, 46
Dafod, _Welsh_, 46
DAG, _m._ _Goth._ Teu. day, 334
DAGFINN, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. white as day, 46, 334
_Dageid_, cheerful as day, 334
DAGHEID, cheerful as day, 334
Dagmar, _f._ _Dan._ Teu. Dane’s joy, 335
DAGNY, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. fresh as day, 334
Dago, _m._ _Span._ Teu. day, 334
Dagobert, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. day bright, 334
DAGOBRECHT, _m._ _Frank_. Teu. day bright, 334
DAGOLF, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. day wolf, 334
DAGR, _m._ _Ice._ Teu. day, 334
DAGRAD, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. day council.
_Dalphin_, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. of Delphi, 66
DAMALIS, _f._ _Gr._ Gr. taming, 126
Damaris, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. taming, 126
DAMASPIA, _f._ _Pers._ Pers. horse tamer, 78
Damian, _m._ _Ger._ _Eng._ _Russ._ Gr. taming, 126
_Damiano_, _m._ _Ital._ Gr. taming, 126
DAMIANOS, _m._ _Gr._ taming, 126
Damianus, _m._ _Lat._ Gr. taming, 126
Damiao, _m._ _Port._ Gr. taming, 126
Damien, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. taming, 126
DAMHNAIT, _f._ _Erse_, Kelt. 271
DAN, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. judge, 7, 49
_Dandie_, _m._ _Scot._ Gr. man, 86
_Daneel_, _m._ _Dutch_, Heb. the judging God, 49
DANICA, _f._ _Slav._ Slav. morning star, 441
DANIEL, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. the judging God, 49
Danielle, _m._ _It._ Heb. the judging God, 49
Danihel, _m._ _N.L.D._ Heb. the judging God, 49
Danil, _m._ _Russ._ Heb. the judging God, 49
Danila, _m._ _Slov._ Heb. the judging God, 49
_Danjels_, _m._ _Lett._ Heb. the judging God, 49
DANKHERI, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. thankful warrior, 372
DANKRAD, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. thankful speech, 372
DANKMAR, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. thankful fame, 372
DANKWART, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. thankful ward, 372
Dannel, _m._ _Swiss_, Teu. the judging God, 49
_Dante_, _m._ _It._ Lat. lasting, 186
DAPHNE, _f._ _Gr._ Gr. bay tree.
Darby, _m._ _Ir._ Kelt. freeman, 249
_Darcy_, _m._ _Eng._ Erse, dark, 225
_Darija_, _f._ _Russ._ Gr. gift of God, 102
Darius, _m._ _Eng._ Pers. king, 57 ?
_Darte_, _m._ _Lett._ Gr. gift of God, 102
_Dascha_, _f._ _Russ._ Gr. gift of God, 102
_Daschenka_, _f._ _Russ._ Gr. gift of God, 102
DATHI, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. far darting, 46
_Datsch_, _m._ _Danzig_, Heb. beloved, 46
_Daulf_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. day wolf, 334
_Daveed_, _m._ _Russ._ Heb. beloved, 46
DAVID, _m._ _Fr._ _Eng._ _Ger._ Heb. beloved, 46
_Davidas_, _m._ _Lett._ Heb. beloved, 46
_Davidde_, _m._ _Ital._ Heb. beloved, 46
_Davidu_, _m._ _Wallach._ Heb. beloved, 46
_Davie_, _m._ _Scot._ Heb. beloved, 46
DAVORIN, _m._ _Slav._ Slav. of the war god, 445
DAVROSLAV, _m._ _Slav._ Slav. Davor’s glory, 445
DAVROSLAVA, _f._ _Slav._ Slav. Davor’s glory, 445
_Davy_, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. beloved, 46
_Dawfydd_, _m._ _Welsh_, Heb. beloved, 46
_Dé_, _m._ _Fr._ Kelt. fire, 227
DEARBHFORGAIL, _f._ _Erse_, Kelt. purely fair daughter, 255
DEARG, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. red, 253
_Deb_, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. bee, 14
Deborah, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. bee, 2, 14
DECIMA, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. tenth, 139
DECIMUS, _m._ _Lat._ tenth, 139
_Decius_, _m._ _Lat._ tenth, 139
_Dedo_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. people’s ruler, 374
DEGEN, _Ger._ Teu. warrior, 351
DEGENHARD, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. firm warrior, 351
DEICOLA, _m._ _Lat._ God’s worshipper, 188
_Deinhard_, _Ger._ Teu. firm warrior, 351
_Deiniol_, _m._ _Welsh_, Heb. the judging God, 49
Delia, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. of Delos, 65
Delicia, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. delightful, 196
Delizia, _f._ _Ital._ Lat. delightful, 196
Delphine, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. of Delphi, 66
Delphinia, _f._ _Gr._ Gr. of Delphos, 66
Delphinus, _m._ _Lat._ Gr. of Delphi, 66
Demeter, _m._ _Slov._ Gr. of Demeter, 69
Demetre, _m._ _Fr._ Ger. of Demeter, 69
Demetria, _m._ _It._ Gr. of Demeter, 69
DEMETRIOS, _m._ _Gr._ Gr. of Demeter, 69
Demetrius, _m._ _Lat._ _Eng._ Gr. of Demeter, 69
Demjan, _m._ _Russ._ Gr. taming, 126
DEMODOKOS, _m._ Gr. people’s teacher, 95
DEMOLEON, _m._ Gr. people’s lion, 95
Denis, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. of Dionysos, 70
Denise, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. of Dionysos, 70
Dennet, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. of Dionysos, 70
Dennis, _m._ _Eng._ Gr. of Dionysos, 70
Denys, _m._ _O. Fr._ Gr. of Dionysos, 70
Deodati, _m._ _Ital._ Lat. God given, 188
Deodatus, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. God given, 188
DEOGRATIAS, _m._ _Lat._ thanks to God, 188
_Derdre_, _f._ _Erse_, Kelt. fear, 224
_Derede_, _f._ _Bav._ Gr. gift of God, 102
DERGO, _m._ _Scot._ Kelt. red, 253
Dermot, _m._ _Ir._ Kelt. freeman, 249
_Derrick_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. people’s wealth, 373
DESIDERATUS, _m._ _Lat._ beloved, 188
Desiderio, _m._ _It._ Lat. beloved, 188
Desiderius, _m._ Lat. beloved, 188
Desirata, _f._ _It._ Lat. beloved, 188
Desirée, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. beloved, 188
_Desse_, _f._ _Ill._ Gr. God given, 102
_Detrich_, _Bohm._ Teu. people’s ruler, 374
DEUSDEDIT, _m._ _Lat._ God gave, 188
DEUSVULT, _m._ _Lat._ God wills, 188
_Devnet_, _f._ _Ir._ Kelt. 271
Devorgil, _f._ _Scot._ Kelt. purely fair daughter, 255
DEVOSLAV, _m._ _Slav._ maiden glory, 445
DEVOSLAVA, _f._ _Slav._ maiden glory, 445
DHUBODA, _Gael._ black, 255
DHUGAL, _m._ _Gael._ Kelt. black stranger, 255
_Di_, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. goddess, 170
_Diago_, _m._ _Port._ Heb. supplanter, 17
DIAMANTO, _f._ _M. Gr._ Gr. diamond, 125
DIANA, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. goddess, 170
Diane, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. goddess, 170
DIARMAID, _m._ _Gael._ Kelt. freeman, 46, 225, 249
_Dibble_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. people’s prince, 374
_Diccon_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. firm ruler, 399
_Dick_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. firm ruler, 399
_Didders_, _m._ _Lett._ Lat. beloved, 46
Didhrikr, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. people’s ruler, 374
Didier, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. beloved, 49
Didière, beloved, 188
Diederike, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. people’s ruler, 374
_Didrik_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. people’s ruler, 374
_Didschis_, _m._ _Lett._ Teu. people’s ruler, 374
Didymus, _m._ _Eng._ Ger. twin, 22
_Diego_, _m._ _Span._ Heb. supplanter, 17
_Diel_, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. God’s worshipper, 188
_Dielle_, _f._ _Franche-comté_, Lat. God’s worshipper, 188
_Dienes_, _m._ _Hung._ Gr. of Dionysos, 70
_Diephold_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. people’s prince, 374
_Dierk_, _m._ _Dutch_, Teu. people’s ruler, 374
Dietberga, _m._ _f._ _Frank._ Teu. people’s protection, 375
Dietbèrt, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. people’s brightness, 375
Dietbold, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. people’s prince, 374
Dietbrand, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. people’s sword, 375
Dietfrid, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. people’s peace, 375
Dietger, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. people’s spear, 375
Diethard, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. people’s firmness, 375
Diethelm, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. people’s helmet, 375
_Dietl_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. people’s ruler, 374
Dietleib, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. people’s relic, 374
Dietlind, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. people’s snake, 375
Dietman, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. people’s man, 375
Dietmar, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. people’s fame, 375
Dieto, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. the people, 374
Dietolf, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. people’s wolf, 374
Dietram, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. people’s raven, 374
Dieterico, _m._ _It._ Teu. people’s rule, 374
Dieterich, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. people’s rule, 374
_Dietrl_, _m._ _Bav._ Teu. people’s rule, 374
DIEUDONNÉ, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. God given, 188
_Diez_, _Ger._ Teu. supplanted, 17
Diggory, _m._ _Eng._ French, the almost lost, 462
Dimitar, _m._ _Slov._ Gr. of Demeter, 70
Dimitrij, _m._ _Russ._ Gr. of Demeter, 70
Dimitrija, _m._ _Ill._ _Gr._ of Demeter, 70
Dimitrije, _m._ _Ill._ Gr. of Demeter, 70
Dinah, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. judgment, 26
_Dinis_, _m._ _Port._ Gr. of Dionysos, 70
_Ditlev_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. people’s relic, 375
_Dinko_, _m._ _Slav._ Lat. Sunday child, 218
_Diodor_, _m._ _Ger._ Gr. God’s gift, 102
Dionetta, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. of Dionysos, 70
Dionigi, _m._ _It._ Gr. of Dionysos, 70
Dionigio, _m._ _It._ Gr. of Dionysos, 70
Dionis, _m._ _Span._ Gr. of Dionysos, 70
Dionisia, _f._ _Rom._ Gr. of Dionysos, 70
Dionisij, _m._ _Russ._ Gr. of Dionysos, 70
Dionisio, _m._ _Rom._ Gr. of Dionysos, 70
Dionys, _m._ _Ger._ Gr. of Dionysos, 70
Dionysia, _f._ _Eng._ _Ger._ Gr. of Dionysos, 70
Dionysio, _m._ _Port._ Gr. of Dionysos, 70
DIONYSIOS, _m._ _Gr._ of Dionysos, 70
Dionysius, _m._ _Eng._ _Lat._ Gr. of Dionysos, 70
DIONYSOS, _m._ _Gr._ god of Nysos (?), 70
DIORO, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. dear, 426
_Diotisalvi_, _m._ _It._ Lat. God save thee, 188
_Diotrich_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. people’s ruler, 374
_Dippold_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. people’s prince, 374
_Diriks_, _m._ _Lett._ Teu. people’s ruler, 374
_Dirk_, _m._ _Dutch_, Teu. people’s ruler, 374
DISA, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. active spirit, 307
_Dith_, _m._ _Swiss_, Heb. praise, 21
_Ditrik_, _m._ _Hung._ Teu. people’s ruler, 374
_Diura_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. dear, 426
Diuthilt, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. people’s heroine, 375
Diutrat, people’s council, 375
_Diwis_, _m._ _Bohm._ Gr. of Dionysos, 70
_Dix_, _m._ _Ger._ Lat. blessed, 184
_Djoulija_, _m._ _Serv._ Gr. well born, 87
_Djuradj_, _m._ _Ill._ Gr. husbandman, 116
_Djurdj_, _m._ _Ill._ Gr. husbandman, 116
_Djurica_, _m._ _Ill._ Gr. husbandman, 116
_Dmitar_, _m._ _Serv._ Gr. of Demeter, 70
_Dmitra_, _f._ _Slav._ Gr. of Demeter, 70
_Dmitri_, _m._ _Russ._ Gr. of Demeter, 70
_Dmitrij_, _m._ _Russ._ Gr. of Demeter, 70
Dobrana, _f._ _Slav._ Slav. good, 443
Dobrija, _f._ _Slav._ Slav. good, 443
DOBROGOST, _m._ _Pol._ Slav. good guest, 443
DOBROLJUB, _m._ _Slav._ Slav. good lover, 443
DOBROSLAV, _m._ _Slav._ Slav. good glory, 443
DOBROVOJ, _m._ _Ill._ Slav. good warrior, 443
DOBROVUK, _m._ _Ill._ Slav. good wolf, 443
DOBROTIN, _m._ _Slav._ Slav. good doer, 443
DOBROTINA, _f._ _Slav._ Slav. good doer, 443
_Dodd_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. of the people, 374
_Dolfine_, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. noble wolf, 66
Dolfino, _m._ _Ven._ Gr. of Delphi, 66
_Dolly_, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. gift of God, 102
Dolores, _f._ _Span._ Lat. sorrows, 2, 30
_Dolph_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. noble wolf, 400
Dolphin, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. of Delphi, 66
_Domas_, _Lus._ Aram. twin, 22
_Domask_, _Lus._ Aram. twin, 22
DOMHNALL, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. great chief, 253
Domingo, _m._ _Span._ Lat. Sunday child, 218
Domingos, _m._ _Port._ Lat. Sunday child, 218
Dominic, _m._ _Ger._ _Eng._ Lat. Sunday child, 218
Dominica, _f._ _It._ Lat. Sunday child, 218
_Dominichino_, _m._ _It._ Lat. Sunday child, 218
Dominico, _m._ _It._ Lat. Sunday child, 218
Dominicus, _m._ _Ger._ Lat. Sunday child, 218
Dominik, _m._ _Slav._ Lat. Sunday child, 218
Dominique, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. Sunday child, 218
Domnech, _m._ _Ir._ Lat. Sunday child, 218
Domogoj, _m._ _Slav._ Lat. Sunday child, 218
_Domokos_, _m._ _Hung._ Lat. Sunday child, 218
DON, _m._ _Ir._ Kelt. brown, 253
DONACHA, _m._ _Gael._ Kelt. brown warrior, 50, 253
Donald, _m._ _Scot._ Kelt. proud chief, 253
Donath, _m._ _Ir._ Lat. given, 188
Donato, _m._ _It._ Lat. given, 188
Donatus, _m._ _Lat._ given, 188
DONNAN, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. brown, 50
_Donnet_, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. of Dionysos, 70
_Donnet_, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. gift of God, 188
Donoghue, _m._ _Ir._ Kelt. brown chief, 50, 153
Donough, _m._ _Ir._ Kelt. brown warrior, 50, 153
DONUMDEI, _m._ _Lat._ gift of God, 188
_Dora_, _f._ _Eng._ _Ger._ _Ill._ Gr. gift of God, 102
_Doralice_, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. gift, 102
Dorcas, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. gazelle, 50
DORCHAIDE, _m._ _Erse_, dark, 225
_Dore_, _m._ _Florentine_, Lat. lover, 182
_Dore_, _f._ _Ger._ Gr. gift of God, 102
DORENN, _f._ _Erse_, Kelt. sullen, 2
_Dorette_, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. gift of God, 102
_Dorfei_, _f._ _Russ._ Gr. gift of God, 102
_Dorinda_, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. gift, 102
_Dorka_, _f._ _Russ._ Gr. gift of God, 102
_Dorlisa_, _f._ _Lus._ Gr. Heb. Dorothea Elizabeth, 102
_Dornadilla_, _f._ _Lat._ Kelt. purely fair daughter, 255
_Dorofei_, _m._ _Russ._ Gr. gift of God, 102
_Doroltya_, _Hung._ Gr. gift of God, 102
_Dorosia_, _f._ _Pol._ _Bohm._ Gr. gift of God, 102
_Dorota_, _f._ _Pol._ _Bohm._ Gr. gift of God, 102
Dorotea, _f._ _It._ Gr. gift of God, 102
Doroteja, _f._ _Ill._ Gr. gift of God, 102
Dorothea, _f._ _Span._ _Eng._ _Gr._ Gr. gift of God, 102
Dorothée, _f._ _Fr._ _Ger._ Gr. gift of God, 102
DOROTHEUS, _m._ _Lat._ _Ger._ Gr. gift of God, 102
Dorothy, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. gift of God, 102
Dorothya, _f._ _Hung._ Gr. gift of God, 102
_Dort_, _f._ _Dutch_, Gr. gift of God, 102
_Dortchen_, _f._ _Dutch_, Gr. gift of God, 102
Douce, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. sweet, 196
Dougal, _m._ _Scot._ Kelt. black stranger, 253
Douglas, _m._ _Scot._ Kelt. dark grey, 259
Dowsabel, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. sweet fair, 196
Dowsie, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. sweet, 196
Dragan, _m._ _Slav._ Slav. dear, 444
Dragana, _f._ _Slav._ Slav. dear, 444
_Draganka_, _f._ _Slav._ Slav. dear, 444
Dragija, _m._ _Slav._ Slav. dear, 444
_Dragilika_, _m._ _Slav._ Slav. dear, 444
Dragojila, _f._ _Slav._ Slav. dear, 444
Dragoslav, _m._ _Slav._ Slav. dear glory, 444
_Dragotinka_, _m._ _Slav._ Slav. dear, 444
_Drenka_, _f._ _Ill._ Lat. horn, 146
Drew, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. skilful (?), 451
_Dries_, _m._ _Dutch_, Gr. manly, 86
DROGO, _m._ _Ital._ Teu. skilful, 451
Drogon, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. skilful, 451
_Drot_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. maiden, 318
Dru, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. skilful, 451
DRUST, _m._ _Pict._ Kelt. proclaimer, 464
DRUSILLA, _f._ _Lat._ strong, 162
DRUSUS, _m._ _Lat._ strong, 162
_Drutje_, _f._ _Neth._ Teu. spear maid, 368
Duarte, _m._ _Port._ Teu. rich guard, 378
DUBDAINTUATH, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. black man of two lordships, 254
DUBDAINBER, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. black man of two rivers, 253
DUBDALETHE, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. black, 253
DUBHAN, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. black, 254
DUBHCOHBLAITH, _f._ _Erse_, Kelt. black victory, 254
DUCHOMAR, _m._ _Gael._ Kelt. black well-shaped man, 253
DHUBDOTHRA, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. black man of the Dodder, 253
DUBADEASA, _f._ _Erse_, Kelt. black beauty, 254
DUBHESSA, _f._ _Erse_, Kelt. black nurse, 254
DUBISLAV, _m._ _Slav._ Slav. oak glory, 438
Ducia, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. sweet, 196
_Dudde_, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. people’s ruler, 374
Dudon, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. God-given, 188
Dudone, _m._ _It._ Lat. God-given, 188
Duessa, _f._ _Eng._ Kelt. black nurse, 254
Dugald, _m._ _Scot._ Kelt. black stranger, 253
Duff, _m._ _Scot._ Kelt. black, 253
Dulce, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. sweet, 196
Dulcia, _f._ _Span._ Lat. sweet, 196
Dulcibella, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. sweet fair, 196
Dulcinea, _f._ _Span._ Lat. sweet, 196
_Dummas_, _m._ _Lith._ Aram. twin, 22
Duncan, _m._ _Scot._ Kelt. brown chief, 255
_Dunstan_, _m._ _A. G. S._ Teu. hill stone, 350
_Dunulf_, _m._ _A. G. S._ Teu. hill wolf, 350
_Dunko_, _m._ _Slav._ Lat. Sunday child, 218
_Dunwalton_, _Cym._ Kelt. 254
Durand, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. lasting, 187
Durante, _m._ _It._ Lat. lasting, 187
Durandarte, _m._ _Span._ Lat. lasting, 187
Durans, _m._ Lat. lasting, 187
_Duredel_, _f._ _Bav._ Gr. gift of God, 102
_Durl_, _f._ _Bav._ Gr. gift of God, 102
_Dusa_, _f._ _Ill._ Slav. happy, 444
DUSCHA, _f._ _Russ._ Slav. happy, 444
_Duschinka_, _f._ _Russ._ Slav. happy, 444
_Dusica_, _f._ _Russ._ Slav. happy, 444
DWYNWEN, _f._ _Welsh_, Kelt. white wave, 270
_Dye_, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. goddess, 170
Dyfan, _m._ _Welsh_, Greek, taming, 125
Dymphna, _f._ _Irish_, Kelt. 271
Dynawd, _m._ _Welsh_, Lat. given, 188
Dynval, _m._ _Cym._ Kelt. of the weaned couch (?), 252
_Dyonizy_, _m._ _Pol._ Gr. of Dionysos, 70
DYRE, _m._ _Dan._ Teu. dear, 426
_Dyterych_, _m._ _Pol._ Teu. people’s ruler, 374
E
EACH, _m._ _Kelt._ Norse, 276
EACHAID, _m._ _Gael._ Kelt. horseman, 276
EACHAN, _m._ _Gael._ Kelt. horseman, 276
EACHMARCHACH, _Erse_, Kelt. horse rider, 276
EACHMILIDH, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. horse warrior, 276
EAD, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. rich, 378
EADBALD, _f._ _m._ _A.S._ Teu. rich prince, 378
EADBRYHT, _f._ _m._ _A.S._ Teu. rich splendour, 378
EADBURG, _f._ _A.S._ Teu. rich protection, 378
EADBURH, _f._ _A.S._ Teu. rich pledge, 378
EADFLED, _f._ _A.S._ Teu. rich increase, 378
EADFRITH, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. rich peace, 378
EADGAR, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. rich spear, 378
EADGIFU, _f._ _A.S._ Teu. rich gift, 378
EADGYTH, _f._ _A.S._ Teu. rich gift, 378.
EADHILD, _f._ _A.S._ Teu. rich battle maid, 378
EADMUND, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. rich protection, 378
EADRED, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. rich council, 378
EADRIC, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. rich ruler, 378
EADSWITH, _f._ _A.S._ Teu. rich strength, 378
EADULF, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. rich wolf, 336
EADWALD, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. rich power, 378
EADWARD, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. rich guard, 378
EADWIG, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. rich war, 378
EADWINE, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. rich friend, 378
EAL, _f._ _Bret._ Kelt. angel.
EALHFLED, _f._ _A.S._ Teu. hall increase, 382
EALHFRITH, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. hall peace, 382
EALHRED, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. hall speech, 382
EALHSWITH, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. hall strength, 382
EALHWINE, _f._ _m._ _A.S._ Teu. hall friend, 382
Easter, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. Easter child, 215
_Ebba_, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. firm wild boar, 337
_Ebbe_, _Fris._ _Fris._ Teu. firm wild boar, 337
_Ebbert_, _m._ _Fries._ Teu. formidably bright, 323
_Ebbo_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. firm wild boar, 337
EBERHARD, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. firm wild boar, 337
Eberhardine, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. firm wild boar, 337
EBERHILD, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. wild boar battle maid, 337
EBERNUND, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. wild boar protection, 337
EBERIK, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. wild boar king, 337
_Ebert_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. firm wild boar, 337
EBERULF, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. wild boar wolf, 337
EBERWINE, _m._ _Goth._ Teu. wild boar friend, 337
_Ebilo_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. firm wild boar, 337
_Ebles_, _m._ _Prov._ Teu. firm wild boar, 337
_Ebo_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. firm wild boar, 337
Eborico, _m._ _Span._ Teu. wild boar king, 337
EBRIMUTH, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. wild boar protection, 337
Ebroin, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. wild boar friend, 337
EBUR, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. wild boar, 337
EBURBERO, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. wild boar bear, 337
_Eccelino_, _m._ _It._ Tartar, father-like, 13
ECGBERHT, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. formidable bright, 323
ECGFRITH, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. formidable peace, 323
_Eckart_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. formidable firmness, 323
Eckhardt, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. formidable firmness, 323
_Edan_, _m._ _Scot._ Kelt. fire, 226
_Edanus_, _m._ _Lat._ Kelt. fire, 226
_Edburg_, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. rich protection, 378
_Edde_, _f._ _Fris._ Teu. war refuge, 305
_Eddeve_, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. rich gift, 378
_Ede_, _f._ _Fris._ Teu. war refuge, 305
_Ede_, _Neth._ Teu. rich guard, 378
_Eddo_, _f._ _Esth._ Teu. war refuge, 305
Edelberge, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. noble protection, 411
Edeline, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. noble cheer, 411
Edelmar, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. noble greatness, 413
Edeltrud, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. noble maid, 411
_Edeva_, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. rich gift, 378
Edgar, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. rich spear, 378
Edgard, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. rich spear, 378
Edgardo, _m._ _It._ Teu. wealth spear, 378
_Edie_, _m._ _Scot._ Heb. red earth, 10
_Ediltrude_, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. noble maid, 411
Edith, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. rich gift, 379
Edmond, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. rich protection. 377
Edmund, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. rich protection, 377
Edmondo, _m._ _Ital._ Teu. rich protection, 377
_Edom_, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. red, 10
Edouard, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. rich guard, 378
Eduard, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. rich guard, 378
Eduardo, _m._ _Ital._ Teu. rich guard, 378
Eduart, _m._ _Dutch_, Teu. rich guard, 377
Eduige, _m._ _f._ _Ital._ Teu. war refuge, 305
Eduino, _m._ _Ital._ Teu. rich friend, 377
Edvald, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. rich power, 378
Edwald, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. rich power, 378
Edward, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. rich guard, 378
Edwin, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. rich friend, 377
Edwy, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. rich war, 377
_Eed_, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. wealth, 377
Eegnatie, _m._ _Russ._ Lat. fiery, 194
Eelia, _m._ _Russ._ Heb. God the Lord, 36
Eereenia, _f._ _Russ._ Gr. peace, 113
Eernest, _m._ _Lett._ Teu. eagle stone (?), 344
_Eernst_, _Lett._ Teu. eagle stone (?), 344
Eesaia, _Russ._ salvation of the Lord, 48
_Eers_, _m._ _Esth._ Teu. eternal rule, 400
Eesidor, _m._ _Russ._ Gr. strong gift, 103
_Effie_, _f._ _Scot._ Gr. fair speech, 231
EGA, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. formidable, 323
Egbert, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. formidably bright, 323
Egbertine, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. formidably bright, 323
Eggerich, _m._ _Fries._ Teu. formidable king, 323
_Eggert_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. formidable king, 323
_Eggo_, _m._ _Fries._ Teu. formidable king, 323
Egica, _m._ _Span._ Teu. formidable, 323
Egide, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. with an ægis, 79
Egidia, _f._ _Scot._ Gr. with the ægis, 79
Egidio, _m._ _Ital._ Gr. with the ægis, 79
Egidius, _m._ _Dutch_, Gr. with the ægis, 79
EGIHERI, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. formidable warrior, 323
Egilbert, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. formidable brightness, 323
Egilhart, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. formidable firmness, 323
Egilolf, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. formidable wolf, 323
Egilmar, _Ger._ Teu. formidable fame, 323
Egilona, _f._ _Span._ Teu. formidable, 323
Egils, _Nor._ Teu. formidable, 323
Eginhard, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. formidable firmness, 323
Egmond, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. terrible protection, 323
_Egor_, _m._ _Russ._ Gr. husbandman, 116, 325
_Egorka_, _m._ _Russ._ Gr. husbandman, 116
Ehregott, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. honour God, 468
Ehrenbrecht, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. honour bright, 468
Ehrenpries, reward of honour, 468
Ehrenfried, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. honour peace.
Eigils, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. awful, 323
_Eilart_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. formidable firmness, 323
_Eilbert_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. formidable brightness, 323
_Eileen_, _f._ _Ir._ Gr. light, 68
Eilif, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. ever living, 400
Eiliv, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. ever living, 400
Eimund, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. ever guarding, 400
_Eilo_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. formidable firmness, 323
EINAR, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. chief warrior, 323
EINDRIDE, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. chief rider, 323
EINIAWN, _m._ _Welsh_, Kelt. just, 282
_Eino_, _m._ _Fries._ Teu. awful firmness, 323
EIRENAIOS, _m._ _Gr._ peaceful, 113
EIRENÈ, _f._ _Gr._ peace, 113
EIRIK, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. ever king, 400
Eisaak, _m._ _Russ._ Heb. laughter, 14
Eisenbart, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. iron bright, 348
Eisenbolt, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. iron prince, 348
Eisenhardt, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. iron firm, 348
_Eivind_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. island Wend, 431
_Ekard_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. formidably firm, 323
_Ekatrina_, _f._ _Russ._ Gr. pure, 123
_Ekiel_, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. strength of God, 48
Ela, _f._ _Eng._ Nor. holy (?), 403
Elaine, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. light, 68
Elayne, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. light, 68
Elberich, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. elf king, 380
Eldred, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. battle counsel, 382
Eldrid, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. battle counsel, 382
Eleanor, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. light, 68
Eleazar, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. the Lord’s help, 33
_Elek_, _m._ _Hung._ Gr. helper of men, 85
Elena, _f._ _Ital._ Gr. light, 68
_Elene_, _f._ _m._ _Gr._ Gr. light, 68
Eleonora, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. light, 68
Eléonore, _f._ _Eng._ Ger. Gr. light, 68
_Eleonorka_, _f._ _Slav._ Gr. light, 68
Elfleda, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. hall increase, 382
Elfrida, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. elf threatener, 380
Elgiva, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. elf gift, 380
Elia, _m._ _Ital._ Heb. God the Lord, 36
Eliakim, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. the Lord will judge, 37
_Elian_, _m._ _W._ Lat. cheerful, 280
Elias, _m._ _Eng._ _Dutch_, Heb. God the Lord, 35
_Elie_, _m._ _Fr._ Heb. God the Lord, 36
_Elidure_, _m._ _Eng._ Gr. sun’s gift.
_Elidi_, _m._ _W._ Gr. sun’s gift.
_Elidan_, _f._ _Welsh_, Lat. downy, 151
_Eliezer_, _m._ _Heb._ God will help, 33
Elihu, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. God the Lord, 35
Elija, _m._ _Slov._ Heb. God the Lord, 36
ELIJAH, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. God the Lord, 35
ELINED, _f._ _Welsh_, Kelt. shapely, 273
Elinor, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. light, 68
Elisa, _f._ _Ital._ Heb. oath of God, 35
Elisabet, _f._ _Gr._ Heb. oath of God, 35
Elisabetta, _f._ _Ital._ Heb. oath of God, 35
Elisabeth, _Ger._ _Fr._ Heb. oath of God, 35
Elisavetta, _f._ _Russ._ _Eng._ Heb. oath of God, 35
Elischeba, _f._ Heb. oath of God, 35
Elise, _f._ _Fr._ Heb. oath of God, 35
Eliseo, _m._ _It._ Heb. God my salvation, 36
Eliseus, _m._ _Lat._ Heb. God my salvation, 36
Elisha, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. God my salvation, 36
Elisif, _f._ _Russ._ Heb. God’s oath, 35
Eliza, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. God’s oath, 35
Elizabeth, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. God’s oath, 35
_Ella_, _f._ _m._ _Eng._ Teu. elf friend, 382
ELLANHERI, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. battle warrior, 382
ELLANPERAHT, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. battle splendour, 382
_Elle_, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. battle, 382
Ellen, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. light, 68
_Ellend_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. stranger, 432
_Ellin_, _f._ _Welsh_, Gr. light, 68
_Elling_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. 333
_Ellinor_, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. light, 68
_Ellis_, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. God the Lord, 36
_Ello_, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. battle, 382
_Ello_, _f._ _Esth._ Heb. God’s oath, 35
_Elmark_, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. helmed king, 351
_Elmo_, _m._ _It._ Gr. amiable, 113
Eloi, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. worthy of choice.
Eloïsa, _f._ _Ital._ Teu. famous holiness, 405
Eloïse, _f._ _Fr._ Teu. famous holiness, 405
Eloy, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. worthy of choice.
_Elsabet_, _f._ _Ger._ Heb. God’s oath, 35
_Elsbet_, _f._ _Ger._ Heb. God’s oath, 35
_Elsbeth_, _f._ _Swiss_, Heb. God’s oath, 35
_Else_, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. noble cheer, 411
_Elsebin_, _f._ _Dan._ Heb. God’s oath, 35
_Elshender_, _m._ _Scot._ helper of men, 85
_Elshic_, _m._ _Scot._ helper of men, 85
_Elsie_, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. noble cheer, 411
_Elspeth_, _f._ _Scot._ Heb. God’s oath, 35
_Elspie_, _f._ _Scot._ Heb. God’s oath, 35
_Elts_, _f._ _Esth._ Heb. God’s oath, 35
ELVIRA, _f._ _Span._ Lat. white, 382
_Elzbieta_, _f._ _Pol._ Heb. God’s oath, 35
_Elzbietka_, _f._ _Pol._ Heb. God’s oath, 35
_Elzea_, _m._ _Fr._ Heb. God will help, 33
Ema, _f._ _Span._ Teu. grandmother, 331
Emanuel, _m._ _Ger._ Heb. God with us, 36
Emerence, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. deserving, 190
Emerentia, _f._ _Ger._ Lat. deserving, 190
_Emerentiana_, _f._ _Dan._ Lat. deserving, 190
EMERENTIUS, _m._ Lat. deserving, 190
_Emeranz_, _f._ _Ger._ Lat. deserving, 190
Emerick, _m._ _Slov._ Teu. work ruler, 330
_Emery_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. work rule, 141
Emelin, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. work ruler, 141
Emile, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. work (?), 141
EMILIA, _f._ _Ital._ Lat. work (?), 141
Emilie, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. work, 141
Emilija, _m._ _Slav._ Lat. work (?), 141
Emilio, _m._ _Ital._ Lat. work (?), 141
EMILIUS, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. work (?), 141
Emily, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. work (?), 141
Emlyn, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. work serpent, 333
Emm, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. grandmother, 333
Emma, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. grandmother, 333
Emme, _f._ _Fr._ Teu. grandmother, 333
Emmeline, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. work serpent, 330
Emmerich, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. work rule, 333
Emmery, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. work rule, 331
_Emmon_, _Erse_, Teu. rich protection, 378
Emmott, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. grandmother (?), 333
Emrys, _m._ _Welsh_, Gr. immortal, 109
_Emund_, _m._ _Nor._ Dan. island protection, 431
ENCARNACION, _f._ _Span._ Lat. being made flesh, 30
_Endrede_, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. superior rider, 323
_Endres_, _m._ _Ger._ Gr. manly, 86
_Endrikis_, _m._ _Lett._ Teu. home ruler, 310
_Endruttis_, _m._ _Lett._ Teu. home ruler, 310
Enea, _m._ _It._ Gr. praise, 74
Eneca, _f._ _Span._ Lat. fiery, 194
Eneco, _m._ _Span._ Lat. fiery, 194
Enée, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. praise, 74
ENGEL, _m._ _Ger._ Gr. angel, 325
ENGELBERGA, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. angel of protection, 325
_Engelbert_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. bright angel, 325
_Engelchen_, _m._ _Ger._ Gr. angel, 325
ENGLEFRID, _m._ _Ger._ Gr. Teu. angel peace, 325
ENGELHARD, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. Ing’s firmness, 325
_Engelke_, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. Ing’s battle maid, 325
ENGELSCHALK, _m._ _Ger._ Gr. Teu. angel’s disciple, 325
_Engeltje_, _f._ _Dutch_, Gr. angelic, 325
ENGELRAM, _m._ _Ger._ Gr. Teu. Ing’s raven, 325
Engerrand, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. Teu. Ing’s raven, 325
_Enghus_, _m._ _Scot._ Kelt. excellent virtue, 241
Engracia, _f._ _Span._ Lat. grace, 194
_Ennica_, _m._ _Sp._ _Lat._ Lat. fiery, 194
_Ennicus_, _m._ _Sp._ _Lat._ Lat. fiery, 194
_Ennan_, _m._ _Fr._ Heb. Lat. Adam the dwarf, 10
Enoch, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. dedicated, 11
Enos, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. mortal man, 11, 241
Enrichetta, _f._ _It._ Teu. home ruler, 310
Enrico, _m._ _It._ Teu. home ruler, 310
Enrik, _m._ _Slov._ Teu. home ruler, 310
Enrika, _f._ _Slov._ Teu. home ruler, 310
Enrique, _m._ _Span._ Teu. home ruler, 310
Enriqueta, _f._ _Span._ Teu. home rule, 310
_Enselis_, _m._ _Lett._ Heb. the Lord’s grace, 45
_Ensilo_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. divine, 291
_Enskys_, _m._ _Lett._ Heb. the Lord’s grace, 45
_Enz_, _m._ _Swiss_, Lat. laurel, 174
_Enzeli_, _m._ _Swiss_, Lat. laurel, 174
_Enzio_, _m._ _Ital._ Teu. home rule, 309
_Enzius_, _m._ _Lat._ Teu. home rule, 309
EOCHAID, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. horseman, 276
EOGHAN, _m._ _Gael._ Kelt. young warrior, 273
Eoghania, _f._ _Erse_, Kelt. young warrior, 273
_Eoin_, _m._ _Erse_, Heb. grace of the Lord, 45
EORCONBERHT, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. sacred brightness, 328
EORCONGOT, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. sacred goodness, 329
EORCONWALD, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. sacred power, 329
EORCONWINE, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. sacred friend, 328
EORMENBURG, _f._ _A.S._ Teu. public protection, 327
EORMENBURH, _f._ _A.S._ Teu. public pledge, 327
EORMENGILD, _f._ _A.S._ Teu. public pledge, 327
EORMENGYTH, _f._ _A.S._ Teu. public gift, 327
EORMENRIC, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. public rule, 327
Eostafie, _m._ _Slav._ Gr. healthy, 88
EPHRAIM, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. two-fold increase.
Ephrem, _m._ _Russ._ Heb. two-fold increase.
Epifania, _f._ _Ital._ Gr. manifestation, 212
Epifanio, _m._ _Rom._ Gr. of the manifestation, 212
_Epilo_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. wild boar, 337
EPIMETHEUS, _m._ Gr. after-thought.
Epiphanie, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. manifestation, 212
EPIPHANIOS, _m._ Gr. of the manifestation, 212
Epiphanius, _m._ _Lat._ Gr. manifestation, 212
_Eppie_, _f._ _Scot._ Gr. fair fame, 88
_Eppo_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. firm wild boar, 337
_Epurhard_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. firm wild boar, 337
EPURHELM, _m._ _Ger._ wild boar helm, 337
Equitius, _m._ _Lat._ Kelt. horseman, 276
_Eraric_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. warrior king, 400
_Erasme_, _m._ _Fr._ Ger. amiable, 113
_Erasmo_, _m._ _It._ Gr. amiable, 113
Erasmus, _m._ _Dutch_, _Lat._ _Eng._ _Ger._ Gr. amiable, 113
Erchenold, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. sacred prince, 329
Erchimperto, _m._ _It._ Teu. sacred brightness, 328
Ercole, _m._ _It._ Gr. noble fame, 63
ERDMUTH, _Ger._ earth courage, 328, 468
_Erembert_, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. public splendour, 327
_Eremburga_, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. public protection, 328
Eric, _m._ _Ir._ _Eng._ Teu. ever king, 400
Erich, _m._ _Russ._ _Ger._ Teu. ever king, 400
Erik, _m._ _Slov._ Teu. ever king, 400
Erik, _m._ _Swed._ _Esth._ Teu. ever king, 400
Erika, _f._ _Swed._ Teu. ever king, 400
Eriks, _m._ _Lett._ Lett. ever king, 400
_Erivigio_, _m._ _Span._ Teu. warrior battle, 400
Erkenoald, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. sacred power, 328
ERL, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. earl, 333
ERLEBALD, _Ger._ Teu. earl prince, 333
ERLEBRYHT, _Ger._ Teu. bright earl, 333
ERLHER, _Nor._ Teu. earl warrior, 333
ERLHILD, _Nor._ Teu. earl maiden, 333
ERLING, earl’s son, 333
ERLEND, _f._ _m._ _Nor._ Teu. stranger, 432
_Erling_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. stranger, 432
Ermas, _m._ _Lith._ Teu. public, 327
_Erme_, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. public, 327
Ermelinda, _f._ _Ital._ Teu. world serpent, 327
Ermengard, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. public guard, 327
Ermengarde, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. public guard, 327
ERMENIGILD, _m._ _Russ._ Teu. public pledge, 327
Ermentrud, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. maiden of the nation, 327
Ermesinda, _f._ _Span._ Teu. public strength, 327
_Ermin_, _f._ _Burg._ Teu. public, 327
Ermin, _f._ _Welsh_, Lat. lordly, 147
_Erminia_, _f._ _Ital._ Lat. lordly, 147
_Ermo_, _m._ _Ital._ Gr. amiable, 113
_Ermo_, _m._ _Ital._ Teu. public, 327
_Ermolaj_, _m._ _Russ._ Gr. people of Hermes, 71
Ernest, _m._ _Eng._ Pol. Teu. eagle stone, 344
Erneste, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. eagle stone (?), 344
Ernestine, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. eagle stone (?), 344
Ernesto, _m._ _Ital._ Teu. eagle stone (?), 344
Erneszt, _m._ _Hung._ Teu. eagle stone (?), 344
_Ernijo_, _m._ _Hung._ Gr. peaceful, 113
Ernst, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. eagle stone (?), 344
_Ernstine_, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. eagle stone (?), 344
_Erszok_, _f._ _Hung._ Heb. God’s oath, 35
_Erulf_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. boar wolf, 337
_Ervigo_, _m._ _Span._ Teu. army war, 417
_Eryk_, _m._ _Pol._ Teu. ever king, 400
_Erzebet_, _f._ _Hung._ Heb. God’s oath, 35
_Erzok_, _f._ _Hung._ Heb. God’s oath, 35
_Esa_, _f._ _A.S._ Teu. the gods, 289
Esaia, _m._ _It._ Heb. salvation of the Lord, 48
Esaias, _m._ _Eng._ _Ger._ Heb. salvation of the Lord, 48
Esaie, _m._ _Fr._ Heb. salvation of the Lord, 48
ESAU, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. hairy.
_Esay_, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. salvation of the Lord, 48
Esbern, _m._ _Dan._ Teu. divine bear, 290
ESC, _f._ _m._ _A.S._ Teu. ash tree, 324
Esclairmonde, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. Teu. famous protection, 186
_Escwine_, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. ash friend, 324
Esdras, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. rising of light, 51
Esmeralda, _f._ _Span._ Gr. emerald, 125
Esperança, _f._ _Span._ Lat. hope, 196
Esperance, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. hope, 196
Esperanza, _f._ _Span._ Lat. hope, 196
ESSA, _f._ _Ir._ Kelt. nurse, 254
_Essie_, _f._ _Eng._ Pers. star, 57
Estanislau, _m._ _Port._ Slav. camp glory, 440
Esteban, _m._ _Span._ Gr. crown, 96
Estella, _f._ _Span._ Lat. star, 57
Estelle, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. star, 57
Ester, _f._ _It._ _Hung._ Pers. star, 57
Esterre, _f._ _It._ Pers. star, 57
Estephania, _f._ _Port._ Gr. crown, 96
Estevan, _m._ _Span._ Gr. crown, 96
Estevao, _m._ _Port._ Gr. crown, 96
Estevennes, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. crown, 96
Esther, _f._ _Eng._ Pers. star, 57
Estienne, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. crown, 96
Estolfo, _m._ _Span._ Teu. swift wolf, 401
Estrith, _f._ _Dan._ Teu. impulse of love, 401
ESYLT, _f._ _Cym._ Kelt. fair, 269, 275
Eth, _m._ _Scot._ Kelt. fire, 227
_Ethel_, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. noble, 410
Ethelburga, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. noble protection, 410
Etheldred, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. noble threatener, 410
Ethelind, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. noble snake, 410
Ethelmar, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. work ruler, 331
Ethelred, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. noble council, 410
_Ethered_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. noble council, 410
_Ethert_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. noble council, 410
_Ethfinn_, _m._ _Scot._ Teu. white fire, 227
Etienne, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. crown, 96
Etiennette, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. crown, 97
_Etta_, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. home ruler, 310
_Etto_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. firm wild boar, 337
Ettore, _m._ _It._ Gr. defender, 74
Etzel, _m._ _Ger._ Tartar, father like, 13
Eubul, _m._ _Ger._ Gr. happy council, 88
Eucaria, _f._ _m._ _Ital._ Gr. happy hand, 87
Euchaire, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. happy hand, 87
Euchar, _m._ _Ger._ Gr. happy hand, 87
Euchario, _m._ _Port._ Gr. happy hand, 87
EUCHARIS, _f._ Gr. happy grace, 88
Euchary, _m._ _Pol._ Gr. happy hand, 87
EUCHEIR, _m._ Gr. happy hand, 87
Eucherius, _m._ _Lat._ Gr. happy hand, 87
Eudbaird, _m._ _Erse_, Teu. rich guard, 376
EUDES, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. rich, 376
Eudocia, _f._ _Lat._ Gr. approval, 87
Eudocie, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. approval, 87
Eudokhia, _f._ _Russ._ Gr. approval, 87
Eudon, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. rich, 376
EUDORA, _f._ _Lat._ Gr. happy gift, 87
Eudore, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. happy gift, 87
Eudossia, _f._ _It._ Gr. approval, 87
EUDOXIA, _f._ _Russ._ Gr. happy glory, 87
Eudoxie, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. happy glory, 87
Eufemia, _f._ _It._ Gr. fair fame, 88
Eufrosina, _f._ _Rom._ Gr. mirth, 72
Eugen, _m._ _Ger._ Gr. well born, 87
Eugene, _m._ _Fr._ _Eng._ Gr. well born, 87
EUGENES, _m._ Gr. well born, 87
Eugenia, _f._ _It._ _Span._ _Eng._ Gr. well born, 87, 273
Eugenie, _f._ _Fr._ _Ger._ Gr. well born, 87
Eugenio, _m._ _Rom._ Gr. well born, 87
Eugenius, _m._ _Lat._ Gr. well born, 87
Eugeniusz, _m._ _Pol._ Gr. well born, 88
Euginia, _f._ _Erse_, Kelt. warrior, 273
EULALIA, _f._ _It._ _Span._ _Eng._ Gr. fair speech, 88
Eulalie, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. fair speech, 88
EUNICE, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. happy victory, 88
Euphame, _f._ _Scot._ Gr. fair fame, 88
EUPHEMIA, _f._ _Eng._ _Scot._ _Dutch_, Gr. fair fame, 88
Euphemie, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. fair fame, 88
EUPHRASIA, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. mirth, 72
Euphrasie, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. mirth, 72
Euphrosine, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. mirth, 72
EUPHROSYNE, _f._ _Eng._ _Ger._ Gr. mirth, 72
Eustace, _m._ _Eng._ Gr. happy in harvest, 88
Eustache, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. happy in harvest, 88
Eustachia, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. happy in harvest, 88
Eustachie, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. happy in harvest, 88
EUSTACHYS, _m._ Gr. happy in harvest, 88
Eustachius, _m._ _Lat._ Gr. happy in harvest, 88
EUSTATHIOS, _m._ Gr. healthy, 88
Eustazia, _f._ _It._ Gr. happy in harvest, 88
Eustazio, _m._ _It._ Gr. happy in harvest, 88
_Eustathius_, _m._ _Russ._ _Gr._ Gr. healthy, 88
Eustochium, _f._ _Lat._ Gr. good thought, 88
EVA, _f._ _Ger._ _Dan._ _Lat._ Heb. life, 11
_Evald_, _f._ _Fr._ Teu. wild boar power, 337
Evan, _m._ _Scot._ _Welsh_, Kelt. young warrior, 273
Evangeline, _f._ _Am._ Gr. happy messenger, 87
Evangelista, _m._ _It._ Gr. happy messenger, 87
Eve, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. life, 11
Eveleen, _f._ _Ir._ Kelt. pleasant, 231
Evelina, _f._ _Eng._ Kelt. pleasant, 231
Eveline, _f._ _Eng._ Kelt. pleasant, 232
Evelyn, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. hazel nut, 232
_Even_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. island Wend, 431
Everard, _m._ _Fr._ _Eng._ Teu. firm wild boar, 337
Everardo, _m._ _It._ Teu. firm wild boar, 337
Everhard, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. firm wild boar, 337
Everhilda, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. wild boar battle maid, 337
Everilda, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. wild boar battle maid, 337
_Evers_, _m._ _L. Ger._ Teu. wild boar firm, 337
_Evert_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. wild boar firm, 337
_Evgen_, _m._ _Slov._ Gr. well born, 87
_Evgenij_, _f._ _Slov._ Gr. well born, 87
_Evir_, _f._ _Scot._ pleasant, 231
Evirallin, _f._ _Scot._ Kelt. pleasantly excellent, 231
Evircoma, _f._ _Scot._ Kelt. pleasantly amiable, 231
Evlalija, _f._ _Slov._ Gr. fair speech, 88
Evrand, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. firm wild boar, 337
Evre, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. wild boar, 337
Evremond, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. wild boar protection, 337
_Evrols_, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. wild boar wolf, 337
_Evroud_, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. wild boar power, 337
_Evva_, _f._ _Russ._ Heb. life, 11
Ewa, _f._ _Ger._ Heb. life, 11
Ewan, _m._ _Scot._ Kelt. warrior, 273
_Ewart_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. firm wild boar, 337
_Ewarts_, _m._ _Lett._ Teu. firm wild boar, 337
_Ewe_, _f._ _Lus._ Heb. life, 11
_Eweline_, _f._ _Ger._ Kelt. pleasant, 231
_Ewert_, _m._ _Esth._ Teu. firm wild boar, 337
_Ewerts_, _m._ _Lett._ Teu. firm wild boar, 337
_Ewusche_, _f._ _Lett._ Heb. life, 11
EYAR, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. island warrior, 431
EYDIS, _f._ _Nor._ Ten. island sprite, 431
EYFREY, _f._ _m._ _Nor._ Teu. island peace, 431
EYGERD, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. island maid, 431
EYMUND, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. island protection, 431
EYSTEIN, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. island stone, 431
EYTHIOF, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. island thief, 431
EYNY, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. island freshness, 431
EYULF, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. island wolf, 335
EYVAR, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. island prudence, 431
EYVIND, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. island Wend, 431
Ezechiel, _m._ _Ger._ Heb. strength of God, 48
Ezekias, _m._ _Gr._ Heb. strength of the Lord, 48
Ezekiel, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. strength of God, 48
Ezra, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. rising of light, 51
F
FABIA, _It._ Lat. bean grower, 146
Fabian, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. bean grower, 146
Fabiano, _m._ _It._ Lat. bean grower, 146
Fabien, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. bean grower, 146
Fabio, _m._ _It._ Lat. bean grower, 146
Fabiola, _f._ _It._ Lat. bean grower, 146
FABIUS, _m._ Lat. bean grower, 146
Fabijan, _m._ _Slov._ Lat. bean grower, 146
Fabrice, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. mechanic, 147
FABRICIUS, _m._ Lat. mechanic, 147
Fabron, _m._ _Ger._ Lat. mechanic, 147
Fabronio, _m._ _It._ Lat. mechanic, 147
FACHTNA, _m._ _Erse_, 224
_Facio_, _m._ _It._ Lat. good worker, 185
Fadrique, _m._ _Span._ Teu. peace rule, 296
_Faik_, _f._ _Bret._ Kelt. white wave, 270
_Faith_, _f._ _Eng._
_Fanchette_, _f._ _Fr._ Teu. free, 300
_Fanchon_, _f._ _Fr._ Teu. free, 300
_Fanny_, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. free, 300
_Fantik_, _f._ _Bret._ Teu. free, 330
FARABERT, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. travelled splendour, 432
FARAMOND, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. travelled protector, 432
Fardorougha, _m._ _Irish_, Kelt. blind man, 238
_Farghy_, _m._ _Irish_, Kelt. excellent valour, 238
FARGRIM, _Nor._ Teu. travelled Grim, 432
FAROLD, _m._ _Ger._ travelled power, 432
_Farquhar_, _m._ _Scot._ Kelt. manly, 238
FARTHEGN, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. travelled servant, 432
FARULF, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. travelled wolf, 432
FASTBURG, _f._ _Frank._ Teu. firm protection, 421
FASTMANN, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. firm man, 421
FASTMUND, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. firm guard, 421
FASTOLF, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. firm wolf, 421
FASTRADE, _f._ _Fr._ Teu. firm council, 421
FAUSTA, _f._ _It._ Lat. lucky, 163
Faustine, _f._ _m._ _Ger._ Lat. lucky, 163
Faustina, _f._ _It._ Lat. lucky, 163
Faustine, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. lucky, 163
Fausto, _m._ _It._ Lat. lucky, 163
FAUSTUS, _m._ Lat. lucky, 163
_Favour_, _m._ _Eng._ 177
FAXABRANDR, _m._ _Ice._ white hair, 427
FAXI, _m._ _Ice._ hair, 427
_Fazio_, _m._ _It._ Lat. good worker, 185
FEARACHUR, _m._ _Gael._ manly, 237
FEARGHAL, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. man of valour, 237
FEARGHUS, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. man of strength, 237
Feargus, _m._ _Ir._ Kelt. man of strength, 237
Febe, _f._ _It._ Gr. light, 65
Febo, _m._ _Span._ Gr. light, 65
FEBRONIA, _f._ _It._ Lat. 176
Federico, _m._ _It._ Teu. peace ruler, 296
Federiga, _f._ _It._ Teu. peace ruler, 296
Federigo, _m._ _It._ Teu. peace ruler, 296
FEDLEMI, _f._ _Erse_, Kelt. ever good, 256
FEDLIM, _m._ _Irish_, Kelt. good, 256
Fedor, _f._ _m._ _Russ._ Gr. God’s gift, 101
Feeleep, _m._ _Russ._ Gr. lover of horses, 78
FEIDLIM, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. ever good, 256
Feidrik, _Bret._ Teu. peace ruler, 296
FEITHFAILGE, _f._ _Erse_, Kelt. honeysuckle ringlets, 224
Felice, _m._ _It._ Lat. happy, 163
Felicia, _f._ _Eng._ happy, 163
Felicidad, _f._ _Span._ Lat. happiness, 163
Felicidade, _f._ _Port._ Lat. happiness, 163
Felicie, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. happy, 163
Felicità, _f._ _It._ Lat. happiness, 163
Felicité, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. happiness, 163
Feliks, _m._ _Russ._ Lat. happy, 163
Felim, _m._ _Irish_, Kelt. ever good, 163, 257
Felimy, _m._ _Irish_, Kelt. ever good, 163, 257
Felipa, _f._ _Port._ Gr. lover of horses, 79
Felipe, _f._ _m._ _Span._ Gr. lover of horses, 79
Felipinho, _m._ _Port._ Gr. lover of horses, 79
Felipo, _m._ _Span._ Gr. lover of horses, 79
Felippe, _m._ _Span._ Gr. lover of horses, 79
Felise, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. happy, 163
FELIX, _m._ _Fr._ _Eng._ _Span._ _Slov._ Lat. happy, 163, 257
Feliz, _m._ _Port._ Lat. happy, 163
Fenella, _f._ _Scot._ Kelt. white shouldered, 245
_Feo_, _m._ _It._ Heb. gift of the Lord, 15
Feodor, _m._ _Russ._ Gr. God’s gift, 101
Feodora, _f._ _Russ._ Gr. God’s gift, 101
Feodosia, _m._ _Russ._ Gr. God given, 103
Feoris, _m._ _Erse_, Gr. stone, 108
_Ferabras_, _m._ _Fr._ Kelt. strong arm, 234
FERAHBALD, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. prince of life, 433
FERAHMUND, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. protection of life, 433
Ferdinand, _m._ _Ger._ _Fr._ _Eng._ Teu. adventuring life, 433
Ferdinanda, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. adventuring life, 433
Ferdinandine, _f._ _Fr._ Teu. adventuring life, 433
Ferdinando, _m._ _It._ Teu. adventuring life, 433
Ferdynand, _m._ _Pol._ Teu. adventuring life, 433
_Ferencz_, _m._ _Hung._ Teu. free, 300
Ferghal, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. man of strength, 237
FERHONANTHS, _m._ _Goth._ Teu. adventuring life, 433
Fergus, _m._ _Scot._ Kelt. man’s strength, 237
Fergusiana, _f._ _Scot._ Kelt. man’s strength, 237
_Feriga_, _f._ _It._ Teu. peace ruler, 296
_Ferko_, _m._ _Hung._ Teu. free, 300
Fernanda, _f._ _Span._ Teu. adventuring life, 433
Fernando, _m._ _It._ Teu. adventuring life, 433
Ferrand, _m._ _Prov._ Teu. adventuring life, 433
Ferrante, _m._ _It._ Teu. adventuring life, 433
_Ferry_, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. peace ruler, 296
FESTUS, _m._ _Lat._ 224
_Ffraid_, _f._ _Welsh_, Kelt. fiery dart, 236
FIACHRA, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. eagle, 252
Fiacre, _m._ _Fr._ Kelt. eagle, 252
FIAMMA, _f._ _It._ Lat. 451
_Fieko_, _m._ _Fris_. Teu. peace rule, 296
_Fiddy_, _f._ _Ir._ Teu. peace strength, 296
_Fidrik_, _m._ _Lus._ Teu. peace rule, 296
_Fiechen_, _f._ _Ger._ Gr. wisdom, 107
_Fieke_, _f._ _Ger._ Gr. wisdom, 107
_Fifine_, _f._ _Fr._ Heb. addition, 23
_Filep_, _m._ _Hung._ Gr. horse lover, 79
Filibert, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. bright will, 316
Filiberto, _m._ _It._ Teu. bright will, 316
Filikitata, _f._ _Russ._ Lat. happiness, 163
Filip, _m._ _Swed._ _Slav._ _Wall._ Gr. lover of horses, 79
_Filippa_, _f._ _It._ Gr. lover of horses, 79
Filippino, _m._ _It._ Gr. lover of horses, 79
Filippo, _m._ _It._ Gr. lover of horses, 79
Filomena, _f._ _It._ daughter of light, 207
FINABHOR, _f._ _Erse_, Kelt. fair eyelids, 172
FINBIL, _f._ _Erse_, Kelt. white blossom, 172
_Finan_, _m._ _Irish_, Kelt. fair offspring, 244
_Finbo_, _f._ _Nor._ Kelt. white bow, 244
FINDATH, _f._ _Erse_, Kelt. fair colour, 245
FINDELVH, _f._ _Erse_, Kelt. fair face, 245
_Fineen_, _m._ _Irish_, Kelt. fair offspring, 245
_Finella_, _f._ _Irish_, Kelt. fair shoulders, 245
_Finette_, _f._ _Fr._ Heb. addition, 23
Fingal, _m._ _Scot._ Kelt. white stranger, 244
FINGHIN, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. fair offspring, 244
_Finian_, _m._ _Irish_, _Erse_, Kelt. fair offspring, 244
FINN, _m._ _Nor._ Kelt. white, 244
FINNA, _f._ _Nor._ Kelt. white, 244
FINNBOGI, _m._ _Nor._ Kelt. white bow, 244
FINNGARD, _m._ _Nor._ Kelt. Nor. white defence, 244
FINNGEIR, _Nor._ Kelt. Nor. white spear, 244
_Finni_, _m._ _Ice._ Kelt. white, 245
_Finnkatla_, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. white kettle, 245
FINNKETIL, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. white kettle, 245
_Finnkjell_, _m._ _Nor._ Kelt. Nor. white kettle, 245
FINNLEIK, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. Finn’s sport, 245
FINNVARDR, _m._ _Nor._ Kelt. Nor. Finn’s guard, 245
FINNVIDR, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. Finn’s wood, 245
FINSCOTH, _f._ _Erse_, Kelt. white blossom, 245
_Fintan_, _Irish_, Kelt. white, 240
_Finvola_, _f._ _Irish_, Kelt. white shoulders, 245
FIONN, _m._ _Gael._ Kelt. white, 244
FIONNAGAL, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. white, 245
FIONNGHAL, _m._ _Gael._ Kelt. white stranger, 245
FIONNGHALA, _f._ _Erse_, Kelt. white shouldered, 245
Fiore, _f._ _Ital._ Lat. flower, 171
Fiorentino, _m._ _It._ Lat. flourishing, 171
_Fithil_, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. 171
FJORLEIF, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. relic of life, 434
FLAVIA, _f._ _It._ Lat. yellow, 147
Flavian, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. yellow, 147
Flavianus, _m._ Lat. yellow, 147
Flavilla, _f._ Lat. yellow, 147
Flavio, _m._ _It._ Lat. yellow, 147
FLAVIUS, _m._ Lat. yellow, 147
_Flidrik_, _m._ _Breton_, Teu. peace rule, 296
_Flipote_, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. horse lover, 79
_Flobert_, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. wise splendour, 425
_Floberte_, _f._ _Ir._ Teu. wise splendour, 425
FLORA, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. flowers, 171
Flore, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. flowers, 171
Florence, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. flourishing, 171
Florence, _m._ _Ir._ Lat. flourishing, 171
Florentin, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. flourishing, 171
Florentine, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. flourishing, 171
FLORENTIUS, _m._ Lat. flourishing, 171
Florentz, _m._ _Ger._ Lat. flourishing, 171
_Florette_, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. flowers, 171
Florian, _m._ _Ger._ Lat. flowery, 171
Florie, _f._ _Gael._ Lat. flowery, 171
_Flory_, _f._ _Scot._ Lat. flowers, 171
Foka, _m._ _Russ._ Gr. a Phocian, 200
Fokke, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. people’s guard, 371
Folkart, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. people’s guard, 371
FOLKER, _m._ _Ger._ Prov. people’s guard, 371
Folkwar, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. people’s greatness, 371
Folko, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. people’s guard, 371
FOLKPERAHT, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. people’s brightness, 371
FOLKWART, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. people’s guard, 371
FOLKWINE, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. people’s friend, 371
FOLRAD, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. people’s council, 371
FOLKRICH, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. people’s ruler, 371
_Foma_, _m._ _Russ._ Aram, twin, 22
_Fomida_, _f._ _Russ._ Aram, twin, 22
FORTUNATUS, _m._ _Lat._ fortune, 176
Fortune, _f._ _Eng._ 176
Fortunio, _m._ _Span._ Lat. fortunate, 176
Foulques, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. people’s guard, 371
_Fouques_, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. people’s guard, 371
Franc, _m._ _Slov._ Teu. free, 299
Frances, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. free, 299
Francesca, _f._ _Ital._ Teu. free, 299
FRANCESCO, _m._ _Ital._ Teu. free, 299
_Francie_, _m._ _Scot._ Teu. free, 299
_Francilo_, _m._ _Span._ Teu. free, 299
_Francina_, _f._ _Dutch_, Teu. free, 299
Francis, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. free, 299
Francisca, _f._ _Port._ _Span._ Teu. free, 300
Francisco, _m._ _Port._ _Span._ Teu. free, 299
Franciscus, _m._ _Lat._ Teu. free, 299
_Francisek_, _m._ _Slov._ Teu. free, 299
Francisk, _m._ _Wall._ Teu. free, 299
_Franciska_, _f._ _Dan._ Teu. free, 300
_Franciske_, _f._ _Slov._ _Ger._ Teu. free, 300
_Franciskus_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. free, 300
_Francisque_, _f._ _Fr._ Teu. free, 300
_Francisquinho_, _m._ _Port._ Teu. free, 300
Franciszek, _m._ _Pol._ Teu. free, 300
_Franck_, _m._ _Pol._ Teu. free, 300
_Franciszka_, _f._ _Pol._ Teu. free, 300
_Franco_, _m._ _It._ Teu. free, 300
François, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. free, 300
Françoise, _f._ _Fr._ Teu. free, 299
_Francyntje_, _f._ _Dutch_, Teu. free, 300
_Franek_, _m._ _Pol._ Teu. free, 300
_Franica_, _f._ _Slov._ Teu. free, 300
_Franja_, _f._ _Slov._ Teu. free, 300
_Franjo_, _m._ _Slov._ Teu. free, 300
_Frank_, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. free, 300
_Frankel_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. free, 300
_Franko_, _m._ _O. Ger._ Teu. free, 300
_Frans_, _m._ _Swed._ Teu. free, 300
_Franse_, _m._ _Bret._ Teu. free, 300
_Franseza_, _f._ _Bret._ Teu. free, 300
_Fransje_, _f._ _Dutch_, Teu. free, 300
Franta, _m._ _Span._ Teu. free lord, 300
_Frantisek_, _f._ _Bohm._ Teu. free, 300
_Frantiska_, _f._ _Bohm._ Teu. free, 300
_Franulka_, _f._ _Pol._ Teu. free, 300
_Franusia_, _f._ _Pol._ Teu. free, 300
_Franz_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. free, 300
_Franzisk_, _m._ _Russ._ Teu. free, 300
_Franziska_, _f._ _Russ._ Teu. free, 300
Franziske, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. free, 300
FREAVINE, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. free friend, 295
_Fred_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. peace ruler, 296
_Freddy_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. peace ruler, 296
Fredegonde, _f._ _Fr._ Teu. peace war, 295
FREDEGUNT, _f._ _Frank._ Teu. peace war, 295
Frederic, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. peace ruler, 296
Frederica, _f._ _Eng._ _Span._ _Port._ Teu. peace ruler, 296
Frederick, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. peace ruler, 296
Frederico, _m._ _Port._ Teu. peace ruler, 296
Frederigo, _m._ _Span._ Teu. peace ruler, 296
_Frederik_, _m._ _Dan._ Teu. peace ruler, 296
Frederigue, _f._ _m._ _Fr._ Teu. peace ruler, 296
Fredewolt, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. peace power, 295
_Fredi_, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. peace power, 297
Frediswid, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. peace strength, 295
_Fredli_, _m._ _Swiss_, Teu. peace ruler, 296
_Fredreg_, _m._ _Norm._ Ger. peace ruler, 296
Fredrik, _m._ _Swed._ Teu. peace rule, 296
Fredrika, _f._ _Swed._ Teu. peace rule, 296
_Freerik_, _m._ _Dutch_, Ger. peace ruler, 296
_Freidank_, _m._ _Ger._ Ger. free thought, 295
_Freimund_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. free protection, 295
_Freimuth_, _m._ _Ger._ Ger. free courage, 295
_Frek_, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. peace ruler, 296
Fremont, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. peace protection, 295
Frenz, _m._ _Dutch_, Teu. free, 296
FREODHORIC, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. peace ruler, 296
_Frerk_, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. peace rule, 296
FRETHESANTHA, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. strength of peace, 295
Frewen, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. free friend, 295
_Frewissa_, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. strength of peace, 295
FREYGERDUR, _Ice._ Teu. free home, 295
Fridbald, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. peace prince, 295
Fridbert, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. peace bright, 295
Fridburg, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. peace protection, 295
FRIDEGER, _f._ _m._ _Ger._ Teu. spear of peace.
Frider, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. peace warrior, 297
Friderik, _m._ _Slov._ Teu. peace ruler, 296
Fridgerda, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. peace guard, 297
Fridgund, _f._ _Frank._ Teu. peace war, 297
FRIDHELM, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. peace helmet, 297
FRIDHERI, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. peace warrior, 297
FRIDHREKR, _m._ _O. Nor._ Teu. peace ruler, 296
Fridiswid, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. peace strength, 295
FRIDLEIFR, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. peace relic, 295
_Fridli_, _m._ _Swiss_, Teu. peace rule, 295
_Fridlib_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. peace relic, 295
FRIDLINA, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. peace snake, 295
_Fridman_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. peace man, 295
_Fridmar_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. peace fame, 295
FRIDMUND, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. peace protection, 295
_Frido_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. peace, 295
Fridold, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. peace power, 295
FRIDOLF, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. peace wolf, 295
Fridolin, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. peace, 295
Fridrad, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. peace council, 295
Fridrada, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. peace councillor, 295
Fridrich, _m._ _Russ._ _Ger._ Teu. peace ruler, 295
Fridrik, _m._ _Hung._ Teu. peace ruler, 296
Fridrike, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. peace ruler, 296
FRIDRIKR, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. peace ruler, 295
Fridrun, _f._ peace wisdom, 295
FRIDUHERI, _m._ _O. Ger._ Teu. peace warrior, 295
FRIDULF, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. peace wolf, 295
_Friedel_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. peace wolf, 295
Friedrich, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. peace rule, 295
_Friko_, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. peace ruler, 296
FRITHIOF, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. free thief, 295
Frithlaf, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. peace relic, 295
FRITHOGAR, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. peace spear, 295
FRITHSWITH, _f._ _A.S._ Teu. peace strength, 295
FRITHWALD, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. peace power, 295
FRITHWOLF, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. peace wolf.
_Fritz_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. peace ruler, 296
_Fritze_, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. peace ruler, 296
_Fritzinn_, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. peace ruler, 296
FRODA, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. wise, 425
Frodbert, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. wise bright, 425
Frodberta, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. wise bright, 425
_Frodine_, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. wise friend, 425
FRODHR, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. wise, 425
FRODWIN, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. wise friend, 425
Froila, _m._ _Span._ Teu. Lord, 295
Fromsais, _m._ _Erse_, Teu. free, 296
Frowin, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. free friend, 295
Fruela, _m._ _Span._ Teu. Lord, 295
_Fryc_, _m._ _Pol._ Teu. peace ruler, 296
Fryderyk, _m._ _Pol._ Teu. peace ruler, 296
Frydryka, _f._ _Pol._ Teu. peace ruler, 296
Fulbert, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. bright resolution, 316
_Fulcher_, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. people’s guard, 371
Fulberto, _m._ _Rom._ Teu. bright resolution, 316
_Fülip_, _m._ _Hung._ Gr. horse lover, 79
Fulk, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. people’s guard, 371
FULKO, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. people’s guard, 371
Fulrad, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. people’s councillor, 371
FULVIA, _f._ _It._ Lat. yellow, 147
Fulvio, _m._ _It._ Lat. yellow, 147
FULVIUS, _m._ Lat. yellow, 147
_Fynballa_, _f._ _Scot._ Kelt. fair shouldered, 245
_Fynvola_, _f._ _Scot._ Kelt. fair shouldered, 245
_Fynwald_, _f._ _Scot._ Kelt. fair shouldered, 245
G
_Gab_, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. hero of God, 55
_Gabe_, _m._ _Bav._ Heb. hero of God, 55
_Gabela_, _m._ _Swiss_, Heb. hero of God, 55
_Gaberjels_, _m._ _Lett._ Heb. hero of God, 55
_Gaberl_, _m._ _Bav._ Heb. hero of God, 55
Gabilo, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. giver, 379
_Gabor_, _m._ _Hung._ Heb. hero of God, 55
Gabriel, _m._ _Span._ _Eng._ _Fr._ _Ger._ Heb. hero of God, 55
Gabriele, _f._ _Ger._ Heb. hero of God, 55
Gabriella, _f._ _Span._ _It._ _Eng._ Heb. hero of God, 55
Gabrielle, _f._ _Fr._ Heb. hero of God, 55
Gabriello, _m._ _It._ Heb. hero of God, 55
_Gabris_, _Lett._ hero of God, 55
_Gabryell_, _Pol._ hero of God, 55
_Gad_, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. troop, 7
_Gaddo_, _m._ _It._ Pers. treasure master, 211
Gaetan, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. of Gaeta, 132
Gaetano, _m._ _It._ Lat. of Gaeta, 132
Gaius, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. rejoiced, 131
Gajo, _m._ _Slov._ Lat. of Gaeta, 131
GAL, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. valour, 246
Galahad, _Eng._ milky way (?), 263
GALATH, _Welsh_, milky way (?), 263
_Galdfridus_, _m._ _Lat._ Teu. good peace, 287
Galeas, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. helmeted, 163
Galeaz, _m._ _Ger._ Lat. helmeted, 163
Galeazzo, _m._ _It._ Lat. helmeted, 163
Galeran, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. or Lat. healthy or slaughter rule, 317
Galerano, _m._ _It._ Teu. slaughter rule, 317
Galileo, _m._ _It._ Kelt. a cock (?) or Galilean, 163
GALL, _m._ _Gadhael._ Kelt. stranger, 246
Gallo, _m._ _It._ Lat. cock, 163
GALLUS, _m._ Lat. cock, 163
Gandolf, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. progress of a wolf, 434
GANDOLF, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. progress of a wolf, 434
Gandolfo, _m._ _It._ Teu. progress of a wolf, 434
_Ganivre_, _f._ _Eng._ Kelt. white wave, 269
_Ganore_, _f._ _Eng._ Kelt. white wave (?), 269
_Gappe_, _m._ _Bav._ Pers. treasure master, 211
Garalt, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. firm spear, 369
Garcia, _m._ _Span._ Teu. spear, 369
_Garcilasso_, _m._ _Span._ Teu. spear, 369
GARD, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. dwelling place, 322
GARDHAR, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. warrior of his country, 322
GARDBRAND, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. sword of his country, 322
GARDMUND, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. protection of his country, 322
Garibaldo, _m._ _It._ Teu. war prince, 369
_Garnier_, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. protecting warrior, 369
_Garratt_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. spear firm, 368
_Garret_, _m._ Teu. firm spear, 368
Garsendis, _f._ _Span._ Teu. spear strength, 368
_Garsias_, _m._ _Span._ Teu. spear, 368
_Gaso_, _m._ _Ill._ Pers. treasure master, 211
Gaspar, _m._ _Span._ _It._ _Pol._ Pers. treasure master, 211
Gaspard, _m._ _Fr._ Pers. treasure master, 211
Gasparde, _f._ _Fr._ Pers. treasure master, 211
_Gaspardo_, _m._ _It._ Pers. treasure master, 211
Gaspare, _m._ _It._ Pers. treasure master, 211
Gasparro, _m._ _It._ Pers. treasure master, 211
_Gaspe_, _m._ _Bav._ Pers. treasure master, 211
Gaspero, _m._ _It._ Pers. treasure master, 211
Gaston, _m._ _Span._ _Fr._ 453
Gastone, _m._ _Span._ 453
_Gaton_, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. pure, 123
_Gattirsch_, _m._ _Lett._ Teu. God’s firmness, 288
_Gatty_, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. spear maid, 368
_Gaubert_, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. slaughter bright, 316
_Gaucher_, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. slaughter spear, 316
Gaud, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. power, 425
GAUDENTIUS, _m._ Lat. rejoicing, 191
Gaudenzio, _m._ _It._ Lat. rejoicing, 191
_Gaugl_, _m._ _Swiss_, Heb. supplanter, 17
GAUTA, _m._ _Swed._ Teu. Goth. 288
Gautrek, _m._ _Swed._ Teu. Goth’s king, 288
Gautulf, _m._ _Swed._ Teu. Goth wolf, 288
Gavin, _m._ _Scot._ Kelt. hawk of battle, 272
_Gavra_, _f._ _Slav._ Heb. hero of God, 55
_Gavre_, _m._ _Ill._ Heb. hero of God, 55
_Gavriil_, _m._ _Russ._ Heb. hero of God, 55
_Gavril_, _m._ _Ill._ Heb. hero of God, 55
_Gavrila_, _f._ _Slav._ Heb. hero of God, 55
_Gavrilo_, _m._ _Ill._ Heb. hero of God, 55
Gawain, _m._ _Eng._ Kelt. hawk of battle, 232
_Gayorgee_, _m._ _Russ._ Gr. husbandman, 115
_Gebert_, _m._ _O. Ger._ Teu. strong giver, 378
_Gebhard_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. strong giver, 378
_Gebhardine_, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. strong giver, 378
_Gedde_, _f._ _Lett._ Teu. spear maid, 368
_Gedderts_, _m._ _Lett._ Teu. God’s firmness, 286
Gédéon, _m._ _Fr._ Heb. destroyer, 38
_Geert_, _m._ _Dan._ _Lus._ Teu. firm spear, 370
GEIR, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. spear, 332, 370
GEIRMUND, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. spear protection, 370
GEIRNY, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. spear freshness, 370
GEIRRANDUR, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. spear house, 370
GEIRRIDUR, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. spear impulse, 370
GEIRTHIOF, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. spear thief, 370
GEIRBJORG, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. spear protection, 370
GEIRFUSS, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. spear eagerness, 370
GEIRHILDA, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. spear heroine, 370
GEIRLAUG, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. spear drink, 370
GEIRTHRUD, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. spear maid, 370
GEIRULF, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. spear wolf, 370
_Geitult_, goat heroine, 341
_Geitwald_, goat prince, 341
GELASIUS, _m._ _Lat._ Gr. laugher, 113
GELGES, _f._ _Gr._ swan white, 246
_Gellies_, _m._ _Dutch_, Teu. warring, 418
GELIMIR, _m._ _Vandal_, Teu. pledge of fame, 366
GELTFRID, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. pledge of peace, 366
_Geltruda_, _f._ _It._ Teu. spear maid, 368
GEMLORG, _f._ _Er._ gem like, 125
GEMMA, _f._ _It._ gem, 125
Genevieve, _f._ _Fr._ Kelt. (?) white wave, 270
_Genevion_, _f._ _Fr._ Kelt. (?) white wave, 270
Gennaro, _m._ _It._ Lat. of Janus, 170
Genovefa, _f._ _Ger._ Kelt. (?) white wave, 270
Genoveffa, _f._ _It._ Kelt. white wave, 270
Genovefica, _f._ _Ill._ Kelt. white wave (?), 270
Genoveva, _f._ _Port._ Kelt. white wave (?), 270
Genserich, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. spear ruler, 369
Geoffrey, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. God’s peace, 288
Geoffroi, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. God’s peace, 288
_Geordie_, _m._ _Scot._ Gr. husbandman, 115
Georg, _m._ _Ger._ _Dan._ Gr. husbandman, 115
George, _m._ _Eng._ Gr. husbandman, 115
Georges, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. husbandman, 115
_Georget_, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. husbandman, 115
_Georgeta_, _f._ _Port._ Gr. husbandman, 115
_Georgette_, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. husbandman, 115
_Georgey_, _m._ _Eng._ Gr. husbandman, 115
Georgiana, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. husbandman, 115
_Georgie_, _m._ _Wall._ Gr. husbandman, 115
_Georgij_, _m._ _Russ._ Gr. husbandman, 115
Georgina, _f._ _Eng._ _Ital._ Gr. husbandman, 115
Georgine, _f._ _Fr._ _Ger._ Gr. husbandman, 115
Georgio, _m._ _Ital._ Gr. husbandman, 115
GEORGIOS, _m._ _Gr._ husbandman, 115
Georgius, _m._ _N.L.D._ Gr. husbandman, 115
_Georgy_, _m._ _Eng._ Gr. husbandman, 115
Gerald, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. spear power, 369
Geraldine, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. spear power, 369
Gerard, _m._ _Eng._ _Fr._ Teu. spear firm, 369
_Gerardo_, _m._ _Rom._ Teu. spear firm, 369
_Gerart_, _m._ _O. Fr._ Teu. spear firm, 369
Gerasimus, _m._ _Lat._ Gr. venerable, 113
_Gerand_, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. spear firm, 369
Gerberge, _f._ _Fr._ Teu. spear protection, 369
Gerbert, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. spear bright, 369
GERBOLD, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. war prince, 369
GERDA, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. enclosure, 322
_Gerde_, _f._ _Lett._ Teu. spear maid, 322, 368
GERDRUD, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. spear maid, 368
GERDUR, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. enclosure, 322
_Gerel_, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. spear power, 368
_Gerelt_, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. spear power, 369
Geremia, _m._ _Ital._ Heb. exalted of the Lord, 49
_Gerga_, _m._ _Ill._ Gr. watchman, 114
_Gergeli_, _m._ _Hung._ Gr. watchman, 114
_Gergen_, _m._ _Slov._ Gr. watchman, 114
GERHARD, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. spear firm, 369
_Gerhardine_, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. firm spear, 369
GERHOLD, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. firm spear, 369
_Gerkis_, _m._ _Lett._ Teu. firm spear, 369
Gerlach, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. spear sport, 370
Gerlib, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. spear relic, 370
Germain, _m._ _Eng._ _Fr._ Lat. German, 202
Germaine, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. German, 202
Germana, _f._ _Span._ Lat. German, 203
Germann, _m._ _Ger._ Lat. German, 203
Germano, _m._ _Ital._ Lat. German, 203
GERMANUS, _m._ Lat. German, 203
GERMAR, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. spear fame, 369
GERNOT, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. spear compulsion, 370
_Gero_, _m._ _Hung._ Gr. watchman, 114
_Gero_, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. divine wisdom, 286
_Gerold_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. spear firm, 369
GEROLF, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. spear wolf, 370
Geronimo, _m._ _It._ Gr. holy name, 89
Gerontius, _m._ _Lat._ Gr. old man.
GERRAMN, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. spear raven, 369
_Gerritt_, _m._ _Dutch_ Gr., Teu. firm spear, 370
_Gerte_, _f._ _Lett._ Teu. spear maid, 368
_Gerts_, _m._ _Lett._ Teu. firm spear, 369
Gertraud, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. spear maid, 368
Gertrud, _f._ _Hung._ _Ger._ Teu. spear maid, 368
Gertruda, _f._ _It._ _Russ._ Teu. spear maid, 368
Gertrude, _f._ _Eng._ _Fr._ Teu. spear maid, 368
Gertrudes, _f._ _Port._ Teu. spear maid, 368
Gervais, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. war eagerness, 370
GERWALD, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. spear power, 370
Gervas,[1] _m._ _Eng._ Teu. war eagerness, 370
Gervasio, _m._ _It._ Teu. war eagerness, 370
Gervazij, _m._ _Slav._ Teu. war eagerness, 370
Gerwart, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. spear ward, 370
Gerwas, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. war eagerness, 370
GERWIN, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. spear friend, 370
Geta, _m._ _Lat._ Teu. Goth. 289
_Gevald_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. power giver, 379
Gherardo, _m._ _It._ Teu. spear firm, 370
_Ghita_, _f._ _It._ Teu. pearl, 121
Giacinta, _f._ _It._ Gr. purple, 81
Giacinto, _m._ _It._ Gr. purple, 81
Giacobba, _f._ _It._ Heb. supplanter, 17
Giacobbe, _m._ _It._ Heb. supplanter, 17
Giacomma, _f._ _It._ Heb. supplanter, 17
Giacomo, _m._ _It._ Heb. supplanter, 17
Giacopo, _m._ _It._ Heb. supplanter, 17
_Gian_, _m._ _It._ Heb. the Lord’s grace, 45
_Gianbattista_, _m._ _It._ Heb. John the Baptist, 108
_Giankos_, _m._ _M. Gr._ Heb. grace of the Lord, 45
_Giannakes_, _m._ _M. Gr._ Heb. grace of the Lord, 45
_Giannes_, _m._ _M. Gr._ Heb. the Lord’s grace, 45
_Gianina_, _f._ _It._ Heb. the Lord’s grace, 46
_Giannino_, _m._ _It._ Heb. the Lord’s grace, 45
_Gianozzo_, _m._ _It._ Heb. the Lord’s grace, 45
_Gib_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. bright pledge, 366
_Gibichs_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. giver, 344
_Gibbon_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. bright pledge, 366
_Gideon_, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. destroyer, 38
Giertruda, _f._ _Pol._ Teu. spear maid, 368
_Gil_, _m._ _Span._ Lat. downy (?), 149
_Gilavij_, _m._ _Russ._ Lat. cheerful, 191
Gilbert, _m._ _Eng._ _Fr._ _Ger._ Teu. bright pledge, 366
Gilberto, _m._ _It._ Teu. bright pledge, 366
Gilbrid, _m._ _Scot._ Kelt. servant of Bridget, 260
Gilchrist, _m._ _Scot._ Kelt. servant of Christ, 260
Gilcolum, _m._ _Scot._ Kelt. servant of Columba, 260
Gildas, _m._ _Lat._ Kelt. servant of God, 260
_Gileber_, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. bright pledge, 366
_Giles_, _m._ _Eng._ Gr. with the ægis, 79
Gilescop, _m._ _Gael._ Kelt, servant of the bishop, 261
_Gilfred_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. pledge of peace, 366
_Gill_, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. downy, 150
Gilleneaomh, _m._ _Gael._ Kelt, servant of the saints, 260
Gilles, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. with the ægis, 79
Gillespie, _f._ _Scot._ Kelt, bishop’s servant, 260
Gillet, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. downy, 150
_Gilli_, _Flem._ Teu. bright pledge, 336
Gillian, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. downy, 149
_Gillies_, _m._ _Scot._ servant of Jesus, 261
Gilmichel, _m._ _Scot._ Kelt, servant of Michael, 261
_Gilmory_, _f._ _Scot._ Kelt, servant of Mary, 261
Gilmoir, _f._ _Gael._ Kelt, servant of Mary, 261
GILS, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. pledge, 224
_Gilpatrick_, _m._ _Scot._ Kelt, servant of Patrick, 195, 261
Giodoco, _m._ _It._ _Lat._ joyful, 191
_Giofred_, _m._ _It._ Teu. God’s peace, 287
Ginevra, _f._ _Ital._ Kelt, white wave (?), 270
Giobbe, _m._ _It._ Heb. persecuted, 26
_Gioachimo_, _m._ _It._ Heb. the Lord will judge, 38
_Gioachino_, _m._ _It._ Heb. the Lord will judge, 38
GIOLLA BRIGHDE, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt, servant of Bridget, 261
GIOLLA CHRIST, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt, servant of Christ, 261
GIOLLA CHEALLAICH, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. servant of Ceallach, 261
GIOLLA CHOLUIN, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt, servant of Columba, 261
GIOLLA CHOMHGHAILL, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. servant of Congall, 261
GIOLLA DE, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt, servant of God, 261
GIOLLA DUBDH, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt, servant of the black, 261
GIOLLA EARCH, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt, servant of Earc, 261
GIOLLA JOSA, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt, servant of Jesus, 261
GIOLLA-NA-NAOMH, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt, servant of the saints, 261
GIOLLA PHADRIG, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt, servant of Patrick, 195, 261
GIOLLA RHIOBACH, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. servant of the swarthy, 260
Giordano, _m._ _It._ Heb. the Jordan, 39
Giorgio, _Gr._ _It._ husbandman, 115
Gioseffo, _m._ _Ital._ Heb. addition, 23
_Giotto_, _m._ _Ital._ Teu. God’s peace, 288
_Giovachino_, _m._ _Ital._ Heb. the Lord will judge, 38
Giovanna, _f._ _Ital._ Heb. the Lord’s grace, 46
Giovanni, _m._ _Ital._ Heb. the Lord’s grace, 45
_Giovannina_, _f._ _Ital._ Heb. the Lord’s grace, 46
_Giovanino_, _m._ _Ital._ Heb. the Lord’s grace, 45
_Giovanetto_, _m._ _Ital._ Heb. grace of the Lord, 45
Giovio, _m._ _Ital._ Lat. of Jupiter, 169
_Girairs_, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. firm spear, 370
Giralda, _f._ _Ital._ Teu. spear power, 369
Giraldo, _m._ _Ital._ Teu. spear power, 369
Giraldus, _m._ _Lat._ Teu. spear power, 369
Girart, _m._ _Prov._ Teu. firm spear, 369
_Girault_, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. spear power, 369
_Girioel_, _m._ _Welsh_, Gr. lordly, 217
Girroald, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. spear power, 369
Girolamo, _m._ _It._ Lat. holy name, 89
_Girzie_, _f._ _Scot._ Gr. Teu. golden battle maid, 291
_Gisbert_, _f._ _m._ _Ger._ Teu. pledge bright, 366
_Gisborn_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. pledge bear, 366
Gisala, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. pledge, 366
_Gisbert_, _m._ _Dutch_, Teu. bright pledge, 366
_Gisebryht_, _m._ _Dutch_, Teu. bright pledge, 366
GISEL, _f._ _Frank._ Teu. pledge, 366
_Giselbert_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. bright pledge, 366
GISELBERGE, pledged protection, 366
Gisèle, _f._ _Fr._ Teu. pledge, 366
GISELFRID, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. pledge of peace, 366
GISELHART, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. pledge of firmness, 366
GISELHER, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. pledge warrior, 366
GISELHILDA, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. pledged heroine, 366
GISELOF, pledged relic, 366
GISELRICO, _m._ _Goth._ Teu. pledged ruler, 366
Gisla, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. pledge, 366
GISLAUG, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. pledge drink, 366
_Gismonda_, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. conquering protection, 366
_Gismondo_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. conquering protection, 366
_Gissur_, _m._ _Ice._ Teu. pledged warrior, 366
_Gith_, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. happy gift, 379
Giubileo, _m._ _It._ Lat. of the jubilee, 191
_Giuda_, _m._ _It._ Heb. praise, 21
_Giuditta_, _f._ _It._ Heb. praise, 21
_Giuka_, _m._ _Ill._ Gr. husbandman, 116
_Giuko_, _m._ _Ill._ Gr. husbandman, 116
Giulia, _f._ _It._ Lat. downy bearded, 149
Giuliana, _f._ _It._ Lat. downy bearded, 149
Giuliano, _m._ _It._ Lat. downy bearded, 149
Giulietta, _f._ _It._ Lat. downy bearded, 150
Giulio, _m._ _It._ Lat. downy bearded, 149
_Giuro_, _m._ _Ill._ Gr. husbandman, 259
Giuseppe, _m._ _It._ Heb. addition, 23
Giuseppina, _f._ _It._ Heb. addition, 23
Giusta, _f._ _It._ Lat. just, 192
Giustina, _f._ _It._ Lat. just, 192
Giustino, _m._ _It._ Lat. just, 192
Giusto, _m._ _It._ Lat. just, 192
GJAFLAUG, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. liquor giver, 343
GJAVVALD, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. liquor giver, 343
GJERD, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. bond, 240
GJERHILD, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. spear battle maid, 370
GJERLEIV, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. spear relic, 370
GJERMUND, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. spear protection, 370
GJERULV, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. spear wolf, 370
_Gjorghie_, _m._ _Ill._ Gr. husbandman, 115
_Gjosta_, _m._ _Swed._ Teu. Goth’s staff, 289
_Gjuko_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. giver, 116, 379
_Gjuraj_, _m._ _Ill._ Gr. husbandman, 116
_Gjurgjija_, _f._ _Ill._ Gr. husbandman, 116
_Gjurginka_, _f._ _Ill._ Gr. husbandman, 116
_Gjuro_, _m._ _Ill._ Gr. husbandman, 259
_Gjutha_, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. giver, 379
_Gladus_, _m._ _Welsh_, Lat. lame, 146
Gladuse, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. lame, 146
Gladys, _f._ _Welsh_, Lat. lame, 146
GLASAN, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. blue, 106
Glaud, _m._ _Scot._ Lat. lame, 146
GLEB, _m._ _Russ._ Slav. 460
GLOUKERA, _f._ _Russ._ Gr. sweet, 80
Glycère, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. sweet, 80
GLYKERA, _f._ _Gr._ Gr. sweet, 80
_Goçalak_, _m._ _Ill._ Teu. God’s servant, 286
Godafrei, _m._ _Prov._ Teu. God’s peace, 288
Godard, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. divine firmness, 287
Goddard, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. divine firmness, 287
Godebert, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. divine brightness, 288
Godeberta, _f._ _Frank._ Teu. divine brightness, 288
GODEGISEL, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. divine pledge, 288
Godefroi, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. God’s peace, 287
GODEFRIED, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. God’s peace, 287
_Gödel_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. divine peace, 287
_Godeleva_, _f._ _m._ _Lat._ Teu. divine gift, 286
GODELIND, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. good serpent, 288
GODEMAR, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. good fame, 288
Goderic, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. divine king, 286
Godescalco, _m._ _It._ Teu. God’s servant, 286
GODESKALK, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. God’s servant, 286
Godfrey, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. God’s peace, 287
Godfried, _m._ _Holl._ Teu. God’s peace, 287
GODGIFU, _f._ _A.S._ Teu. God’s gift, 286
Godine, _f._ _m._ _Cambrai_, Teu. divine friend, 286
Godinette, _f._ _Cambrai_, Teu. divine friend, 286
Godiva, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. divine gift, 286
_Godon_, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. lame, 146
Godric, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. divine king, 286
Godwin, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. divine friend, 286
GODWINE, _m._ _A. G. S._ Teu. divine friend, 286
GODWULF, _m._ _A. G. S._ Teu. divine wolf, 286
_Goelen_, _f._ _Flemish_, Teu. war, 363
_Goetz_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. God’s peace, 287
Goffredo, _m._ _It._ Teu. God’s peace, 287
_Gogo_, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. pearl, 121
_Gollaa_, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. divine sea, 286
GOLUBICA, _f._ _Ill._ Slav. dove, 187
_Gombert_, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. war prince, 363
Gonçalo, _m._ _Port._ Teu. 363
_Gondaberge_, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. war protection, 363
Gondebaldo, _m._ _Span._ Teu. war prince, 363
Gondebault, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. war bold, 363
Gondebert, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. war bright, 363
Gondemir, _m._ _Span._ Teu. war fame, 364
GONDERIC, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. war chief, 364
Gonderico, _m._ _Span._ Teu. war chief, 364
Gondesind, _f._ _Span._ Teu. war strength, 364
GÖNDOL, _f._ _m._ _Nor._ Teu. good, 364
Gondoline, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. war serpent, 364
GONDOMAR, _m._ _Span._ Teu. war fame, 364
Gondomire, _m._ Span. war fame, 364
_Gonorij_, _m._ _Russ._ Lat. honoured, 394
Gonsalve, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. war wolf, 363
Gonsalvo, _m._ _It._ Teu. war wolf, 363
_Gonstan_, _m._ _Bret._ Teu. hill stone, 295
_Gonthery_, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. war rule, 363
Gonthier, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. war army, 363
Gonthere, _m._ _It._ Teu. war army, 363
Gontrada, _f._ _Span._ Teu. war council, 364
Gontram, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. war raven, 364
_Gönz_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. war, 363
Gonzalo, _m._ _Span._ Teu. war wolf, 361
Gonzalve, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. war wolf, 363
_Goratij_, _m._ _Russ._ Lat. watchman, 114, 148
_Gorm_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. war serpent, 363
_Gormfhlait_, _f._ _Erse_, Teu. blue lady, 253
Gospatrick, _m._ _Scot._ Gael. Lat. boy of Patrick, 195
_Gospava_, _f._ _Ill._ Slav. lady.
_Gosta_, _m._ _Swed._ Teu. Goth’s staff, 289
Gostanza, _f._ _Span._ Lat. firm, 162
GOSTOMIL, _m._ _Ill._ Slave, hospitality, 439
_Gotardo_, _m._ _It._ Lat. good firm, 287
Gotfryd, _m._ _Pol._ Teu. God’s peace, 288
_Goton_, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. pearl, 121
GOTTFRIED, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. God’s peace, 288
Gottgabe, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. God’s gift, 288
Gottgetreu, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. faithful to God, 288
GOTTHARD, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. divine firmness, 286
Gotthelf, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. God’s help, 288
Gotthold, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. God’s power, 288
GOTTLEIP, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. remains of divinity, 288
Gottlieb, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. God’s love, 288
Gottlob, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. God’s praise, 288
GOTTSCHALK, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. Gods servant, 286
Gottseimitdir, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. God be with thee, 288, 468
GOTTWALD, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. God’s power, 288
_Goule_, _f._ _Brabant_, Teu. war, 363
_Govert_, _m._ _Dutch_, Teu. God’s peace, 288
GOZSTAV, _m._ _Swed._ Teu. Goth’s staff, 289
GRACE, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. grace, 195
Gracie, _f._ _Scot._ Lat. grace, 195
Gradlon, _m._ _Bret._ Kelt. love, 250
GRAIDHNE, _f._ _Erse_, Kelt. love, 250
GRAINE, _f._ _m._ _Irish_, Kelt. love, 195, 249
Gratianus, _m._ _Lat._ thanks, 195
Graziella, _f._ _It._ Lat. thanks, 195
Grazian, _m._ _It._ Lat. thanks.
Greagair, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. watchman, 114
_Gredel_, _f._ _Bav._ Gr. pearl, 121
_Greg_, _m._ _Scot._ Kelt. fierce, 114
_Grega_, _m._ _Slov._ Gr. watchman, 114
Gregoire, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. watchman, 114
Gregor, _m._ _Ger._ Gr. watchman, 114
Gregori, _m._ _It._ Gr. watchman, 114
GREGORIOS, _m._ _Gr._ Gr. watchman, 114
_Gregorius_, _m._ _Lat._ Gr. watchman, 114
Gregory, _m._ _Eng._ Gr. watchman, 114
_Gregos_, _m._ _Dan._ Gr. watchman, 114
Gregur, _m._ _Slov._ Gr. watchman, 114
_Gregus_, _m._ _Dan._ _Ger._ Gr. watchman, 256
_Greis_, _m._ _Swed._ Gr. watchman, 114
GREIS, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. stone, 349
_Grel_, _f._ _Bav._ Gr. pearl, 121
_Greszkus_, _m._ _Lith._ Gr. watchman, 114
_Greta_, _f._ _Lith._ Gr. pearl, 121
_Gretchen_, _f._ _Ger._ Eng. pearl, 121
_Grete_, _f._ _Ger._ Gr. pearl, 121
_Gretel_, _f._ _Bav._ Gr. pearl, 121
_Grethe_, _f._ _Ger._ Gr. pearl, 121
_Gretje_, _f._ _Dutch_, Gr. pearl, 121
_Gretli_, _f._ _Swiss_, Gr. pearl, 121
Gries, watchman, 114
Griffith, _m._ _Welsh_, Lat. ruddy, 167
Grifone, _m._ _It._ Lat. ruddy, 167
_Grigge_, _m._ _Lett._ Gr. watchman, 114
Grigorie, _m._ _Wall._ Gr. watchman, 114
Grigorij, _m._ _Russ._ Gr. watchman, 114
Grigory, _m._ _Ill._ Gr. watchman, 114
GRIM, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. helmeted, 293
Grimaldo, _m._ _It._ Teu. fierce power, 293
Grimaltos, _m._ _Span._ Teu. fierce power, 293
_Grimaud_, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. fierce power, 293
_Grimar_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. helmeted warrior, 293
GRIMBALD, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. fierce power, 293
GRIMBERT, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. helmeted warrior, 293
GRIMHERI, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. helmeted warrior, 293
GRIMHILD, _f._ _m._ _Nor._ Teu. helmeted battle maid, 293
GRIMKETYL, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. hidden cauldron, 293
_Grimkjell_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. hidden cauldron, 293
GRIMWALD, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. helmeted power, 293
GRIMULF, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. helmeted wolf, 293
_Grischa_, _f._ _Russ._ Gr. watchman, 114
GRIOTGARD, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. stone maid, 349
_Grischha_, _f._ _Russ._ Gr. watchman, 115
Griselda, _f._ _It._ _Eng._ Gr. Teu. stone heroine, 349
Grisostomo, _m._ _It._ Gr. golden mouth, 43
Grissel, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. Teu. stone heroine, 349
Gristovalo, _m._ _It._ Gr. Christ bearer, 106
_Gritty_, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. pearl, 121
Grizel, _f._ _Scot._ _Gr._ Teu. stone heroine, 349
GROZDANA, _f._ _Serv._ Slav. rich in grapes, 438
GRUACH, _f._ _Gael._ Kelt. hairy.
Gruffin, _m._ _Welsh_, Lat. ruddy, 167
Gruffydd, _m._ _Welsh_, Lat. ruddy, 167
_Grunja_, _f._ _Russ._ Lat. born with feet foremost, 156
_Gruscha_, _f._ _Russ._ Lat. born with feet foremost, 156
_Grygallis_, _m._ _Lett._ Gr. watchman, 113
_Gryta_, _f._ _Lith._ Gr. pearl, 121
Grzegorz, _m._ _Pol._ Gr. watchman, 114
Guadalupe, _f._ _m._ _Span._ 371
_Gualberto_, _m._ _It._ Teu. slaughter bright, 317
Gualter, _m._ _Port._ Teu. powerful army, 425
Gualthier, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. powerful army, 425
Gualtiero, _m._ _It._ Teu. powerful army, 425
Guarin, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. spear friend, 369
Guarino, _m._ _It._ Teu. spear friend, 369
Guarniero, _m._ _It._ Teu. protecting warrior, 369
Guérin, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. protecting warrior, 369
_Guccio_, _m._ _It._ Teu. home rule, 310
Guda, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. divine, 285
GUDBIORG, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. divine protection, 286
GUDBRAND, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. divine sword, 286
GUDFINN, divine whiteness, 286
GUDFINNA, divine whiteness, 286
GUDHR, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. divine, 286
Gudiskako, servant of God, 286
GUDLEIF, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. divine relic, 286
GUDLEIFR, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. divine relic, 286
GUDLEIK, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. divine praise, 286
GUDMUND, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. divine protection, 286
GUDNY, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. divine freshness, 286
GUDOLV, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. divine wolf, 286
GUDRID, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. divine impulse, 286
GUDRIDUR, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. divine impulse, 286
GUDRUNA, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. divine wisdom, 286
Gudule, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. war, 364
GUDVAR, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. divine prudence, 286
GUDVEIG, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. divine liquor, 286
_Guelfo_, _m._ _It._ Teu. wolf, 335
Guendolen, _f._ _Eng._ Kelt, white browed, 268
GUENNEAN, _f._ _Bret._ Kelt, angel, 270
Guennever, _f._ _Eng._ Kelt, white lady, 268
Guennolé, _f._ _Bret._ Kelt, white, 268
Guennolà, _f._ _Bret._ Kelt, white, 268
_Guerin_, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. war friend, 369
Guglielma, _f._ _It._ Teu. helmet of resolution, 315
Guglielmo, _m._ _It._ Teu. helmet of resolution, 315
_Gui_, _m._ _Fr._ Kelt, sense, 228
_Guides_, _m._ _Fr._ Kelt, sense,228
_Guido_, _m._ _It._ _Eng._ Kelt, sense, 228
_Guidon_, _m._ _Fr._ Kelt. sense (?), 228
_Guidone_, _m._ _It._ Kelt. sense (?), 228
_Guiette_, _f._ _Fr._ Kelt. sense (?), 228
Guilbaldo, _m._ _Port._ Teu. bold prince, 314
Guilhermo, _m._ _Port._ Teu. helmet of resolution, 315
_Guillarn_, _m._ _Bret._ Teu. will helmet, 315
_Guillerm_, _m._ _Bret._ Teu. will helmet, 315
_Guillym_, _m._ _Welsh_, Teu. will helmet, 315
Guillaume, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. helmet of resolution, 315
Guillaumette, _f._ _Fr._ Teu. helmet of resolution, 315
Guillaumine, _f._ _Fr._ Teu. helmet of resolution, 315
Guillene, _m._ _Prov._ Teu. helmet of resolution, 315
Guillena, _f._ _Prov._ Teu. will helmet, 315
Guillermo, _m._ _Span._ Teu. helmet of resolution, 315
_Guillette_, _f._ _Fr._ Teu. helmet of resolution, 315
Guillibaud, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. resolute prince, 315
_Guillot_, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. helmet of resolution, 315
Guirauld, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. spear power, 369
Guiscard, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. wise war, 321
Guiscardo, _m._ _It._ Teu. wise war, 321
_Gulla_, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. divine sea, 286
_Gullaug_, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. divine liquor, 286
_Gullbrand_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. war sword, 286
_Gulleik_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. war sport, 286
_Gulleiv_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. divine relic, 286
_Gulmar_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. war greatness, 364
_Gulmund_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. divine protection, 286
_Gumpert_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. war splendour, 364
GUNBJORG, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. war protection, 364
GUNBJORN, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. war bear, 364
Gunborg, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. war protection, 364
GUNDAHARI, _m._ _O. Ger._ Teu. warrior, 364
GUNDEKAR, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. war spear, 364
GUNDLIN, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. war serpent, 364
Gundolf, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. war wolf, 364
_Gundrada_, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. war council, 364
Gundred, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. war council (?), 364
GUNDRIDUR, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. war impulse, 364
Gundula, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. war, 364
GUNDULF, _m._ _Norm._ Teu. war wolf, 364
GUNDVAR, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. war prudence, 364
_Gunhild_, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. war heroine, 364
_Guni_, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. divine freshness, 286
GUNLAUG, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. war liquor, 364
GUNLEIF, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. war love, 364
GUNLEIK, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. war sport, 364
Gunnar, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. war, 364
GUNNDERICH, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. war ruler, 364
GUNNHILDUR, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. war maid, 364
_Gunnilda_, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. war battle maid, 364
GUNNOLFR, _m._ _Ice._ Teu. war wolf, 364
Gunnora, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. war protection, 364
Gunnrod, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. war council, 364
GUNNSTEIN, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. war stone, 364
GUNNR, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. war, 364
GUNNULV, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. war wolf, 364
GUNNWALD, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. war power, 364
Gunthar, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. warrior, 362
_Gunthe_, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. war, 362
GUNTHRAM, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. war raven, 363
GUNTRUD, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. war maid, 364
_Gunula_, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. war, 364
Guossalvo, _m._ _Prov._ Teu. war wolf, 264
_Gurn_, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. divine wisdom, 286
Gurth, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. bond, 322
_Guru_, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. divine wisdom, 286
Gushtasp, _m._ _Pers._ Zend. possessing horses, 137
_Gussie_, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. venerable, 158
_Gust_, _m._ _Dutch_, Teu. Goth’s staff, 289
_Gusta_, _f._ _Lus._ _Ger._ Lat. venerable, 158
_Guste_, _f._ _Lus._ _Ger._ Lat. venerable, 158
_Gustel_, _f._ _Ger._ Lat. venerable, 158
GUSTAF, _m._ _Swed._ Teu. Goth’s staff, 289
Gustav, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. Goth’s staff, 289
Gustave, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. Goth’s staff, 289
Gustavo, _m._ _Rom._ Teu. Goth’s staff, 289
Gustavus, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. Goth staff, 289
_Gusts_, _m._ _Lett._ Teu. Goth’s staff, 289
_Gustylka_, _f._ _Lus._ Lat. venerable, 157
Gutha, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. war, 286
Guthlac, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. war sport, 286
GUTHORM, _m._ _Dan._ Teu. war serpent, 286
Guthrum, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. war serpent, 286
_Gutmar_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. war strength, 286
Guttiere, _m._ _Span._ Teu. powerful warrior, 286
_Guttorm_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. war serpent, 286
Guy, _m._ _Eng._ Kelt. sense (?), 228
Guyon, _m._ _Fr._ Kelt. sense, 228
Guzman, _m._ _Span._ Teu. good man, 288
GWALCHMAI, _m._ _Welsh_, Kelt. hawk of battle, 272
GWALLAWG, _m._ _Welsh_, Kelt. stammerer, or hawk, 272
_Gwirydd_, _m._ _Welsh_, Kelt. 281
GWEN, _f._ _Welsh_, Kelt. white, 268
GWENDOLEN, _f._ _Welsh_, Kelt. white browed, 265
Gwendolen, _m._ _Welsh_, Kelt. white browed, 268
GWENEAL, _f._ _Bret._ Kelt. white angel, 269
GWENHWYFAR, _f._ _Welsh_, Kelt. white wave, 269
GWENFREWI, _f._ _Welsh_, Kelt. white stream, 269
GWENWYNWYN, _m._ _Welsh_, Kelt. thrice fair (?), 269
Gwethalyn, _m._ _Welsh_, Lat. of life, 197
GWIAWN, _m._ _Welsh_, Kelt. sense, 228
GWIAWN, _m._ _Cym._ Kelt. sense (?), 228
Gwric, _m._ _Welsh_, Gr. Sunday child, 217
Gwril, _m._ _Welsh_, Gr. lordly, 217
GWRTHEYRN, _m._ _Welsh_, excelling king, 238
GWYDYR, _m._ _Welsh_, Kelt. wrathful, 363
_Gwynaeth_, _f._ _Eng._ Kelt. bliss, 271
_Gyda_, _f._ _Nor._ gift, 379
_Gyllys_, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. warring, 363
Gyneth, _f._ _Eng._ Kelt. blessed, 271
GYRTHR, _m._ _Dan._ Teu. bond, 322
_Gytha_, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. gift, 379
_Gysbert_, _m._ _Dutch_, Teu. bright pledge, 366
-----
Footnote 1:
Sts. Gervasius and Protasius were martyrs disinterred by St. Ambrose,
at Milan. The name is therefore probably from a classical source,
unless it was originally that of a Teutonic slave.
H
Haagan, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. high kin, 365
HAAKATHA, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. 365
_Haake_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. high kin, 365
HAAKEN, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. high kin, 365
HAAMUND, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. high protection, 365
HAAVARD, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. high protection, 365
Habbakuk, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. embracing, 5
_Habor_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. dexterous brightness, 365
Hacco, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. high kin, 365
Häcke, _m._ _Swiss_, Teu. axe (?)
Hackel, _m._ _Swiss_, Teu. axe (?)
Haco, _m._ _Lat._ Teu. high kin, 365
Hacon, _m._ _Scot._ Teu. high kin, 365
_Hada_, _f._ _Lus._ Teu. war refuge, 304
_Hadamk_, _m._ _Lus._ Heb. red earth, 10
Hadassah, _Eng._ _Pers._ Heb. myrtle, 57
HADRIANUS, _m._ _Lat._ from Adrian, 157
HADUFRID, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. war peace, 305
HADUFUNS, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. war eagerness, 305
HADULINT, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. war spear, 305
Haduman, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. Hodur’s man, 304
HADUMAR, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. fierce fame, 304
HADUPALD, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. fierce prince, 305
HADUPRACHT, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. war’s brightness, 305
HADUPARC, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. war protection, 305
HADUSWINTH, _f._ _Goth._ Teu. war strength, 305
HADUWALD, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. war prince, 305
HADUWIG, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. war refuge, 305
HAFGRIM, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. sea obscured, 432
HAFLIDE, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. sea wanderer, 432
HAFLOK, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. sea relic, 432
HAFTHOR, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. sea Thor, 432
HAGBART, _Nor._ Teu. dexterous brightness, 365
HAGBRAND, _Nor._ Teu. dexterous sword, 365
Haggai, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. festival of the Lord, 51
HAGAN, _m._ _Dan._ Teu. hook, 365
_Haggy_, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. good, 82
HAGTHOR, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. dexterous Thor, 365
HAIRUWULF, _m._ _Goth._ sword wolf, 351
_Hake_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. high kin, 365
_Hakona_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. high kin, 365
_Hal_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. home rule, 310
_Halbe_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. half, 431
Halbert, _m._ _Scot._ Teu. bright stone, 349
HALBJORG, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. stone protection, 349
Halbdan, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. half Dane, 431
HALBTURING, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. half Thuringian, 431
HALBWALAH, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. stranger, half Wallachian, 431
Haldanus, _m._ _Lat._ Teu. half Dane, 431
HALDIS, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. stone spirit, 349
_Halex_, _m._ _Lus._ Gr. helper of men, 85
_Half_, _m._ _Ice._ Teu. half, 431
HALFDAN, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. half Dane, 431
HALFRID, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. hall fair, 349
_Hali_, _m._ _Kaffir_, Teu. home rule, 310
Halldora, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. stone of Thor, 349
_Halgerd_, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. stone fence, 319
HALGJER, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. stone spear, 319
HALLGRIM, _f._ _m._ _Nor._ Teu. stone helmet, 349
HALLGRIMA, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. stone helmet, 349
Halkatla, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. stone kettle, 349
Hallkjell, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. stone kettle, 349
HALLRID, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. stone vehemence, 349
HALLTHORA, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. stone of Thor, 349
HALLWARD, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. stone guardian, 349
HALVAR, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. stone prudence, 349
_Hameline_, _f._ _Fr._ Teu. home, 309
_Hamish_, _m._ _Gael._ Heb. supplanter, 17
Hamlyn, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. home, 309
Hamo, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. home, 309
_Han_, _m._ _Esth._ _Swiss_, Heb. grace of God, 45
Hananeel, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. grace of God, 46
Hanani, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. grace of God, 46
Hananiah, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. grace of the Lord, 40
_Hançhen_, _f._ _Ger._ Heb. grace of the Lord, 42
_Hancicka_, _f._ _Lus._ Heb. grace, 42
_Handrej_, _m._ _Lus._ Gr. man, 86
_Hanka_, _f._ _Lus._ Heb. grace of the Lord, 46
_Hanke_, _m._ _Netherlands_, Heb. grace of the Lord, 45
_Hanna_, _f._ _Lus._ Heb. grace, 42
Hannah, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. grace, 42
_Hanne_, _f._ _Ger._ Heb. grace of the Lord, 46
_Hanneken_, _m._ _Dutch_, Heb. grace of the Lord, 45
_Hannes_, _m._ _Dutch_, Heb. grace of the Lord, 45
_Hannibal_, _m._ _Eng._ Phœn. grace of Baal, 40
_Hanno_, _m._ _Lat._ _Corn._ Phœn. grace, 40
_Hannyball_, _m._ _Swiss,_ _Ger._ Phœn. grace of Baal, 40
_Hans_, _m._ _Ger._ _Dutch_, Heb. grace of the Lord, 45
_Hanschen_, _m._ _Ger._ Heb. grace of the Lord, 45
_Hansel_, _m._ _Bav._ Heb. grace of the Lord, 45
_Hansli_, _m._ _Swiss_, Heb. grace of the Lord, 45
_Hanto_, _m._ _Lus._ Lat. inestimable, 142
_Hanusia_, _f._ _Pol._ Heb. grace of the Lord, 46
_Hanza_, _f._ _Lus._ Gr. pure, 119
_Hanzyzka_, _f._ _Lus._ Heb. grace, 42
_Happen-to-be_, _m._ _Eng._
Harald, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. warrior power, 417
Harding, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. firm, 421
Hardiknut, _m._ _Dan._ Teu. bold and able, 421
Hardouin, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. firm friend, 421
_Hardrada_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. hardy, 421
HARDWIG, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. hard war, 421
HARDWIN, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. firm friend, 421
_Harenc_, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. army, 416
HARIBERT, bright warrior, 417
_Haring_, _m._ _Dan._ Teu. army, 416
HARIVALD, _m._ warrior power, 410
_Harm_, _m._ _Netherlands_, Gr. holy name, 89
Harold, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. warrior power, 417
_Haroun_, _m._ _Arab._ Heb. mountain, 27
Harriet, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. home rule, 310
Harry, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. home rule, 310
HARTHAGREPA, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. hard grip, 420
HARTHAKNUT, _m._ _Dan._ Teu. firm hill, 420
Hartrich, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. firm ruler, 421
Hartmod, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. firm spirit, 421
Hartmund, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. firm protection, 421
Hartwig, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. firm war, 421
Harvey, _m._ _Eng._ Kelt. bitter, 281
_Hasli_, _m._ _Swiss_, Heb. grace of the Lord, 45
Hasting, _m._ _Dan._ Teu. swift, 402
_Hati_, _f._ _Swiss_, Gr. pure, 123
_Hatili_, _f._ _Swiss_, Gr. pure, 123
HATTO, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. Hessian, 432
_Hatty_, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. home rule, 310
HAUK, _m._ _Ice._ Teu. hawk, 344
HAULEIK, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. sport of thought, 354
HAVISIA, _f._ _Lat._ Teu. war refuge, 305
HAVOYS, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. war refuge, 305
Hawoise, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. war refuge, 305
_Haymo_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. home, 311
_Haymon_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. home, 311
HAZZO, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. Hessian, 422
_Hazzy_, _m._ _Eng._ Zend. venerable king, 57
Hector, _m._ _Eng._ Gr. defender, 74
_Heddo_, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. war, 305
HEDINN, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. fury, 305
Hedviga, _f._ _Hung._ war refuge, 305
Hedviga, _f._ _Fr._ war refuge, 305
Hedwig, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. war refuge, 305
HEERDEGEN, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. warrior blade, 351, 417
_Heimbert_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. home bright, 311
HEIMIRICH, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. home ruler, 309
_Heimrad_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. home council, 309
_Heimrich_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. home rule, 310
_Hein_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. home rule, 310
_Heine_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. home rule, 310
_Heinel_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. home rule, 310
Heinrich, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. home rule, 310
_Heintje_, _m._ _Dutch_, Teu. home rule, 310
_Heintz_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. home rule, 310
_Hejba_, _f._ _Lus._ Heb. life, 11
HEKTOR, _m._ _Ger._ Gr. defender, 74
_Helbing_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. half, 431
Helaine, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. light, 68
Helen, _f._ _Scot._ Gr. light, 68
HELENA, _f._ _Port._ _Eng._ _Span._ Gr. light, 68
Hélène, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. light, 68
_Helenka_, _f._ _Russ._ Gr. light, 68
Helewise, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. famous holiness, 405
Helfrich, _m._ _Ger._ helping ruler, 420
HELGA, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. holy, 403
Helie, _m._ _Fr._ Heb. God the Lord, 36
Helier, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. cheerful, 280
HELGI, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. holy, 403
Heliodorus, _m._ _Lat._ Gr. sun’s gift, 67
Heliogabalus, _m._ _Lat._ Gr. sun’s gift, 67
_Helier_, _m._ _Jersey_, Lat. cheerful, 191, 280
HELMAR, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. helmeted warrior, 351
HELMBOLD, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. helmed prince, 351
HELMERICH, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. helmet king, 351
HELMICH, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. helmet, 351
Helmhart, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. firm helmet, 351
HELMTAC, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. helmet day, 351
Helmut, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. helmet rage, 351
_Helmine_, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. will helmet, 351
_Helmold_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. helmet power, 351
HELOISE, _f._ _Fr._ Teu. famous holiness, 405
_Helsa_, _f._ _Dan._ _Ger._ Heb. God’s oath, 35
Hendrik, _m._ _Dan._ _Dutch_, Teu. home rule, 310
Hendrika, _f._ _Dutch_, Teu. home rule, 310
_Hendrijshka_, _m._ _Lus._ Gr. man, 86
_Henghist_, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. horse, 340
_Hennike_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. home ruler, 309
_Henning_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. home ruler, 309
_Henny_, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. home ruler, 310
Henri, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. home rule, 310
HENRIETTA, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. home rule, 310
Henriette, _f._ _Fr._ _Ger._ Teu. home ruler, 310
_Henrika_, _f._ _Swed._ Teu. home ruler, 310
_Henriot_, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. home ruler, 310
_Henrique_, _m._ _Port._ Teu. home ruler, 310
_Henriqueta_, _f._ _Port._ Teu. home ruler, 310
Henry, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. home ruler, 310
_Henryketa_, _f._ _Pol._ Teu. home ruler, 310
Henryk, _m._ _Pol._ Teu. home ruler, 310
HEORUWARD, _m._ _A.S._ sword guardian, 351
Hephzibah, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. my delight is in her, 49
_Hepsy_, _f._ _Am._ Heb. my delight is in her, 49
Heraclius, _m._ _Lat._ Gr. noble fame, 63
Heraclidas, _m._ _Lat._ Gr. noble fame, 63
Heracleonas, _m._ _Lat._ Gr. noble fame, 63
HERAKLES, _m._ _Ger._ Gr. lordly fame, 63
Heraric, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. warrior king, 417
Herberge, _f._ _Fr._ Teu. warrior protection, 417
Herbert, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. bright warrior, 417
Herbjorn, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. warrior bear, 417
Herbrand, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. warrior sword, 417
Herchenhold, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. sacredly firm, 329
Hercule, _m._ _Eng._ Gr. lordly fame, 63
Hercules, _m._ _Eng._ Gr. lordly fame, 63
Herdegen, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. warrior blade, 351, 417
_Hertag_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. army day, 351, 417
Heremon, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. 241
Hereward, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. sword guardian, 351
HERUWULF, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. sword wolf, 351
Hergils, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. warrior pledge, 417
Heribert, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. warrior bright, 417
Heribold, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. warrior prince, 417
Herimar, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. warrior fame, 417
HERIOLD, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. warrior power, 417
HERJOLF, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. warrior wolf, 417
HERLAUG, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. warrior drink, 417
HERLEIF, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. warrior love relic, 417
HERLEIK, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. warrior sport, 417
_Herluin_, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. warrior friend (?), 417
_Hermagoras_, _m._ _Gr._ assembly of Hermes, 71
_Herma_, _Swiss_, Teu. public, 327
HERMAN, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. public army man, 327
HERMANGILD, _m._ _Goth._ Teu. public pledge, 327
HERMANFRIED, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. public peace, 327
Hermanfroy, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. public peace, 327
HERMANRICH, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. public rule, 327
HERMESIND, _f._ _Goth._ Teu. public strength, 328
HERMES, _f._ _Lat._ Gr. of the earth, 71
HERMIA, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. of Hermes, 71
Hermine, _f._ _It._ Lat. lordly, 147, 327
HERMINIUS, _m._ _Lat._ lordly, 147, 327
HERMIONE, _f._ _Lat._ Gr. of Hermes, 71
Hermolaus, _m._ _Lat._ Gr. Hermes' people, 71
_Hermocrates_, _m._ _Lat._ Gr. Hermes' judge, 71
_Hermogenes_, _m._ _Lat._ Gr. Hermes' descendant, 351
_Hermund_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. army protection, 351
_Hernan_, _m._ _Span._ Teu. adventuring life, 433
_Hernanda_, _f._ _Span._ Teu. adventuring life, 433
_Hernando_, _m._ _Span._ Teu. adventuring life, 433
Hero, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. lady, 63
Herod, _m._ _Eng._ Gr. of a hero, 63
Herodias, _m._ _Eng._ Gr. of a hero, 63
Herodotus, _m._ _Eng._ Gr. noble gift, 63
Herulf, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. army wolf, 351
Hervé, _m._ _Fr._ Kelt. bitter, 281
_Herwin_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. army friend, 416
_Hery_, _m._ _Bret._ Teu. home ruler, 310
Hesekiel, _m._ _Ger._ Heb. strength of God, 48
_Hesje_, _f._ _Dutch_, Pers. star, 57
Hester, _f._ _Eng._ Pers. star, 57
Hesthera, _f._ Lat. Pers. star, 57
Hezekiah, _m._ _Ger._ Heb. strength of the Lord, 48
_Hetty_, _f._ _Eng._ Pers. star, 57
_Heva_, _f._ _Lat._ Heb. life, 11
_Hew_, _m._ _Eng._ Kelt. mind, 353
HEZEKIAH, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. strength of the Lord, 48
HIALFREK, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. helping ruler, 420
HIALPERIK, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. helping ruler, 420
Hierom, _m._ _Eng._ Gr. holy name, 89
Hieronim, _m._ _Pol._ Gr. holy name, 89
Hieronimo, _m._ _It._ Gr. holy name, 89
Hieronimus, _m._ _Lat._ _Ger._ Gr. holy name, 89
Hieronôme, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. holy name, 89
Hieronomette, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. holy name, 89
Hieronymus, _Lat._ Gr. holy name, 89
_Hies_, _m._ _Bav._ Heb. gift of the Lord, 15
_Hiesel_, _m._ _Bav._ Heb. gift of the Lord, 15
Hilaire, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. cheerful, 191
Hilaria, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. cheerful, 191
Hilariao, _m._ _Port._ Lat. cheerful, 191
Hilario, _m._ _Sp._ _Port._ Lat. cheerful, 191
Hilarion, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. cheerful, 191
HILARIUS, _m._ _Lat._ Lat. cheerful, 191
Hilary, _m._ _f._ _Eng._ Lat. cheerful, 191
HILDA, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. battle maid, 317
Hildebert, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. battle bright, 318
Hildaberta, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. battle bright,318
HILDEBJORG, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. battle maid protection, 318
HILDEBOLD, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. battle prince, 318
Hildebrand, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. battle sword, 318
HILDEGAR, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. battle spear,318
Hildegarde, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. battle maid protection, 318
HILDEGUND, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. battle maid’s war, 318
HILDEGUNNA, _f._ _Ice._ Teu. battle maid’s war, 318
Hildelildis, _f._ _Lat._ Teu. battle maid, 318
Hildemand, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. battle man, 318
Hildemunda, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. battle maid’s protection, 318
Hilderich, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. battle rule, 318
Hilderik, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. battle rule, 318
_Hildert_, _f._ _Fries._ Teu. battle council, 318
HILDEWARD, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. battle ward, 318
Hildewig, _f._ _Frank._ Teu. battle maid war, 318
Hildiridur, _f._ _Ice._ Teu. battle hastener, 318
_Hildrad_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. battle council, 318
Hilduara, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. battle prudence, 318
HILDUR, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. battle maid, 318
_Hillert_, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. battle bright, 318
HILPERIK, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. battle rule, 318
_Hilram_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. battle raven, 318
_Hilza_, _f._ _Lus._ Heb. God’s oath, 35
_Hilzbeta_, _Lus._ Heb. God’s oath, 35
_Hilzizka_, _Lus._ Heb. God’s oath, 35
Hiltrude, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. battle maiden, 319
_Hime_, _m._ _Fris._ Heb. the Lord will judge, 38
_Himmeltrud_, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. heavenly maid.
_Hinmarc_, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. Ing’s fame, 325
_Hinko_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. Ing, 325
_Hinrik_, _m._ _Fris._ _Swed._ Teu. home rule, 310
_Hiob_, _m._ _Ger._ Heb. persecuted, 20
HIORDIS, _f._ sword spirit, 351
HIORGEIR, _m._ sword war, 351
HIORLEIF, _m._ sword relic, 351
HIORULF, _m._ sword wolf, 351
HIPPODAMUS, _m._ _Gr._ horse tamer, 78
HIPPODAMEIA, _f._ _Gr._ horse tamer, 78
Hippolyt, _m._ _Ger._ Gr. horse destruction, 78
Hippolyta, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. horse destruction, 78
_Hippolyte_, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. horse destruction, 78
HIPPOLYTOS, _m._ Gr. horse destruction, 78
Hippolytus, _m._ _Eng._ _Lat._ Gr. horse destruction, 78
_Hirsch_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. stag.
_Hirus_, _m._ _Pol._ Gr. with a holy name, 89
HJALMAR, _m._ _Nor._ helmed warrior, 351
Hjarrande, _Nor._ Teu. sword horse, 351
HLOD, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. famous, 405
HLODIO, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. famous, 405
HLODHERI, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. famous army, 405
HLODHILD, _f._ _Frank._ Teu. famous battle maid, 405
HLODMAR, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. loud fame, 405
HLODWIG, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. famous war, 405
_Hob_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. bright fame, 405
_Hobbie_, _m._ _Scot._ Teu. bright stone, 417
_Hocke_, _m._ _Dutch_, Teu. mind, 353
Hodaiah, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. praise, 21
_Hodge_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. spear of fame, 390
Hoel, _m._ _Welsh_, Kelt. lordly, 276
HOGNI, _m._ _Dan._ Teu. deft (?), 364
HOLDA, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. gentle, 214
_Holex_, _m._ _Lus._ Gr. helper of men, 85
Holger, _m._ _Dan._ Teu. holy, 403
Holla, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. faithful, 214
_Homfroi_, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. support of peace, 350
Honor, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. honour, 190
Honora, _f._ _Ir._ Lat. honour, 190
Honoratus, _m._ _Lat._ honoured, 190
Honoré, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. honoured, 190
Honoria, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. honourable, 190
Honorine, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. honour, 190
HONORIUS, _m._ _Lat._ honourable, 190
Horace, _m._ _Fr._ _Eng._ Lat. 148
Horacio, _m._ _Span._ Lat. 148
Horatia, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. 148
Horatio, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. 148
HORATIUS, _m._ _Lat._ 148
Horatz, _m._ _Ger._ Lat. 148
_Hordaknut_, _m._ _Dan._ Teu. firm hill, 420
_Horsa_, _m._ _A. S._ Teu. horse, 340
_Horta_, _f._ _Lus._ Gr. gift of God, 102
Hortense, _f._ _Fr._ _Lat._ gardener, 147
Hortensia, _f._ _Ger._ _Eng._ Lat. gardener, 147
HORTENSIUS, _m._ Lat. gardener, 147
_Hortija_, _f._ _Lus._ Gr. gift of God, 102
_Hosch_, _m._ _Walloon_, thought, 353
_Hoscha_, _m._ _Lus._ Lat. bear, 411
HOSHEA, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. salvation, 36
HOUERV, _m._ _Bret._ Kelt. bitter, 282
Hovleik, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. sport of thought, 354
HRAFEN, _m._ _Ice._ Teu. raven, 344
HRAFENHILDUR, _f._ _Ice._ Teu. raven battle maid, 344
HRAFENKJELL, _m._ _Ice._ Teu. raven kettle, 344
_Hrista_, _m._ _Ill._ Gr. Christian, 105
HRODBERN, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. famous bear, 341
HRODHILD, _f._ _Ger._ _Nor._ Teu. famous heroine, 393
HRODFRID, _f._ _Ger._ _Nor._ Teu. famous peace, 393
_Hroi_, _m._ _Teu._ Nor. famous, 393
HRODNY, _f._ _Teu._ Nor. famous freshness, 393
_Hrollaug_, famous liquor, 393
_Hrollaf_, _m._ _Teu._ Nor. relic of fame, 393
HRODSIND, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. famous strength, 393
HRODSTEIN, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. famous stone, 393
HRUDO, _Nor._ Teu. fame, 393
_Hroar_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. famous spear, 393
_Hrolf_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. wolf of fame, 393
HROSBERT, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. bright horse, 341
Hroshelm, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. horse helmet, 341
HROSMUND, _f._ _m._ Teu. famed protection, 341
HROSWITH, _f._ _Lomb._ Teu. horse strength, 341
HROSSWALD, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. horse power, 341
HROTHULF, _m._ _Nor._ famous wolf, 393
HROTHGAR, _A.S._, spear of fame, 393
HROTHMUND, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. famous protection, 393
HROTHREKR, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. famous king, 393
HROREKR, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. famous king,393
HROTHULF, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. famous wolf, 393
HRUODGAR, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. famed spear, 393
HRUODGJER, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. famed spear, 393
HRUODLAND, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. fame of land, 393
Hruodmar, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. famed renown, 393
HRUODPERACHT, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. bright fame, 393
HRUODERICH, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. famed rule, 393
HRUDROLF, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. wolf of fame, 393
HU, _m._ _Cym._ Kelt. mind, 226, 353
Huard, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. firm in mind, 353
_Hubbard_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. mind bright, 354
Hubert, _m._ _Eng._ _Fr._ Teu. mind bright, 354
Huberto, _m._ _It._ Teu. mind bright, 354
Hucpraht, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. 354
Hues, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. mind, 226, 353
Huet, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. Kelt. (?) mind, 226, 353
_Huette_, _f._ _Fr._ Teu. Kelt. mind, 226, 353
Hugh, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. mind, 226, 353
Hugi, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. mind, 226, 353
HUGIBALD, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. mind prince, 353
HUGIBERT, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. mind bright, 353
HUGIHARDT, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. firm mind, 353
HUGLEIK, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. sport of the mind, 353
Hugo, _m._ _Span._ _Lat._ _Port._ Teu. mind, 226, 353
HUGOLEIK, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. sport of the mind, 353
Hugolin, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. mind, 352
Hugr, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. mind, 353
Hugues, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. mind, 353
_Huguenin_, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. mind, 353
HUGUR, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. mind, 353
Huig, _m._ _Dutch_, Teu. thought, 353
Huldr, _f._ _Swed._ Teu. muffled, 214
Hulla, _f._ _Swed._ Teu. muffled, 214
Humbert, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. support of brightness, 350
Humfrey, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. support of peace, 350
Humfreid, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. support of peace, 350
Humphrey, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. support of peace, 350
_Humps_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. support of peace, 350
_Hunaud_, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. support of power, 350
HUND, _m._ _Dan._ Teu. dog, 336
_Hundolf_, dog wolf, 336
HUNGERDUR, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. supporting maiden, 351
_Hungus_, _m._ _Scot._ Kelt. excellent virtue, 242
_Hunibert_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. support of brightness, 350
Hunnerich, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. support ruler, 350
Hunold, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. support of power, 350
_Huon_, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. mind, 226, 352
_Huprecht_, _m._ _Lus._ Teu. bright fame, 354
Hutcheon, _m._ _Scot._ Teu. mind, 226, 353
Hyacinth, _m._ _Ir._ Gr. purple, 81
Hyacinthe, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. purple, 81
_Hyacinthie_, _f._ _Ger._ Gr. purple, 81
HYGELAC, _m._ _A.G.S._ Teu. sport of thought, 353
_Hynek_, _m._ _Bohm._ Lat. fiery, 194
_Hystaspes_, _m._ _Gr._ Zend. possessing horses.
HYWEL, _m._ _Welsh_, Kelt. lordly, 276
HYWGI, _m._ _Welsh_, Teu. mind, 226
I
_Iachimo_, _m._ _It._ Heb. supplanter, 17
_Iago_, _m._ _Span._ Heb. supplanter, 17
_Ian_, _m._ _Scot._ Heb. grace of the Lord, 45
IARNGARD, _m._ _Nor._ iron defence, 348
_Ib_, _f._ _Eng._ Phœn. oath of Baal, 35
_Ibald_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. bow prince, 326
_Ibbot_, _f._ _Scot._ Teu. oath of Baal, 35
_Ibert_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. bright bow, 326
Ibraheem, _m._ _Arab._ Heb. father of nations, 12
_Ichabod_, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. the glory is departed, 2
Ida, _f._ _m._ _Ger._ _Eng._ Teu. happy, 411
IDA, _f._ _Erse_, Kelt. thirsty, 224
Ide, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. rich, 376
_Idette_, _f._ _Flem._ Teu. rich, 376
Idonea, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. she who ever works, 307
_Iduberge_, _f._ _Fr._ Teu. happy protection, 378
IDUNE, _f._ _Ger._ _Nor._ Teu. she who works, 307
_Iggerich_, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. awful king, 323
Ignace, _m._ _Russ._ Lat. fiery, 194
Ignacij, _m._ _Slov._ Lat. fiery, 194
Ignacio, _m._ _Rom._ Lat. fiery, 194
Ignacy, _m._ _Pol._ Lat. fiery, 194
_Ignascha_, _m._ _Russ._ Lat. fiery, 194
Ignatie, _m._ _Wallach._ Lat. fiery, 194
Ignatij, _m._ _Russ._ Lat. fiery, 194
IGNATIUS, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. fiery, 194
Ignaz, _m._ _Ger._ Lat. fiery, 194
Ignazia, _m._ _Bav._ Lat. fiery, 194
Ignazio, _m._ _It._ Lat. fiery, 194
Ignes, _f._ _Span._ Gr. pure, 119
_Igor_, _m._ _Russ._ Gr. husbandman, 115
_Ike_, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. awful firmness, 323
_Ikey_, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. laughter, 41
Ilar, _m._ _Welsh_, Gr. cheerful, 191
Ilaria, _m._ _Russ._ Lat. cheerful, 191
Ilareeij, _Russ._ Lat. cheerful, 191
Ilario, _m._ _It._ Lat. cheerful, 191
Ilarion, _m._ _Russ._ Lat. cheerful, 191
Ildefonso, _m._ _Span._ Teu. eager for battle, 320
Ildefonsus, _m._ _Span._ Teu. eager for battle, 320
_Ilderico_, _m._ _It._ Teu. battle rule, 320
_Iliska_, _f._ _Slov._ Lat. downy bearded, 149
_Ilja_, _m._ _Russ._ Heb. God, the Lord, 36
_Ilona_, _Hung._ Gr. light, 68
_Ilse_, _f._ _Ger._ Heb. God’s oath, 35
_Ilse_, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. noble cheer, 411
_Imagina_, _f._ _Ger._
IMMANUEL, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. God with us, 36
_Imogen_, _f._ _Eng._ 233
Incarnaçion, _f._ _Span._ Lat. incarnation, 30
_Indes_, _Lett._ home ruler, 310
_Indrikis_, _Lett._ home ruler, 310
_Indus_, _Lett._ home ruler, 310
_Indride_, _m._ _Nor._ chief rider, 323
Iñes, _f._ _Span._ Gr. pure, 119
_Inesila_, _f._ _Span._ Gr. pure, 119
Iñaz, _Port._ Gr. pure, 119
_Ing_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. Ing, 324
Ingebera, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. Ing’s bear, 325
Ingeberge, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. Ing’s protection, 325
INGEBJERG, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. Ing’s protection, 325
INGEBRAND, _m._ A. S. Teu. Ing’s sword, 325
INGEGJERD, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. Ing’s guard, 325
Ingeltram, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. Ing’s raven, 325
INGELIEF, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. Ing’s relic, 325
INGEMUND, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. Ing’s protection, 325
INGERIDUR, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. Ing’s eagerness, 325
INGHILD, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. Ing’s battle maid, 325
Ingjard, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. Ing’s spear, 325
Ingoberga, _f._ _Lat._ Teu. Ing’s protection, 325
INGRIMR, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. helmeted Ing, 325
_Ingram_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. Ing’s raven, 325
INGULF, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. Ing’s wolf, 325
Ingulphus, _m._ _Lat._ Teu. Ing’s wolf, 325
INGUNNA, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. Ing’s maiden, 325
INGVE, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. Ing’s consecration, 325
Ingvaldr, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. Ing’s power, 325
Ingvar, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. Ing’s warrior, 325
INGVECHILD, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. Ing’s battle maid, 325
Iñiga, _f._ _m._ _Span._ Gr. fiery, 194
Iñigo, _m._ _Span._ Gr. fiery, 194
Innocent, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. harmless, 193
INNOCENTIUS, _m._ Lat. harmless, 193
Innocenz, _m._ _Ger._ Lat. harmless, 193
Innocenzie, _f._ _Ger._ _Lat._ harmless, 193
Innocenzio, _m._ _It._ Lat. harmless, 193
Innokentij, _m._ _Russ._ Lat. harmless, 193
_Iola_, _m._ _Bret._ Lat. downy bearded, 149
_Iolo_, _m._ _Welsh_, Lat. downy bearded, 149
Ippolita, _f._ _It._ Gr. horse destruction, 78
Ippolito, _m._ _It._ Gr. horse destruction, 78
Irene, _f._ _Eng._ _It._ _Fr._ Gr. peace, 113
Irenæus, _m._ _Lat._ Gr. peaceful, 113
IRING, _m._ _Thuringian_, Teu. 327
Irmanfrit, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. public peace, 327
_Irnvrit_, _m._ _Thu._ Teu. public peace, 327
IRUNG, _m._ bright, 416
_Isa_, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. iron, 348
Isaac, _m._ _Fr._ _Eng._ Heb. laughter, 14
Isaak, _m._ _Russ._ _Ger._ Heb. laughter, 14
Isabeau, _f._ _Fr._ Heb. oath of Baal, 35
Isabel, _f._ _Span._ _Eng._ _Port._ Heb. oath of Baal, 35
_Isabelinha_, _f._ _Port._ Heb. oath of Baal, 35
Isabella, _f._ _It._ Heb. oath of Baal, 35
Isabelle, _f._ _Fr._ Heb. oath of Baal, 35
Isaiah, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. salvation of the Lord, 48
ISAMBART, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. iron bright, 348
Isambaus, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. iron prince, 348
_Isbel_, _f._ _Scot._ Heb. God’s oath, 35
_Isbrand_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. iron sword, 348
_Isebald_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. iron prince, 348
_Isenbrand_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. iron sword, 348
ISENGARD, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. iron defence, 348
ISENGRIM, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. iron mask, 348
Isenhard, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. iron firm, 348
_Iseulte_, _f._ _Fr._ Kelt. fair, 275
ISFUNDEAR, _m._ _Pers._ Zend.
_Isgar_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. iron spear, 348
ISGIER, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. iron spear, 348
Ishmael, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. heard of God, 2
Isidor, _m._ _Span._ _Ger._ Gr. strong gift, 103
Isadora, _f._ _Span._ Gr. strong gift, 103
Isidore, _f._ _m._ _Fr._ Gr. strong gift, 103
Isidoro, _m._ _It._ Gr. strong gift, 103
ISIDORUS, _m._ _Lat._ Gr. strong gift, 103
Ising, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. son of iron, 348
Iskender, _m._ _Turk._ Gr. helper of men, 85
Isobel, _f._ _Scot._ Heb. oath of God, 35
Isolda, _f._ _It._ Kelt. fair, 275
Isolde, _f._ _Eng._ Kelt. fair, 275
Isolt, _f._ _Eng._ Kelt. fair, 275
ISRID, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. iron vehemence, 348
Issachar, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. hire, 7
Issaak, _m._ _Russ._ Heb. laughter, 14
Istvan, _m._ _Hung._ Gr. crown, 96
ISULF, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. iron wolf, 348
Ita, _f._ _Erse_, Kelt. thirsty, 224
_Itzig_, _m._ _Pol._ Heb. laughter, 14
Ivan, _m._ _Russ._ Heb. grace of God, 45
_Ivancica_, _f._ _Russ._ Gr. Teu. grace of the Lord, 46
_Ivanjuscha_, _m._ _Russ._ Heb. grace of the Lord, 45
_Ivanku_, _f._ _Bulg._ Heb. grace of the Lord, 46
_Ivanna_, _f._ _Russ._ Heb. grace of the Lord, 46
IVAR, _m._ _Dan._ Teu. archer, 325
IVBALD, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. bow prince, 325
IVBERT, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. bright bow, 325
Iver, _m._ _Dan._ Teu. archer, 325
Ives, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. archer, 325
_Ivka_, _f._ _Ill._ Heb. grace of the Lord, 45
Ivo, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. archer, 325
Ivon, _m._ _Bret._ Teu. bow bearer, 325
Ivor, _m._ _Scot._ Teu. bow bearer, 325
Ivory, _m._ _Irish_, 325
Izaak, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. laughter, 15
_Izabela_, _f._ _Pol._ Heb. oath of Baal, 35
_Izabella_, _f._ _Hung._ Heb. oath of Baal, 35
Izod, _f._ _Eng._ Kelt. fair, 275
Izoldo, _f._ _Eng._ Kelt. fair, 275
_Izydor_, _m._ _Pol._ Gr. strong gift, 103
J
_Jaak_, _m._ _Esth._ Heb. supplanter, 17
_Jaap_, _m._ _Dutch_, Heb. supplanter, 17
_Jaapje_, _f._ _Dutch_, Heb. supplanter, 17
Jabez, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. sorrow, 2
_Jachym_, _m._ _Pol._ Heb. the Lord’s judgment, 37
_Jacim_, _Slov_. _Ill._ the Lord’s judgment, 37
Jacinta, _f._ _Span._ purple, 81
Jacintha, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. purple, 81
Jacinthe, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. purple, 81
Jack, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. grace of God, 45
_Jackel_, _m._ _Bav._ Heb. supplanter, 17
Jacob, _m._ _Eng._ _Fr._ Heb. supplanter, 1, 17
_Jacobéa_, _f._ _Fr._ Heb. supplanter, 17
_Jacobello_, _m._ _It._ Heb. supplanter, 17
Jacobina, _f._ _Scot._ Heb. supplanter, 17
Jacobine _f._ _Ger._ Heb. supplanter, 17
Jacobo, _m._ _It._ Span. Heb. supplanter, 17
Jacobus, _m._ _Lat._ Heb. supplanter, 17
Jacopo, _m._ _It._ Heb. supplanter, 17
_Jacot_, _m._ _Fr._ Heb. supplanter, 17
_Jacov_, _m._ _Russ._ Heb. supplanter, 17
_Jacovina_, _f._ _Russ._ Heb. supplanter, 17
Jacques, _m._ _Fr._ Heb. supplanter, 17
Jacqueline, _f._ _Fr._ Heb. supplanter, 17
_Jacqueminot_, _m._ _Fr._ Heb. supplanter, 17
_Jacquetta_, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. supplanter, 17
_Jacquette_, _f._ _Fr._ Heb. supplanter, 17
Jaddæus, _m._ _Lat._ Heb. known of God, 8
Jaddua, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. known of God, 8
Jadwiga, _f._ _Pol._ Teu. war refuge, 305
_Jaga_, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. supplanter, 17
_Jaggeli_, _m._ _Bav._ Heb. supplanter, 17
JAGODA, _m._ _Slav._ Slav. strawberry, 438
Jahus, _m._ _Dutch_, Heb. grace of the Lord, 45
_Jaime_, _m._ _Aram._ Heb. supplanter, 17
_Jaka_, _m._ _Slov._ Heb. supplanter, 17
_Jakab_, _m._ _Hung._ Heb. supplanter, 17
_Jako_, _m._ _Ill._ Heb. supplanter, 17
Jakob, _m._ _Esth._ _Dutch_, _Ger._ _Pol._ Heb. supplanter, 17
Jakoba, _f._ _Dutch_, _Ger._ Heb. supplanter, 17
Jakobos, _m._ _Gr._ Heb. supplanter, 17
Jakobine, _f._ _Ger._ Heb. supplanter, 17
_Jakov_, _m._ _Russ._ _Ill._ _Wall._ Heb. supplanter, 17
_Jakova_, _f._ _Hung._ Heb. supplanter, 17
_Jakobika_, _f._ _m._ _Ill._ Heb. supplanter, 17
Jaffrez, _m._ _Bret._ Teu. God’s peace, 287
James, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. supplanter, 17
Jamesina, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. supplanter, 17
_Jamie_, _m._ _Scot._ Heb. supplanter, 17
_Jan_, _m._ _Nor._ _Dutch_, _Eng._ Heb. grace of the Lord, 45
_Jannik_, _m._ _Bret._ Heb. grace of the Lord, 45
_Janas_, _m._ _Lett._ Heb. grace of the Lord, 45
_Janak_, _Pol._ Heb. grace of the Lord, 45
_Janckzi_, _m._ _Hung._ Heb. grace of the Lord, 45
Jane, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. grace of the Lord, 46
_Janek_, _m._ _Scot._ Heb. grace of the Lord, 45
_Janesika_, _f._ _Slov._ Heb. grace of the Lord, 46
_Janet_, _f._ _Scot._ Heb. grace of the Lord, 46
_Janez_, _m._ _Slov._ Heb. grace of the Lord, 45
_Janja_, _f._ _Serv._ Gr. pure, 119
_Janke_, _m._ _Lus._ Heb. grace of the Lord, 45
_Janne_, _m._ _Dan._ Heb. grace of the Lord, 45
_Jannedik_, _f._ _Bret._ Heb. grace of the Lord, 45
_Janos_, _m._ _Hung._ Heb. grace of the Lord, 45
_Janotje_, _f._ _Dutch_, Heb. grace of the Lord, 46
_Jantina_, _f._ _Dutch_, Heb. grace of the Lord, 46
_Jantje_, _f._ _Dutch_, Heb. grace of the Lord, 46
JANUARIUS, _m._ _Lat._ January born, 171
_Janus_, _m._ _Dutch_, Lat. from Adria, 156
Jaques, _m._ _Fr._ Heb. supplanter, 17
Jaquette, _f._ _Fr._ Heb. supplanter, 17
JARLAR, _m._ _Swed._ Heb. earl warrior, 333
JAROMIR, _m._ _Bohm._ Slav. firm peace, 333
JAROPOLK, _m._ _Russ._ Slav. firm peace, 333
JAROSLAV, _f._ _Russ._ Slav. firm peace.
Jarratt, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. spear firm, 369
Jartrud, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. spear truth, 368
_Jascha_, _m._ _Russ._ Heb. supplanter, 17
_Jaschenka_, _m._ _Russ._ Heb. supplanter, 17
_Jaschis_, _m._ _Lett._ Heb. addition, 23
Jaseps, _m._ _Lett._ Heb. addition, 23
Jasper, _m._ _Eng._ Pers. treasure master, 211
Jatmund, _m._ _Dan._ Teu. rich protection, 377
_Jaubert_, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. good bright, 288
_Jauffré_, _m._ _Prov._ Teu. God’s peace, 287
_Jantje_, _m._ _Dutch_, Heb. grace of the Lord, 45
_Javotte_, _f._ _Fr._ Kelt. white stream, 270
Jaward, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. rich guardian, 378
Jayme, _m._ _Sp._ _Port._ Heb. supplanter, 17
_Jeames_, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. supplanter, 17
Jean, _m._ _Fr._ Heb. grace of the Lord, 45
Jean, _f._ _Scot._ Heb. grace of the Lord, 46
Jeanne, _f._ _Fr._ Heb. grace of the Lord, 46
_Jeannette_, _f._ _Fr._ Heb. grace of the Lord, 46
_Jeannetton_, _f._ _Fr._ Heb. grace of the Lord, 46
_Jeannot_, _m._ _Fr._ Heb. grace of the Lord, 45
_Jebbe_, _f._ _Fris._ Teu. wild boar battle maid, 337
_Jeconiah_, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. appointed of the Lord, 38
_Jedert_, _f._ _Slov._ Teu. war maid, 368
_Jedrzej_, _m._ _Pol._ Gr. manly, 86
Jeffrey, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. good peace, 287
_Jefronissa_, _f._ _Russ._ Gr. mirth, 72
Jehan, _m._ _Fr._ Heb. grace of the Lord, 45
Jehanne, _f._ _Fr._ Heb. grace of the Lord, 46
Jehoash, given by the Lord, 37
Jehoram, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. the Lord is exalted, 37
Jehoiachin, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. appointed of the Lord, 37
Jehoiada, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. known of God, 37
Jehoiakim, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. the Lord will judge, 38
Jehu, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. the Lord is He, 38
_Jeka_, _m._ _Lett._ Heb. supplanter, 17
_Jekups_, _m._ _Lett._ Heb. supplanter, 17
_Jela_, _f._ _Serv._ Gr. light, 68
_Jelena_, _f._ _Slov._ Gr. light, 68
_Jelica_, _f._ _Russ._ _Slov._ Gr. light, 68
_Jelisavka_, _f._ _Serv._ Heb. God’s oath, 35
_Jelissaveta_, _f._ _Russ._ Heb. God’s oath, 35
_Jellon_, _m._ _Scot._ Lat. downy bearded, 150
_Jemmy_, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. supplanter, 17
Jemima, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. dove, 26
_Jendriska_, _f._ _Bohm._ Teu. home ruler, 310
_Jenkin_, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. grace of the Lord, 45
Jennifer, _f._ _Corn._ Kelt. white wave, 270
_Jenny_, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. grace of the Lord, 46
Jenovefa, _m._ _Bret._ Kelt. white stream, 270
_Jens_, _m._ _Dan._ Heb. grace of the Lord, 45
Jeoffroi, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. divine peace, 288
_Jeps_, _m._ _Lett._ Heb. addition, 23
_Jerassim_, _m._ _Russ._ Gr. beloved, 113
_Jerast_, _m._ _Russ._ Gr. amiable, 113
_Jera_, _f._ _Slov._ Teu. war maid, 368
Jeremej, _m._ _Russ._ Heb. exalted of the Lord, 49
Jeremiah, _m._ _Ger._ _Slov._ Heb. exalted of the Lord, 49
_Jeremiah_, _m._ _Fr._ _Eng._ Heb. exalted of the Lord, 49
Jeremias, _m._ _Fr._ _Eng._ Heb. exalted of the Lord, 49
Jeremie, _m._ _Fr._ _Wall._ Heb. exalted of the Lord, 49
Jeremija, _m._ _Russ._ _Serv._ Heb. exalted of the Lord, 49
Jeremy, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. exalted of the Lord, 49
_Jerica_, _f._ _Slov._ Teu. war maid, 368
_Jerko_, _m._ _Serv._ Gr. with a holy name, 89
Jermyn, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. German, 416
_Jernej_, _m._ _Ill._ Heb. son of furrows, 25
_Jerolim_, _m._ _Serv._ Gr. with holy name, 89
Jerom, _m._ _Ger._ Gr. holy name, 89
Jeromette, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. holy name, 89
Jerome, _m._ _Eng._ _Fr._ Gr. holy name, 89
_Jeronimo_, _m._ _Port._ Gr. with a holy name, 89
Jerram, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. war raven, 370
_Jerry_, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. exalted of the Lord, 49
Jervis, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. spear war, 369
_Jervoise_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. spear war, 369
_Jerzy_, _m._ _Pol._ Gr. husbandman, 115
Jesaia, _m._ _Ger._ Heb. help of God, 49
Jesekijel, _m._ _Russ._ Heb. strength of God, 49
Jespers, _m._ _Lett._ Pers. treasure master, 211
Jeshua, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. the Lord my salvation, 37
_Jessica_, _f._ _Eng._ 46
_Jesse_, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. the Lord is, 46
_Jessie_, _f._ _Scot._ Heb. grace of the Lord, 46
_Jettchen_, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. home ruler, 310
_Jette_, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. home ruler, 310
_Jettje_, _f._ _Dutch_, Teu. home ruler, 310
_Jeva_, _f._ _Serv._ Gr. fair speech, 88
Jeva, _f._ _Lett._ _Serv._ Heb. life, 11
Jevan, _Welsh_, young warrior, 273
Jevva, _f._ _Russ._ Heb. life, 11
Jevchariz, _m._ _Russ._ Gr. happy hand, 87
Jevdoksia, _f._ _Russ._ Gr. happy glory, 88
Jevginnia, _f._ _Russ._ Gr. well born, 88
Jevginij, _m._ _Russ._ Gr. well born, 88
Jevfimija, _f._ _Russ._ Gr. fair fame, 88
Jevlalija, _f._ _Russ._ Gr. fair speech, 88
Jevstachij, _m._ _Russ._ Gr. fair harvest, 88
_Jewa_, _f._ _Lith._ Heb. life, 11
_Jewele_, _f._ _Lett._ Heb. life, 11
_Jezis_, _m._ _Lett._ Heb. supplanter, 17
_Jill_, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. downy beard, 150
_Jillet_, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. downy beard, 150
_Jillian_, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. downy beard, 150
_Jitka_, _f._ _Pol._ Heb. praise, 20
_Jim_, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. supplanter, 17
_Jiri_, _m._ _Bohm._ Gr. husbandman, 115
_Jjewa_, _f._ _Lus._ Heb. life, 11
_Joa_, _m._ _Span._ Heb. the Lord will judge, 37
Joachim, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. the Lord will judge, 37
Joachim, _m._ _Russ._ _Eng._ _Fr._ Heb. God will judge, 38
_Joachime_, _f._ _Fr._ Heb. God will judge, 37
Joahim, _m._ _Slov._ Heb. God will judge, 38
Joakim, _m._ _Russ._ Heb. God will judge, 38
Joan, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. the Lord’s grace, 46
Joanna, _f._ _Eng._ _Pol._ Heb. the Lord’s grace, 46
Joannes, _m._ _Gr._ Heb. the Lord’s grace, 45
_Joanico_, _m._ _Port._ Heb. the Lord’s grace, 45
_Joaniniha_, _f._ _Port._ Heb. the Lord’s grace, 46
_Joao_, _m. Port._ Heb. the Lord’s grace, 45
_Joaozinho_, _m. Port._ Heb. the Lord’s grace, 45
Joaquim, _m. Span._ Heb. the Lord will judge, 37
Joaquin, _m. Span._ _Port._ Heb. the Lord will judge, 37
Joaquima, _f. Port._ Heb. the Lord will judge, 37
Joash, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. given by the Lord, 38
Job, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. persecuted, 26
_Jobs_, _m._ _Ger._ Lat. sportive, 191
_Jobst_, _m._ _Bav._ Lat. sportive, 191
_Jocelin_, _m._ _Fr._ _Eng._ Lat. sportive, 191
Jochebed, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. person of merit, 27
_Jocheli_, _m._ _Swiss_, the Lord will judge, 37
_Johann_, _m._ _Bav._ Heb. the Lord will judge, 37
_Jock_, _m._ _Scot._ Heb. the Lord’s grace, 45
_Jock_, _m._ _Swiss_, Heb. supplanter, 17
_Jockel_, _m._ _Ger._ Heb. supplanter, 17
_Jockey_, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. the Lord’s grace, 45
Jocosa, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. merry, 191
JOCOSUS, _m._ _Lat._ merry, 191
_Jodel_, _m._ _Bav._ Lat. sportive, 191
_Jodetel_, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. sportive, 191
Jodoca, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. sportive, 191
JODOCUS, _m._ _Lat._ sportive, 191
Jodoke, _f._ _Ger._ Lat. sportive, 191
Jodokus, _m._ _Ger._ Lat. sportive, 191
JOAR, horse warrior, 341
JODIS, horse sprite, 441
Jofan, the Lord’s grace, 45
JOFRED, horse peace, 341
JOFRID, fair horse, 341
JOGEIR, horse spear, 341
JOGRIM, horse mask, 341
_Jokell_, horse kettle, 341
JOKETYL, horse kettle, 341
JOREID, horse eagerness, 341
JOSTEIN, horse stone, 341
JORUNNA, horse lady, 341
Jornandes, Jordan, 39
_Jøren_, _Nor._ Teu. glittering man, 416
JØRUND, _Nor._ Teu. glittering man, 416
JOEL, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. strong willed, 50
_Joe_, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. addition, 23
_Joeran_, _m._ _Dan._ Gr. husbandman, 115
_Jofa_, _m._ _Lapp._ Heb. the Lord’s grace, 45
_Jofan_, _m._ _Lapp._ Heb. the Lord’s grace, 45
_Jogg_, _m._ _Swiss_, Heb. supplanter, 17
_Joggeli_, _m._ _Swiss_, Heb. supplanter, 17
Johan, _m._ _Swiss_, _Esth._ Heb. the Lord’s grace, 45
Johanan, _Eng._ Heb. the Lord’s grace, 45
Johanna, _f._ _Ger._ _Esth._ Heb. the Lord’s grace, 46
Johanna, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. the Lord’s grace, 46
Johanne, _f._ _Ger._ Heb. the Lord’s grace, 46
JOHANNES, _m._ _Ger._ Heb. the Lord’s grace, 45
John, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. the Lord’s grace, 45
_Johnnie_, _Scot._ Heb. the Lord’s grace, 45
_Johnny_, _Eng._ Heb. the Lord’s grace, 45
_Johum_, _Dan._ Heb. the Lord will judge, 37
Joletta, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. violet, 206
_Joliette_, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. downy bearded, 150
_Jompert_, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. war splendour, 363
Jonah, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. dove, 26
Jonas, _m._ _Lat._ Heb. dove, 26
Jonaszus, _m._ _Lith._ Heb. dove, 26
Jonathan, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. the Lord’s gift, 25
_Jonelis_, _m._ _Lith._ Heb. the Lord’s grace, 45
_Jonka_, _m._ _Lapp._ Heb. dove, 26
_Jonkus_, _m._ _Lith._ Heb. the Lord’s grace, 45
_Jonkuttelis_, _m._ _Lith._ Heb. the Lord’s grace, 45
_Jonuttis_, _m._ _Lith._ Heb. the Lord’s grace.
_Joram_, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. the Lord is exalted, 37
JORDAN, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. descender, 39
_Jorens_, _m._ _Norse_, _Lat._ laurel, 174
Jorge, _Port._ husbandman, 115
_Joris_, _Dutch_, Gr. husbandman, 115
Jortz, _Gr._ _Prov._ husbandman, 115
Jorwarth, _m._ _Welsh_, Teu. rich guard, 378
_Jos_, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. the Lord is salvation, 37
Joscelin, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. just, 192
_Joscelind_, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. just, 192
Jose, _m._ _Span._ _Port._ Heb. addition, 23
Josef, _m._ _Span._ _Swed._ Heb. addition, 23
Josefa, _f._ _Span._ Heb. addition, 23
Josefina, _f._ _Swed._ Heb. addition, 23
Josep, _m._ _Prov._ _Fr._ Heb. addition, 23
Joseph, _m._ _Fr._ _Eng._ _Ger._ Heb. addition, 17
Josepha, _f._ _Port._ Heb. addition, 23
Josephe, _f._ _Ger._ _Fr._ Heb. addition, 23
Josephina, _f._ _Port._ Heb. addition, 23
Josephine, _f._ _Fr._ _Eng._ Heb. addition, 23
Joses, _m._ _Gr._ Heb. addition, 23
Joshua, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. the Lord is salvation, 37
Josiah, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. yielded to the Lord, 37
Jossif, _m._ _Wall._ Heb. addition, 23
Josipe, _f._ _Ill._ Heb. addition, 23
Josip, _m._ _Ill._ Heb. addition, 23
_Josipa_, _f._ _Ill._ Heb. addition, 23
_Josipac_, _m._ _Ill._ Heb. addition, 23
_Josipica_, _f._ _Ill._ Heb. addition, 23
_Joska_, _f._ _Ill._ Heb. addition, 23
_Josko_, _m._ _Ill._ Heb. addition, 23
_Josh_, _m._ _Bav._ Heb. addition, 23
_Josse_, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. sportive, 191
_Josselin_, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. sportive, 191
_Jossif_, _m._ _Russ._ Heb. addition, 23
Jossué, _m._ _Fr._ Heb. the Lord is salvation, 37
_Jost_, _m._ _L. Ger._ Lat. just, 192
_Jost_, _m._ _Swiss_, Lat. sportive, 23
_Jost_, _m._ _Ger._ Lat. sportive, 191
_Jostli_, _m._ _Swiss_, Lat. sportive, 191
_Josts_, _m._ _Lett._ Lat. just, 192
_Jourdain_, _m._ _Fr._ Heb. descender, 39
_Jov_, _m._ _Russ._ Heb. persecuted, 26
_Jovan_, _m._ _Ill._ _Swiss_, Heb. the Lord’s grace, 45
_Jovana_, _f._ _Ill._ Heb. the Lord’s grace, 46
_Jovanna_, _f._ _Port._ Heb. the Lord’s grace, 46
_Jovica_, _f._ _Ill._ Heb. the Lords grace, 46
_Joy_, _f._ _Eng._ 191
Joyce, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. sportive, 191
Joycelin, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. just, 192
_Joza_, _m._ _Slov._ Heb. addition, 23
Joze, _m._ _Port._ Heb. addition, 23
Jozef, _m._ _Pol._ _Slav._ Heb. addition, 23
_Jozefa_, _f._ _Pol._ Heb. addition, 23
_Jozo_, _m._ _Ill._ Heb. addition, 23
Jozefa, _f._ _Hung._ Heb. addition, 23
_Jra_, _f._ _Slov._ Teu. spear maid, 368
Juan, _m._ _Span._ Heb. the Lord’s grace, 45
Juana, _f._ _Span._ Heb. the Lord’s grace, 46
_Juanito_, _m._ _Span._ Heb. the Lord’s grace, 45
Juczi, _f._ _Hung._ Heb. praise, 21
Judah, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. praise, 20
Judas, _m._ _Scot._ Heb. praise, 20
Jude, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. praise, 20
Judical, _m._ _Bret._ Lat. sportive, 191
Judit, _f._ _Hung._ Heb. praise, 21
JUDITH, _f._ _Ger._ _Eng._ Heb. praise, 21
Juditha, _f._ _Ger._ Heb. praise, 21
Judithe, _f._ _Fr._ Heb. praise, 21
_Judy_, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. praise, 21
_Jugge_, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. praise, 21
_Jukums_, _m._ _Lith._ Heb. the Lord will judge, 38
_Jukkinum_, _m._ _Esth._ Heb. the Lord will judge, 38
_Jules_, _m._ _Lith._ Lat. downy bearded, 149
Jules, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. downy bearded, 149
Juli, _f._ _Hung._ Lat. downy bearded, 149
Julia, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. downy bearded, 149
Juliaantje, _f._ _Dutch_, Lat. downy bearded, 150
Julian, _m._ _f._ _Eng._ _Span._ Lat. downy bearded, 150
Juliana, _f._ _Eng._ _Span._ _Port._ _Wall._ Lat. downy bearded, 150
Juliane, _f._ _Ger._ Lat downy bearded, 150
Juliano, _m._ _Span._ Lat. downy bearded, 150
Julianus, _m._ Lat. downy bearded, 150
_Juanito_, _f._ _Span._ Heb. the Lord’s grace, 45
Juliao, _m._ _Port._ Lat. downy bearded, 150
Julie, _f._ _Ill._ _Fr._ _Wall._ Lat. downy bearded, 150
Julien, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. downy bearded, 150
Julienne, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. downy bearded, 150
Juliet, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. downy bearded, 151
Julietta, _f._ _Span._ Lat. downy bearded, 151
Juliette, _f._ _Fr._ _Ger._ Lat. downy bearded, 151
Julij, _m._ _Slav._ Lat. downy bearded, 149
Julija, _f._ _Russ._ Lat. downy bearded, 149
Julijan, _m._ _Slov._ Lat. downy bearded, 150
Julijana, _f._ _Slov._ Lat. downy bearded, 149
Julio, _m._ _Span._ Lat. downy bearded, 149
Julis, _f._ _Hung._ Lat. downy bearded, 149
Juliska, _f._ _Hung._ Lat. downy bearded, 149
JULIUS, _m._ _Lat._ _Eng._ _Ger._ Lat. downy bearded, 149
Julka, _f._ _Pol._ Lat. downy bearded, 149
Julyan, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. downy bearded, 150
JUNIUS, _m._ Lat. of Juno, 151
_Jurck_, _m._ _Slav._ Gr. husbandman, 115
_Jurgan_, _m._ _Fris. Neth._ Gr. husbandman, 115
_Jurgis_, _m._ _Lett._ Gr. husbandman, 115
_Jurguttis_, _m._ _Lett._ Gr. husbandman, 115
_Jurica_, _m._ _Ill._ Gr. husbandman, 115
JURISA, _m._ _Ill._ Slav. storm.
_Jurn_, _m._ _Fris._ _Esth._ Gr. husbandman, 115
_Juro_, _m._ _Ill._ Gr. husbandman, 115
_Jurriaan_, _m._ _Dutch_, Gr. husbandman, 115
_Jurric_, _m._ _Dutch_, Gr. husbandman, 115
_Jurrusch_, _m._ _Lett._ Gr. husbandman, 115
Just, _m._ _Ger._ Lat. just, 193
Justa, _f._ Lat. just, 193
Juste, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. just, 193
Juste, _f._ _Ger._ Lat. just, 193
Justin, _m._ _Eng._ _Ger._ Lat. just, 193
Justina, _f._ _Eng._ _Span._ Lat. just, 193
Justine, _f._ _Fr._ _Ger._ Lat. just, 193
Justinian, _m._ _Ger._ _Eng._ Lat. just, 193
Justinien, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. just, 193
Justino, _m._ _Span._ Lat. just, 193
JUSTINUS, _m._ Lat. just, 193
Justs, _m._ _Lett._ Lat. just, 193
Justyn, _m._ _Pol._ Lat. just, 193
Juthe, _f._ _Hung._ _Ger._ Heb. praise, 21
_Jutka_, _f._ _Hung._ Heb. praise, 21
_Jutta_, _f._ _Ger._ Heb. praise, 21
_Juzeth_, _f._ _Bret._ Heb. praise, 21
_Juzzis_, _m._ _Lett._ Heb. God will judge, 38
_Jvan_, _m._ _Bulg._ Heb. the Lord’s grace, 45
_Jvic_, _m._ _Ill._ Heb. the Lord’s grace, 45
_Jvica_, _m._ _Ill._ Heb. the Lord’s grace, 45
K
_Kaat_, _f._ _Dutch_, Gr. pure, 123
KAARI, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. god of the winds, 322
_Kaatje_, _f._ _Dutch_, Gr. pure, 123
_Kaddo_, _f._ _Esth._ Gr. pure, 123
_Kadl_, _f._ _Bav._ Gr. pure, 123
KAJETAN, _m._ _Slov._ Lat. of Gaeta, 132
_Kajsa_, _f._ _Swed._ Gr. pure, 123
_Kalle_, _m._ _Swed._ Teu. man, 386
_Kaaurentina_, _f._ _Bret._
_Kapo_, _m._ _Lus._ Pers. treasure master (?), 211
_Kapp_, _m._ _Bav._ Pers. treasure master (?), 211
_Karel_, _m._ _Esth._ _Dutch_, _Bohm._ _Dan._ Teu. strong man, 386
_Karen_, _f._ _Dan._ Gr. pure, 123
_Kalle_, _m._ _Swed._ Teu. man, 386
_Kantemir_, _m._ _Russ._ _Turk._ happy iron.
_Karadek_, _m._ _Bret._ Kelt. beloved, 233
Karl, _m._ _Swiss_, Teu. god of the winds, 386
_Karin_, _f._ _Dan._ Teu. pure, 123
_Karl_, _m._ _Swed._ _Ger._ Teu. man, 386
_Karla_, _f._ _Slov._ Teu. man, 386
_Karlic_, _m._ _Ill._ 386
_Karlica_, _m._ _Ill._ 386
Karlo, _m._ _Russ._ _Ill._ Teu. man, 386
Karlmann, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. strong man, 386
_Karlko_, _m._ _Lus._ Teu. man, 386
Karls, _m._ _Lett._ Teu. man, 386
Karol, _m._ _Pol._ _Slov._ Teu. man, 386
_Karolek_, _m._ _Pol._ Teu. man, 386
_Karolina_, _f._ _Slav._ Teu. man, 386
_Karolinka_, _f._ _Slov._ Teu. man, 386
Karoly, _m._ _Hung._ Teu. man, 386
_Karsten_, _m._ _Slav._ L. Ger. Teu. Christian, 105
_Karstin_, _f._ _Dan._ Gr. Christian, 105
_Kasche_, _f._ _Dantzig_, Gr. pure, 123
_Kasch_, _m._ _Dantzig_, Teu. man, 386
_Kaschis_, _m._ _Lett._ Slav. showing peace, 443
_Kasen_, _f._ _Dan._ Gr. pure, 123
_Kashuk_, _m._ _Lett._ Slav. show forth peace, 442
_Kasia_, _f._ _Pol._ Gr. pure, 123
Kasimir, _m._ _Ger._ Slav. show forth peace, 443
Kasimira, _f._ _Ger._ Slav. show forth peace, 443
Kasimirs, _m._ _Lett._ Slav. show forth peace, 443
Kaspar, _m._ _Ger._ _Russ._ _Bohm._ Pers. treasure master (?), 211
Kaspe, _m._ _Bav._ Pers. treasure master (?), 211
Kasper, _m._ _Swed._ Pers. treasure master (?), 211
_Kasperl_, _m._ _Bav._ Pers. treasure master (?), 211
Kaspers, _m._ _Lett._ Pers. treasure master (?), 211
Kaspor, _m._ _Lus._ Pers. treasure master (?), 211
_Kass_, _m._ _Bav._ Pers. treasure master (?), 211
_Kata_, _f._ _Ill._ Gr. pure, 123
_Katalin_, _f._ _Hung._ Gr. pure, 123
Katarina, _f._ _Swed._ _Ill._ _Russ._ Gr. pure, 123
_Katarzina_, _f._ _Pol._ Gr. pure, 123
_Kate_, _f._ _Eng._ _Ill._ Gr. pure, 123
_Katel_, _f._ _Bret._ Gr. pure, 123
_Katelik_, _f._ _Bret._ Gr. pure, 123
_Katerina_, _f._ _Bohm._ Gr. pure, 123
Katharine, _f._ _Eng._ _Ger._ Gr. pure, 123
_Kätchen_, _f._ _Ger._ Gr. pure, 123
_Kathe_, _f._ _Ger._ Gr. pure, 123
_Katherine_, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. pure, 123
_Kathleen_, _f._ _Ir._ Gr. pure, 123
_Kathri_, _f._ _Swiss_, Gr. pure, 123
_Kathrili_, _f._ _Swiss_, Gr. pure, 123
_Kathrina_, _f._ _Dan._ Gr. pure, 123
_Kati_, _f._ _Hung._ Gr. pure, 123
_Katica_, _f._ _Ill._ Gr. pure, 123
_Katicza_, _f._ _Hung._ Gr. pure, 123
_Katie_, _f._ _Scot._ Gr. pure, 123
_Katinka_, _f._ _Russ._ Gr. pure, 123
_Katya_, _f._ _Russ._ Gr. pure, 123
KATLA, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. cauldron, 346
_Katra_, _f._ _Slov._ Gr. pure, 123
_Katreij_, _f._ _Slov._ Gr. pure, 123
_Katrin_, _f._ _Bav._ Gr. pure, 123
_Katrina_, _f._ _Slov._ Gr. pure, 123
_Katrine_, _f._ _Eng._ _Bav._ _Lett._ Gr. pure, 123
_Kats_, _f._ _Esth._ Gr. pure, 123
_Katsche_, _f._ _Lett._ Gr. pure, 123
_Kattel_, _f._ _Bav._ Gr. pure, 123
_Katty_, _f._ _Ir._ Gr. pure, 123
_Kavzma_, _m._ _Russ._ Gr. order, 125
Kay, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. rejoicing, 131
KAZIMIR, _m._ _Ill._ _Pol._ _Slov._ _Bohm._ Slav. show forth peace, 211
_Kazimierz_, _m._ _Pol._ Slav. show forth peace, 211
Kean, _m._ _Irish_, vast, 258
_Kee_, _f._ _Dutch_, Lat. horn (?), 146
_Kees_, _m._ _Dutch_, Lat. horn (?), 146
_Keetje_, _f._ _Dutch_, Lat. horn (?), 146
_Keeldar_, _m._ _Scot._ Teu. battle army.
Keereel, _m._ _Russ._ Gr. lordly, 217
_Keira_, _Lapp._ Teu. ever king, 56
Kenneth, _m._ _Scot._ Kelt. comely, 256
Kenny, _m._ _Ir._ Kelt. vast, 256
_Kentigern_, _m._ _Welsh_, Kelt. head chief, 258
Kentigerna, _f._ _Welsh_, Kelt. head chief, 258
Kephas, _m._ _Gr._ Aram. stone, 107
_Kerenhappuch_, _f._ _Heb._ box of paint, 26
_Kerestel_, _m._ _Hung._ Christian, 105
_Keresteli_, _m._ _Hung._ Christian, 105
Keriadek, _m._ _Bret._ Kelt. beloved, 233
_Kerstan_, _m._ _Lus._ Gr. Christian, 105
_Kerste_, _f._ _Lett._ Gr. Christian, 105
_Kersti_, _m._ _Est._ Gr. Christian, 105
_Kerstiteli_, _m._ _Ill._ Gr. baptizer, 106
_Kersto_, _m._ _Ill._ Gr. Christian, 105
_Kester_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. Christ bearer, 106
_Kert_, _Esth._ Teu. spear maid, 268
KETELBIORN, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. cauldron bear, 347
KETELRIDIR, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. cauldron fury, 347
_Ketterle_, _f._ _Bav._ Gr. pure, 123
KETYL, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. cauldron, 347
Kevin, _m._ _Irish_, Kelt. comely, 256
_Keyne_, _f._ _Eng._ Kelt. jewel, 271
Kezia, _f._ _Eng._ Bret. cassia, 26
Khaoos, _m._ _Pers._ Zend. beautiful eyed.
Kharalamm, _m._ _Russ._ Gr. joy of Easter, 216
Kharalample, _m._ _Russ._ Gr. joy of Easter, 216
_Kharitoun_, _m._ _Russ._ Gr. love, 73
_Khevronia_, _m._ _Russ._ Lat. purifying, 176
_Khoosroo_, _m._ _Pers._ Zend. sun (?), 56
_Khur_, _m._ _Pers._ Zend. sun (?), 56
_Khshayarsha_, Zend. venerable king, 56
_Kissey_, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. cassia, 26
Kieren, _m._ _Irish_, Kelt. black, 256
Kilian, _m._ _Ger._ Lat. blind, 144
_Kina_, _f._ _Swiss_, Gr. Christian, 105
_Kirin_, _m._ _Ill._ Lat. spearman, 177
_Kit_, _m._ _Eng._ Gr. Christ bearer, 106
_Kiogeir_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. people’s spear, 375
_Kitto_, _m._ _Lus._ Gr. Christ bearer, 106
_Kitty_, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. pure, 123
_Kiodvala_, _Nor._ people’s power, 375
_Kjogjer_, _Nor._ people’s spear, 375
_Kjol_, _Nor._ people’s wolf, 375
_Kjold_, _Nor._ people’s wolf, 375
_Kjoille_, _Nor._ people’s heroine, 375
_Kjoval_, _Nor._ people’s power, 375
_Kjostol_, _m._ _Nor._ harsh wolf, 419
_Kjartan_, _m._ _Nor._ Kelt. sea warrior, 146
_Kjelbjorg_, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. kettle protection, 346
_Kjell_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. kettle, 346
_Klaatje_, _m._ _Dutch_, Lat. famous, 186
_Klaas_, _m._ _Dutch_, Lat. victory of the people, 90
_Klaasji_, _m._ _Dutch_, Lat. victory of the people, 90
_Klaada_, _m._ _Bret._ Lat. lame, 146
_Klara_, _f._ _Sl._ Lat. famous, 185
_Klas_, _m._ _Bav._ _Dan._ Gr. victory of the people, 90
_Klasel_, _m._ _Bav._ Gr. victory of the people, 90
_Klassis_, _m._ _Lat._ Gr. victory of the people, 90
Klaudij, _m._ _Ill._ Lat. lame, 146
_Klaus_, _m._ _Ger._ _Esth._ Lat. victory of the people, 90
_Klavde_, _m._ _Slov._ Lat. lame, 146
Klavdij, _m._ _Russ._ Lat. lame, 146
_Klavinsh_, _m._ _Lett._ Gr. victory of the people, 90
_Klavs_, _m._ _Lett._ Gr. victory of the people, 90
KLEANTHES, _m._ Gr. famous bloom, 95
_Klemen_, _m._ _Slov._ _Hung._ Lat. merciful, 160
Klemente, _m._ _Ill._ Lat. merciful, 160
Klemet, _m._ _Esth._ Lat. merciful, 160
_Klemin_, _m._ _Ger._ Lat. merciful, 160
_Klunans_, _m._ _Russ._ Lat. merciful, 160
KLEOPATRA, _f._ Gr. fame of her father, 95
_Klothilde_, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. famous battle maid, 404
_Knelis_, _m._ _Dutch_, Lat. horn (?), 146
_Knel_, _m._ _Dantzig_, Lat. horn (?), 146
KNUD, _m._ _Dan._ Teu. hill, 433
Knut, _m._ _Dan._ Teu. hill, 433
_Koadou_, _m._ _Bret._ Kelt. wood liver.
_Kodders_, _m._ _Lett._ Gr. divine gift, 101, 282
Koenraed, _m._ _Netherlands_, Teu. bold council, 423
KOL, _m._ _Ice._ Teu. cool, 429
KOLBEIN, _m._ _Ice._ Teu. cold iron bone, 429
KOLBJORN, _m._ _Ice._ Teu. black bear, 429
_Kolina_, _f._ _Swed._ Gr. pure, 123
KOLBIORN, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. black bear, 429
KOLFINN, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. cool white, 429
KOLFINNA, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. cool white, 429
KOLGRIM, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. cool mask, 429
KOLGRIMA, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. cool mask, 427
_Kolinka_, _m._ _Russ._ Gr. victory of the people, 90
_Kolja_, _m._ _Russ._ Gr. victory of the people, 90
KOLOMAN, _m._ _Hung._ slave council man, 443
KOLSKEGG, _m._ _Ice._ Teu. black beard, 427
_Kondratij_, _m._ _Russ._ Teu. bold council, 423
Konrad, _m._ _Hung._ _Swed._ _Ger._ _Russ._ Teu. bold council, 423
_Konradin_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. bold council, 423
_Konradine_, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. bold council, 423
Konstantia, _f._ _Ill._ _Slav._ Lat. firm, 161
_Konstanij_, _m._ _Slav._ Lat. firm, 161
Konstanczia, _f._ _Hung._ Lat. firm, 161
Konstantin, _m._ _Teu._ _Slav._ _Russ._ Lat. firm, 161
_Konstanz_, _m._ _Ger._ Lat. firm, 161
KORE, _f._ _Gr._ Gr. maiden, 60
_Kored_, bold council, 423
_Koredli_, bold council, 423
_Kordel_, _f._ _Bav._ Kelt. jewel of the sea, 230
Kordule, _f._ _Gr._ Kelt. jewel of the sea, 230
Kormak, _m._ _Ice._ Kelt. son of a chariot, 249
_Koreish_, _m._ _Heb._ Zend. sun (?), 56
_Kornel_, _m._ _Dutch_, Lat. horn (?), 146
_Kornelie_, _f._ _Wall._ _Dutch_, Lat. horn (?), 146
_Kornelij_, _m._ _Slav._ Lat. horn (?), 146
Korstiaan, _m._ _Dutch_, Gr. Christian, 105
KOSMOS, _m._ Gr. order, 125
_Kostadin_, _m._ _Slov._ Lat. firm, 161
_Kostancia_, _f._ _Slav._ Lat. firm, 161
_Koste_, _m._ _Slav._ Lat. firm, 161
_Kostja_, _m._ _Russ._ Lat. firm, 161
_Kostusin_, _m._ _Pol._ Lat. firm, 161
_Kotka_, _Ill._ _Slov._ Lat. firm, 161
_Koulma_, _m._ Bret. Lat. dove, 186
_Koulum_, _m._ Bret. Lat. dove, 186
_Kowzma_, _m._ _Russ._ Gr. order, 125
KRASISLAV, _m._ _Slav._ Slav. fair glory, 443
KRASIMIR, _m._ _Slav._ fair peace, 443,445
KRASOMIL, _m._ _Slav._ fair love, 443
_Kret_, _f._ _Esth._ Gr. pearl, 121
_Krikshte_, _m._ _Ill._ Gr. Christian, 105
_Kriemhild_, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. helmet battle maid, 361
_Krispin_, _m._ _Dutch_, Lat. curly, 162
_Krista_, _f._ _Swiss_, Gr. Christian, 105
_Kristal_, _m._ _Ger._ Gr. Christ bearer, 106
_Kristagis_, _m._ _Lett._ Gr. Christ bearer, 106
_Kristoppis_, _m._ _Lett._ Gr. Christ bearer, 106
_Kriste_, _f._ _Lett._ Gr. Christian, 105
_Kristel_, _f._ _Ger._ Gr. Christian, 105
_Kristi_, _f._ _Esth._ Gr. Christian, 105
Kristian, _m._ _Swed._ _Ill._ Gr. Christian, 105
Kristiane, _f._ _Slav._ Gr. Christian, 105
_Kristijan_, _f._ _Slav._ Gr. Christian 105
Kristina, _f._ _Slav._ Gr. Christian, 105
_Kristinsch_, _m._ _Lett._ Gr. Christian, 105
Kristof, _m._ _Ill._ _Slav._ Gr. Christ bearer, 106
Kristofer, _m._ _Swed._ Gr. Christ bearer, 106
_Kristoffel_, _m._ _Swiss_, Gr. Christ bearer, 106
_Kristofor_, _m._ _Slov._ _Ill._ Gr. Christ bearer, 106
_Kristscho_, _m._ _Lus._ Gr. Christian, 105
_Kristuppas_, _m._ _Lith._ Gr. Christ bearer, 106
_Kroet_, _f._ _Esth._ Gr. pearl, 121
_Kruschan_, _m._ Gr. Christian, 105
_Krustinn_, _f._ _Bulg._ Gr. Christian, 105
_Krustjo_, _m._ _Bulg._ Gr. Christian, 105
_Kryspyn_, _m._ _Pol._ Lat. curly, 162
_Kryslof_, _m._ _Pol._ Gr. Christ bearer, 106
_Krystyan_, _m._ _Pol._ Gr. Christian, 105
_Ksersas_, _m._ _Ill._ Zend. venerable king, 56
_Kub_, _m._ _Lus._ _Pol._ Heb. supplanter, 17
_Kuba_, _m._ _Pol._ Heb. supplanter, 17
_Kubischu_, _m._ _Lett._ Heb. supplanter, 17
_Kunel_, _m._ _Bav._ Teu. bold speech, 424
_Kuhnhardt_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. bold and firm, 424
_Kuhnrat_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. bold speech, 423
_Kunat_, _m._ _Lus._ Teu. bold speech, 423
_Kundel_, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. bold war, 424
_Kunds_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. bold speech, 423
_Kunigunde_, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. bold war, 423
_Kunimund_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. bold protection, 423
_Kuno_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. bold, 424
_Kunrad_, _m._ _Bohm._ Teu. bold speech 423
_Kunrat_, _m._ _Russ._ Teu. bold speech, 423
_Kunsch_, _m._ _Slav._ Teu. bold speech, 423
_Kunz_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. bold speech, 423
Kupina, _f._ _Ill._ Slav. gooseberry, 438
KUPJENA, _f._ _Ill._ Slav. gooseberry, 438
_Kurt_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. bold speech, 423
_Kustas_, _m._ _Esth._ Teu. Goth’s staff, 289
_Kustav_, _m._ _Esth._ Teu. Goth’s staff, 289
_Kwedders_, _m._ _Lett._ Gr. divine gift, 182
KUREISH, _m._ Zend. sun (?), 56
Kusteninn, _m._ _Bret._ Lat. firm, 161
_Kymbelin_, _m._ _Eng._ Kelt. lord of the lion, 232
_Kygeir_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. people’s spear, 374
_Kythe._
_Kyer_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. people’s spear, 374
KYNAN, _m._ _Welsh_, Kelt. chief, 247
KYRIAKOS, _m._ _Gr._ Sunday child, 217
KYRILLOS, _m._ _Gr._ lordly, 217
L
_Labrenzis_, _m._ _Lett._ Lat. laurel, 174
Lachlan, _m._ _Scot._ Kelt. warlike, 255
LACHTNA, _m._ _Erse._ Kelt. green, 256
_Lacko_, _m._ _Ill._ Slav. ruling with fame, 442
_Laco_, _m._ _Ill._ Slav. ruling with fame, 442
_Laczko_, _m._ _Hung._ Slav. ruling with fame, 442
Ladislao, _m._ _Span._ _It._ Slav. ruling with fame, 442
Ladislas, _m._ _Fr._ Slav. ruling with fame, 442
Ladislao, _m._ _Port._ Slav. ruling with fame, 442
Ladislaus, _m._ _Lat._ Slav. ruling with fame, 442
LAIDRAD, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. fierce speech, 418
LAIDWALD, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. fierce power, 418
LAIDWIG, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. fierce war, 418
Lælia, _f._ _Lat._ 151
LÆLIUS, _m._ _Lat._ 151
LÆTITIA, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. gladness, 192
_Lajos_, _m._ _Hung._ Teu. famous war, 405
LALA, _f._ _Serv._ Slav. tulip, 438
LALAGE, _f._ _Lat._ Gr. prattler, 463
Lambert, _m._ _Fr._ _Eng._ _Dutch_, _Ger._ Teu. country’s brightness,
431
Lambertine, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. country’s brightness, 431
Lamberto, _m._ _It._ Teu. country’s brightness, 431
Lambrecht, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. country’s brightness, 431
Lamech, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. smitten.
_Lammert_, _m._ _Dutch_, Teu. country’s brightness, 431
_Lance_, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. servant, 263
Lancelot, _m._ _Eng._ _Fr._ Lat. servant, 263
Lancilotto, _m._ _It._ Lat. servant, 263
LANDERICH, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. land ruler, 431
Landerico, _m._ _Ital._ Teu. land ruler, 431
Landfranc, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. land free, 431
LANDFRANG, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. land free, 431
LANDFRIED, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. land peace, 431
Landinn, _f._ _Ger._ _Fr._ Teu. country, 431
Lando, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. country, 431
LANDOLF, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. country wolf, 431
LANDRAD, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. country’s council, 431
LANDWIN, _m._ _Gr._ Teu. country friend, 431
Landfranco, _m._ _It._ Teu. country free, 431
LANN, _f._ _Erse_, Kelt. sword.
LANTPERAHT, _m._ _O. Ger._ Teu. country’s brightness, 430
_Lanty_, _m._ _Ir._ Lat. laurel, 174
LAODAMAS, _Gr._ people’s tamer, 95
LAODAMIA, _f._ _It._ Gr. people’s tamer, 95
LAODIKE, _f._ Gr. people’s justice, 95
_Lapo_, _m._ _It._ Heb. supplanter, 17
_Lara_, _f._ _Finn._ Lat. famous, 185
_Laris_, _m._ _Fris._ Lat. cheerful, 191
_Larkin_, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. laurel, 174
_Larry_, _m._ _Ir._ Lat. laurel, 174
_Lars_, _m._ _Dan._ 174
_Larse_, _m._ _Swed._ Lat. laurel, 174
_Lasar_, _m._ _Russ._ Heb. God will help, 33
_Lasche_, _f._ _Lett._ Teu. famous war, 405
LASSAIR, _f._ _Erse_, Kelt. flame, 224
LASSARFHINA, _f._ _Erse_, Kelt. flame of wine, 224
_Lassla_, _m._ _Hung._ ruling with fame, 442
_Latte_, _f._ _Lett._ Teu. man, 386
_Launart_, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. lion strong, 77
_Laur_, _m._ _Lapp._ _Esth._ Lat. laurel, 174
Laura, _f._ _Eng._ _Ital._ _Ger._ Lat. laurel, 174
Laure, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. laurel, 174
Laurenza, _f._ _Eng._ _Port._ Lat. laurel, 174
Laurence, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. laurel, 174
Laurencho, _m._ _Port._ Lat. laurel, 174
Laurençya, _f._ _Port._ Lat. laurel, 174
Laurens, _m._ _Nor._ Lat. laurel, 174
Laurent, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. laurel, 174
Laurentia, _f._ _Lat._ laurel, 174
LAURENTIUS, _m._ _Lat._ laurel, 174
Laures, _m._ _Lap._ Lat. laurel, 174
_Lauretta_, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. laurel, 174
_Laurette_, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. laurel, 174
_Laurie_, _m._ _Scot._ Lat. laurel, 174
Lauris, _m._ _Lett._ Lat. laurel, 174
_Lauritz_, _m._ _Dan._ Lat. laurel, 174
_Laurus_, _m._ _Esth._ Lat. laurel, 174
_Laus_, _m._ _Esth._ Gr. people’s victory, 90
Lav, _m._ _Slov._ Gr. lion, 77
LAVINIA, _f._ _Eng._ of Latium, 176
LAVOSLAV, _m._ _Slav._ Slav. lion glory, 77
Lavrentic, _m._ _Wall._ Lat. laurel, 174
Lavrentij, _m._ _Russ._ Lat. laurel, 174
Lavrentija, _f._ _Russ._ Lat. laurel, 174
Lavrenzis, _m._ _Lett._ Lat. laurel, 174
_Lawise_, _f._ _Lett._ Teu. famous war, 405
Lawrence, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. laurel, 174
_Lazar_, _m._ _Ill._ _Hung._ Heb. God will help, 33
Lazare, _m._ _Fr._ Heb. God will help, 33
_Lazarillo_, _m._ _Span._ Heb. God will help, 33
LAZARO, _m._ _Span._ _It._ Heb. God will help, 33
Lazarus, _m._ _Lat._ Heb. God will help, 33
Lazarro, _m._ _It._ Heb. God will help, 33
_Lazarz_, _m._ _Pol._ Heb. God will help, 33
_Laze_, _m._ _Ill._ Heb. God will help, 33
_Lazo_, _m._ _Ill._ Heb. God will help, 33
Lazzaro, _m._ _It._ Heb. God will help, 33
Leah, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. weary, 7, 15
Leander, _m._ _Eng._ Gr. lion man, 77
Leandre, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. lion man, 77
Leandro, _m._ _It._ _Span._ Gr. lion man, 77
LEANDROS, _m._ _Gr._ Gr. lion man, 77
_Leăo_, _m._ _Port._ Gr. lion, 77
Lear, _m._ _Eng._ Kelt. sea, 229
Lebbœus, _m._ _Eng._ Aram. praise, 20
LEBRECHT, _m._ _Ger._ live right, 468
Lebwin, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. beloved friend, 426
LECH, _m._ _Pol._ Slav, a woodland spirit.
Lechsinska, _f._ _Pol._ Slav. a woodland spirit.
Leger, _m._ _Teu._ people’s spear, 430
_Leen_, _m._ _Dutch_, Teu. lion strong, 77
_Leendert_, _m._ _Dutch_, Teu. lion strong, 77
_Left shoulder forward_, _m._ _Eng._ 10, 463
_Leentje_, _f._ _Dutch_, Heb. of Magdala, 31
Leifr, _m._ _Nor._ relic, 332
_Leila_, _f._ _Moorish_.
LEIKNY, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. fresh sport, 354
_Leiul_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. fierce wolf, 418
_Leisje_, _f._ _Dutch_, Heb. God’s oath, 35
_Leks_, _m._ _Slav._ helper of men, 85
_Leli_, _f._ _Swiss_, Heb. of Magdala, 30
_Lelia_, _f._ _It._ Lat. 151
_Lelie_, _f._ _It._ Lat. 151
_Lelio_, _m._ _It._ Lat. 151
_Lelika_, _f._ _Slov._ Gr. fair speech, 308
_Lena_, _f._ _Alb._ _Lett._ Gr. light, 68
_Lemet_, _m._ _Esth._ Lat. merciful, 161
_Lenardo_, _m._ _It._ Teu. lion strong, 77
_Lenort_, _m._ _Teu._ lion strong, 77
_Lenchen_, _f._ _Ger._ Heb. of Magdala, 31, 68
_Lencica_, _f._ _Slov._ Gr. light, 68
_Lendrts_, _m._ _Lett._ Teu. lion strong, 77
_Lene_, _f._ _Ger._ Heb. of Magdala, 32
_Lenhart_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. lion strong, 77
_Lenia_, _f._ _Alb._ Gr. light, 68
_Lenka_, _f._ _Slov._ Gr. light, 68
_Lenny_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. lion strong, 77
Lenore, _f._ _Ger._ Gr. light, 68
_Leno_, _f._ _Esth._ Gr. light, 68
_Lenz_, _m._ _Swiss_, Lat. laurel, 174
LEO, _m._ _Ger._ _Span._ Gr. lion, 76
LEOBGYTHA, _f._ _A.S._ Teu. love gift, 426
LEOBHARD, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. love strength, 426
Leocadia, _f._ _Span._ Gr. 77
Leocadie, _f._ _Span._ Gr. 77
Leodegarius, _m._ _Lat._ Teu. people’s spear, 430
Leodowald, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. people’s power, 430
LEOFRIC, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. beloved rule, 426
LEOFISTAN, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. beloved stone, 426
LEOFWINE, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. beloved friend, 426
Leoline, _m._ _Eng._ Kelt. Lat. 280, 426
Leon, _m._ _It._ _Russ._ Gr. lion, 76
Leonard, _m._ _Eng._ _It._ Teu. lion strong, 77
Leonarda, _f._ _Span._ _Ger._ Teu. lion strong, 77
Leonarde, _f._ _It._ _Ger._ Teu. lion strong, 77
Leonardine, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. lion strong, 77
Leonardo, _m._ _Rom._ Teu. lion strong, 77
Léonce, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. lion like, 77
Leoncie, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. lion like, 77
Leoncio, _m._ _It._ Gr. lion like, 77
Leone, _m._ _It._ Gr. lion, 76
Leongard, _m._ _Russ._ Teu. lion strong, 77
_Leonhard_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. lion strong, 77
Leonhardine, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. lion strong, 77
LEONIDAS, _m._ Gr. lion like, 77
Leonie, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. lion, 77
Leonor, _f._ _Span._ Gr. light, 68
Leonora, _f._ _It. Eng._ Gr. light, 68
Leonore, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. light, 68
Leontia, _f._ _Lat._ Gr. lion like, 77
Leontij, _m._ _Russ._ Gr. lion like, 77
Leontin, _m._ _Ger._ _Fr._ Gr. lion like, 77
Leontine, _f._ _Ger._ _Fr._ lion like, 77
LEONTIUS, _m._ Lat. lion like, 77
Leonz, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. lion strong, 77
_Leopo_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. people’s prince, 430
Leopold, _m._ _Ger._ _Fr._ Teu. people’s prince, 430
Leopoldine, _f._ _Ger._ people’s prince, 430
Leopoldo, _m._ _Slav._ _It._ Teu. people’s prince, 430
Leovigildo, _m._ _Span._ Teu. love pledge, 426
_Leszek_, _m._ _Pol._ Gr. helper of men, 85
Letitia, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. gladness, 192
Lettice, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. gladness, 192
Lethard, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. fierce firmness, 418
Lethild, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. fierce battle maid, 418
Letizia, _f._ _It._ Lat. gladness, 192
Leto, 64
Let’y, _f._ _Ir._ Gr. truth, 126
Letty, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. gladness, 192
Leudomir, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. people’s fame, 430
Leufroi, _m._ _Gr._ Teu. people’s peace, 430
_Leunairs_, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. lion strong, 77
Leupold, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. people’s prince, 430
LEUTGAR, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. people’s spear, 429
LEUTGARDE, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. people’s guard, 430
LEUTPOLD, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. people’s prince, 429
_Lev_, _m._ _Pol._ _Slov._ Gr. lion, 77
Levi, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. joining, 7, 15
_Lew_, _m._ _Slav._ Gr. lion, 77
_Levor_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. gate ward, 421
Lewis, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. famous war, 405
Lia, _f._ _It._ Heb. dependence, 15
_Libby_, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. God’s oath, 35
LIBUSA, _f._ _Bohm._ Slav. darling, 443
_Lida_, _f._ _Bohm._ Slav. people’s love, 432, 443
LIDVARD, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. gate ward, 421
LIDWINA, _f._ _Bohm._ Slav. people of Vina, 443
LIEBE, _f._ _Flem._ Ger. love, 426
Liebhard, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. love strength, 426
Liebtrud, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. love maiden, 426
Liedulf, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. fierce wolf, 418
_Lienhardt_, _m._ _Bav._ lion strength, 77
_Lienl_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. lion strong, 77
_Lienzel_, _m._ _Russ._ Teu. lion strong, 77
_Liert_, _m._ _Swiss_, Teu. lion strength, 77
_Lieschen_, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. famous, 405
_Lievina_, _f._ _Flem._ Teu. love, 426
_Ligach_, _f._ _Gael._ Kelt. pearly, 224
_Ligaire_, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. people’s spear, 430
_Likelas_, _m._ _Bav._ Gr. victory of the people, 90
Lilian, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. lily, 145
Lilias, _f._ _Scot._ Lat. lily, 145
_Liliola_, _f._ _It._ Lat. blind, 144
_Lilla_, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. oath of God, 35
Lilly, _f._ _Eng._ lily, 145
_Lina_, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. man, 386
_Line_, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. man, 386
_Linet_, _f._ _Eng._ Kelt. shapely (?), 145
Linnea, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. lime tree, 470
LINTRUDE, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. serpent maid, 347
_Linuscha_, _f._ _Dant._ Teu. man, 386
Lionardo, _m._ _It._ Teu. lion strong, 77
Lionel, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. lion, 77
Lionello, _m._ _It._ Lat. little lion, 77
Liovigotona, _f._ _Span._ Teu. love Goth, 426
_Lipo_, _m._ _Lus._ Teu. remains of divinity, 288
_Lipp_, _m._ _Bav._ Gr. loving horses, 79
_Lipp_, _m._ _Dant._ Teu. relic of divinity, 288
_Lippa_, _m._ _Bav._ Gr. loving horses, 79
_Lippo_, _m._ _It._ Gr. loving horses, 79
_Lipsts_, _m._ _Lett._ Gr. loving horses, 79
_Lisa_, _f._ _Dan._ _Lus._ Heb. God’s oath, 35
_Lisbet_, _f._ _Ger._ Heb. God’s oath, 35
_Lisbeta_, _f._ _Lett._ Heb. God’s oath, 35
_Lise_, _f._ _Ger._ Heb. God’s oath, 35
_Liserli_, _f._ _Swiss_, Heb. God’s oath, 35
_Lisette_, _f._ _Fr._ Teu. famous war, 405
_Lisilka_, _f._ _Russ._ Heb. God’s oath, 35
_Lisi_, _f._ _Bav._ Heb. God’s oath, 35
_Liska_, _f._ _Lus._ Heb. God’s oath, 35
_Liso_, _f._ _Esth._ Heb. God’s oath, 35
_Lisrl_, _f._ _Bav._ Heb. God’s oath, 35
_Liuba_, _f._ _Flem._ Teu. love, 426
LIUTBERGA, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. people’s protection, 430
LIUTBERT, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. people’s brightness, 430
LIUTFRED, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. people’s peace, 430
LIUTHOLD, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. people’s firmness, 430
LIUTMAR, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. people’s fame, 430
LIUTPOLD, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. people’s valour, 430
LIUTPRAND, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. people’s sword, 430
Liuva, _m._ _Span._ Teu. love, 426
_Liza_, _f._ _Russ._ Heb. God’s oath, 35
_Lizbeta_, _f._ _Slov._ Heb. God’s oath, 35
_Lizbetha_, _f._ _Russ._ Heb. God’s oath, 35
_Lizika_, _f._ _Slov._ Heb. God’s oath, 35
_Lizzie_, _f._ _Scot._ Heb. God’s oath, 35
_Ljena_, _f._ _Albanian_, Gr. light, 68
LJODOLD, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. people’s firmness, 430
LJOT, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. people, 430
_Ljubica_, _f._ _Serv._ Slav. love, 443
_Ljubima_, _f._ _Serv._ Slav. love, 443
_Ljubka_, _f._ _Russ._ Slav. love, 443
LJUBMILA, _f._ _Slav._ Slave, loving, 443
LJUBOMIR, _m._ _Slav._ Slav. love peace, 443
LJUBOSLAV, _m._ _Slov._ Slav. love glory, 443
LJUBOV, _f._ _Russ._ Slav. love, 443
_Ljudevit_, _m._ _Slov._ Teu. famous war, 405
LJUDOMILA, _f._ _Slav._ Slav. people’s love, 430
LJUDOMIR, _m._ _Slav._ Slav. people’s peace, 430
Lles, _m._ _Welsh_, Lat. light, 132
Lleulu, _f._ _Welsh_, light, 132
LLEURWG, _m._ _Welsh_, Kelt. light, 281
LLEW, _m._ _Welsh_, Kelt. lion.
LLEW, _m._ _Welsh_, Kelt. light, 281
Llewellyn, _m._ _Eng._ Kelt. lightning, 281
_Llewfer_, _m._ _Welsh_, Lat. light, 281
LLEWRWG, _f._ _Welsh_, Lat. light, 76
LLYR, _m._ _Welsh_, Kelt. sea, 230
_Lloyd_, _m._ _Eng._ Kelt. grey, 230
LLWYD, _m._ _Welsh_, Kelt. grey, 230
LLYWELWYN, _m._ _Welsh_, Kelt. lightning, 281
Lobo, _m._ _Port._ Lat. wolf, 198
Lodewick, _m._ _Dutch_, Teu. famous war, 405
Lodoiska, _f._ _Pol._ Teu. famous war, 405
Lodovico, _m._ _It._ Teu. famous war, 405
Lodowick, _m._ _Scot._ Teu. famous war, 405
Lodowig, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. famous war, 405
_Lodve_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. famous war, 405
Lodward, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. famous guard, 405
Loïs, _m._ _Br._ Teu. famous war, 405
_Loiseach_, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. 133
Loïz, _m._ _Bret._ Teu. famous war, 405
_Lola_, _f._ _Span._ Teu. man, 386
_Lolotte_, _f._ _Fr._ Teu. man, 386
_Lood_, _m._ _Dutch_, Teu. famous war, 405
Looys, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. famous war, 405
Lope, _m._ _Span._ Lat. wolf, 198
_Lopko_, _m._ _Lus._ Teu. God’s praise, 288
_Lopo_, _m._ _Lus._ Teu. God’s praise, 288
Lora, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. laurel, 174
Lorenço, _m._ _It._ Lat. laurel, 174
Lorenz, _m._ _Ger._ _Dan._ Lat. laurel, 174
Lorenzo, _m._ _It._ Lat. laurel, 174
_Lori_, _m._ _Swiss_, Lat. laurel, 174
_Lorinez_, _m._ _Hung._ Lat. laurel, 174
_Loritz_, _m._ _Esth._ Lat. laurel, 174
_Lorl_, _f._ _Ger._ Gr. light, 174
_Lorus_, _m._ _Lith._ Lat. laurel, 174
_Lot_, _m._ _Eng._ Heb.
_Lot_, _m._ _Eng._ Kelt. lion, 281
Lotario, _m._ _Span._ _It._ Teu. famous warrior, 407
Lothaire, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. famous warrior, 407
Lothar, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. famous warrior, 407
Lothario, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. famous warrior, 407
_Lotta_, _f._ _Swed._ Teu. man, 386
_Lotte_, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. man, 386
_Lotty_, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. man, 386
_Lotze_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. famous war, 407
LOUARN, _m._ Kelt. fox, 224, 242
Louis, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. famous war, 405
Louisa, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. famous war, 405
Louise, _f._ _Ger._ _Fr._ Teu. famous war, 405
_Louison_, _f._ _Fr._ Teu. famous war, 405
_Lova_, _f._ _Swed._ Teu. famous war, 405
LOVE, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. love, 464
LOVEDAY, _f._ _Corn._ Teu. love (?), 464
Lovisa, _f._ _Swed._ Teu. famous war, 405
Lovisje, _f._ _Dutch_, Teu. famous war, 405
_Lovra_, _f._ _m._ _Serv._ Lat. laurel, 174
_Lovre_, _m._ _Slov._ Lat. laurel, 174
_Lovrenika_, _f._ _Ill._ Lat. laurel, 174
LOWENHARD, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. stern lion, 281
LOWENCLO, _m._ _Bav._ Teu. lion claw, 281
Loys, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. famous holiness, 405
Lozoik, _m._ _Prov._ Teu. famous holiness, 405
Lubin, _m._ _Ir._ _Eng._ Teu. love friend, 426
LUBOMIRSKI, _m._ _Pol._ Slav. loving peace, 443
Luca, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. light, 133
Luca, _m._ _It._ Lat. light, 133
LUCANUS, _m._ _Gr._ Lat. light, 133
Lucas, _m._ _Span._ Lat. light, 133
Luce, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. light, 133
LUCIA, _f._ _It._ Lat. light, 132
Lucian, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. light, 133
Luciana, _f._ _It._ Lat. light, 132
Luciano, _m._ _It._ Lat. light, 133
Lucianus, _m._ Lat. light, 133
Lucie, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. light, 132
Lucien, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. light, 133
Lucienne, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. light, 132
Lucifer, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. light bringer, 133
LUCIFERUS, _m._ _Lat._ Lat. light bringer, 133
Lucile, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. light, 132
Lucilla, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. light, 132
LUCINDA, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. light, 132
Lucio, _m._ _It._ Lat. light, 133
LUCIUS, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. light, 133
Lucrece, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. gain (?), 134
Lucretia, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. gain (?), 134
LUCRETIUS, _m._ Lat. gain (?), 134
Lucrezia, _f._ _It._ Lat. gain (?), 134
LUCY, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. light, 132
Lucya, _f._ _Pol._ Lat. light, 132
Lucza, _f._ _Hung._ Lat. light, 132
Ludevic, _m._ _Wall._ Teu. famous holiness, 405
_Ludgar_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. people’s spear, 430
_Ludi_, _m._ _Swiss_, Teu. famous holiness, 405
Ludmila, _f._ _Ger._ _Slav._ people’s love, 430, 442
_Ludolf_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. people’s wolf, 430
LUDOMILLA, _f._ _Ger._ Slav. people’s love, 430
LUDOMIR, _m._ _Ger._ Slav. people’s peace, 430
Ludomir, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. famous greatness, 405
Ludovic, _m._ _Wall._ Teu. famous holiness, 405
Ludovica, _f._ _Swed._ Teu. famous holiness, 405
Ludovick, _m._ _Scot._ Teu. famous holiness, 405
Ludovico, _m._ _It._ Teu. famous holiness, 406
Ludovicus, _m._ _Lat._ Teu. famous war, 405
Ludovike, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. famous war, 405
Ludvig, _m._ _Swed._ Teu. famous war, 405
Ludvik, _m._ _Pol._ _Bohm._ _Slov._ Teu. famous war, 405
Ludvika, _f._ _Pol._ Teu. famous war, 405
Ludvis, _m._ _Pol._ Teu. famous war, 405
Ludvisia, _f._ _Pol._ Teu. famous war, 405
LUANMAISI, _f._ _Erse_, Kelt. fair as the moon, 224
LUGHAID, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. light (?), 133
Luigi, _m._ _It._ Teu. famous war, 405
Luis, _m._ _Port._ _Span._ Teu. famous war, 405
Luisa, _f._ _Span._ _Port._ Teu. famous war, 405
Luise, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. famous war, 405
_Luitbert_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. people’s brightness, 430
Luitberga, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. people’s guard, 430
Luitbrand, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. people’s sword, 430
Luitger, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. people’s spear, 430
Luitgarde, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. people’s guard, 430
Luithard, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. people’s firmness, 430
Luitmar, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. people’s fame, 430
Luitpold, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. people’s valour, 430
_Luiza_, _f._ _Port._ Teu. famous war, 405
_Luizinha_, _f._ _Port._ Teu. famous war, 405
_Luka_, _m._ _Russ._ _Wall._ Lat. light, 133
_Lukacz_, _m._ _Hung._ Lat. light, 134
LUKAS, _m._ _Ger._ _Bohm._ Lat. light, 133
_Lukasch_, _m._ _Lus._ Lat. light, 134
_Lukaschk_, _m._ _Lus._ Lat. light, 134
_Lukasz_, _m._ _Slav._ _Pol._ Lat. light, 134
Luke, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. light, 133
_Lukez_, _m._ _Slov._ Lat. light, 134
Luned, _f._ _Welsh_, Kelt. shapely (?), 273
Lunette, _f._ _Fr._ Kelt. shapely (?), 273
Lupo, _m._ _Ital._ Lat. wolf, 198
LUPUS, _m._ Lat. wolf, 198
_Lusche_, _f._ _m._ _Lett._ Teu. famous holiness, 405
Luther, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. famous warrior, 405
_Lutters_, _m._ _Lett._ Teu. famous warrior, 405
_Luzia_, _f._ _Rom._ Lat. light, 132
_Luzian_, _m._ _Russ._ Lat. light, 133
_Luziano_, _m._ _It._ Lat. light, 133
_Luzija_, _f._ _Russ._ Lat. light, 133
_Luzio_, _m._ _It._ Lat. light, 133
LYCOS, _m._ Gr. wolf.
Lycurgus, _m._ _Lat._ Gr. wolf driver.
LYDIA, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. of Lydia, 200
_Lyntje_, _f._ _Dutch_, Gr. light, 132
_Lys_, _f._ _Dutch_, Heb. God’s oath, 35
_Lysje_, _f._ _Dutch_, Heb. God’s oath, 35
_Lyulf_, _m._ _Scot._ Teu. fierce wolf, 418
M
Maatfred, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. mighty peace, 422
Maatulf, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. mighty wolf, 422
Mab, _f._ _Ir._ Kelt. mirth (?), 258
Mabel, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. beloved, 258
Mabelle, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. beloved, 258
Macaire, _m._ _Ir._ Gr. happy, 447
Macario, _m._ _It._ Gr. happy, 447
MACBEATH, _m._ _Gael._ Kelt. son of life, 253
Macbeth, _m._ _Scot._ Kelt. son of life, 253
_Mace_, _m._ _Fr._ Aram. gift of the Lord, 15
_Machtild_, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. mighty heroine, 422
MAKARIOS, blessed, Gr. 447
_Macias_, _m._ _Span._ Heb. gift of the Lord, 15
_Maciej_, _m._ _Pol._ Aram. gift of the Lord, 15
Macsen, _m._ _Welsh_, Lat. greatest, 167
Madawc, _m._ _Welsh_, Kelt. beneficent, 227
Maddalena, _f._ _Ital._ Heb. of Magdala, 32
Maddalene, _f._ _Lett._ Heb. of Magdala, 32
_Madde_, _f._ _Pol._ Heb. of Magdala, 32
Madeleine, _f._ _Fr._ Heb. of Magdala, 32
Madelena, _f._ _Span._ Heb. of Magdala, 32
Madeline, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. of Magdala, 32
Madelina, _f._ _Russ._ Heb. of Magdala, 32
_Madelon_, _f._ _Fr._ Heb. of Magdala, 32
_Maddis_, _m._ _Esth._ Heb. gift of the Lord, 15
_Madge_, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. pearl, 121
_Madlen_, _f._ _Bav._ Heb. of Magdala, 32
_Madlena_, _f._ _Slov._ _Lus._ Heb. of Magdala, 32
_Madlenka_, _f._ _Lus._ Heb. of Magdala, 32
_Madli_, _f._ _Esth._ Heb. of Magdala, 32
_Madlyna_, _f._ _Lith._ Heb. of Magdala, 32
Madoc, _m._ _Eng._ Kelt. beneficent, 227
Madoc, _f._ _m._ _Welsh_, Kelt. beneficent, 227
_Mads_, _m._ _Dan._ Heb. gift of the Lord, 15
_Madsche_, _f._ _Lett._ Ger. pearl, 121
MADWG, _m._ _Welsh_, _Kelt._ beneficent, 227
MAEL, _m._ _Ir._ Kelt. disciple, 259
MAELBRIDH, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. disciple of St. Bridget, 259
MAELCLULTH, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. youth of the game, 261
MAELCOLUIN, _m._ _Gael._ Kelt. disciple of Columba, 261
MAELDEARG, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. red chief, 261
MAELDOG, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. servant of the star, 261
MAELDUBH, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. black chief, 261
MAELDUINE, _m._ _Gael._ Kelt. brown chief, 261
MAELEOIN, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. servant of John, 261
MAELFHIONN, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. servant of Finn, 261
MAELGWAS, _m._ _Cym._ Kelt. chief, 261
MAELGWN, _m._ _Cym._ Kelt. chief, 261
MAELIOSA, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. servant of JESUS, 261
MAELMORDNA, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. majestic chief, 261
MAELPATRAIC, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. servant of Patrick, 261
MAELRUADH, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. 261
MAELSEACHLAIN, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. servant of Secundus, 261
_Maffea_, _f._ _Ital._ Heb. gift of the Lord, 15
_Maffeo_, _m._ _Ital._ Heb. gift of the Lord, 15
_Mag_, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. pearl, 121
_Maga_, _f._ _Swiss_, Heb. bitter, 29
Magan, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. power, 422
Magdalen, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. of Magdala, 32
Magdalena, _f._ _Russ._ _Span._ _Port._ Heb. of Magdala, 32
Magdalene, _f._ _Ger._ Heb. of Magdala, 32
Magdeleine, _f._ _Fr._ Heb. of Magdala, 32
Magdelina, _f._ _Russ._ Heb. of Magdala, 32
_Magdolna_, _f._ _Hung._ Heb. of Magdala, 32
_Magdosia_, _f._ _Pol._ Heb. of Magdala, 32
_Magge_, _f._ _Lett._ Gr. pearl, 121
_Maggie_, _f._ _Scot._ Gr. pearl, 121
Maginbert, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. mighty brightness, 422
MAGINFRIED, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. mighty peace, 422
MAGINHILD, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. mighty battle maid, 422
Magmild, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. mighty battle maid, 422
MAGNUS, _m._ _Nor._ Lat. great, 166
_Magsheesh_, _m._ _Erse_, Heb. drawn out, 27
Mahault, _f._ _Fr._ Teu. mighty battle maid, 422
_Mahe_, _m._ _Bav._ Heb. gift of the Lord, 15
Mahon, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. bear, 257
MAHTHILD, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. mighty battle maid, 422
_Mai_, _f._ _Esth._ Gr. pearl, 121
Maida, 464
Maidoc, _m._ _Ir._ Kelt. beneficent, 227
_Maie_, _f._ _Esth._ Heb. of Magdala, 32
_Maie_, _f._ _Esth._ Gr. bitter, 29
_Maieli_, _f._ _Swiss_, Heb. bitter, 29
_Maije_, _f._ _Lett._ Gr. pearl, 122
_Maika_, _f._ _Russ._ bitter, 29
_Maillard_, _f._ _Cambrai._ Heb. bitter, 29
_Mainfroi_, _m._ _Fr._ mighty peace, 321
_Mainfroy_, _m._ _Eng._ mighty peace, 321
_Maion_, _f._ _Fr._ Heb. bitter, 29
Mair, _f._ _Welsh_, Heb. 29
Mairgreg, _Erse_, Gr. pearl, 121
_Maisie_, _f._ _Scot._ Gr. pearl, 121
_Maja_, _f._ _Swiss_, Heb. bitter, 29
_Majken_, _f._ _Swed._ Heb. bitter, 29
_Maksa_, _f._ _m._ _Ill._ Lat. greatest, 166
_Maksica_, _f._ _Ill._ Lat. greatest, 166
Maksimilian, _m._ _Russ._ Lat. greatest Æmilian, 166
Maksymilian, _m._ _Pol._ Lat. greatest Æmilian, 166
_Mal_, _f._ _Dutch_, Teu. work, 330
_Mal_, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. bitter, 29
_Mal_, _f._ _Esth._ Heb. of Magdala, 32
Malachi, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. angel of the Lord, 52
_Malaleel_, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. shining of God.
Malberg, _f._ _Nor._ work protection, 331
_Malchen_, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. work, 330
Malcolm, _m._ _Scot._ Kelt. servant of Columba, 261
_Male_, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. work, 330
_Malfrid_, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. fair work, 330
Malgherita, _f._ _It._ Gr. pearl, 121
_Malgorzata_, _f._ _Pol._ Gr. pearl, 121
_Malgosia_, _f._ _Pol._ Gr. pearl, 121
_Mali_, _f._ _Kaffir_, Heb. bitter, 29
Malise, _m._ _Scot._ Kelt. disciple of Jesus, 260
_Malk_, _m._ _Esth._ Pers. king, 211
_Malkin_, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. bitter, 29
_Maltrud_, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. workmaid, 330
Malvina, _f._ _Gael._ Kelt. handmaid (?), 250
Malvine, _f._ _Fr._ Kelt. handmaid (?), 250
Manasseh, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. forgetting, 24
Manasses, _m._ _Lat._ Heb. forgetting, 24
_Manda_, _f._ _Lat._ Heb. of Magdala, 32
_Mandelina_, _f._ _Serv._ Heb. of Magdala, 32
MANDURRATH, _m._ _Cym._ Kelt. man of black treason, 224
Manfred, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. mighty peace, 421
Manfredi, _m._ _It._ Teu. mighty peace, 421
_Manna_, _f._ _Bav._ Heb. bitter grace, 29
_Manna_, _m._ _Lapp._ Lat. great, 327
_Mannas_, _m._ _Lapp._ Lat. great, 327
Manoel, _m._ _Port._ Heb. God with us, 36
_Manon_, _m._ _Fr._ Heb. bitter, 29
Manovello, _m._ _It._ Heb. God with us, 36
Manuel, _m._ _Fr._ _Eng._ _Span._ Heb. God with us, 36
_Manuelita_, _f._ _Span._ Heb. God with us, 36
_Manuelito_, _m._ _Span._ Heb. God with us, 36
_Manus_, _m._ _Dutch_, Teu. public, 327
Manus, _m._ _Irish_, Lat. great, 327
MAEL EOIN, _m._ _Er._ Heb. disciple of John, 260
_Mara_, _f._ _Lus._ Heb. bitter, 29
Marc, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. of Mars, 135
Marca, _f._ _Ger._ Lat. of Mars, 135
Marcel, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. of Mars, 135
Marcella, _f._ _Ir._ Lat. of Mars, 135
Marcelli, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. of Mars, 135
Marcellianus, _m._ Lat. of Mars, 135
Marcellin, _m._ _It._ Lat. of Mars, 135
Marcellino, _m._ _It._ Lat. of Mars, 135
Marcello, _m._ _It._ Lat. of Mars, 135
MARCELLUS, _Lat._ of Mars, 135
MARCH, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. horse, 275
Marchell, _Welsh_, Lat. horse, 275
Marcia, _f._ _Ir._ Lat. of Mars, 135
Marcian, _m._ _Ger._ Lat. of Mars, 135
Marciano, _m._ _It._ Lat. of Mars, 135
MARCIANUS, _m._ Lat. of Mars, 135
_Marcie_, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. of Mars, 135
_Marcin_, _m._ _Pol._ Lat. of Mars, 135
MARCIUS, _m._ Lat. of Mars, 135
Marco, _m._ _It._ Lat. of Mars, 135
Marcos, _m._ _Span._ Lat. of Mars, 135
MARCUS, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. of Mars, 135
_Mare_, _Lith._ Heb. bitter, 29
_Mareiel_, _Bav._ Heb. bitter, 29
_Mareili_, _Swiss_, Heb. bitter, 29
_Marek_, _Pol._ Lat. of Mars, 135
_Maret_, _f._ _Dan._ Gr. pearl, 121
_Marete_, _f._ _Lett._ Gr. pearl, 121
_Marenze_, _f._ _Lett._ Lat. deserving, 190
_Marczi_, _m._ _Hung._ Lat. of Mars, 135
Marfa, _f._ _Russ._ Heb. becoming bitter, 32
Margaret, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. pearl, 121
Margareta, _f._ _Hung._ _Ger._ _Pol._ Gr. pearl, 121
Margarete, _f._ _Swiss_, Gr. pearl, 121
Margarethe, _f._ _Ger._ Gr. pearl, 121
Margarida, _f._ _Port._ Gr. pearl, 121
Margarita, _f._ _Span._ _Russ._ Gr. pearl, 121
MARGARITE, _f._ Gr. pearl, 121
Margarith, _f._ _Dutch_, Gr. pearl, 121
Margery, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. pearl, 121
_Marget_, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. pearl, 121
Margherita, _f._ _It._ Gr. pearl, 121
_Marghet_, _Ger._ Gr. pearl, 121
_Margit_, _f._ _Hung._ Gr. pearl, 121
_Margot_, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. pearl, 121
_Margoton_, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. pearl, 121
Margrete, _f._ _Lett._ Gr. pearl, 121
Margryta, _f._ _Lith._ Gr. pearl, 121
Marguerite, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. pearl, 121
Mari, _f._ _Hung._ _Irish_, Heb. bitter, 29
Maria, _f._ (_Universal_) Heb. bitter, 29
_Marialit_, _f._ _Jew._ Gr. pearl, 121
Mariam, _f._ _Gr._ Heb. bitter, 29
Mariamna, _f._ _Russ._ Heb. bitter grace, 29
MARIAMNE, _f._ Heb. bitter, 29
Mariana, _f._ _Port._ _Span._ Heb. bitter, 29
Mariane, _f._ _Ger._ Heb. bitter, 29
Marica, _f._ _Ill._ Heb. bitter, 29
Marie, _f._ _Ger._ _Fr._ _Bav._ Heb. bitter, 29
_Mariedel_, _f._ _Slav._ Heb. bitter, 29
_Marieke_, _f._ _Dutch_, Heb. bitter, 29
_Mariel_, _f._ _Bav._ Heb. bitter, 29
_Marietta_, _f._ _It._ Heb. bitter, 29
_Mariette_, _f._ _It._ Heb. bitter, 29
Marija, _f._ _Russ._ Heb. bitter, 29
_Marike_, _f._ _L. Ger._ Heb. bitter, 29
Marina, _f._ _It._ Lat. marine, 203
_Marinha_, _f._ _Span._ Heb. bitter, 29
Marino, _f._ _It._ Lat. marine, 203
_Mario_, _f._ _m._ _It._ Lat. of Mars, 135
_Marion_, _f._ _Fr._ _Scot._ Heb. bitter, 29
_Mariquinhas_, _f._ _Port._ Heb. bitter, 29
_Mariquita_, _f._ _Port._ Heb. bitter, 29
_Maritornes_, _f._ _Span._ Heb. bitter, 29
Marius, _m._ _Lat._ of Mars, 135
_Marl_, _f._ _Bav._ Heb. bitter, 29
Marja, _f._ _Lapp._ Heb. bitter, 29
_Marjarita_, _Slav._ Gr. pearl, 121
_Marjeta_, _Slav._ Gr. pearl, 121
_Marjeta_, _f._ _Slov._ Heb. bitter, 29
_Marjorie_, _f._ _Scot._ Gr. pearl, 121
Mark, _m._ _Eng._ _Russ._ _Esth._ Lat. of Mars, 135
_Marka_, _f._ _Hung._ Heb. bitter, 121
_Markell_, _m._ _Russ._ Lat. of Mars, 135
Markellin, _m._ _Russ._ Lat. of Mars, 135
Marko, _m._ _Wall._ Lat. of Mars, 135
Markos, _m._ _Gr._ Lat. of Mars, 135
_Markota_, _f._ _Bohm._ Gr. pearl, 131
Markulf, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. border wolf, 426
Markus, _m._ _Hung._ Lat. of Mars, 135
Markusch, _m._ _Lus._ Lat. of Mars, 135
_Markward_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. border ward, 426
_Markwin_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. border friend, 426
_Marl_, _f._ _Bav._ Heb. bitter, 29
_Marlena_, _f._ _Lus._ Heb. of Magdala, 32
Marmaduke, _m._ _Eng._ Kelt. sea leader (?), 281
_Marquard_, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. border ward, 425
_Marret_, _f._ _Esth._ Gr. pearl, 121
_Marri_, _f._ _Esth._ Heb. bitter, 29
_Marrije_, _f._ _Lett._ Heb. bitter, 29
_Marsali_, _f._ _Gael._ Gr. pearl, 121
_Mart_, _m._ _Esth._ Lat. of Mars, 135
Marta, _f._ _It._ _Boh._ Heb. becoming bitter, 31
Marten, _m._ _Swed._ _Dutch_, Lat. of Mars, 135
MARTHA, _f._ _Hung._ _Eng._ _Port._ Heb, becoming bitter, 31
Marthe, _f._ _Fr._ Heb. becoming bitter, 31
Marthon, _f._ _Fr._ Heb. becoming bitter, 31
_Martia_, _m._ _Swiss_, Lat. of Mars, 135
Martijn, _m._ _Dutch_, Lat. of Mars, 135
_Martili_, _m._ _Swiss_, Lat. of Mars, 135
Martin, _m._ _Fr._ _Russ._ _Eng._ _Port._ _Slov._ Lat. of Mars, 135
Martina, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. of Mars, 135
Martine, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. of Mars, 135
Martinho, _m._ _Port._ Lat. of Mars, 135
Martino, _m._ _Span._ _It._ Lat. of Mars, 135
MARTINUS, _m._ _Ger._ Lat. of Mars, 135
Martius, _m._ Lat. of Mars, 135
_Martoni_, _m._ _Hung._ Lat. of Mars, 135
_Martschis_, _m._ _Lett._ Lat. of Mars, 135
Martyn, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. of Mars, 135
_Maruscha_, _f._ _Lus._ Heb. bitter, 29
_Marusche_, _f._ _Lett._ Heb. bitter, 29
_Marute_, _f._ _Lett._ Heb. bitter, 29
Mary, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. bitter, 29
Marya, _f._ _Pol._ Heb. bitter, 29
_Maryke_, _f._ _Lith._ Heb. bitter, 29
_Marynia_, _f._ _Pol._ Heb. bitter, 29
_Marysia_, _f._ _Pol._ Heb. bitter, 29
Marzellin, _m._ _Russ._ Lat. of Mars, 135
_Marzia_, _f._ _It._ Lat. of Mars, 135
_Marzocco_, _m._ _Ven._ Lat. of Mars, 135
_Masaccio_, _m._ _Ital._ Aram. twin, 22
_Masaniello_, _m._ _Ital._ Aram. Ger. twin, 22
_Mascha_, _f._ _Russ._ Heb. bitter, 29
_Masche_, _f._ _Lett._ Gr. pearl, 121
_Maschinka_, _f._ _Russ._ Heb. bitter, 29
_Maso_, _m._ _It._ Aram. twin, 22
Massimiliano, _m._ _It._ Lat. greatest Æmilianus, 166
Massimo, _m._ _It._ Lat. greatest, 166
_Massuccio_, _m._ _It._ Aram. twin, 22
_Mat_, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. gift of the Lord, 15
Mateo, _Span._ Heb. gift of the Lord, 15
_Mate_, _Hung._ Heb. gift of the Lord, 15
_Mataus_, _m._ _Bohm._ Heb. gift of the Lord, 15
_Mateusz_, _m._ _Pol._ Heb. gift of the Lord, 15
_Matfei_, _m._ _Russ._ Heb. gift of the Lord, 15
_Matevz_, _m._ _Slov._ Heb. gift of the Lord, 15
_Mathe_, _m._ _Bav._ Heb. gift of the Lord, 15
MATH-GHAMHAIN, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. bear, 257
_Mathia_, _m._ _Wall._ Heb. gift of the Lord, 15
_Mathias_, _m._ _Swed. Fr._ _Swiss_, Heb. gift of the Lord, 15
_Mathieu_, _m._ _Prov._ Heb. gift of the Lord, 15, 257
Mathilda, _m._ _Hung._ Teu. mighty battle maid, 422
Mathilde, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. mighty battle maid, 422
_Matija_, _m._ _Serv._ Heb. gift of the Lord, 15
Matilda, _f._ _Eng._ _It._ Teu. mighty battle maid, 422
Matilde, _f._ _Fr._ Teu. mighty battle maid, 422
MATTANIAH, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. gift of the Lord, 15
_Mats_, _m._ _Swed._ Heb. gift of the Lord, 15
Mattea, _f._ _It._ Heb. gift of the Lord, 15
_Matteo_, _m._ _It._ Heb. gift of the Lord, 15
Matthäus, _m._ _Ger._ Heb. gift of the Lord, 15
Matthes, _m._ _Ger._ Heb. gift of the Lord, 15
Matthew, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. gift of the Lord, 15
Matthia, _m._ _Ger._ Heb. gift of the Lord, 15
Matthies, _m._ _Fr._ Bav. gift of the Lord, 15
Matthieu, _m._ _Port._ Heb. gift of the Lord, 15
Matthias, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. gift of the Lord, 15
_Matthis_, _m._ _Ger._ Heb. gift of the Lord, 15
_Matthys_, _m._ _Dutch_, _Lett._ Heb. gift of the Lord, 15
Mattia, _m._ _Ital._ Heb. gift of the Lord, 15
Mattija, _m._ _Slov._ Heb. gift of the Lord, 15
_Matty_, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. becoming bitter, 15
_Matty_, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. mighty battle maid, 422
Matvei, _m._ _Russ._ Heb. gift of the Lord, 15
Matyas, _m._ _Pol._ _Hung._ Heb. gift of the Lord, 15
_Maude_, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. mighty battle maid, 422
_Maudlin_, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. of Magdala, 32
_Maun_, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. of Magdala, 32
_Mauna_, _m._ _Lapp._ Lat. great, 166
_Maunes_, _m._ _Lapp._ Lat. great, 166
Maur, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. dark, 200
Maura, _f._ _It._ _Ger._ Lat. dark, 200
Maure, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. dark, 200
Maurice, _m._ _Fr._ _Eng._ Lat. Moorish, 201
Mauricio, _m._ _Port._ _Span._ Lat. Moorish, 201
Maurids, _m._ _Dan._ Lat. Moorish, 201
MAURITIUS, _m._ Lat. Moor, 201
Maurits, _m._ _Dutch_, Lat. Moor, 201
Maurizio, _m._ _Ital._ Lat. Moor, 201
Mauro, _m._ _Rom._ Lat. Moor, 201
MAURUS, _m._ Lat. Moor, 201
Maurycij, _m._ _Pol._ Lat. Moor, 201
Mave, _f._ _Irish_, Kelt. mirth (?), 258
Mavia, _f._ _Russ._ Lat. dark, 201
Mavritij, _m._ _Russ._ Lat. dark, 201
_Mavruscha_, _f._ _Russ._ Lat. dark, 201
_Mawkin_, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. bitter, 29
_Max_, _m._ _Ger._ Lat. greatest, 166
_Maxa_, _f._ _Ger._ Lat. greatest, 166
Maxime, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. greatest, 166
Maximien, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. greatest, 166
Maximilian, _m._ _Ger._ Lat. greatest Æmilianus, 166
MAXIMILIANE, _f._ _Ger._ Lat. greatest Æmilianus, 166
Maximiliao, _m._ _Port._ Lat. greatest Æmilianus, 166
Maximilien, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. greatest Æmilianus, 166
MAXIMUS, _m._ Lat. greatest, 166
_Maxl_, _m._ _Bav._ Lat. greatest Æmilianus, 166
MAWDWEN, _f._ _Cym._ Kelt. mannerly, 271
_May_, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. bitter, 29
_May_, _f._ _Scot._ Gr. pearl, 121
_Maynard_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. mighty firmness, 421
_Mayne_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. mighty, 421
_Mazalein_, _f._ _Pro._ Heb. of Magdala, 32
MEADHBH, _f._ _Erse_, Kelt. mirth, 258
MEAGHAR, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. merry, 259
Meara, _m._ _Irish_, Kelt. merry, 259
Meave, _f._ _Erse_, Kelt. mirth (?), 259
_Mechel_, _f._ _Bav._ Teu. mighty battle maid, 422
Mechtild, _f._ _Bav._ Teu. mighty battle maid, 422
_Medal_, _f._ _Bav._ Heb. bitter, 29
_Médé_, _f._ _Fr._ my delight, 196
_Meews_, _m._ _L.G._ Heb. son of furrows, 25
_Meg_, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. pearl, 121
MEGINHARD, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. mighty firmness, 421
MEGINHERI, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. mighty warrior, 421
_Mehaut_, _f._ _Fr._ Teu. mighty battle maid, 421
Mehetabel, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. beneficent, 26
_Meinbern_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. mighty bear, 421
Meinbert, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. mighty brightness, 421
_Meinbot_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. mighty commander, 421
Meinfred, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. mighty peace, 421
Meinhard, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. mighty firmness, 421
Meino, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. mighty, 421
Meinolf, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. mighty wolf, 421
Meinrad, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. mighty council, 421
Meinward, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. mighty guard, 421
Meirchawn, _m._ _Pict._ Kelt.
MEIRIADWG, _m._ _Welsh_, Kelt. sea protector, 280
_Mekel_, _m._ _L. Ger._ Heb. who is like to God, 54
_Melanell_, _f._ _m._ _Eng._ Kelt. honey (?), 282
MELANIA, _f._ _Eng._ _It._ Gr. black, 70
Melanie, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. black, 70
Melany, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. black, 70
Melchior, _m._ _Span._ _Ger._ Pers. king, 211
Melchiore, _m._ _It._ Pers. king, 211
Melchiorre, _m._ _It._ Pers. king, 211
MELCHISEDEC, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. king of righteousness, 15
MELETIUS, _m._ _Lat._ honied, 282
Melicent, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. work strength, 330
Melicerte, _f._ _Fr._ Teu. work strength, 330
MELIOR, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. better, 193
Melisenda, _f._ _Span._ Teu. work strength, 330
MELISSA, _f._ _It._ _Eng._ Lat. bee, 80
Melisse, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. bee, 80
Melite, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. bee, 80
Melitus, _m._ Lat. honied, 80
Melony, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. dark, 70
Melusina, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. work strength, 80, 330
Melusine, _f._ _Fr._ _Ger._ Teu. work strength, 80, 330
Melva, _m._ _Eng._ Kelt. chief, 262
_Memba_, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. mighty bear, 421
_Memmo_, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. mighty bear, 421
_Mencia_, _f._ _Span._ Lat. Sunday child (?), or adviser (?), 218
_Mendez_, _m._ _Span._ Lat. Sunday child, 218
_Menica_, _f._ _It._ Lat. Sunday child, 218
_Menico_, _m._ _It._ Lat. Sunday child, 218
_Menie_, _f._ _Scot._ Heb. bitter, 29
_Menno_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. mighty strength, 421
_Meno_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. mighty strength, 421
_Mens_, _m._ _Ger._ Lat. merciful, 160
_Mente_, _m._ _Ger._ Lat. merciful, 160
_Mentzel_, _m._ _Ger._ Lat. merciful, 160
_Menz_, _m._ Dan. Lat. merciful, 160
_Menz_, _Serv._ Lat. Sunday child, 218
_Menzel_, _Serv._ Lat. Sunday child, 218
_Meo_, _m._ _It._ Heb. son of furrows, 25
Meraud, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. emerald, 125
Mercede, _f._ _It._ Lat. favours, 30
MERCEDES, _f._ _Span._ Lat. favours, 30
MERCY, _f._ _Eng._
MERDDHIN, _m._ _Welsh_, Kelt. sea hill, 280
Meredith, _m._ _Eng._ Kelt. sea protector, 280
MEREWINE, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. famed friend, 425
Meriadoc, _m._ _Bret._ Kelt. sea protector, 280
_Merica_, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. work rule, 330
_Merich_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. work ruler, 330
_Merrik_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. work ruler, 330
Merlin, _m._ _Eng._ _Fr._ Kelt. sea hill, 280
Merlino, _m._ _It._ Kelt. sea hill, 280
MEROHELM, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. famed helm, 425
Merovée, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. famed war, 425
Meroveus, _m._ Lat. Teu. famed war, 425
MEROWALD, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. famed power, 425
_Mertil_, _m._ _Ger._ Lat. of Mars, 135
_Mertin_, _m._ _Bav._ Lat. of Mars, 135
_Meriel_, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. myrrh, 125
MEROVEH, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. famed holiness, 425
MEROVINE, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. famed, 425
Mervyn, _m._ _Eng._ Kelt. sea hill, 280
Mesdélices, _f._ _Fr._ my delight, 196
_Meta_, _f._ _Ger._ Ger. pearl, 121
_Mete_, _f._ _Ger._ Gr. pearl, 121
_Metelill_, _f._ _Dan._ pearl, 121
Methusalem, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. man of the dart.
_Metje_, _f._ _Dutch_, Gr. pearl, 121
Metrophanes, _m._ _Ger._ Slav. fire glory (?), 440
_Mette_, _f._ _Dan._ Gr. pearl, 121
_Meurisse_, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. Moor, 201
Meuriz, _m._ _Welsh_, Lat. Moor, 201
_Mewes_, _m._ _Ger._ Heb. son of furrows, 25
_Meyrick_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. work ruler, 330
Micah, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. who is like the Lord, 54
Micha, _m._ _Ger._ Heb. who is like to God, 54
Michael, _m._ _Ger._ _Eng._ Heb. who is like to God, 54
Michaella, _f._ _It._ Heb. who is like to God, 54
Michaele, _f._ _m._ _It._ Heb. who is like to God, 54
Michaeline, _f._ _Ger._ Heb. who is like to God, 54
Michaelis, _m._ _Ger._ Heb. who is like to God, 54
Michaïl, _m._ _Russ._ Heb. who is like to God, 54
Michaila, _m._ _Russ._ Heb. who is like to God, 54
Michal, _m._ _Bohm._ _Pol._ _Lus._ Heb. who is like to God, 54
_Michau_, _m._ _Fr._ Heb. who is like to God, 54
_Michée_, _m._ _Fr._ Heb. who is like to God, 54
_Michej_, _m._ _Russ._ Heb. who is like to God, 54
Michel, _m._ _Fr._ Heb. who is like to God, 54
Michele, _m._ _It._ Heb. who is like to God, 54
Michelle, _m._ _Fr._ Heb. who is like to God, 54
_Micheltje_, _m._ _Dutch_, Heb. who is like to God, 54
Michiel, _m._ _Dutch_, Heb. who is like to God, 54
_Michon_, _m._ _Fr._ Heb. who is like to God, 54
_Mick_, _m._ _Ir._ Heb. who is like to God, 54
_Mickel_, _m._ _Swed._ Heb. who is like to God, 54
_Miedal_, _f._ _Bav._ Heb. bitter, 29
_Mieke_, _f._ _Dutch_, Heb. bitter, 29
_Miel_, _f._ _Bav._ Heb. bitter, 29
_Mieli_, _f._ _Swiss_, Heb. 29
_Mieral_, _f._ _Bav._ Heb. bitter, 29
_Mies_, _m._ _Swiss_, Heb. exalted of the Lord, 49
_Mietje_, _f._ _Dutch_, Heb. bitter, 29
Miguel, _m._ _Span._ _Port._ Heb. who is like to God, 54
Miguela, _f._ _Port._ _Span._ Heb. who is like to God, 54
_Miha_, _m._ _Slov._ Heb. who is like to God, 54
Mihail, _m._ _Wall._ Heb. who is like to God, 54
_Mihal_, _m._ _Slov._ _Hung._ Heb. who is like to God, 54
_Mihaly_, _m._ _Hung._ Heb. who is like to God, 54
_Miho_, _m._ _Serv._ Heb. who is like to God, 54
_Mija_, _f._ _Swiss_, Heb. bitter, 29
_Mijailo_, _m._ _Serv._ Heb. who is like to God, 54
_Mik_, _m._ _Esth._ Heb. who is like to God, 54
Mikael, _m._ _Swed._ Heb. who is like to God, 54
_Mikas_, _m._ _Swed._ Heb. who is like to God, 54
_Mike_, _f._ _Dutch_, Heb. bitter, 29
_Mikel_, _m._ _Esth._ Heb. who is like to God, 54
_Mikelina_, _f._ _Russ._ _Lett._ Heb. who is like to God, 54
_Mikkas_, _m._ _Lett._ Heb. who is like to God, 54
_Mikke_, _m._ _Lett._ Heb. who is like to God, 54
_Mikkeles_, _m._ _Lith._ _Lett._ Heb. who is like to God, 54
_Miklaoz_, _m._ _Slav._ Gr. people’s victory, 90
_Miklaos_, _m._ _Lus._ Gr. people’s victory, 90
_Mikli_, _m._ _Esth._ Heb. who is like to God, 54
_Miklos_, _m._ _Hung._ Gr. people’s victory, 90
_Mikolaj_, _m._ _Pol._ Gr. people’s victory, 90
_Mikulas_, _m._ _Bohm._ Gr. people’s victory, 90
_Mila_, _f._ _Slav._ Slav. lovely, 444
_Mila_, _f._ _Lus._ Lat. work (?), 141
_Milan_, _m._ _Bret._ Gr. crusher, 97
_Milan_, _f._ _m._ _Slov._ Lat. lovely, 97
_Milari_, _m._ _Slov._ Lat. cheerful, 191
Milborough, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. mild pledge, 427
MILBURGA, _f._ _Lat._ Teu. mild pledge, 427
Milcah, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. queen.
MILDBURH, _f._ _A.S._ Teu. mild pledge, 427
MILDGYTH, _f._ _A.S._ Teu. mild gift, 427
Mildred, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. mild threatener, 427
Mildreda, _f._ _Lat._ Teu. mild threatener, 427
Mildrid, _f._ _Dan._ Teu. mild threatener, 427
MILDTHRYTH, _f._ _A.S._ Teu. mild threatener, 427
Miles, _m._ _Eng._ Gr. crusher, 97
_Milhan_, _m._ _Span._ Lat. affable, 141
_Milica_, _f._ _Slov._ Slav. love, 444
Milicent, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. work strength.
MILIDH, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. warrior, 97
_Milivo_, _m._ _Slav._ Slav. love war, 444
_Miljo_, _m._ _Serv._ Heb. who is like to God, 54
_Milka_, _m._ _Lus._ Lat. work or affable, 141
Millicent, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. work strength, 330
_Millica_, _f._ _Ill._ Heb. bitter, 29, 444
_Milly_, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. work strength, 330
Milo, _m._ _Lat._ Gr. crusher, 97
Milon, _m._ _Fr. & Gr._ Gr. crusher, 97
Milone, _m._ _Ital._ Gr. crusher, 97
MILOSLAV, _m._ _Slov._ Slav. love glory, 441
_Mimi_, _f._ _Fr._ Teu. helmet of resolution, 315
_Mimmeli_, _f._ _Swiss_, Teu. helmet of resolution, 315
_Mine_, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. helmet of resolution, 315
_Minella_, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. helmet of resolution, 315
MINERVINA, _f._ Lat. of Minerva, 171
_Minette_, _f._ _Fr._ Teu. helmet of resolution, 315
Minka, _f._ _Pol._ Teu. helmet of resolution, 315
_Minne_, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. helmet of resolution, 315
Minna, _f._ _Scot._ Teu. memory.
MINNE, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. memory.
Minnehaha, _f._ _Red Indian_, laughing water.
Miranda, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. to be admired.
Miriam, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. bitter, 29
_Mirko_, _m._ _Slov._ Teu. work rule, 331
MIROSLAV, _f._ Slav. peace glory, 442
_Misa_, _m._ _Serv._ Heb. who is like to God, 54
_Mischa_, _m._ _Russ._ Heb. who is like to God, 54
_Mischenka_, _m._ _Russ._ Heb. who is like God, 54
_Miska_, _m._ _Serv._ _Hung._ Heb. who is like to God, 54
Mistislaus, _m._ _Lat._ Slav. avenging glory, 441
_Mitar_, _m._ _Serv._ _Ill._ Gr. of Demeter, 69
Mithridates, _m._ _Gr._ Pers. given to the sun.
_Mitra_, _f._ _Slav._ Gr. of Demeter, 69
MITROFAN, _m._ _Russ._ fire glory (?), 440
MLADEN, _m._ _Serv._ Slav. young, 445
Modestine, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. modest, 193
MODESTUS, _m._ _Lat._ modest, 193
Modesty, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. 193
Medwenna, _f._ _Welsh_, Kelt. 271
MOEDOG, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. servant of the star, 227
_Moggy_, _m._ _Eng._ Gr. pearl, 121
Mogue, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. amiable, 227
Moina, _f._ _Scot._ Kelt. soft.
Moise, _m._ _Fr._ Heb. drawn out, 27
Moises, _m._ _Port._ Heb. drawn out, 27
Moisi, _m._ _Wall._ Heb. drawn out, 27
Moissej, _m._ _Russ._ Heb. drawn out, 27
Moissey, _f._ _Manx_, Heb. bitter, 29
Mojsia, _m._ _Serv._ Heb. drawn out, 27
_Mojsilo_, _m._ _Serv._ Heb. drawn out, 27
Mojzesz, _m._ _Pol._ Heb. drawn out, 27
_Mojzisch_, _m._ _Boh._ Heb. drawn out, 27
_Mojzija_, _m._ _Slov._ Heb. drawn out, 27
_Molde_, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. mighty battle maid, 422
_Molly_, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. bitter, 29
Monacella, _f._ _Lat._ little nun, 282
Moncha, _f._ _Erse_, Lat. adviser, 218
_Monegonde_, _f._ _Flem._ Heb. thoughtful war.
MONGFINN, _f._ _Erse_, Kelt. fair haired.
Moni, _f._ _Swab._ Lat. adviser, 218
MONICA, _f._ _It._ _Eng._ Lat. adviser (?), 218
Monike, _f._ _Ger._ Lat. adviser, 218
Monique, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. adviser, 218
Moore, _f._ _Scot._ Kelt. great, 258
MOR, _f._ _Erse_, Kelt. great, 258
_Morag_, _f._ _Scot._ Kelt. great, 258
Morets, _m._ _Dan._ Lat. moor, 280
_Morgance_, _f._ _m._ _French_, Kelt. sea dweller, 280
Morgan, _m._ _Welsh_, Kelt. sea dweller, 280
_Morgana_, _f._ _Eng._ Kelt. sea dweller, 280
_Morgue_, _f._ _Fr._ Kelt. sea dweller, 280
MORGWEN, _f._ _Welsh_, Kelt. sea lady, 280
MORGWN, _m._ _Welsh_, Kelt. sea dweller, 280
Moric, _m._ _Bohm._ _Slov._ Lat. Moor, 201
Moricz, _m._ _Hung._ Lat. Moor, 201
Moritz, _m._ _Dan._ Lat. Moor, 201
Moritz, _m._ _Ger._ Lat. Moor, 201
Moriz, _m._ _Russ._ Lat. Moor, 201
MORMAN, _m._ _Bret._ Kelt. sea man, 201
_Morna_, _f._ _Scot._ Kelt. beloved (?), 251
_Morolt_, _m._ _Eng._ Kelt. sea protection, 280
Morough, _m._ _Ir._ Kelt. sea protection, 280
Morris, _m._ _Ir._ Lat. Moor, 201
Mortough, _m._ _Ir._ Kelt. sea warrior, 280
_Morty_, _m._ _Ir._ Kelt. sea warrior, 280
MORVEN, _m._ _Bret._ Kelt. sea man, 280
MORVREN, _m._ _Welsh_, Kelt. sea raven, 280
MORVRYN, _m._ _Welsh_, Kelt. sea hill, 280
Mose, _m._ _It._ Heb. drawn out, 27
Moses, _m._ _Eng._ _Ger._ Heb. drawn out, 27
Mote Mahal, _f._ Arab. pearl of the harem, 2
Mousa, _m._ _Arab._ Heb. drawn out, 27
Mozes, _m._ _Dutch_, _Slov._ Heb. drawn out, 27
Mozses, _m._ _Hung._ Heb. drawn out, 27
MRENA, _f._ _Serv._ Slav. white in the eyes, 445
_Mros_, _m._ _Lus._ Gr. immortal, 109
_Mrosk_, _m._ _Lus._ Gr. immortal, 109
MSTISLAV, _m._ _Slav._ avenging glory, 441
MUIRCHEARTACH, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. sea warrior, 280
MUIRERADHACH, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. sea protector, 280
MUIRGIS, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. sea, 280.
_Mukkel_, _m._ _Bav._ Slov. helpless, 43
_Mukki_, _m._ _Bav._ Slov. helpless, 43
_Mun_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. rich protection, 378
Muna, _f._ _Span._ Basque, 460
MUNGHU, _m._ _Gael._ Kelt. loveable, 258
Mungo, _m._ _Scot._ Kelt. loveable, 258
_Munila_, _f._ _Span._ Basque, 460
MUNO, _m._ _Span._ Basque, 460
Murdoch, _m._ _Scot._ Kelt. sea protector, 280
Muriel, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. myrrh, 125
_Murphy_, _m._ _Ir._ Kelt. sea warrior, 280
MURRIN, _f._ _Erse_, Kelt. long haired, 100
Murtagh, _m._ _Ir._ Kelt. sea warrior, 280
Murtough, _m._ _Fr._ Kelt. sea warrior, 280
_Musidora_, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. gift of the Muses, 72
Myles, _m._ _Ir._ Gr. crusher, 77
_Myne_, _Lith._ Teu. helmet of resolution, 315
_Mynette_, _Lith._ Teu. helmet of resolution, 315
_Myra_, _f._ _Eng._
_Mysic_, _f._ _Scot._ Gr. pearl, 121
MYVANWY, _f._ _Welsh_, Kelt. 279
N
_Naatje_, _f._ _Dutch_, Heb. grace, 42
_Nace_, _m._ _Slov._ Lat. fiery, 194
Nada, _f._ _Serv._ Slav. hope, 439
_Nadan_, _f._ _Serv._ Slav. hope, 439
NADEZNA, _f._ _Russ._ Slav. hope, 439
Nadine, _f._ _Fr._ Slav. hope, 439
Nafaniel, _m._ _Russ._ Heb. gift of God, 25
Nahum, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. comfort, 51
_Nan_, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. grace, 42
_Nancy_, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. grace, 42
_Nandel_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. adventuring life, 433
_Nanette_, _f._ _Fr._ Heb. grace, 42
_Nani_, _f._ _Hung._ Heb. grace, 42
NANNA, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. bold, 304
_Nanna_, _f._ _It._ Heb. grace, 42
_Nanneli_, _f._ _Swiss_, Heb. grace, 42
_Nannerl_, _f._ _Bav._ Heb. grace, 42
_Nanni_, _m._ _Ital._ Heb. the Lord’s grace, 45
NANNO, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. bold, 304
_Nannon_, _f._ _Fr._ Heb. grace, 42
_Nannos_, _m._ _Gr._ Heb. grace of the Lord, 45
_Nanny_, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. grace, 42
_Nanon_, _f._ _Fr._ Heb. grace, 42
_Nanty_, _m._ _Scot._ Lat. inestimable, 142
Naomi, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. pleasant, 28
_Nap_, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. of the new city, 200
Naphthali, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. wrestling, 7
_Napo_, _m._ _Ger._ Lat. of the new city, 200
Napoleon, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. of the new city, 200
Napoleone, _m._ _It._ Gr. of the new city, 200
Napolio, _m._ _It._ Gr. of the new city, 200
_Narcisse_, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. daffodil, 81
_Narcissus_, _m._ _Eng._ Gr. daffodil, 81
_Narkiss_, _m._ _Russ._ Gr. daffodil, 81
_Nastagio_, _f._ _m._ _It._ Gr. of the resurrection, 110
_Nastassja_, _f._ _Russ._ Gr. of the resurrection, 110
_Naste_, _f._ _m._ _Lett._ Lat. Christmas child, 210
_Nastenka_, _f._ _Russ._ Gr. of the resurrection, 110
_Nat_, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. gift of God, 25
Natale, _m._ _It._ Lat. Christmas child, 209
Natalia, _f._ _It._ _Span._ Lat. Christmas child, 209
Natalie, _f._ _Fr._ _Ger._ Lat. Christmas child, 209
Natalija, _f._ _Russ._ Lat. Christmas child, 209
Natalita, _f._ _Span._ Lat. Christmas child, 209
_Natanaelle_, _m._ _It._ Heb. gift of God, 25
_Natascha_, _f._ _Russ._ Lat. Christmas child, 209
_Nataschenka_, _f._ _Russ._ Lat. Christmas child, 210
NATHAN, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. gift, 25
NATHANAEL, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. gift of God, 25
Nathanial, _m._ _Wall._ Heb. gift of God, 25
Nathaniel, _m._ _Fr._ Heb. gift of God, 25
Natividad, _f._ _Span._ Lat. birth, 209
Navarino, _m._ _Eng._
_Nazji_, _m._ _Bav._ Lat. fiery, 194
_Nazarene_, _m._ _Ger._ Heb. of Nazareth, 39
_Naze_, _m._ _Bav._ Lat. fiery, 194
_Nazel_, _m._ _Bav._ Lat. fiery, 194
_Neal_, _m._ _Ir._ Kelt. chief, 240
Neapolio, _m._ _It._ Gr. of the new city, 200
Neapoleon, _m._ _It._ Gr. of the new city, 200
_Necek_, _m._ _Slov._ Gr. man, 86
_Ned_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. rich guard, 378
NEDA, _f._ _Bulg._ Slav. Sunday, 218
Nedan, _m._ _Bulg._ Slav. Sunday, 218
Nedelko, _m._ _Bulg._ Slav. Sunday, 218
Nedeljka, _f._ _Bulg._ Slav. Sunday, 218
_Nedelschko_, _m._ _Ill._ Slav. Sunday, 218
Nedo, _m._ _Ill._ Slav. Sunday, 218
_Neeldje_, _m._ _Dutch_, Lat. horn (?), 314
Nehemiah, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. comfort of the Lord, 51
NEIDHARD, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. firm compulsion, 418
NEILL, _m._ _Gadhael._ Kelt. champion, 240
_Nelle_, _f._ _Dutch_, Lat. horn (?), 146
_Nelle_, _f._ _Ger._ Gr. stone, 108
_Nelly_, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. light, 68
NEOT, _m._ _A.S._ compulsion, 418
Nepomucen, _m._ _Pol._ Slav. helpless, 43
NEPOMUK, _m._ _Bohm._ Slav. helpless, 43
_Nese_, _f._ _Lett._ Gr. pure, 119
Nesle, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. black, 168
_Nessie_, _f._ _Manx_, Gr. pure, 119
_Nest_, _f._ _Welsh_, Gr. pure, 119
_Neto_, _f._ _Esth._ Gr. pure, 119
_Neza_, _f._ _Slov._ Gr. pure, 119
_Nezica_, _f._ _Slov._ Gr. pure, 119
Nial, _m._ _Nor._ Kelt. champion, 240
_Nib_, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. God’s oath, 35
Nicholas, _m._ _Eng._ Gr. victory of the people, 90
_Nichon_, _f._ _Fr._ Heb. grace, 42
_Nick_, _m._ _Eng._ Gr. victory of the people, 90
_Nickel_, _m._ _Bav._ Gr. victory of the people, 90
Nicodème, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. victory of the people, 90
Nicodemus, _m._ _Eng._ Gr. victory of the people, 90
_Nicol_, _m._ _Scot._ Gr. victory of the people, 90
Nicola, _m._ _It._ Gr. victory of the people, 90
Nicolaas, _m._ _Dutch_, Gr. victory of the people, 90
Nicolas, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. victory of the people, 90
Nicolau, _m._ _Port._ Gr. victory of the people, 90
Nicole, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. victory of the people, 90
Nicolette, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. victory of the people, 90
Nicolina, _f._ _Gr._ Gr. victory of the people, 90
Nicolo, _m._ _Ital._ Gr. victory of the people, 90
Nidbert, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. bright compelling, 418
Nidhert, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. firm compelling, 418
Niels, _m._ _Scot._ Kelt. champion, 240
_Niel_, _m._ _Dan._ Gr. victory of the people, 90
Nigel, _m._ _Scot._ Lat. black, 168, 241
NIGELLUS, _m._ _Lat._ black, 168
NIGER, _m._ _Lat._ black, 168
NIKIAS, _m._ _Gr._ conquering, 90
_Nikka_, _m._ _Lapp._ Gr. victory of the people, 90
Nikkelis, _m._ _Lett._ Gr. victory of the people, 90
_Nikki_, _m._ _Finn._ Gr. victory of the people, 90
_Nikla_, _m._ _Bav._ Gr. victory of the people, 90
Niklaas, _m._ _Dutch_, Gr. victory of the people, 90
_Niklas_, _m._ _Ger._ _Swed._ Gr. victory of the people, 90
_Niklau_, _m._ _Bav._ Gr. victory of the people, 90
Nikodem, _m._ _Gr._ Gr. victory of the people, 90
NIKODEMOS, _m._ _Gr._ _Slov._ Bulg. victory of the people, 90
Nikola, _m._ _Russ._ Gr. victory of the people, 90
Nikolaj, _m._ _Russ._ Gr. victory of the people, 90
Nikolas, _m._ _Dutch_, Gr. victory of the people, 90
_Nikolascha_, _m._ _Russ._ Gr. victory of the people, 90
NIKOLAUS, _m._ _Ger._ Gr. victory of the people, 90
NIKON, _m._ _Russ._ Gr. victory, 90
_Niku_, _m._ _Finn._ Gr. victory of the people, 90
_Niles_, _m._ _Finn._ Gr. victory of the people, 90
_Nille_, _Nor._ Gr. stone, 108
_Nillon_, _f._ _Fr._ Heb. grace, 42
_Nilo_, _m._ _Finn._ Gr. victory of the people, 90
_Nils_, _m._ _Swed._ Gr. victory of the people, 90
_Ninetta_, _f._ _Ital._ Heb. grace, 42
_Ninette_, _f._ _Fr._ Heb. grace, 42
Ninian, _m._ _Scot._ Kelt. 240
NINIDH, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. 240
_Ninon_, _f._ _Fr._ Heb. grace, 42
NIORD, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. sea god, 306
Nithard, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. firm compulsion, 418
_Nitz_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. firm compulsion, 418
Njal, _m._ _Ice._ Teu. champion, 240
Noa, _m._ _It._ Heb. rest, 9
Noah, _m._ _Dutch_, Heb. rest, 9
NOACHAS, _m._ _Gr._ Heb. rest, 9
Noah, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. rest, 9
Noe, _m._ _Fr._ _Russ._ Heb. rest, 9
Noël, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. Christmas, 209
_Noll_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. olive, 208
_Nöll_, _m._ _Dutch_, Lat. horn, 314
Nona, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. ninth, 138
Nonna, _f._ _Lat._ ninth, 138
Nonne, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. bold, 304
_Nora_, _f._ _Ir._ Lat. honour, 190
_Norah_, _f._ _Ir._ Lat. honour, 190
NORBERT, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. Niord’s brightness, 306
NORDHILDA, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. Niord’s battle maid, 306
Norman, _m._ _Scot._ Teu. Niord’s man, 306
Notberg, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. compelling protection, 418
Notger, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. compelling spear, 418
_Notto_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. compelling wolf, 418
NOTTULF, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. compelling wolf, 418
Novak, _m._ _Ill._ Slov. new.
Novia, _f._ _Ill._ Slav. Lat. new.
_Nozzo_, _m._ _It._ Heb. grace of the Lord, 46
_Nuala_, _f._ _Ir._ Kelt. fair shoulders, 245
_Numps_, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. staff of peace, 350
Nuño, _f._ _Span._
Nuno, _m._ _Span._
_Nunziata_, _f._ _It._ Lat. announced, 30
O
_Oado_, _m._ _Esth._ Heb. red earth, 10
Obadiah, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. servant of the Lord, 50
_Obramas_, _m._ _Lith._ Heb. father of nations, 11
Octave, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. eighth, 138
Octavia, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. eighth, 138
Octaviano, _m._ _Rom._ Lat. eighth, 138
OCTAVIANUS, _m._ _Lat._ eighth, 138
Octavien, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. eighth, 138
Octavie, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. eighth, 138
OCTAVIUS, _m._ _Lat._ eighth, 138
_Ocko_, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. noble rich, 409
ODA, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. rich, 376
ODBJORG, _f._ _m._ _Ger._ Teu. rich protection, 378
ODDE, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. rich, 376
ODDGRIM, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. rich helmet, 378
ODDLAUG, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. rich liquor, 378
ODDLEIF, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. rich relic, 378
ODDMUND, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. rich protection, 378
ODDNY, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. rich freshness, 378
Oddo, _f._ _m._ _Nor._ Teu. rich, 378
ODDR, _f._ _m._ _Nor._ Teu. rich, 378
ODDVEIG, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. rich liquor, 378
ODDWARD, _m._ _Ger._ rich guard, 378
_Ode_, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. rich, 376
Odes, _m._ _It._ Teu. rich, 376
ODELBURGA, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. noble guard, 411
Odelbrecht, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. noble brightness, 411
ODELGIS, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. noble pledge, 411
ODELIND, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. noble snake, 411
Odelric, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. noble rule, 411
_Odgisl_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. rich pledge, 411
ODGJER, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. rich spear, 411
ODGUND, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. rich war, 411
ODILA, _f._ _Ger._ _Fr._ Teu. rich, 411
ODILE, _f._ _Fr._ Teu. rich, 411
Odilo, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. rich, 378
Odilon, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. rich, 378
Odkatla, _f._ _Nor._ rich kettle, 376
_Odkel_, _m._ _Nor._ rich kettle, 376
_Odli_, _m._ _Swiss_, Heb. red earth, 10
Odmar, _Nor._ Teu. rich fame, 378
Odo, _m._ _Ger._ _Eng._ Teu. rich, 378
Odoacer, _m._ _Lat._ Teu. treasure watcher, 377
Odoardo, _m._ _It._ Teu. rich guard, 378
_Odolf_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. rich wolf, 378
Odon, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. rich, 378
Odorico, _m._ _It._ Teu. rich ruler, 378
Odulf, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. noble wolf, 378
Odvald, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. rich power, 378
ODVIN, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. rich friend, 378
_Ody_, _m._ _Fr._ Kelt. lamb, 140
ODYSSEUS, _m._ _Gr._ hater, 75
ŒGILIV, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. Œgir’s relic, 323
ŒGILS, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. awful, 323
ŒGULV, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. awful wolf, 323
ŒGUNN, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. awful maiden, 323
ŒGWIND, _m._ _Nor._ awful Wend, 323
Oëlrich, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. noble ruler, 409
Offa, _m._ _A.G.S._ Teu. wild boar (?), 334
_Ofura_, _f._ _Lat._ Teu. island prudence, 431
_Offy_, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. divine love, 100
Oggiero, _m._ _Ital._ Teu. holy, 402
OGMUND, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. awful protection, 323
_Ogier_, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. holy, 402
OGNOSLAV, _m._ _Ill._ Slav. fire glory.
OGVALLD, _m._ _Nor._ awful power, 323
_Oieif_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. island wolf, 431
_Oiel_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. island wolf, 431
Oighrigh, _f._ _Gael._ Gr. fair speech, 88
OISEAN, _m._ _Gadhael._ Kelt. 243
OLAF, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. ancestor’s relic, 332
Olaüs, _m._ _Lat._ Teu. ancestor’s relic, 332
Olav, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. ancestor’s relic, 332
Olave, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. ancestor’s relic, 332
Olbracht, _m._ _Pol._ Teu. noble brightness, 411
_Oldrich_, _m._ _Bohm._ Teu. nobler ruler, 409
_Ole_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. ancestor’s relic, 332
Oleg, _m._ _Russ._ Teu. holy, 68
_Olery_, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. noble ruler, 409
_Olfert_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. noble peace, 411
Olga, _f._ _Russ._ Teu. holy, 68
Olger, _m._ _Dan._ Teu. holy, 68
Olier, _m._ _Bret._ Lat. olive, 203
Olimpia, _f._ _Ital._ Gr. Olympian, 97
_Olinka_, _f._ _Russ._ Teu. holy, 448
Olive, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. 203
Oliviëros, _m._ _Port. S._ Lat. olive, 203
Oliver, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. olive, 203
Oliverio, _m._ _Port._ Lat. olive, 203
Oliveros, _m._ _Span._ Lat. olive, 203
Olivia, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. olive, 203
Olivier, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. olive, 203
Oliviero, _m._ _It._ Lat. olive, 203
_Olop_, _m._ _Esth._ Teu. ancestor’s relic, 332
Olve, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. ale, 432
OLVER, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. ale, 432
Olympe, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. Olympian, 97
Olympia, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. Olympian, 97
OLYMPIAS, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. Olympian, 97
Olympie, _f._ _Ger._ Gr. Olympian, 97
_Onan_, _m._ _Ir._ Heb. Lat. dwarf Adam, 10
_Ondrej_, _m._ _Bohm._ Gr. man, 86
Onfroi, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. support of peace, 350
Onofredo, _m._ _Ital._ Teu. support of peace, 350
Onofrio, _m._ _It._ Teu. support of peace, 350
_Onora_, _m._ _Erse_, Lat. honour, 190
_Onoré_, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. honoured, 190
_Onorij_, _m._ _Slov._ Lat. honoured, 190
Onuphrius, _m._ _Lat._ Teu. support of peace, 350
Onufrio, _m._ _It._ Teu. support of peace, 350
Ophelia, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. serpent, 346
Orac, _m._ _Slov._ Lat. 148
Orazia, _f._ _It._ Lat. 148
Orazio, _m._ _It._ Lat. 148
Orban, _m._ _Hung._ Lat. citizen, 202
Ordoño, _m._ _Span._ Teu. rich friend (?), 376
ORFLATH, _f._ _Erse_, Kelt. golden lady, 125
Orlando, _m._ _Ital._ Teu. fame of the land, 389
ORM, _m._ _Ice._ Teu. serpent, 346
ORMAR, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. serpent warrior, 346
ORMILDA, _f._ _Ice._ Teu. serpent battle maid, 346
Orsch, _f._ _Swiss_, Lat. bear, 199
_Orscheli_, _f._ _Swiss_, Lat. bear, 199
Orse, _f._ _Hung._ Heb. oath of God, 35
Orseline, _f._ _Dutch_, Lat. bear, 199
_Orsike_, _f._ _Hung._ Heb. oath of God, 35
Orsola, _f._ _Ital._ Lat. bear, 199
Orsolya, _f._ _Hung._ Lat. bear, 199
Orson, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. bear, 199
Ortensia, _f._ _It._ Lat. gardener, 147
Ortensio, _m._ _It._ Lat. gardener, 147
Ortleip, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. rich relic, 378
Ortgrim, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. rich helm, 378
ORTGAR, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. rich spear, 378
Orto, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. rich, 378
ORTWIN, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. rich friend, 378
Ortwulf, _Ger._ Teu. rich wolf, 378
_Orzil_, _m._ _Prov._ Teu. rich, 378
Osbert, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. divinely bright, 290
Osberta, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. divinely bright, 290
OSBORN, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. divine bear, 290
Osberga, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. divine pledge, 290
Oscar, _m._ _Fr._ Kelt. bounding warrior, 251, 291
OSCETYL, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. divine kettle, 291
_Oseep_, _m._ _Russ._ Heb. addition, 23
_Osfred_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. divine peace, 290
OSGAR, _m._ _Gael._ Kelt. bounding warrior, 251
OSGIFU, _f._ _m. A.S._ Teu. Asagod’s gift, 290
OSGOD, _m._ _Dan._ Teu. Asagod, 290
_Oska_, _f._ _Lus._ Lat. bear, 199, 291
_Oskar_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. divine spear, 290
OSKETYL, _m._ _Dan._ Teu. divine cauldron, 291
OSLAC, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. divine sport, 291
Oslaf, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. divine legacy, 291
Osmod, _Ger._ Teu. divine wrath, 291
Osmond, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. divine protection, 291
Osmont, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. divine protection, 291
Osred, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. divine council, 291
Osric, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. divine rule, 291
_Ossian_, _m._ _Eng._ Kelt. 66.
OSTHRYTH, _f._ _Eng._ divine threatener, 291
OSULF, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. divine wolf, 291
OSWALD, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. divine power, 291
OSWINE, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. divine friend, 291
_Oswy_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. divine holiness, 291
Osyth, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. divine strength, 291
_Otemar_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. rich fame, 378
Otfried, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. rich peace, 376
Othao, _m._ _Port._ Teu. rich, 376
Othello, _m._ _It._ Teu. rich, 376
OTHER, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. happy warrior, 376
Othes, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. rich, 376
Othilia, _f._ _m._ _Fr._ Teu. rich battle maid, 341
OTHO, _m._ Lat. Teu. happy (?), 376
_Otpald_, _m._ _Ger._ happy bold, 376
_Otpraht_, _m._ _Ger._ happy bright, 376
Ottavia, _f._ _m._ _It._ Lat. eighth, 138
Ottavio, _m._ _It._ Lat. eighth, 138
Otte, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. happy, 376
OTTHILD, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. happy battle maid, 376
Ottilia, _f._ _Lat._ Teu. happy battle maid, 376
_Ottmar_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. happy fame, 376
Otto, _m._ _It._ _Ger._ Teu. rich, 376
OTTOKAR, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. happy spear, 376
Ottone, _m._ _It._ Teu. happy, 376
_Ottorino_, _m._ _It._ Teu. happy, 376
OTTUR, _m._ _Nor._ Ger. awful, 356
_Ouen_, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. rich friend, 376
Ougunna, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. rich war, 376
_Oulf_, _Nor._ Teu. rich wolf, 376
Ours, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. bear, 199
_Ovind_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. island Wend, 431
OWAIN, _m._ _Welsh_, Kelt. lamb, or warrior, 273
Owen, _m._ _Eng._ Kelt. lamb, or young warrior, 273
P
Pablo, _m._ _Span._ Lat. little, 165
Pacifico, _m._ _It._ Lat. pacific, 190
_Paddy_, _m._ _Ir._ Lat. noble, 195
Padrig, _m._ _Erse_, Lat. noble, 195
Pagano, _m._ _It._ Lat. countryman, 202
PAGANUS, _m._ Lat. countryman, 202
Pain, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. countryman, 202
_Pal_, _m._ _Hung._ Lat. little, 165
_Palko_, _m._ _Hung._ Lat. little, 165
Palladius, _m._ _Lat._ Gr. of Pallas, 64
Pallig, _m._ _Dan._ 419
PALNE, _m._ _Dan._ 419
Pamela, _f._ _Eng._ 464
Pancrace, _m._ _Ir._ Gr. all ruler, 90
Pancracio, _m._ _Rom._ Gr. all ruler, 90
Pancracy, _m._ _Pol._ Gr. all ruler, 90
Pancras, _m._ _Eng._ Gr. all ruler, 90
Pancrazio, _m._ _Ital._ Gr. all ruler, 90
Pankratios, _m._ _Gr._ all ruling, 90
_Panna_, _f._ _Hung._ Heb. grace, 42
_Panni_, _f._ _Hung._ Heb. grace, 42
Pantaleon, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. all a lion, 90
Pantaleone, _m._ _It._ Gr. all a lion, 90
Paola, _f._ _It._ Lat. little, 165
Paolina, _f._ _It._ Lat. little, 165
Paolino, _m._ _It._ Lat. little, 165
Paolo, _m._ _It._ Lat. little, 165
_Pappo_, _m._ _Ger._ Ten, father, 333
_Parascha_, _f._ _Russ._ Slav. Good Friday child, 216
Parysatis, _f._ _Gr._ Zend. fairy born (?).
Paraskeva, _f._ _Russ._ Slav. Good Friday child, 216
_Pari_, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. fatherly, 195
_Parnel_, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. stone, 108
PARTHENOIS, _m._ _Gr._ Gr. of the virgin, 64
PARTHENOPE, _m._ _Eng._ Gr. the virgin’s city, 64
_Pas_, _m._ _Pol._ Lat. little, 165
_Pascal_, _m._ _Span._ Heb. passover child, 215
_Pascha_, _f._ _Russ._ Slav. Good Friday child, 215
Pascha, _f._ _Russ._ Slav. Good Friday child, 215
Paschal, _m._ _Fr._ Heb. Easter child, 215
Paschina, _f._ _It._ Heb. Easter child, 215
Paschino, _m._ _It._ Heb. Easter child, 215
Pascoal, _m._ _Port._ Heb. Easter child, 215
Pascoe, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. Easter child, 215
Pascual, _m._ _Span._ Heb. Easter child, 215
_Pasinek_, _m._ _Pol._ Lat. little, 165
Pasquale, _m._ _It._ Heb. Easter child, 215
Passion, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. suffering, 215
_Pat_, _m._ _Ir._ Lat. noble, 195
_Pate_, _m._ _Scot._ Lat. noble, 195
PATERNUS, _m. Lat._ fatherly, 195
_Patie_, _m._ _Scot._ Lat. noble, 195
Patience, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. bearing up, 193
PATIENS, _m._ _Lat._ patient, 193
Patrice, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. noble, 195
Patricia, _f._ _Scot._ Lat. noble, 195
Patricio, _m._ _Rom._ Lat. noble, 195
PATRICIUS, _m._ Lat. noble, 195
_Patrick_, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. noble, 195
Patrikij, _m._ _Russ._ Lat. noble, 195
Patriz, _m._ _Ger._ Lat. noble, 195
Patrizia, _f._ _It._ Lat. noble, 195
Patrizio, _m._ _It._ Lat. noble, 195
_Patty_, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. becoming bitter, 29
Paul, _m._ _Fr._ _Ger._ _Eng._ Lat. little, 165
Paula, _f._ _Span._ _Port._ Lat. little, 165
Paule, _f._ _Ger._ Lat. little, 165
_Paulette_, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. little, 165
Paulin, _m._ _Ger._ Lat. little, 165
Paulina, _f._ _Rom._ _Eng._ _Span._ Lat. little, 165
Pauline, _f._ _Ger._ _Fr._ Lat. little, 165
Paulino, _m._ _It._ Lat. little, 165
Paulinus, _m._ Lat. little, 165
_Paulisca_, _f._ _Ger._ Lat. little, 165
Paulo, _m._ _Rom._ _Port._ Lat. little, 165
_Paulot_, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. little, 165
Paultje, _m._ _Dutch_, Lat. little, 165
PAULUS, _m._ _Ger._ Lat. little, 165
_Pav_, _m._ _Lapp._ Lat. little, 165
_Pava_, _m._ _Ill._ Lat. little, 165
_Paval_, _m._ _Lapp._ Lat. little, 165
_Pavek_, _m._ _Esth._ _Lapp._ Lat. little, 165
_Pavel_, _m._ _Russ._ _Wall._ _Pol._ _Bohm._ Lat. little, 165
_Pavelek_, _m._ _Pol._ Lat. little, 165
_Pavils_, _m._ _Lett._ Lap. little, 165
_Pavko_, _m._ _Ill._ Lat. little, 165
Pavl, _m._ _Ill._ Lat. little, 165
_Pavla_, _f._ _Russ._ Lat. little, 165
_Pavli_, _m._ _Esth._ Lat. little, 165
_Pavlenka_, _m._ _Russ._ Lat. little, 165
_Pavlika_, _f._ _m._ _Slav._ Lat. little, 165
_Pavlija_, _m._ _Ill._ Lat. little, 165
Pavlin, _m._ _Slav._ Lat. little, 165
Pavlina, _f._ _Slav._ Lat. little, 165
_Pavluscha_, _m._ _Russ._ Lat. little, 165
Pavol, _m._ _Lus._ Lat. little, 165
Pawel, _m._ _Pol._ Lat. little, 165
Payen, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. countryman, 202
Payne, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. countryman, 202
Peace, _f._ _Eng._
Peder, _m._ _Nor._ Gr. stone, 108
_Pedo_, _m._ _Esth._ Gr. stone, 108
_Pedrinho_, _m._ _Port._ Gr. stone, 108
Pedro, _m._ _Port._ _Span._ Gr. stone, 108
_Peggy_, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. pearl, 121
_Peira_, _m._ _Prov._ Gr. stone, 108
_Pejo_, _m._ _Ill._ Gr. stone, 108
Pelage, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. of the sea, 203
Pelagia, _f._ _m._ _Gr._ of the sea, 203
Pelagio, _m._ _Rom._ Gr. of the sea, 203
Pelagius, _m._ Lat. Gr. of the sea, 203
Pelayo, _m._ _Span._ Gr. of the sea, 203
PELEG, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. dispersion, 15
_Pelei_, _m._ _Swiss_, Gr. of the sea, 203
Pelgrim, _m._ _Dutch_, Gr. stranger, 203
Pellegrino, _m._ _It._ Lat. pilgrim, 203
_Pen_, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. weaver, 75
PENELOPE, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. weaver, 75
_Penny_, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. weaver, 75
_Pent_, _m._ _Lapp._ Lat. blessed, 184
_Penta_, _m._ _Lapp._ Lat. blessed, 184
Pentecost, _m._ _Eng._ Gr. Whitsuntide, 216
Pentecoste, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. Whitsuntide, 216
_Pepa_, _f._ _Span._ Heb. addition, 23
_Pepe_, _m._ _Span._ Heb. addition, 23
Pepin, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. father, 333
Pepino, _m._ _Rom._ Teu. father, 333
_Pepita_, _f._ _Span._ Heb. addition, 23
_Pepito_, _m._ _Span._ Heb. addition, 23
_Peppo_, _m._ _It._ Heb. addition, 23
_Pepsa_, _m._ _Ill._ Heb. addition, 23
_Per_, _m._ _Swiss._ Gr. stone, 108
PERAHTHERI, _m._ _O. Ger._ Teu. bright army, 415
PERAHTHILD, _f._ _O. Ger._ Teu. bright battle maid, 415
PERAHTMAR, _m._ _O. Ger._ Teu. bright fame, 415
PERAHTOLF, _m._ _O. Ger._ Teu. bright wolf, 415
PERAHTRAM, _m._ _O. Ger._ Teu. bright raven, 415
Percival, _m._ _Eng._ Kelt. companion of the chalice, 278
PEREDUR, _m._ _Welsh_, Kelt. companion of the chalice, 278
Pérégrin, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. traveller, 203
Peregrine, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. traveller, 203
PEREGRINUS, _m._ Lat. traveller, 203
_Peregrino_, _m._ _It._ Lat. stranger, 203
_Perent_, _m._ _Esth._ Teu. bear firm, 340
_Perette_, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. stone, 108
_Perino_, _m._ _It._ Gr. stone, 108
PERIZADA, _f._ _Pers._ Pers. fairy born.
_Pernel_, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. stone, 108
_Pero_, _m._ _It._ Gr. stone, 108
_Pero_, _m._ _Esth._ Teu. bear firm, 340
PERPETUA, _f._ _It._ Lat. lasting, 197
_Perrin_, _m._ _Fr._ Ger. stone, 108
_Perrine_, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. stone, 108
_Perronik_, _Bret._ 108
_Pert_, _m._ _Esth._ Heb. son of furrows, 25
_Pet_, _m._ _Esth._ Gr. stone, 108
Petar, _m._ _Ill._ Gr. stone, 108
Peter, _m._ _Eng._ Ger. Gr. stone, 108
_Peteris_, _m._ _Lett._ Gr. stone, 108
Peters, _m._ _Lett._ Gr. stone, 108
_Petko_, _m._ _Lus._ Bulg. Gr. stone, 108
_Peto_, _m._ _Lus._ Gr. stone, 108
_Petr_, _m._ _Bohm._ Russ. Gr. stone, 108
_Petra_, _m._ _Esth._ Gr. stone, 108
_Petra_, _f._ _Ill._ Gr. stone, 108
_Petraca_, _f._ _Ger._ Gr. stone, 108
_Petrarca_, _m._ _It._ Gr. stone, 108
_Petras_, _m._ _Lett._ Gr. stone, 108
_Petrica_, _m._ _Ill._ Gr. stone, 108
_Petrija_, _f._ _Ill._ Gr. stone, 108
_Petrik_, _m._ _Bret._ Gr. stone, 108
Petrina, _f._ _Scot._ Gr. stone, 108
Petrine, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. stone, 108
_Petrinka_, _m._ _Russ._ Gr. stone, 108
Petrisse, _f._ _Ger._ Gr. stone, 108
Petronella, _f._ _Ger._ _Eng._ _It._ Gr. stone, 108
Petronelle, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. stone, 108
Petronilha, _f._ _Port._ Gr. stone, 108
PETROS, _m._ _Gr._ stone, 108
_Petru_, _m._ _Wall._ Gr. stone, 108
Petrus, _m._ _Lat._ Gr. stone, 108
Petrusa, _f._ _Ill._ Gr. stone, 108
_Petruscha_, _m._ _Russ._ Gr. stone, 108
_Petsch_, _m._ _Lus._ Gr. stone, 108
Petur, _m._ _Bulg._ Gr. stone, 108
Pewlin, _m._ _Welsh_, Lat. little, 165
Phaddei, _m._ _Russ._ Aram. praise, 20
Phadrig, _m._ _Erse_, Lat. noble, 195
Pharamond, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. travelled protector, 432
Phelim, _m._ _Ir._ Kelt. Erse, good, 257
_Phemie_, _f._ _Scot._ Gr. fair fame, 88
Pheodor, _m._ _Russ._ Gr. divine gift, 101
Pheodora, _f._ _m._ _Russ._ Gr. divine gift, 101
Pheodosij, _m._ _Russ._ Gr. divine gift, 103
Pheodosia, _f._ _m._ _Russ._ Gr. divine gift, 103
PHERENIKE, _f._ _Gr._ bringing victory, 90
_Phil_, _m._ _Eng._ _Ger._ love horses, 79
PHILADELPHIA, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. love of brethren, 93
PHILALETHES, _m._ Gr. love of truth, 94
PHILANDER, _m._ _Eng._ Gr. love man, 94
Philaret, _m._ _Gr._ Gr. love virtue, 94
PHILARETOS, _m._ Gr. love virtue, 94
PHILE, _f._ Gr. love, 93
PHILEMON, _m._ _Eng._ Gr. loving thought, 94
Philetus, _m._ _Am._ Gr. love, 94
Philibert, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. will bright, 315
Philine, _f._ _Ger._ Gr. love, 94
Philip, _m._ _Eng._ Gr. love horses, 79
Philipp, _m._ _Ger._ Gr. love horses, 79
Philippa, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. love horses, 79
Philippe, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. love hores, 79
Philippine, _f._ _Ger._ _Fr._ Gr. love horses, 79
PHILIPPOS, _m._ Gr. loving horses, 79
_Philippot_, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. love horses, 79
_Philippote_, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. love horses, 79
Philippus, _m._ _Lat._ Gr. love horses, 79
Philologus, _m._ _Eng._ Gr. love the word, 94
Philothée, _f._ _m._ _Fr._ Gr. love God, 94
Philotheus, _m._ _Eng._ Gr. love God, 94
Philumena, _f._ Lat. daughter of light, 208
Philumène, _f._ Lat. daughter of light, 208
Phillis, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. foliage, 81
Philon, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. love, 94
Philoxène, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. loving the stranger, 93
Phocas, _m._ _Lat._ Gr. Phocian, 200
Phœbe, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. shining, 65
Phœbus, _m._ _Lat._ Gr. shining, 65
PHOKAS, _m._ _Gr._ Phocian, 200
Photinee, _f._ _Gr._ light, 65
Photius, _m._ _Gr._ light, 65
_Phrankiskos_, _m._ _M. Gr._ Teu. free, 300
_Phroso_, _f._ _M. Gr._ Gr. mirth, 72
PHYLLIS, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. green bough, 81
Pia, _f._ _It._ _Lat._ pious, 193
Pico, _m._ _It._ _Lat._ woodpecker, 176
PICUS, _m._ _Lat._ woodpecker, 176
Pie, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. pious, 193
_Pier_, _m._ _It._ Gr. stone, 108
Pieran, _m._ _Corn._ Kelt. black, 255
Pierce, _m._ _Eng._ Gr. stone, 108
_Piere_, _m._ _O. Fr._ Gr. stone, 108
Piero, _m._ _It._ Gr. stone, 108
_Pieron_, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. stone, 108
_Pierot_, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. stone, 108
Pierre, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. stone, 108
_Pierrot_, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. stone, 108
Piers, _m._ _Eng._ Gr. stone, 108
_Pies_, _m._ _Pol._ Gr. stone, 108
_Piet_, _m._ _Dutch_, Gr. stone, 108
Pieter, _m._ _Dutch_, Gr. stone, 108
_Pieti_, _m._ _Pol._ Gr. stone, 108
Pietro, _m._ _It._ Gr. stone, 108
_Pietruccio_, _m._ _It._ Gr. stone, 108
Piety, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. piety, 193
_Pij_, _m._ _Russ._ Lat. pious, 193
_Pikka_, _f._ _Lapp._ Kelt. strength, 236
_Pikke_, _f._ _Lapp._ Kelt. strength, 236
_Pil_, _m._ _Esth._ Lat. wise old woman, 179
PILAR, _f._ _Span._ Lat. pillar, 30
Pilgrim, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. traveller, 203
_Pimme_, _f._ _Esth._ Gr. fair fame, 88
_Pine_, _f._ _Ger._ Gr. loving horses, 79
_Pinna_, _m._ _Lapp._ Lat. blessed, 184
_Pint_, _m._ _Lapp._ Lat. blessed, 184
_Pinus_, _m._ _Ger._ Gr. loving horses, 79
_Pio_, _m._ _It._ Lat. pious, 193
_Piotr_, _m._ _Pol._ Gr. stone, 108
Pipin, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. father, 333
_Pippa_, _f._ _It._ Gr. loving horses, 79
_Pippin_, _m._ _Dutch_, _Eng._ Teu. father, 333
_Pippo_, _m._ _It._ Gr. loving horses, 79
_Pirket_, _f._ _Lapp._ Kelt. strength, 236
_Pirimona_, _m._ _Maori_, Gr. loving thought.
_Pirrit_, _f._ _Esth._ Kelt. strength, 236
PIUS, _m._ _It._ Lat. pious, 193
Pjetr, _m._ _Lus._ Gr. stone, 108
Pjetrik, _m._ _Lus._ Gr. stone, 108
_Plaxy_, _f._ _Corn._ Gr. active.
Plectrude, _f._ _Fr._ Teu. lightning battle maid.
_Pobjus_, _m._ _Lith._ Lat. of a bean, 146
_Poldo_, _m._ _Slav._ Teu. people’s prince, 430
_Polei_, _m._ _Swiss_, Lat. of the sea, 203
Polidoro, _m._ _It._ Gr. many gifted, 93
Polieukt, _m._ _Russ._ Gr. much desired, 93
Poliksenija, _f._ _Russ._ Gr. much hospitality, 93
_Polly_, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. bitter, 29
_Polonia_, _f._ _Slov._ Gr. of Apollo, 65
_Polonija_, _f._ _Slov._ Gr. of Apollo, 65
Polycarp, _m._ _Eng._ Gr. much fruit, 93
Polydore, _m._ _Eng._ Gr. much gifted, 93
POLYDORUS, _m._ _Lat._ Gr. much gifted, 93
POLYEUKTOS, _m._ _Gr._ much longed for, 93
POLYHYMNIA, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. of many hymns, 72
POLYKARPOS, _m._ Gr. much fruit, 93
Polyksenija, _f._ _Russ._ Gr. much hospitality, 93
POLYXENA, _f._ Gr. much hospitality, 93
Polyxène, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. much hospitality, 93
Pompée, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. of Pompeii, 151
Pompeio, _m._ _It._ Lat. of Pompeii, 151
POMPEIUS, _m._ Lat. of Pompeii, 151
Pompey, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. of Pompeii 151
Ponce, _m._ _Span._ Lat. fifth, 138
Poncio, _m._ _Rom._ Lat. fifth, 138
Pons, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. fifth, 138
PONTIUS, _m._ _Lat._ fifth, 138
Ponzio, _m._ _It._ Lat. fifth, 138
Poppo, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. father, 333
PORCIA, _f._ _Ger._ Lat. of the pigs, 151
PORCIUS, _m._ _Lat._ of the pigs, 151
Portia, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. of the pigs, 151
Porzia, _f._ _It._ Lat. of the pigs, 151
POSTHUMUS, _m._ Lat. the last, 136
_Poto_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. commander, 414
_Prancas_, _m._ _Lith._ Teu. free, 209
Prascovie, _f._ _Fr._ Slav. Good Friday child, 215
Prassede, _f._ _Ital._ Gr. active, 94
PRAVDOSLAV, _m._ _Ill._ Slav. upright glory, 444
PRAVDOSLAVA, _f._ _Ill._ Slav. upright glory, 444
_Pravoje_, _m._ _Ill._ Slav. upright glory.
PRAXEDES, _f._ _Lat._ Gr. active, 94
_Prechtl_, _m._ _Bav._ Teu. bright fame, 213
Premislaus, _m._ _Eng._ Slav. thoughtful glory, 444
Preban, _m._ _Dan._ Slav. 444
Predbiorn, _m._ _Dan._ Slav. 444
Pribislav, _m._ _Slav._ 444
Pribislava, _f._ _Slav._ 439
_Priczus_, _m._ _Lith._ Teu. peace ruler, 296
_Pridrik_, _m._ _Lett._ Teu. peace rule, 296
PRIMUS, _m._ Lat. first, 137
PRISCILLA, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. ancient, 163
PRISCUS, _m._ _Lat._ ancient, 163
Priske, _f._ _Ger._ Lat. ancient, 163
_Prissie_, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. ancient, 163
_Prizzis_, _m._ _Lett._ Teu. peace ruler, 296
PROCHOROS, _m._ _Gr._ leader of the dance, 126
Prochorus, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. leader of the dance, 126
PROCOPIUS, _m._ _Lat._ Gr. progressive, 126
Prokhor, _m._ _Russ._ Gr. leader of the dance, 126
Prokop, _m._ _Bohm._ Gr. progressive, 126
Prokopij, _m._ _Russ._ Gr. progressive, 126
Prokupek, _m._ _Bohm._ Gr. progressive, 126
PROMETHEUS, _m._ _Gr._ love thought.
Prospero, _m._ _It._ Lat. prosperous, 192
Prudence, _f._ _Eng._ 193
PRUDENTIUS, _m._ _Lat._ prudent, 193
_Prydas_, _m._ _Litt._ Teu. peace ruler, 296
_Prydikis_, _m._ _Litt._ Teu. peace ruler, 296
PRZEMYSL, _m._ _Bohm._ Slav. thoughtful, 439
PRZEMYSLAVA, _f._ _Pol._ Slav. thoughtful glory, 439
PSYCHE, _f._ _m._ _Gr._ soul, 447
PULCHERIA, _f._ _Ger._ _It._ Lat. fair, 196
Pulcherie, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. fair, 196
PURVAN, _m._ _Bulg._ Slav. first, 442
PURVANCE, _m._ _Bulg._ Slav. first, 442
Q
QUADRATUS, _m._ _Lat._ fourth, 137
QUARTINUS, _m._ _Lat._ fourth, 137
QUARTUS, _m._ _Lat._ fourth, 137
Quenburga, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. queen pledge, 319
Quendrida, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. queen threatener, 319
_Quenes_, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. bold speech, 423
Quentin, _m._ _Scot._ Lat. fifth, 138
_Queran_, _m._ _Flem._ _Scot._ Kelt. black, 255
Quintianus, _m._ Lat. fifth, 138
QUINTILIANUS, _m._ _Lat._ fifth, 138
QUINTUS, _m._ _Lat._ fifth, 138
_Quiric_, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. Sunday child, 217
QUIRINUS, _m._ _Lat._ spearman, 177
QUOD-VULT-DEUS, _m._ _Lat._ what God wills, 188
R
RAADGJER, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. spear of fame, 394
Raadgjerd, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. council guard, 394
_Raamund_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. council protection, 394
_Rab_, _m._ _Scot._ Teu. bright fame, 392
_Rabba_, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. council commander, 394
_Rabbe_, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. council commander, 394
_Rabbo_, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. council commander, 394
Rachel, _f._ _Fr._ _Eng._ _Ger._ Heb. ewe, 14
Rachele, _f._ _It._ Heb. ewe, 14
Radagaisus, _m._ _Lat._ Teu. council pledge, 394
Radak, _m._ _Slav._ Slav. joy, 439
Radan, _m._ _Slav._ Slav. joy, 439
RADBERT, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. council bright, 394
RADBOD, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. council commander, 394
RADEGAR, _m._ _Lom._ Teu. council spear, 394
RADEGISL, _m._ _Lom._ Teu. council pledge, 394
RADEGONDE, _f._ _Fr._ Teu. council war, 394
RADEGONDA, _f._ _Span._ Teu. council war, 394
Radelchis, _m._ _Lat._ Teu. council pledge, 394
Radfried, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. council peace, 394
Radgund, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. council war, 394
RADINKA, _m._ Slav. joyful peace, 439
_Radinko_, _m._ Slav. joy, 439
_Radko_, _m._ Slav. joy, 439
Radman, _m._ Slav. joy, 439
RADMIL, _m._ Slav. joyful love, 439
RADIVOJ, _m._ Slav. joyful war, 439
_Radoje_, _m._ Slav. joyful war, 439
Radolf, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. house wolf, 421
RADULFUS, _m._ _Lat._ Teu. house wolf, 421
RADOSLAV, _m._ Slav, joyful glory, 439
Rafael, _m._ _Span._ _Hung._ Heb. healing of God, 55
Rafe, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. house wolf, 421
Raffaelle, _m._ _It._ Heb. healing of God, 55
Raffaello, _m._ _It._ Heb. healing of God, 55
Rafn, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. raven, 345
Rafnulf, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. raven wolf, 345
RAGANO, _m._ _O. Ger._ Teu. judgment, 396
RAGINBALD, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. prince of judgment, 398
RAGINFRED, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. judgment of peace, 398
Raginfrida, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. judgment of peace, 398
RAGINHARD, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. firm judge, 396
RAGINHEID, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. impulse of justice, 398
RAGINHERI, _m._ _A.S._ _Frank._ Teu. warrior of judgment, 396
RAGINHILD, _f._ _Frank._ Teu. battle maid of judgment, 398
RAGINHOLD, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. judging firmly, 396
RAGINLEIF, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. relic of judgment, 396
RAGINMUND, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. judge’s protection, 396
RAGINHAR, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. great judgment, 396
RAGINWALD, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. judge ruler, 396
RAGINWARD, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. guardian of judgment, 396
RAGNAR, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. warrior of judgment, 397
RAGNFRID, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. wise fair one, 398
Ragnold, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. wise judge ruler, powerful judge, 395
_Ragnrid_, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. wise fair one, 398
Rahel, _f._ _Pol._ Heb. ewe, 15
Raimond, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. judge’s protection, 396
Raimondo, _m._ _It._ Teu. judge’s protection, 395
Raimons, _m._ _Prov._ Teu. council strengthening protection, 397
Rainiald, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. power of judgment, 395
Rainardo, _m._ _Ital._ Teu. firm judgment, 396
Rainart, _m._ _Prov._ Teu. firm judgment, 396
Rainhard, _m._ _Hung._ Teu. firm judgment, 396
_Rainer_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. warrior of judgment, 396
_Rainulf_, _m._ _O. Fr._ Teu. wolf of judgment, 335
_Rajnold_, _m._ _Pol._ Teu. power of judgment, 396
Ralf, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. house wolf, 421
Ralph, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. house wolf, 421
Rambert, _Ger._ raven bright, 345
Ramiro, _m._ _Span._ Teu. great judge, 396
Ramon, _m._ _Span._ Teu. judge’s protection, 397
Rampold, _m._ raven prince, 345
Ranald, _m._ _Scot._ Teu. power of judgment, 397
Ramusio, _m._ _Span._ Teu. raven, 345
Randal, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. house wolf, 421
_Randi_, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. wise fair one, 396
_Randid_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. wise fair one, 396
Randle, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. house wolf, 335
Randolph, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. house wolf, 335, 421
Randve, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. house consecration, 321
_Randver_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. house consecration, 321
RANDVID, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. house consecration, 321
_Rane_, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. warrior of judgment, 396
Ranieri, _m._ _It._ Teu. warrior of judgment, 396
_Ranmod_, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. house courage, 421
_Ranna_, _f._ _Lapp._ Teu. battle maid of judgment, 396
_Rannmod_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. house courage, 421
_Rannog_, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. house liquor, 421
_Ranssu_, _m._ _Finn._ Teu. free, 300
Ranulf, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. house wolf, 421
RANVEIG, _f._ _m._ _Nor._ Teu. house liquor, 421
Raonmill, _m._ _Erse_, Teu. power of judgment, 396
Raoul, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. wolf of fame, 335
Raphael, _m._ _Eng._ _Fr._ _Ger._ Heb. healing of God, 55
_Rasche_, _f._ _Pol._ Lat. rose, 204
_Rasia_, _f._ _Pol._ Lat. queen, 31
_Rasine_, _f._ _Lith._ Lat. rose, 204
_Rasine_, _f._ _Pol._ Lat. queen, 31
_Rasl_, _m._ _Bav._ Gr. amiable, 113
_Rasmus_, _m._ _Dutch_, Gr. amiable, 113
Ratulf, _m._ _O. Ger._ Teu. council bright, 394
_Raul_, _m._ _Rom._ Teu. house wolf, 421
_Raulus_, _m._ _Lith._ Lat. laurel, 174
_Ravelina_, _f._ _Mentone_, Heb. medicine of God, 55
_Ravelin_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. council wolf, 335
Ravengar, _Eng._ Teu. raven spear, 345
Ravenswar, _Eng._ Teu. raven spear, 345
Raymond, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. wise protection, 397
Raynard, _m._ _Pol._ Teu. firm judgment, 396
Rayner, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. warrior of judgment, 396
RAZOOMNIK, _m._ _Russ._ Slav. wise man, 449
Rebecca, _f._ _Lat._ Heb. noosed cord, 14
Rebekah, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. noosed cord, 14
Recaredo, _m._ _Span._ Teu. ruling by council, 399
Rechiarius, _m._ _Lat._ Teu. ruling an army, 399
Rechilda, _f._ _Lat._ Teu. ruling battle maid, 399
Rechimiro, _m._ _Span._ Teu. ruling fame, 399
Recimir, _m._ _Goth._ Teu. ruling fame, 399
Redmond, _m._ _Ir._ Teu. council protection, 31
Redwald, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. council power, 31
REGINA, _f._ _It._ _Ger._ Lat. queen, 31
Reginald, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. powerful judgment, 396
Reginard, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. firm judge, 396
Reginand, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. powerful judgment, 396
Reginbert, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. splendour of judgment, 396
REGINTAG, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. judgment day, 396
Reginwart, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. guardian of judgment, 396
_Regl_, _f._ _Bav._ Lat. queen, 398
_Regnard_, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. firm judge, 396
Regnault, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. power of judgment, 396
Regnier, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. warrior of judgment, 396
REGULUS, _m._ _Lat._ king, 355
Rehur, watchman.
_Reichart_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. ruling firmness, 399
_Reigl_, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. queen, 398
_Rein_, _m._ _Esth._ Teu. power of judgment, 396
Reinaldo, _m._ _Span._ power of judgment, 396
Reinbold, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. prince of judgment, 396
Reine, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. queen, 36
Reiner, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. warrior of judgment, 398
_Reinette_, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. queen, 31
Reinfrid, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. peace of judgment, 396
Reingard, _m._ _Russ._ Teu. protection of judgment, 398
Reinger, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. spear of judgment, 398
Reinhard, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. firm judge, 398
Reinhild, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. battle maid of judgment, 398
Reinmer, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. great judgment, 398
Reinhold, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. firmness of judgment, 398
_Reinis_, _m._ _Lett._ Teu. power of judgment, 398
_Reino_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. power of judgment, 398
Reinolf, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. wolf of judgment, 398
Reinward, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. guard of judgment, 398
_Rekkerts_, _m._ _Lett._ Teu. spear of fame, 399
_Remarkable_, _f._ _American_.
Rembald, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. prince of judgment, 398
Rembert, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. splendour of judgment, 396
_Remi_, _m._ _Fr._
_Remma_, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. guardian of judgment, 396
_Remward_, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. guardian of judgment, 396
Renard, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. firm judge, 396
Renart, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. firm judge, 396
Renata, _f._ _m._ _It._ Teu. warrior of judgment, 396
Renato, _m._ _It._ Teu. warrior of judgment, 396
_Renaud_, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. power of judgment, 396
_Renauld_, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. power of judgment, 396
_Renbold_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. prince of judgment, 396
René, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. warrior of judgment, 396
Renée, _f._ _Fr._ Teu. warrior of judgment, 396
_Renfred_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. judgment of peace, 396
_Rennert_, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. firm judge, 396
_Rennold_, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. power of judgment, 396
_Renz_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. firm judge, 396
_Renzo_, _m._ _It._ Lat. laurel, 174
_Res’l_, _f._ _Bav._ Gr. carrying ears of corn, 124
RESTITUTUS, _m._ Lat. restored, 193
Restyn, _m._ _Welsh_, Lat. restored, 193
REUBEN, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. behold a son, 7
_Reta_, _f._ _Finn._ Gr. pearl, 121
Reynard, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. firm judge, 396
Reynold, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. power of judgment, 396
_Rhesa_, _m._ _Eng._ Chal. prince, 277
Rhoda, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. rose, 31
RHODE, _f._ Gr. rose, 31
RHODEIA, _f._ rosy cheeked, 31, 204
RHODOPIS, _f._ rosy cheeked, 31, 204
RHONWEN, _f._ _Welsh_, Kelt. white skirt, 239
RHYDDERCH, _m._ _Welsh_, Kelt. 255
RHYS, _m._ _Welsh_, Kelt. warrior, 277
Ricardo, _m._ _Port._ Teu. stern king, 399
Riccardo, _m._ _It._ Teu. stern king, 399
Ricbert, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. bright king, 399
_Ricciardetto_, _m._ _It._ Teu. stern king, 399
Ricciardo, _m._ _It._ Teu. stern king, 399
_Rice_, _m._ _Eng._ Welsh, warrior, 277, 399
RICEHARD, _m._ _A.S._ stern king, 399
Richard, _m._ _Fr._ _Eng._ Teu. stern king, 399
_Richenza_, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. ruling firmness, 400
Richer, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. ruling warrior, 399
Richila, _f._ _Span._ Teu. ruling battle maid, 399
Richilde, _f._ _Fr._ Teu. ruling battle maid, 399
Richiza, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. ruling firmness, 399
RICKOLF, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. king wolf, 400
Riciberga, _f._ _Span._ Teu. ruling guard, 400
Ricimir, _m._ _Lat._ Teu. great king, 399
_Rickel_, _m._ _Bav._ Teu. noble ruler, 399
Rictrude, _f._ _Fr._ Teu. ruling maid, 400
_Ridolfo_, _m._ _It._ Teu. fame ruler, 391
_Rietu_, _m._ _Finn._ Teu. peace ruler, 296
_Rieuk_, _m._ _Bret._ Kelt. warrior, 277
_Right-about-face_, _m._ _Eng._ 10
_Rigonthe_, _f._ _O. Fr._ Teu. ruling war, 400
_Riik_, _m._ _Neth._ Teu. ruling firmness, 400
_Riikert_, _m._ _Neth._ Teu. ruling firmness, 399
_Rikchen_, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. peace ruler, 296
_Rike_, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. peace ruler, 296
Rikheri, _m._ _O. Fr._ Teu. ruling warrior, 399
Rikomar, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. ruling fame, 399
Rikulf, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. ruling wolf, 399
Rikwald, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. ruling power, 400
Rinaldo, _m._ _It._ Teu. power of judgment, 396
_Rinnert_, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. firmness of judgment, 396
Riok, _m._ _Bret._ Kelt. warrior, 277
Riowal, _m._ _Bret._ Kelt. lordly, 277
_Rita_, _f._ _It._ Gr. pearl, 121
_Ritchie_, _m._ _Scot._ Teu. ruling firmness, 399
_Roald_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. famous power, 392
_Roar_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. spear of fame, 392
_Rob_, _m._ _Scot._ Teu. bright fame, 392
_Robbie_, _m._ _Scot._ Teu. bright fame, 392
_Robers_, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. bright fame, 392
Robert, _m._ _Eng._ _Fr._ Teu. bright fame, 392
Roberto, _m._ _Ital._ Teu. bright fame, 392
_Robin_, _m._ _Fr._ _Eng._ Teu. bright fame, 392
_Robina_, _f._ _Scot._ Teu. bright fame, 392
_Robinet_, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. fame bright, 392
Roderic, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. famous king, 255, 393
Roderich, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. famous king, 255, 393
Roderick, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. famous king, 255, 393
Rodolf, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. wolf of fame, 391
Rodolfo, _m._ _It._ Teu. wolf of fame, 391
Rodolph, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. wolf of fame, 391
Rodolphe, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. wolf of fame, 391
_Rodri_, _m._ _Welsh_, Teu. famous king, 255, 393
Rodrigo, _m._ _Span._ _Port._ Teu. famous king, 255, 393
Rodrigue, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. famous king, 255, 393
Rodulfo, _Span._ wolf of fame, 391
Roese, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. fame, 204
Roesia, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. fame, 204
Roger, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. spear of fame, 390
Rogero, _m._ _It._ Teu. spear of fame, 390
Rogier, _m._ _Neth._ Teu. spear of fame, 390
Rognwald, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. power of judgment, 396
_Rohais_, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. fame, 204
_Rohlops_, _m._ _Lett._ Teu. wolf of fame, 390
_Roibin_, _m._ _Erse_, Teu. bright fame, 392
Roeland, _m._ _Neth._ Teu. fame of the land, 389
Roland, _m._ _Ir._ _Eng._ Teu. fame of the land, 389
Rolando, _m._ _Port._ Teu. fame of the land, 389
Roldan, _m._ _Span._ Teu. fame of the land, 389
Roldao, _m._ _Port._ Teu. fame of the land, 389
_Rolf_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. wolf of fame, 391
Rollaug, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. famous liquor, 393
Rolleik, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. famous sport, 389
Rolph, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. wolf of fame, 391
Rollo, _m._ _Lat._ Teu. wolf of fame, 391
Rolv, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. wolf of fame, 391
Romain, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. Roman, 178
Romano, _m._ _It._ Lat. Roman, 178
Roman, _m._ _Slav._ Lat. Roman, 178
ROMANUS, _m._ _Lat._ Roman, 178
Romao, _m._ _Port._ Lat. Roman, 178
Romeo, _m._ _Ital._ Teu. fame, 393
Romola, _f._ _Ital._ Lat. fame (?), 178
Romolo, _m._ _Ital._ Lat. fame (?), 178
ROMUALD, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. famed power, 390
ROMUALDO, _m._ _It._ Teu. famed power, 390
ROMULUS, _m._ _Lat._ fame (?), 178
Ronald, _m._ _Scot._ judge power, 390
Ronan, _m._ _Scot._ Kelt. seal (?), 253
Ronat, _f._ _Erse_, Kelt. seal (?), 253
RONDOLFR, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. house wolf, 421
_Ronnan_, _f._ house liquor, 393
Rory, _m._ _Ir._ Kelt. red, 255
ROSA, _f._ _It._ _Span._ Lat. rose, 204
Rosabel, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. rose fair, 204
Rosaclara, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. rose clear, 204
Rosalba, _f._ _It._ Lat. rose white, 204
Rosalbe, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. rose white, 204
Rosalia, _f._ _It._ Lat. rose, 204
Rosalie, _f._ _Ger._ _Fr._ _Eng._ Lat. rose, 204
Rosalija, _f._ _Russ._ Lat. rose, 204
Rosalind, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. fame serpent, 204
Rosaline, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. famed serpent, 204
Rosamond, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. famed protection, 204
Rosamunda, _f._ _It._ _Span._ Teu. famed protection, 204
Rosamunde, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. famed protection, 204
Rosanne, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. rose, 204
Rosaura, _f._ _It._ Lat. rose, 204
_Roschana_, _f._ _Pers._ Zend. dawn of day, 58
Roschen, _f._ _Ger._ Lat. rose, 204
ROSCRANA, _f._ _Gael._ Kelt. rose bush.
Rose, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. rose, 204
Rosel, _f._ _Swiss_, Teu. rose, 204
Roseli, _f._ _Swiss_, Teu. rose, 204
Rosemonde, _f._ _Fr._ Teu. famed protection, 204
Roseta, _f._ _Port._ Lat. rose, 204
Rosetta, _f._ _It._ Lat. rose, 204
Rosette, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. rose, 204
ROSHILDA, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. famed battle maid, 206
Rosi, _f._ _Swiss_, Lat. rose, 204
Rosia, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. fame, 204, 398
Rosilde, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. horse battle maid, 341
Rosimonda, _f._ _It._ Teu. horse protection, 341
Rosina, _f._ _Eng._ _It._ Lat. rose, 204
Rosine, _f._ _Fr._ _Ger._ Lat. rose, 204
Rosita, _f._ _Span._ Lat. rose, 204
ROSSKETYL, horse kettle, 341
Rosskjell, horse kettle, 341
Rosmer, _m._ _Dan._ Teu. sea horse, 341
Rosmund, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. horse protection, 341
Rospert, bright horse, 341
Rostiophus, _m._ _Lat._ Teu. horse thief, 341
ROSTISLAV, _m._ _Slav._ increasing fame, 441
Roswald, _m._ _Scot._ Teu. horse power, 341
Roswald, _m._ _Dan._ Teu. horse power, 341
Roswida, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. horse strength, 341
ROSWITH, _f._ _Frank._ Teu. horse strength, 341
_Rota_, _m._ _Maori_, Heb.
_Rotholf_, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. famed wolf, 391
_Rotija_, _f._ _Ill._ Gr. gift of God, 102
_Rottgers_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. famed spear, 392
Rotlandus, _m._ _Lat._ Teu. fame of the country, 389
_Rou_, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. wolf of fame, 390
_Roul_, _m. Fr._ Teu. wolf of fame, 390
Rowena, _f._ _Eng._ Kelt. white skirt, 239
Rowland, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. fame of the land, 389
Roxana, _f._ _Pers._ Fr. dawn of day, 58
_Roy_, _m._ _Scot._ Kelt. red, 255
Roza, _f._ _Pol._ Lat. rose, 204
Rozalia, _f._ _Pol._ Lat. rose, 204
Rozalija, _f._ _Slov._ Lat. rose, 204
Rozer, _m._ _Russ._ Teu. famed spear, 390
Rozia, _f._ _Pol._ Lat. rose, 204
Rozina, _f._ _Slov._ _Bohm._ Lat. rose, 204
_Rozsi_, _f._ _Hung._ Lat. rose, 204
Rozyna, _f._ _Pol._ Lat. rose, 204
Ruadh, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. red, 167, 255
Ruadri, _m._ _Gael._ Kelt. red, 255
RUADRIGH, _m._ _Gadhael._ Kelt. red, 255
Ruaridh, _m._ _Gael._ Kelt. 255
Rudbert, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. bright fame, 392
Ruben, _m._ _Ger._ Heb. behold a son, 7
Rubert, _m._ _It._ Teu. bright fame, 392
Rudhard, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. famed firmness, 392
Rudiger, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. famed spear, 392
Rudland, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. fame of the land, 392
Rudolf, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. wolf of fame, 391
RUDOLPHE, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. wolf of fame, 391
Rudolphine, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. wolf of fame, 391
_Ruedi_, _m._ _Swiss_, Teu. wolf of fame, 391
_Ruedli_, _m._ _Swiss_, Teu. wolf of fame, 391
RUEDOLF, _m._ _Bav._ Teu. wolf of fame, 390
Ruffo, _m._ _It._ Lat. red, 167
Ruffin, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. red, 167
RUFINA, _f._ _It._ Lat. red, 167
Rufine, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. red, 167
Rufino, _m._ _It._ Lat. red, 167
RUFINUS, _m._ _Ger._ Lat. red, 167
RUFUS, _m._ _Am._ Lat. red, 167
Ruggero, _m._ _It._ Teu. famed spear, 390
Ruggiero, _m._ _It._ Teu. famed spear, 390
_Rule_, _m._ _Scot._ Lat. king.
Ruland, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. fame of the land, 389
_Rulef_, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. wolf of fame, 390
_Rulf_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. wolf of fame, 390
_Rulves_, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. wolf of fame, 390
_Rumilde_, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. famed battle maid, 398
Rupert, _m._ _Ger._ _Eng._ Teu. bright fame, 392
Ruperto, _m._ _It._ Teu. bright fame, 392
Ruprat, _m._ _Slov._ Teu. bright fame, 392
Ruprecht, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. bright fame, 392
Rurik, _m._ _Russ._ Teu. famed rule, 392
Rutger, _m._ _Neth._ Teu. spear of fame, 390
Ruth, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. beauty, 39
_Ruy_, _m._ _Span._ Teu. famed rule, 398
Ruzalia, _f._ _Ill._ Lat. rose, 204
Rycolf, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. ruling wolf, 392
Rydygier, _m._ _Pol._ Teu. spear of fame, 390
Rykert, _m._ _Dutch_, Teu. stern king, 399
Ryklof, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. ruling wolf, 390
_Ryszard_, _m._ _Pol._ Teu. stern king, 399
S
SABAS, _m._ _Ger._ Heb. rest (?), 216
Sabea, _f._ 216
Sabee, _m._ _Russ._ Heb. rest (?), 216
Sabina, _f._ _It._ _Eng._ Lat. Sabine, 164
Sabine, _f._ _Ger._ _Fr._ Lat. Sabine, 164
SABINUS, _m._ Lat. Sabine, 164
Sabrina, _f._ _Eng._ the Severn, 164
Sabra, 216
_Sacha_, _f._ _Russ._ Gr. helper of men, 85
_Sachar_, _m._ _Russ._ Heb. remembrance of the Lord, 51
Sacharija, _m._ _Russ._ Heb. remembrance of the Lord, 51
Sadof, _m._ _Russ._ Pers. (?), 49
SADOVIT, _m._ _Ill._ Slav. fruitful.
Sadwrn, _m._ _Welsh_, Lat. of Saturn, 179
_Sæbert_, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. conquering brightness, 356
_Sæmund_, _m._ _A.S._ conquering protection, 359
_Sæwald_, conquering power, 359
_Sæward_, conquering protection, 359
_Saffi_, _f._ _Dan._ Gr. wisdom, 107
_Saher_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. conquering army, 359
_Sahlke_, _f._ _Ger._ Lat. rose, 204
Sakaria, _m._ _Ill._ Heb. remembrance of the Lord, 51
Sakchej, _m._ _Russ._ Heb. remembrance of the Lord, 51
_Sakerl_, _m._ _Dan._ Heb. remembrance of the Lord, 51
Sakkarias, _m._ _Esth._ Heb. remembrance of the Lord, 51
SAKSE, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. rock, 51
_Sal_, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. princess, 13
Salamans, _m._ _Lett._ Heb. peaceful, 47
Salamao, _f._ _Port._ Heb. peaceful, 47
Salamon, _m._ _Fr._ _Hung._ Heb. peaceful, 47
Salaun, _m._ _Bret._ Heb. peaceful, 47
_Sally_, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. princess, 13
Salomao, _f._ _m._ _Fr._ _Port_. Heb. peaceful, 47
Salomaun, _m._ _Bohm._ Heb. peaceful, 47
Salome, _f._ _Eng._ _Russ._ _Ger._ Heb. peaceful, 47
Salomea, _f._ _Pol._ Heb. peaceful, 47
Salomée, _f._ _Fr._ Heb. peaceful, 47
_Salomeli_, _f._ _m._ _Swiss_, Heb. peaceful, 47
Salomo, _m._ _Ger._ Heb. peaceful, 47
Salomone, _m._ _Ital._ Heb. peaceful, 47
Salvador, _m._ _Span._ Lat. saviour, 193
Salvatore, _m._ _Ital._ Lat. saviour, 193
Salvestro, _m._ _Ital._ Lat. woody, 179
_Sam_, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. asked of God, 20
_Samel_, _m._ _Esth._ Heb. asked of God, 20
_Sameli_, _m._ _Swiss_, Heb. asked of God, 20
Sammel, _m._ _Swiss_, Heb. asked of God, 20
Sampson, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. splendid sun, 39
Samsao, _m._ _Port._ Heb. splendid sun, 39
Samson, _m._ _Eng._ _Ger._ Heb. splendid sun, 39
Samuel, _m._ _Ger._ _Eng._ _Fr._ Heb. asked of God, 20
_Samuele_, _m._ _It._ Heb. asked of God, 20
_Samuil_, _m._ _Wall._ Heb. asked of God, 20
_Samuls_, _m._ _Lett._ Heb. asked of God, 20
Sancha, _f._ _Span._ Lat. holy, 175
_Sanchica_, _f._ _m._ _Span._ Lat. holy, 175
Sanche, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. holy, 175
Sancho, _m._ _Span._ Lat. holy, 175
Sancia, _f._ _Ger._ Lat. holy, 175
Sancie, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. holy, 175
Sancto, _m._ _It._ Lat. holy, 175
SANCTUS, _m._ _Lat._ holy, 175
_Sanders_, _m._ _Lett._ Gr. helper of men, 85
_Sandor_, _m._ _Hung._ Gr. helper of men, 85
_Sandrl_, _f._ _Bav._ Heb. lily, 50
_Sandro_, _m._ _Ital._ Gr. helper of men, 85
_Sandy_, _m._ _Scot._ Gr. helper of men, 85
_Sanerl_, _f._ _Bav._ Heb. lily, 50
_Sanne_, _f._ _Dutch_, Heb. lily, 50
_Sanson_, _Fr._ Heb. splendid sun, 39
_Sansone_, _It._ Heb. splendid sun, 39
_Santerl_, _m._ _Bav._ Gr. gold flower, 125
_Santiago_, _m._ _Span._ Lat. Heb. holy James, 17
_Santje_, _f._ _Dutch_, Heb. lily, 50
Santo, _m._ _Rom._ Lat. holy, 175
Santos, _m._ _Span._ Lat. the saints, 175
Sanzio, _m._ _Ital._ Lat. holy, 175
Sapor, _m._ Gr. Zend, venerable king, 57
SAPPHERO, _f._ _M. Gr._ Gr. sapphire, 125
_Sappi_, _f._ _Lith._ Gr. wisdom, 107
Sara, _f._ _Fr._ _Hung._ _Ill._ _Ger._ _Ill._ Heb. princess, 13
Sarah, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. princess, 13
Sarai, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. quarrelsome, 13
SARAID, _f._ _Erse_, Kelt. excellent, 13
_Sarica_, _f._ _Hung._ Heb. princess, 13
_Sarotte_, _f._ _Fr._ Heb. princess, 13
SASAN, _m._ Zend. venerable king, 57
_Sasze_, _m._ _Fris._ Gr. Christian, 105
Sativola, _f._ _Lat._ Kelt. 282
SATURNINUS, _m._ _Lat._ of Saturn, 179
Saul, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. longed for.
_Saunders_, _m._ _Scot._ Gr. helper of men, 85
Sava, _m._ _Russ._ Heb. rest, 216
Saverij, _m._ _Ill._ Arabic, bright, 299
Savero, _m._ _It._ Arab, bright, 299
_Sawney_, _m._ _Scot._ Gr. helper of men, 85
Saxo, _m._ _Lat._ Teu. rock, 324
_Sayer_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. conquering army, 359
_Scezpan_, _Lus._ Gr. crown, 96
_Scezepan_, _Pol._ Gr. crown, 96
Schelluf, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. shield wolf, 35
_Schmul_, _m._ _Ger._ Heb. asked of God, 20
SCHOLASTICA, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. scholar, 184
Scholastike, _f._ _Ger._ Lat. scholar, 184
Scholastique, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. scholar, 184
_Schombel_, _m._ _Lus._ Heb. asked of God, 20
SCHWANHILDE, _Ger._ Teu. swan maid, 346
SCHWANBERGE, _Ger._ Teu. swan protection, 346
_Schymank_, _m._ _Lus._ Heb. obedient, 19
_Schymanz_, _m._ _Lus._ Heb. obedient, 19
Science, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. science, 175
SCIENTIA, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. science, 175
SCIPIO, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. staff, 164
Scipion, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. staff, 164
Scipione, _m._ _It._ Lat. staff, 164
SCROFA, _m._ Lat. pig, 152
Seachnall, _m._ _Ir._ Lat. second, 52
Seabert, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. conquering brightness, 359
Seaforth, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. conquering peace, 359
SEALBFLAITH, _f._ _Erse_, Kelt. lady of possessions, 259
SEALBHACH, _m._ rich, 359
Searlus, _m._ _Erse_, Teu. man.
SEAXBALD, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. rock bold, 324
SEAXBERT, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. rock bright, 324
SEAXBURH, _f._ _A.S._ Teu. rock pledge, 324
Seaward, _f._ _m._ _Eng._ Teu. conquering guardian, 359
Sebald, _m._ _Ger._ _Fr._ Teu. conquering valour, 359
Sebastian, _f._ _m._ _Ger._ _Eng._ _Span._ Gr. venerable, 111
Sebastiana, _f._ _It._ Gr. venerable, 111
Sebastiane, _f._ _Ger._ Gr. venerable, 111
Sebastiano, _m._ _It._ Gr. venerable, 111
SEBASTIANUS, _m._ _Lat._ Gr. venerable, 111
Sebastiao, _m._ _Port._ Gr. venerable, 111
Sebastien, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. venerable, 111
Sebastienne, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. venerable, 111
Sebastyan, _m._ _Pol._ Gr. venerable, 111
_Sebesta_, _f._ _Bohm._ Gr. venerable, 111
Sebestyen, _m._ _Hung._ Gr. venerable, 111
Sebila, _f._ _Span._ Lat. wise old woman, 178
SECUNDUS, _m._ _Lat._ second, 137
Sedecias, _m._ _Lat._ Heb. justice of the Lord, 49
Seemeon, _m._ _Russ._ Heb. obedient, 19
_Sefa_, _f._ _Swiss_, Heb. addition, 23
Seifred, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. conquering peace, 356
Selbflaith, _f._ _Erse_, Kelt. lady of possessions, 259
Selima, _f._ _Arab._ Heb. peace, 47
Selina, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. moon, 67
Selinde, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. conquering snake, 358
Selma, _f._ _Scot._ Kelt. fair (?).
_Selvach_, _m._ _Scot._ Kelt. rich in cattle, 259
Selvaggia, _f._ _Ital._ Lat. wild, 179
Selvaggio, _m._ _It._ Lat. wild, 179
Seoin, _m._ _Erse_, Heb. grace of the Lord, 46
_Seorgi_, _m._ _Erse_, Gr. husbandman, 116
_Seph_, _m._ _Bav._ Heb. addition, 23
_Sepherl_, _m._ _Bav._ Heb. addition, 23
_Sepp_, _m._ _Swiss_, _Bav._ Heb. addition, 23
_Seppeli_, _f._ _Swiss_, Heb. addition, 23
_Seppi_, _m._ _Swiss_, Heb. addition, 23
_Seppli_, _m._ _Swiss_, Heb. addition, 23
Septime, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. seventh, 138
Septimia, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. seventh, 138
SEPTIMUS, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. seventh, 138
Serafina, _f._ _Span._ _It._ Heb. seraph, 53
Serafino, _m._ _Span._ _It._ Heb. seraph, 53
Seraphine, _Fr._ Heb. seraph, 53
SERENA, _Dan._ _Eng._ Lat. serene, 164
Serene, _f._ _Fr._ _Ger._ Lat. serene, 164
Serge, _m._ _Fr._ 152
Sergio, _m._ _Lom._ 152
SERGIUS, _m._ Lat. 152
Serlo, _m._ _Norseman_, Teu. armour, 352
Sersa, _m._ _Ill._ Zend. venerable king, 57
Sessylt, _Welsh_, Lat. blind, 144
Seth, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. appointed, 11
Seumuis, _m._ _Erse_, Heb. supplanted, 17
Sevilla, _f._ _Span._ Lat. wise old woman, 178
SEXTUS, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. sixth, 138
SHAPOOR, _m._ _Pers._ Zend. venerable king, 57
_Shawanie-Jassan_, _Red Indian_, fierce wolf, 182
Shawn, _m._ _Ir._ Heb. grace of the Lord, 45
Sheelah, _f._ _Ir._ Lat. blind, 144
Sholto, _m._ _Scot._ Kelt. sower (?), 254
_Siade_, _m._ _Fris._ conquering firmness, 357
_Siard_, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. conquering firmness, 311
_Sib_, _f._ _Ir._ Lat. wise old woman, 178
_Sibbald_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. conquering prince, 359
_Sibbaldo_, _m._ _It._ Teu. conquering prince, 359
_Sibbe_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. conquering commander, 359
Sibbel, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. wise old woman, 178
_Sibbern_, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. conquering bear, 359
_Sibbie_, _f._ _Scot._ Lat. wise old woman, 178
Sibel, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. conquering prince, 359
Sibella, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. wise old woman, 178
_Siber_, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. conquering protection, 359
_Sibert_, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. conquering brightness, 359
_Sibila_, _f._ _It._ Lat. wise old woman, 178
_Sibilla_, _f._ _It._ Lat. wise old woman, 178
_Sibille_, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. wise old woman, 178
_Sibo_, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. conquering messenger, 359
_Sibod_, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. conquering messenger, 359
_Sibold_, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. conquering prince, 359
_Siborg_, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. conquering protection, 359
_Sibrand_, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. conquering sword, 359
Sibyl, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. wise old woman, 178
SIBYLLA, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. wise old woman, 178
Sibylle, _f._ _Ger._ _Fr._ Lat. wise old woman, 178
_Siccard_, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. conquering firmness, 359
_Sicco_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. conquering peace, 357
Sichelgaita, _f._ _It._ Teu. Sicilian goat, 341
_Sidbolt_, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. conquering prince, 357
_Sidde_, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. conquering brightness, 357
_Sidders_, _m._ _Lith._ Lat. beloved, 188
Sidoine, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. of Sidon, 200
SIDONIA, _f._ _m._ _It._ Lat. of Sidon, 200
Sidonie, _f._ _Ger._ _Fr._ Lat. of Sidon, 200
Sidwell, _f._ _Eng._ Kelt. 282
SIDONIUS, _m._ _Lat._ of Sidon, 200
SIEGFRIED, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. conquering peace, 357
_Siegmund_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. conquering protection, 359
_Siem_, _m._ _S. Ger._ Heb. obedient, 19
_Siewars_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. conquering peace, 359
_Siffredo_, _m._ _It._ Teu. conquering peace, 359
_Siffroi_, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. conquering peace, 359
SIGBALD, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. conquering prince, 359
SIGBERT, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. conquering brightness, 359
SIGBOD, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. conquering commander, 359
SIGBIORG, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. conquering protection, 357
SIGBRAND, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. conquering sword, 357
SIGEBALD, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. conquering prince, 357
SIGEBERG, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. conquering brightness, 357
SIGEBURGE, _f._ _Ger._ conquering protection, 357
SIGEFRED, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. conquering peace, 357
Sigefredo, _m._ _Ital._ Teu. conquering peace, 357
Sigfreda, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. conquering peace, 357
Sigefroi, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. conquering peace, 357
SIGEHARD, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. conquering firmness, 357
SIGEHELM, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. conquering helmet, 357
SIGEHERI, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. conquering warrior, 357
SIGELIND, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. conquering snake, 357
SIGEWOLF, _m._ _A.S._ conquering wolf, 357
Sigfrid, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. conquering peace, 357
Sigfrida, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. conquering peace, 358
SIGFUS, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. conquering zeal, 358
Sighar, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. conquering warrior, 359
Sighard, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. conquering firmness, 359
SIGHELM, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. conquering helmet, 359
Sigher, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. conquering warrior, 358
Sigismond, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. conquering protection, 358
Sigismonda, _f._ _Span._ _It._ Teu. conquering protection, 358
Sigismondo, _m._ _It._ Teu. conquering protection, 358
Sigismund, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. conquering protection, 358
Sigismunda, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. conquering protection, 358
Sigismundo, _m._ _Port._ Teu. conquering protection, 358
_Sikko_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. conquering peace, 356
_Sigl_, _m._ _Bav._ Teu. conquering peace, 356
_Siglind_, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. conquering snake, 356
_Sigmar_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. conquering fame, 356
Sigmund, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. conquering protection, 356
_Sigmunda_, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. conquering protection, 359
SIGMUNDR, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. conquering protection, 359
_Sigo_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. conquering, 359
_Sigrad_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. conquering council, 359
SIGRIDUR, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. conquering impulse, 359
_Sigrada_, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. conquering council, 359
_Sigri_, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. conquering impulse, 359
Sigrich, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. conquering rule, 357
Sigrid, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. conquering council, 357
Sigtrud, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. conquering maid, 359
SIGTRYGGE, _m._ _Nor._ conquering security, 359
Sigufrit, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. conquering peace, 359
_Sigulf_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. conquering wolf, 359
Sigurd, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. conquering guard, 359
SIGVALLDR, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. conquering power, 359
_Sigvor_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. conquering prudence, 359
Sigwald, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. conquering power, 359
SIGWARD, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. conquering guard, 359
Silas, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. living in a wood, 179
_Sile_, _f._ _Erse_, Lat. 179
Silvain, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. living in a wood, 179
Silvano, _m._ _It._ Lat. living in a wood, 179
SILVESTER, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. living in a wood, 179
Silvestre, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. living in a wood, 179
Silvia, _f._ _It._ Lat. living in a wood, 179
Silvie, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. living in a wood, 179
Silvio, _m._ _It._ Lat. living in a wood, 179
_Sim_, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. obedient, 19
SIMAITH, _m._ Kelt. peaceful, 47
Simanas, _m._ _Lett._ Heb. obedient, 19
Simao, _m._ _Port._ Heb. obedient, 19
Simej, _m._ _Ill._ Heb. obedient, 19
SIMEON, _m._ _Eng._ _Ger._ _Fr._ Heb. obedient, 7, 19
_Simmas_, _m._ _Lith._ Heb. obedient, 19
_Simo_, _m._ _Ill._ Heb. obedient, 19
Simon, _m._ _Fr._ _Eng._ _Ger._ _Span._ Heb. obedient, 19
Simonas, _m._ _Lett._ Heb. obedient, 19
Simone, _m._ _It._ Heb. obedient, 19
_Simonette_, _f._ _Fr._ Heb. obedient, 19
Simson, _m._ _Fr._ Heb. splendid sun, 39
_Simo_, _m._ _Ill._ Heb. obedient, 19
SINDBALD, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. sparkling prince (?), 379
SINDBERT, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. sparkling bright, 379
SINDOLF, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. sparkling wolf, 379
SINDRAM, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. sparkling raven, 379
_Sinibaldo_, _m._ _It._ Teu. sparkling prince, 379
_Sinovij_, _m._ _Russ._ Arab. father’s ornament, 62
_Sinovija_, _f._ _Russ._ Arab. father’s ornament, 62
Sintram, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. sparkling raven, 379
SIOLTIACH, _m._ _Gael._ Kelt. sower, 254
_Sipp_, _m._ _Bav._ Heb. addition, 23
_Sired_, _f._ _Norman_, Teu. conquering impulse, 359
_Siri_, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. conquering impulse, 359
SIROSLAV, _m._ _Slav._ Slav. far famed, 435
Siseberto, _m._ _Span._ Teu. conquering brightness, 359
Sisebuto, _m._ _Span._ Teu. conquering commander, 359
_Sis_, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. blind, 144
_Sisley_, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. blind, 144
_Sisman_, _m._ _Ill._ Teu. conquering protection, 359
_Sismonde_, _m._ _It._ Teu. conquering protection, 359
Sisto, _m._ _It._ Lat. sixth, 138
_Sitto_, _m._ _Fries._ Teu. conquering brightness, 359
_Siurd_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. conquering guard, 359
_Siulf_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. conquering wolf, 359
Siward, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. conquering guardian, 359
Sixte, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. sixth, 138
SIXTUS, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. sixth, 138
_Sizo_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. conquering brightness, 359
_Sjovald_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. conquering power, 359
_Sjovar_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. conquering prudence, 359
_Sjul_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. conquering guard, 359
_Sjurd_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. conquering guard, 359
_Skak_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. servant.
SKARPHEDINN, _Nor._ Teu. sharp attack, 304
SKEGG, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. beard, 427
_Skender_, _m._ _Slav._ helper of man, 85
_Skerste_, _m._ _Lett._ Gr. Christian, 105
_Skersts_, _m._ _Lett._ Gr. Christian, 105
SKIALDE, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. shield, 352
SKIOLDE, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. shield, 352
SKIOLDBIORN, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. shield bear, 352
SKIOLDULF, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. shield wolf, 352
SKIOLDVAR, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. shield caution, 352
Sklear, _m._ _Bret._ Lat. famous, 185
Skleara, _f._ _Bret._ Lat. famous, 185
SKULDR, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. shall, 306
_Skule_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. shield, 352
_Slavoje_, _m._ _Slav._ Slav. glorious love, 435
SLAVOFJUB, _m._ _Slav._ Slav. glorious love, 435
SLAVOMIL, _m._ _Slav._ Slav. glorious friend, 435
SLAVOMIR, _m._ _Slav._ Slav. glorious peace, 435
SMARAGDA, _f._ _M. Gr._ Gr. emerald, 124
SMARAGDOS, _m._ _M. Ger._ Gr. emerald, 125
_Smil_, _m._ _Slav._ Slave, beloved, 439
SMILJAN, _m._ _Slav._ Slave, everlasting flower, 438
SMILJANA, _f._ _Slav._ Slav. everlasting flower, 438
SMOLJAN, _m._ _Ill._ Slav. long-nosed, 446
SMOLJANA, _f._ _Ill._ Slav. long-nosed, 445
SNÆBIORN, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. snow bear, 348, 339
SNÆFRID, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. snow fair, 348
SNÆLAUG, _f._ _m._ _Nor._ Teu. snow ocean, 348
SNÆULF, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. snow wolf, 348
SNORRE, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. striving, 418
Snorro, _m._ _Lat._ Teu. striving, 418
_Sodomina_, _f._ _Erse_, Kelt. good lady, 258
_Sofia_, _f._ _Hung._ _It._ Gr. wisdom, 107
SOL, _f._ _Span._ _Nor._ Teu. sun.
_Solle_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. armour, 352
Soloma, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. peace, 48
Sölmund, _m._ _Dan._ Teu. healing protection, 352
Solomon, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. peaceful, 48
Solva, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. healing drink, 352
_Solvar_, healthy warrior, 352
SOLVE, _m._ _Dan._ Teu. healthy warrior, 352
SOLVEIG, _f._ _m._ _Nor._ Teu. healing drink, 352
Somerled, _m._ _Scot._ Teu. summer wanderer, 432
Somhle, _m._ _Gael._ Teu. summer wanderer, 432
SOPHIA, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. wisdom, 107
Sophie, _f._ _Fr._ _Ger._ Gr. wisdom, 107
Sophocles, _m._ _Lat._ Gr. wise fame, 107
Sophonisba, _f._ _Eng._ Phœn.
SOPHRON, _m._ _Eng._ Gr. of sound mind.
SOPHRONIA, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. of sound mind.
_Sophy_, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. wisdom, 107
SORCHA, _f._ _Erse_, Kelt. bright, 13
_Sorle_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. armour, 352
_Sosana_, _f._ _Wall._ Heb. lily, 50
Speranza, _f._ _It._ Lat. hope, 196
Sperata, _f._ _It._ Lat. hoped for, 196
_Spira_, _f._ _Ill._ Gr. round basket, 124
Spiridion, _m._ _Ill._ Gr. round basket, 124
Spiridione, _m._ _It._ Gr. round basket, 124
_Spranzis_, _m._ _Lett._ Teu. free, 299
_Sprinzchen_, _f._ _N. Lands_, Teu. free, 299
_Sprizzis_, _m._ _Lett._ Teu. peace ruler, 296
_Spyridōn_, _m._ _M. Gr._ Gr. round basket, 124
_Spyro_, _m._ _M. Gr._ Gr. round basket, 124
_Ssachka_, _m._ _Russ._ Gr. helper of men, 85
_Ssachnika_, _m._ _Russ._ Gr. helper of men, 85
Ssava, _m._ _Russ._ Heb. rest (?), 216
_Ssemar_, _m._ _Russ._ Heb. obedient, 19
_Ssenka_, _m._ _Russ._ Heb. obedient, 19
_Sserezeca_, _Russ._ Lat. 152
Ssergii, _m._ _Russ._ Lat. 152
Ssevastjan, _m._ _Russ._ Gr. awful, 111
Ssevastjana, _f._ _Russ._ Gr. awful, 111
Ssevilla, _f._ _Russ._ Lat. wise old woman, 178
Ssimeon, _m._ _Russ._ Heb. obedient, 19
Ssimon, _m._ _Russ._ Heb. obedient, 19
Ssofija, _f._ _Russ._ Gr. wisdom, 107
_Ssonia_, _f._ _Russ._ Gr. wisdom, 107
_Ssoninska_, _f._ _Russ._ Gr. wisdom, 107
Ssusanna, _f._ _Russ._ Heb. lily, 50
STAALE, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. steel, 349
_Stach_, _m._ _Pol._ Slav. camp glory, 44
_Stacherl_, _m._ _Bav._ Gr. happy harvest, 89
_Staches_, _m._ _Bav._ Gr. happy harvest, 89
_Stachis_, _m._ _Lett._ Slav. camp glory, 440
_Stachus_, _m._ _Bav._ Gr. happy harvest, 89
_Stacy_, _f._ _Ir._ Gr. resurrection, 110
_Stanca_, _f._ _Ill._ Lat. firm, 162
_Stanel_, _m._ _Bav._ Slav. camp glory, 440
_Stanerl_, _m._ _Bav._ Slav. camp glory, 440
_Stanes_, _m._ _Bav._ Slav. camp glory, 440
Stanisav, _m._ _Ill._ Slav. camp glory, 440
_Stanisl_, _m._ _Bav._ Slav. camp glory, 440
Stanislao, _m._ _Port._ Slav. camp glory, 440
Stanislaus, _m._ _Ger._ Slav. camp glory, 440
STANISLAV, _m._ _Pol._ Slav. camp glory, 440
Stanislaos, _m._ _Lett._ Slav. camp glory, 440
_Stanko_, _m._ _Ill._ Slav. camp glory, 440
_Stanze_, _f._ _Ger._ Lat. firm, 161
_Stas_, _m._ _Bav._ Gr. of the resurrection, 110
_Stas_, _m._ _Pol._ Slav. camp glory, 440
_Stasi_, _m._ _Bav._ Gr. of the resurrection, 110
_Stasrl_, _m._ _Bav._ Gr. of the resurrection, 110
STASTNY, _m._ _Bohm._ Slav. happy, 441
Statire, _f._ _Fr._ Zend. 58
Stefan, _m._ _Slov._ _Swiss_, _Pol._ Gr. crown, 96
_Stefanida_, _f._ _Russ._ Gr. crown, 96
Stefanie, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. crown, 96
Stefano, _m._ _It._ _Gr._ crown, 96
Steffano, _m._ _It._ Gr. crown, 96
_Steffel_, _m._ _Bav._ Gr. crown, 96
STEIN, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. stone, 349
STEINARNA, _f._ _m._ _Nor._ Teu. stone eagle, 349
STEINAR, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. stone warrior, 349
STEINBJORN, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. stone bear, 349
_Steindor_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. stone of Thor, 349
STEINFINN, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. stone white, 349
STEINGRIM, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. stone helmet, 349
STEINHAR, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. stone warrior, 349
STEINTHOR, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. stone of Thor, 349
STEINULV, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. stone wolf, 349
STEINVOR, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. stone prudence, 349
Stella, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. star, 57
Sten, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. stone, 349
_Stenka_, _m._ _Russ._ Gr. crown, 96
_Stenzel_, _m._ _Schleswig._ _Slav._ camp glory, 440
Stepan, _m._ _Russ._ _Bohm._ Gr. crown, 96
Stepania, _f._ _Ill._ Gr. crown, 96
Stepanida, _f._ _Russ._ Gr. crown, 97
Stephan, _m._ _Ger._ Gr. crown, 96
Stephana, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. crown, 96
Stephanie, _f._ _Ger._ _Fr._ Gr. crown, 96
Stephanine, _f._ _Ger._ Gr. crown, 96
STEPHANOS, _m._ Gr. crown, 96
Stephen, _m._ _Eng._ Gr. crown, 96
Stepica, _m._ _Ill._ Gr. crown, 96
_Stepka_, _m._ _Russ._ Gr. crown, 96
_Stepko_, _m._ _Ill._ Gr. crown, 96
_Stepo_, _m._ _Ill._ Gr. crown, 96
STERKULV, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. strong wolf, 336
Steven, _m._ _Dutch_, Gr. crown, 96
STIGAND, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. mounting, 434
Stilicho, _m._ _Lat._ Teu. steel, 349
_Stine_, _f._ _Ger._ Gr. Christian, 105
_Stoffel_, _m._ _Bav._ _Swiss_, Gr. Christ bearer, 106
_Stoppel_, _m._ _Bav._ Gr. Christ bearer, 106
_Strachota_, _m._ _Bohm._ Slav. terror.
STRASIMIR, _m._ _Slav._ Slav. terrible peace, 440
STRASISLAV, _m._ _Slav._ Slav. terrible glory, 440
Stratonice, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. army victory, 212
STYGE, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. rising, 434
STYGGE, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. rising, 434
_Styntje_, _f._ _Dutch_, Gr. Christian, 105
Styrk, _f._ _Dan._ Teu. strong, 424
Styrker, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. strong, 424
_Sue_, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. lily, 50
Sueno, _m._ _Lat._ Teu. strong, 424
Suintila, _m._ _Goth._ Teu. strength, 424
_Sukey_, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. lily, 50
_Sulia_, _m._ _Bret._ Lat. downy beard, 150
_Suliana_, _f._ _Bret._ Lat. downy beard, 150
Suleiman, _m._ _Arab._ Heb. peaceful, 47
Sulpice, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. red spotted face, 152
SULPICIUS, _m._ Lat. red spotted face, 152
Sulpoy, _m._ _Ger._ Lat. red spotted face, 152
SUMALIDE, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. summer wanderer, 432
Susan, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. lily, 50
Susana, _f._ _Span._ Heb. lily, 50
Susanna, _f._ _Ger._ Heb. lily, 50
Susannah, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. lily, 50
Susechen, _f._ _Ger._ Heb. lily, 50
_Suse_, _f._ _Lett._ Heb. lily, 50
_Susette_, _f._ _Fr._ Heb. lily, 50
_Susie_, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. lily, 50
_Suska_, _f._ _Slav._ Heb. lily, 50
_Suson_, _f._ _Fr._ Heb. lily, 50
_Suzanne_, _f._ _Fr._ Heb. lily, 50
_Suzette_, _f._ _Fr._ Heb. lily, 50
_Suzan_, _f._ _Fr._ Heb. lily, 50
_Suzsi_, _f._ _Hung._ Heb. lily, 50
SVEIN, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. youth, 424
_Sven_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. youth, 424
Svewke, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. youth, 424
Svenbjorn, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. young bear, 424
SVERKE, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. swarthy, 428
Sverkir, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. swarthy, 428
SVEVLAD, _m._ _Slov._ Slav. all ruler, 442
SVJATOPOLK, _m._ _Russ._ Slav. holy government, 441
SVJATOSLAV, _m._ _Ruaa._ Slav, holy glory, 441
Swain, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. youth, 424
SWANA, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. swan, 346
Swanbrecht, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. swan bright, 346
SWANHILD, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. swan battle maid, 346
SWANHOLD, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. swan firm, 346
SWANLAUG, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. swan water, 346
SAWNHVIT, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. swan white, 346
SWEND, _m._ _Dan._ Teu. strong youth, 424
_Swenike_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. strong, 424
SWETLANA, _f._ _Russ._ Teu. star, 439
Swibert, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. brightness, 424
SWIDBIORG, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. strong protection, 424
SWIDGER, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. strong spear, 424
SWINTFRIED, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. strong peace, 424
SWITHBEORHT, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. strong brightness, 424
SWITHELM, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. strong helmet, 424
SWITHUN, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. strong friend, 424
Sylvanus, _m._ _Lat._ living in a wood, 179
_Sylvester_, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. living in a wood, 179
Sylvia, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. living in a wood, 179
Sylvius, _m._ _Lat._ living in a wood, 179
SYGFRYD, _m._ _Pol._ Teu. conquering peace, 357
_Syver_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. conquering guard, 357
_Syvert_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. conquering guard, 357
Szymon, _m._ _Pol._ Heb. obedient, 18
T
_Tabby_, _f._ _Eng._ Aram. gazelle, 50
_Tabeia_, _f._ _Ger._ Aram. gazelle, 50
_Tabbern_, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. people’s sword, 375
TABITHA, _f._ _Eng._ Aram. gazelle, 50
Taddeo, _m._ _Ill._ Aram. praise, 20
_Tade_, _m._ _Ill._ Aram. praise, 20
_Tade_, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. people’s ruler, 375
Tadeiv, _m._ _Nor._ Thor’s relic, 302
Tadeo, _m._ _Span._ Aram. praise, 20
TADGH, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. poet, 257
_Tadia_, _m._ _Ill._ Aram. praise, 20
_Taedlef_, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. people’s relic, 374
_Taffy_, _m._ _Welsh_, Heb. beloved, 46
_Tafline_, _f._ _Welsh_, Heb. beloved, 46
Taganwart, _m._ _O. Ger._ Teu. day guard, 334
Tago, _m._ _Span._ Teu. day, 334
Tajo, _m._ _Span._ Teu. day, 344
TAKAPERAHT, _m._ _O. Ger._ Teu. day bright, 334
_Talitha Cumi_, _f._ _Eng._ Aram. damsel arise.
TALLWCH, _Cym._ Kelt. torrent, 275
_Tam_, _m._ _Scot._ Aram. twin, 22
Tamar, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. palm, 26
_Tamas_, _m._ _Hung._ Aram. twin, 22
_Tamassa_, _m._ _Lat._ Aram. twin, 22
Tamasine, _f._ _Eng._ Aram. twin, 22
_Tamkus_, _m._ _Lett._ Aram. twin, 22
_Tamlane_, _m._ _Scot._ Aram. twin, 22
_Tammy_, _f._ _Eng._ Aram. twin, 22
_Tamoszus_, _m._ _Lett._ Aram. twin, 22
_Tamzin_, _f._ _Eng._ Aram. twin, 22
Tancar, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. grateful warrior, 371
Tancard, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. grateful guard, 371
Tancred, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. grateful speech, 371
Tancredi, _m._ _It._ Teu. grateful speech, 371
_Taniel_, _m._ _Esth._ Heb. judgment of God, 50
Tankred, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. thankful speech, 371
_Tanne_, _m._ _Lett._ Lat. inestimable, 142
Tanneguy, _m._ _Bret._ Kelt. 252
_Tanni_, _m._ _Esth._ Heb. judgment of God, 50
TATE, _f._ _A.S.S._ cheerful, 429
_Tavid_, _m._ _Esth._ Heb. beloved, 46
Teague, _m._ _Ir._ Kelt. poet, 257
Tearlach, _m._ _Gael._ Teu. man, 386
Tebaldo, _m._ _It._ Teu. people’s valour, 374
_Tebes_, _m._ _Swiss_, Heb. goodness of the Lord, 49
Tecla, _f._ _It._ Ger. divine fame, 100
_Ted_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. rich guard.
_Tedor_, _m._ _Hamburgh_, Gr. divine gift, 101
_Tedric_, _m._ _Norman_, Teu. people’s rule, 374
Tegan Euvron, _m._ _Welsh_, Kelt. golden beauty, 234
TEITR, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. cheerful, 429
Telemachus, _m._ _Lat._ Gr. distant battle, 75
Telemaque, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. distant battle, 75
Temperance, _f._ _Eng._ Lat.
_Tennis_, _m._ _Lett._ Gr. of Dionysos, 70
_Tennis_, _m._ _Lett._ Lat. inestimable, 142
_Tents_, _m._ _Lett._ Gr. of Dionysos, 70
_Teobald_, _m._ _Pol._ Teu. people’s valour, 374
Teobaldo, _m._ _It._ Teu. people’s valour, 374
_Teodor_, _m._ _Pol._ _Slov._ Gr. divine gift, 101
Teodora, _f._ _It._ Gr. divine gift, 101
Teodorico, _m._ _It._ Teu. people’s ruler, 373
Teodoro, _f._ _It._ Gr. divine gift, 101
Teodosia, _f._ _It._ _Russ._ Gr. divine gift, 101.
Teodosio, _m._ _It._ Gr. divine gift, 101
Teodorico, _m._ _It._ Teu. people’s rule, 373
Teofil, _m._ _Slav._ Gr. divinely loved, 100
Teofila, _f._ _It._ Gr. divinely loved, 100
Teofilo, _m._ _It._ Gr. divinely loved, 100
Terence, _m._ _Ir._ Lat. tender, 152
Terentia, _f._ Lat. tender, 152
Terentilla, _f._ Lat. tender, 152
TERENTIUS, _m._ Lat. tender, 152
Terenz, _m._ _Ger._ Lat. tender, 152
Teresa, _f._ _It._ _Span._ Gr. carrying ears of corn, 124
_Teresina_, _f._ _Pol._ Gr. carrying ears of corn, 124
_Teresita_, _f._ _It._ _Span._ Gr. carrying ears of corn, 124
Terezia, _f._ _Ill._ Gr. carrying ears of corn, 124
_Terezia_, _f._ _Hung._ Gr. carrying ears of corn, 124
Terezie, _f._ _Bohm._ Gr. carrying ears of corn, 124
Terezyga, _f._ _Pol._ Gr. carrying ears of corn, 124
_Terry_, _m._ _Eng._ people’s rule, 375
_Terza_, _f._ _Ill._ Gr. carrying ears of corn, 124
TERTIA, _m._ Lat. third, 137
TERTIUS, _m._ Lat. third, 137
TERTULLA, third, 137
TERTULLIANUS, 137
_Tetje_, _m._ _Hamb._ Gr. divine gift, 101
_Teunis_, _m._ _Dutch_, Lat. inestimable, 142
_Teuntje_, _f._ _Dutch_, Lat. inestimable, 142
_Tewa_, _m._ _Esth._ Gr. crown, 96
Tewdur, _m._ _Welsh_, Gr. divine gift, 101
Tewdews, _f._ _Welsh_, divinely given, 101
_Tewes_, _m._ _Hamburgh_, Heb. goodness of the Lord, 49
_Thaddä_, _m._ _Ger._ Aram. praise, 20
THADDÆUS, _m._ _Eng._ Aram. praise, 20, 257
Thaddej, _m._ _Russ._ Aram. praise, 20
Thaddea, _m._ _Port._ Aram. praise, 20
_Thady_, _m._ _Ir._ Aram. praise, 20
_Thaiter_, _Erse_, Teu. powerful warrior, 425
Thakkraad, _Nor._ Teu. thankful speech, 371
Thalia, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. bloom, 72
Thangbrand, _Nor._ Teu. thankful sword, 371
_Thean_, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. people’s rule, 375
Thecla, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. divine fame, 100
Thecle, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. divine fame, 100
_Thedo_, _m._ _West Fris._ Gr. divine gift, 100
THEKLA, _f._ _Ger._ Gr. divine fame, 100
Theobald, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. people’s prince, 374
Theobalda, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. people’s prince, 374
Theobaldo, _m._ _Port._ Teu. people’s valour, 374
Theobul, _m._ _Ger._ Gr. divine council, 100
Theobulaire, _f._ _Ger._ Gr. divine council, 100
THEOBOULUS, _m._ _Lat._ Gr. divine council, 100
THEODEBALD, _A.S.S._ 373
THEODOMAIR, 373
_Theodemaro_, 374
_Theodisclo_, _Span._ Teu. people’s pledge, 374
_Theodolf_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. people’s wolf, 374
THEODHARD, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. people’s firmness, 375
Theodofredo, _m._ _Span._ Teu. people’s peace, 375
Theodor, _m._ _Ger._ Gr. divine gift, 101
THEODOKAR, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. people’s spear, 375
THEODORA, _f._ _Eng._ _Ger._ Gr. divine gift, 101
Theodorada, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. people’s council, 373
Theodore, _m._ _Eng._ _Fr._ Gr. divine gift, 101
Theodoric, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. people’s rule, 373
THEODORICO, _m._ _Port._ Teu. people’s rule, 373
Theodoro, _m._ _Port._ Gr. divine gift, 101
THEODOROS, _m._ _Gr._ divine gift, 101
Theodorus, _m._ _Lat._ Gr. divine gift, 103
Theodose, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. divine gift, 103
Theodosia, _f._ _Ger._ _Eng._ Gr. divine gift, 103
Theodosio, _m._ _Port._ Gr. divine gift, 103
Theodosius, _m._ _Lat._ Gr. divinely given, 103
Theodotos, _m._ _Gr._ Gr. divinely given, 103
_Theodric_, _Eng._ Teu. people’s ruler, 373
Theodrekr, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. people’s rule, 373
Theodule, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. God’s servant, 103
Theone, _f._ _Ger._ Gr. godly, 103
Theophanes, _m._ _Lat._ Gr. divine manifestation, 212
THEOPHANIA, _f._ _Ger._ _Lat._ Gr. divine manifestation, 212
Theophanie, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. divine manifestation, 212
Theophano, _f._ _N. Ger._ Gr. divine manifestation, 212
Theophil, _m._ _Ger._ Gr. divinely loved, 100
Theophila, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. divinely loved, 100
Theophile, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. divinely loved, 100
Theophilo, _m._ _Port._ Gr. God loved, 100
THEOPHILOS, _m._ _Gr._ Gr. divinely loved, 100
Theophilus, _m._ _Eng._ Gr. God beloved, 100
_Theotari_, _m._ _Finn._ Gr. divine gift, 103
THERESA, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. carrying ears of corn, 124
Therèse, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. carrying ears of corn, 124
Theresia, _f._ _Ger._ Gr. harvester, 124
Theresie, _f._ _Ger._ Gr. harvester, 124
Theudebaldo, _m._ _Span._ Teu. people’s prince, 375
THEUDEBOLD, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. people’s prince, 374
Theudebert, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. people’s brightness, 374
Theudebrand, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. people’s sword, 375
Theudefred, _m._ _Goth._ Teu. people’s peace, 375
Theudegisle, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. people’s pledge, 375
Theudis, _m._ _Span._ Teu. the people, 375
THEUDHILDA, _f._ _Frank._ Teu. people’s heroine, 375
THEUDOLIND, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. people’s snake, 375
THEUDOMIR, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. people’s fame, 375
THEUDOWIN, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. people’s friend, 375
_Theunis_, _m._ _Dutch_, Lat. inestimable, 142
_Thiadmar_, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. people’s fame, 375
_Thiadelef_, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. people’s love, 375
_Thias_, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. gift of God, 15
_Thieu_, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. people’s ruler, 374
_Thebald_, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. people’s prince, 374
Thiebault, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. people’s prince, 374
Thibaud, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. people’s prince, 374
Thibault, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. people’s prince, 374
_Thierry_, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. people’s ruler, 374
_Thiesli_, _m._ _Swiss_, Heb. gift of God, 15, 103
_Thiess_, _m._ _L. Ger._ Heb. gift of God, 15
THIEDOLF, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. people’s wolf, 375
THIOSTAN, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. harsh warrior, 419
THIOSTOLF, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. harsh wolf, 419
THIOSTWALD, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. harsh power, 419
_Thiou_, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. people’s wolf, 375
Thirza, _f._ _Ger._ Heb. pleasantness, 38
THJODGEIR, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. people’s spear, 375
THJODHILDR, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. people’s heroine, 375
THJODHJALM, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. people’s helmet, 375
THJODLEIF, _m._ _Dan._ people’s relic, 375
THJODULV, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. people’s wolf, 375
THJODVALD, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. peoples power, 375
THJODVAR, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. people’s prudence, 375
_Thoddeiv_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. Thor’s relic, 302, 332
_Tholliev_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. Thor’s relic, 302, 332
Thoma, _m._ _Wall._ Aram. twin, 21
Thomas, _m._ _Fr._ _Eng._ Aram. twin, 21
Thomasia, _f._ _Ger._ Aram. twin, 22
Thomasin, _f._ _Ger._ Aram. twin, 22
Thomasine, _f._ _Eng._ Aram. twin, 22
THOR, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. the thunder god, 301
THORA, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. thunder, 302
Thorald, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. Thor’s power, 302
THORALFR, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. Thor’s elf, 302
THORARIN, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. Thor’s eagle, 302
THORARNA, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. Thor’s eagle, 302
THORBERA, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. Thor’s she bear, 302
Thorberg, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. Thor’s protection, 302
Thorbert, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. Thor’s splendour, 302
THORBJORG, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. Thor’s protection, 302
THORBJORN, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. Thor’s bear, 302
THORBRAND, _m._ _Ice._ Teu. Thor’s sword, 302
Thord, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. thunder, 302
Thorer, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. Thor’s warrior, 302
THORDIS, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. Thor’s household spirit, 302, 308
THORFINN, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. Thor’s white man, 302
THORFINNA, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. Thor’s white woman, 302
THORGARD, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. Thor’s guard, 302
THORGAUTR, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. Thor the good, 302
THORGERDA, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. Thor’s maiden, 302
THORGESTUR, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. Thor’s guest, 302
THORGILS, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. Thor’s pledge, 302
Thorgisla, _f._ _Dan._ Teu. Thor’s pledge, 302
THORGRIM, _m._ _Ice._ Teu. Thor the helmeted, 302
THORGUNNA, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. Thor’s war, 302
THORHALL, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. Thor’s stone, 302
THORHALLA, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. Thor’s stone, 302
THORHILDA, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. Thor’s battle maid, 302
Thorhilde, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. Thor’s battle maid, 302
Thorismondo, _m._ _Span._ Teu. Thor’s protection, 302
Thorismund, _m._ _Goth._ Teu. Thor’s protection, 302
THORKATLA, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. Thor’s cauldron, 302
THORKETYL, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. Thor’s cauldron, 302
_Thorkjell_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. Thor’s cauldron, 302
THORLAUG, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. Thor’s liquor, 302
THORLEIF, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. Thor’s relic, 302
THORLEIK, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. Thor’s sport, 302
THORMOD, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. Thor’s mood, 302
Thorold, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. Thor’s power, 302
THOROLF, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. Thor’s wolf, 302
_Thorothea_, _f._ _M. Gr._ Gr. gift of God, 102
THORSTEIN, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. Thor’s jewel, 302
THORULVA, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. Thor’s wolf woman, 302
_Thorunna_, _f._ _Ice._ Teu. Thor’s free woman, 302
THORVALLDR, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. Thor’s power, 302
THORVID, _m._ _Nor._ Thor’s consecration, 302
THORWALD, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. Thor’s power, 303
THRALL, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. serf, 331
_Thrine_, _f._ _Ger._ Gr. pure, 123
THRUDR, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. battle maid of constancy, 319
Thumas, _m._ _O. Fr._ Aram. twin, 21
_Thursday_, _m._ _Eng._ 445
Thurstan, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. Thor’s jewel, 302
_Thyrgils_, _m._ _Swed._ Teu. Thor’s pledge, 302
Thyra, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. belonging to Tyr, 306
Thyrza, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. pleasantness, 38
_Tiabbern_, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. people’s sword, 375
_Tiaddo_, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. people’s ruler, 374
_Tiadelef_, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. people’s ruler, 374
Tiaderik, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. people’s ruler, 374
_Tiado_, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. people’s ruler, 374
_Tiago_, _m._ _Span._ Heb. supplanter, 17
_Tiallef_, _m._ _Fris._ people’s ruler, 374
_Tiard_, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. people’s prince, 374
_Tiarik_, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. people’s ruler, 375
_Tiark_, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. people’s ruler, 374
_Tiart_, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. people’s prince, 374
_Tib_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. people’s prince, 374
Tibal, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. people’s prince, 374
Tiballa, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. people’s prince, 374
Tibaut, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. people’s prince, 374
_Tibbie_, _f._ _Scot._ Heb. God’s oath, 35
_Tibble_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. people’s prince, 374
Tibelda, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. people’s prince, 374
Tibotta, _f._ _Eng._ people’s prince, 374
_Tibout_, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. people’s prince, 374
_Tide_, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. people’s ruler, 374
_Tidmer_, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. people’s fame, 374
_Tido_, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. people’s ruler, 374
_Tiebold_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. people’s prince, 374
_Tiedmer_, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. people’s fame, 375
_Tienette_, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. crown, 97
_Tiennon_, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. crown, 96
_Tiennot_, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. crown, 96
Tiernan, _m._ _Ir._ Kelt, kingly, 258
_Tietje_, _m._ _Neth._ Teu. people’s rule, 375
Tiffany, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. divine manifestation, 212
_Tiga_, _f._ _Lett._ Gr. God’s gift, 101
TIGHEARNACH, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. kingly, 257
_Tigo_, _m._ _Lett._ Gr. God’s gift, 102
TIHOMIL, _m._ _Slav._ Slav. silent love, 445
TIHOMIR, _m._ _Slav._ Slav. silent peace, 445
TIHOSLAV, _m._ _Slav._ Slave, silent glory, 445
_Tike_, _f._ _Lett._ Gr. God’s gift, 101
TIKLA, _f._ _Pol._ Slav. goddess of good luck.
_Til_, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. mighty battle maid, 422
_Tilda_, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. mighty battle maid, 422
_Tile_, _m._ _Neth._ Teu. people’s rule, 373
_Tille_, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. mighty battle maid, 422
_Tilo_, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. people’s rule, 375
_Tim_, _m._ _Ir._ Gr. fear God, 104
Timofei, _m._ _Russ._ Gr. fear God, 104
_Timoscha_, _m._ _Russ._ Gr. fear God, 104
Timoteo, _m._ _It._ Gr. fear God, 104
Timothea, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. fear God, 104
Timothée, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. fear God, 104
TIMOTHEOS, _m._ Gr. fear God, 104
Timotheus, _m._ Ger. Lat. fear God, 104
Timothy, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. fear God, 104
Timotij, _m._ _Pol._ Gr. fear God, 104
Timotij, _m._ _Slav._ Gr. fear God, 104
_Tina_, _f._ _It._ Teu. man, 359
_Tine_, _f._ _Ger._ Gr. Christian, 105
_Tio_, _f._ _Esth._ Gr. gift of God, 101
Tirzah, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. pleasantness, 38
Tiphaïne, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. divine manifestation, 212
Tit, _m._ _Esth._ Lat. safe (?), 136
TITA, _m._ _It._ Lat. safe, 136
Tite, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. safe, 136
TITIANUS, _m._ Lat. safe, 136
Tito, _f._ _It._ Lat. safe (?), 136
TITURIUS, _m._ Lat. safe, 136
TITUS, _m._ Lat. safe, 136
_Tivador_, _m._ _Hung._ Gr. divine gift, 101
_Tiz_, _Lett._ Teu. people’s ruler, 375
_Tiziano_, _m._ _It._ Lat. safe, 136
_Tjerri_, _m._ _Russ._ Teu. people’s ruler, 375
TJOD, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. the people, 375
TJODGJER, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. people’s spear, 375
TJODREKR, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. people’s ruler, 375
TJODULV, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. people’s wolf, 375
TJODWALD, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. people’s power, 375
TJOKLE, _f._ _Russ._ Gr. divine fame, 103
_Tobeis_, _m._ _Swiss_, Heb. goodness of the Lord, 49
_Tobej_, _m._ _Russ._ Heb. goodness of the Lord, 49
_Tobia_, _m._ _It._ _Ger._ Heb. goodness of the Lord, 49
Tobias, _m._ _Hung._ _Eng._ _Span._ Heb. goodness of the Lord, 49
_Tobiasz_, _m._ _Pol._ Heb. goodness of the Lord, 49
_Tobies_, _m._ _Swiss_, Heb. goodness of the Lord, 49
_Tobija_, _m._ _Russ._ _Slov._ Heb. goodness of the Lord, 49
_Toby_, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. goodness of the Lord, 49
Tobysas, _m._ _Lett._ Heb. goodness of the Lord, 49
_Todo_, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. people’s ruler, 375
Todor, _m._ _Ill._ _Slov._ Gr. divine gift, 101
Todorik, _m._ _Slov._ Teu. people’s ruler, 375
_Toff_, _m._ _Neth._ Gr. Christ bearer, 106
_Toffel_, _m._ _Neth._ Gr. Christ bearer, 106
_Toger_, _Nor._ Teu. people’s spear, 375
_Toinette_, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. inestimable, 142
_Toinon_, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. inestimable, 142
TOIRDELVACH, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. tall as a tower, 259
TOKE, _m._ _Dan._ raving, 419
_Tolla_, _f._ _Rom._ Lat. victor, 197
_Tollo_, _m._ _Rom._ Lat. victor, 197
_Tolomieu_, _m._ _Fr._ Heb. son of furrows, 25
_Tolv_, _m._ _Dan._ Teu. Thor’s wolf, 302
_Tom_, _m._ _Eng._ Aram. twin, 21
_Toma_, _m._ _Ill._ Aram. twin, 21
TOMALHAID, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. 21
Tomas, _m._ _Span._ _Ill._ Aram. twin, 21
Tomasa, _f._ _Span._ Aram. twin, 21
Tomasz, _m._ _Pol._ Aram. twin, 21
Tome, _m._ _Span._ Aram. twin, 21
Tommasso, _m._ _It._ Aram. twin, 21
_Tonek_, _m._ _Slov._ Lat. inestimable, 142
_Tone_, _m._ _Slov._ Lat. inestimable, 142
_Tonek_, _m._ _Slov._ Lat. inestimable, 142
_Toni_, _m._ _Bav._ Lat. inestimable, 142
_Tonietto_, _m._ _It._ Lat. inestimable, 142
_Tonio_, _m._ _It._ Lat. inestimable, 142
_Tonisech_, _m._ _Lus._ Lat. inestimable, 142
_Tonjes_, _m._ _Fris._ Lat. inestimable, 142
_Tonk_, _m._ _Lus._ Lat. inestimable, 142
_Tonneli_, _m._ _Swiss_, Lat. inestimable, 142
_Tonnies_, _m._ _Fris._ Lat. inestimable, 142
_Tonnio_, _m._ _Esth._ Lat. inestimable, 142
_Tonnis_, _m._ _Esth._ Lat. inestimable, 142
_Tool_, _m._ _Dutch_, Lat. inestimable, 142
Toole, _Ir._ Kelt, lordly, 258
_Toon_, _m._ _Dutch_, Lat. inestimable, 142
_Toontje_, _m._ _Dutch_, Lat. inestimable, 142
_Torchel_, _m._ _Norman_, Teu. Thor’s cauldron, 301
_Toribio_, _m._ _Span._ Teu. Thor’s bear (?), 302
_Torkel_, _m._ _Dan._ Teu. Thor’s cauldron, 302
_Torketyl_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. Thor’s cauldron, 302
_Torli_, _f._ _Swiss_, Gr. gift of God, 101
Tormaid, _m._ _Gael._ Teu. Niord’s man, 306
Torquato, _m._ _It._ Lat. wearing a neck chain, 164
TORQUATUS, _m._ Lat. wearing a neck chain, 164
_Torquil_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. Thor’s pledge or cauldron, 164, 302
_Toso_, _m._ _Ill._ Gr. divine gift, 302
_Tostain_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. Thor’s stone, 302
_Tostig_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. harsh day, 419
_Tostein_, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. Thor’s stone, 302
Totila, _m._ _Lat._ Teu. battle leader, 302
_Tott_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. people, 374
_Tots_, _m._ _Lett._ Gr. fear God, 104
Toussaint, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. all saints, 219
_Tovi_, _m._ _Swiss_, Heb. beloved, 47
_Toveli_, _m._ _Swiss_, Heb. beloved, 47
_Tracy_, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. carrying ears of corn, 124
TRAHERNE, _m._ _Welsh_, Lat. 164
Trajano, _m._ _It._ Lat. 164
TRAJANUS, _Lat._ 164
_Traudl_, _f._ _Bav._ Teu. spear maid, 368
_Traugott_, _m._ _Ger._ trust God, 468
_Trenel_, _m._ _Bav._ Gr. pure, 123
_Treschen_, _f._ _Hamb._ Gr. harvester, 124
_Treuhold_, _m._ _Ger._ faithful, 456
_Tri_, _f._ _Swiss_, Gr. pure, 123
_Trili_, _f._ _Swiss_, Gr. pure, 123
_Trine_, _f._ _Swiss_, Gr. pure, 123
_Trineli_, _f._ _Swiss_, Gr. pure, 123
_Trinette_, _f._ _French_, Gr. pure, 123
_Trino_, _f._ _Esth._ Gr. pure, 123
Tristan, _m._ _Fr._ Kelt. herald, 274
Tristano, _m._ _It._ Kelt. herald, 274
Tristram, _m._ _Eng._ Kelt. herald, 275
_Trix_, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. blesser, 184
_Trod_, _f._ _Eng._ Nor. constant battle maid, 319
Trofeem, _m._ _Russ._ Gr. nourishing, 94
Trophimus, _m._ _Lat._ Gr. nourishing, 94
Troth, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. constant battle maid, 319
_Trudchen_, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. spear maid, 368
Trude, _f._ _Ger._ _Lett._ Teu. spear maid, 368
_Trudel_, _f._ _N. Lands._ Teu. spear maid, 368
_Trudje_, _f._ _Neth._ Teu. spear maid, 368
_Truta_, _f._ _Esth._ Teu. spear maid, 368
_Truto_, _f._ _Esth._ Teu. spear maid, 368
TRWST, _m._ _Cym._ Kelt. proclaimer, 275
_Tryg_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. true, 319
TRYGGVE, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. true, 421
_Tryn_, _f._ _Dutch_, Gr. pure, 123
TRYPHENA, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. dainty, 94
TRYPHON, _m._ Gr. dainty, 94
TRYPHOSA, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. dainty, 94
TRYSTAM, _m._ _Eng._ Kelt. herald, 275
_Tsassen_, _f._ _Fris._ Gr. Christian, 105
TUATHAL, _m._ _Erse_, Kelt. lordly, 258
TUALTHFLAITH, _f._ _Erse_, Kelt. noble lady, 258
Tudor, _m._ _Welsh_, Gr. divine gift, 101
TUGENDREICH, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. virtue rich.
Tullia, _f._ _It._ Lat. spout of blood (?), 130
TULLIUS, _m._ Lat. spout of blood (?), 130
TULLUS, _m._ Lat. spout of blood (?), 130
_Tunstal_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. Thor’s wolf, 302
_Tunstan_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. Thor’s stone, 302
Tuomas, _m._ _Finn._ Aram. twin, 21
Turcetyl, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. Thor’s kettle, 302
Turgar, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. Thor’s spear, 302
_Turketul_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. Thor’s kettle, 302
Turlozgh, _m._ _Ir._ Kelt. tower like, 259
TVERDIMIR, _m._ _Slav._ firm peace, 442
TVERDISLAV, _m._ _Slav._ firm glory, 442
_Tverdko_, _m._ _Slav._ firm, 442
_Twador_, _m._ _Hung._ Gr. divine gift, 101
Tybal, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. people’s prince, 374
Tyballa, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. people’s prince, 374
Tybalt, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. people’s prince, 374
Tycho, _m._ _Lat._ Teu. raging, 419
_Tyeddemar_, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. people’s fame, 374
TYKE, _m._ _Dan._ Teu. raging, 419
_Tyge_, _m._ _Dan._ Teu. raging, 419
Tymolensz, _m._ _Slav._ Gr. fear God, 104
_Tyno_, _m._ _Lus._ Lat. healthy, 153
TYRE, _m._ _Dan._ Teu. divine, 306
_Tziasso_, _m._ _Fris._ Gr. Christian, 105
U
UADELBRECHT, _m._ _O. Ger._ Teu. nobly bright, 409
UADALRICH, _m._ _O. Ger._ Teu. noble ruler, 410
UAILSI, _f._ _Erse_, Kelt. proud, 224
Ubald, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. mind prince, 354
Ubalde, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. mind prince, 354
Ubaldo, _m._ _It._ Teu. mind prince, 354
Uberto, _m._ _Span._ _It._ Teu. mind bright, 354
Uc, _m._ _Prov._ Teu. mind, 353
Uchtred, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. mind council, 353
_Ucko_, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. noble rule, 412
_Uda_, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. rich, 378
Udalland, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. noble country, 412
Udalrich, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. noble ruler, 409
Udalrike, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. noble ruler, 409
Udalrique, _f._ _Fr._ Teu. noble ruler, 409
Udolfo, _m._ _Ital._ Teu. noble wolf, 409
_Udve_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. rich war, 378
_Ueli_, _m._ _Swiss_, Teu. noble ruler, 412
Uffo, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. wild boar, 337
Uggieri, _m._ _It._ Teu. holy, 402
Ugo, _m._ _It._ Teu. mind, 353
_Ugolino_, _m._ _It._ Teu. mind, 353
Ugon, _m._ _Ill._ Teu. mind, 353
Ugone, _m._ _It._ Teu. mind, 353
_Ugotto_, _m._ _It._ Teu. mind, 353
_Uguccione_, _m._ _Ital._ Teu. mind, 353
Ugues, _m._ _O. Fr._ Teu. mind, 353
Uisdean, _m._ _Gael._ Teu. mind, 353
Uladislaus, _m._ _Lat._ Slav. ruling glory, 442
_Uland_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. noble country, 412
_Ulbrecht_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. noble splendour, 410
_Uldriks_, _m._ _Lett._ Teu. noble ruler, 409
_Ulerk_, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. noble ruler, 409
ULF, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. wolf, 336
_Ulfac_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. tall wolf, 336
ULFAR, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. wolf warrior, 336
_Ulfener_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. wolf, 336
_Ulferd_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. noble peace, 410
Ulfilas, _m._ _Lat._ Teu. wolf, 336
_Ulfried_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. noble peace, 410
Ulfric, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. wolf ruler, 336
ULFHEDINN, _m._ _Ice._ Teu. wolf fury, 336
ULFHERDUR, _m._ _Ice._ Teu. wolf guard, 336
Ulick, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. mind reward, 75
Uliseo, _m._ _It._ Gr. hater, 75
Ulisse, _m._ _Fr._ Gr. hater, 75
Ulfliotr, _m._ _Ice._ wolf warrior, 336
_Ulk_, _f._ _m._ _Fris._ Teu. noble rule, 410
_Ull_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. will, 314
ULLA, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. will, 314
ULLR, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. 314
Ulphilas, _m._ _Lat._ Teu. wolf, 336
Ullric, _m._ _Bohm._ _Fr._ Teu. noble ruler, 409
Ulrica, _f._ _Eng._ _Rom._ Teu. noble ruler, 409
Ulrick, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. noble ruler, 409
Ulrico, _m._ _Ital._ Teu. noble ruler, 409
Ulrih, _m._ _Slov._ Teu. noble ruler, 409
Ulrik, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. noble ruler, 409
Ulrika, _f._ _Russ._ Teu. noble rule, 409
Ulrike, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. noble rule, 409
Ulrique, _f._ _Fr._ Teu. noble rule, 409
Ulryk, _m._ _Pol._ Teu. noble rule, 409
Ulryka, _f._ _Pol._ Teu. noble rule, 409
Ulv, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. wolf, 336
Ulva, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. wolf, 336
ULVHILDUR, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. wolf battle maid, 336
Ulysses, _m._ _Lat._ Gr. hater, 75
UNA, _f._ _Erse_, Kelt. famine, 254
UNCHI, _f._ _Erse_, Kelt. contentious, 224
Undine, _f._ _Ger._ Lat. of the waves.
UNNA, _f._ _Ice._ Teu. woman, 307
_Uoli_, _f._ _Swiss_, Teu. noble ruler, 411
UOTE, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. rich, 378
Uppo, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. wild boar, 337
UPRAVDA, _m._ _Slav._ uprightness, 444
Urania, _f._ _Eng._ Gr. heavenly, 72
Uranie, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. heavenly, 72
Uranius, _m._ Lat. Gr. heavenly, 72
Urbain, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. of the town, 202
Urban, _m._ _Ger._ _Eng._ Lat. of the town, 202
Urbana, _f._ _Ger._ Lat. of the town, 202
Urbano, _m._ _It._ Lat. of the town, 202
URBANUS, _m._ Lat. of the town, 202
Urgel, _m._ _Span._ Teu. holy, 403
Urraca, _f._ _Span._ Teu. council of war, 394
Urien, _m._ _Welsh_, Gr. heavenly, 72
_Uric_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. noble ruler, 409
Ursa, _f._ _Slov._ Lat. bear, 199
_Urschel_, _f._ _Ger._ Lat. bear, 199
Urschla, _f._ _Swiss_, Lat. bear, 199
Ursel, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. bear, 199
Ursello, _m._ _Rom._ Lat. bear, 199
Ursilo, _m._ _It._ Lat. bear, 199
Ursin, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. bear, 199
Ursino, _m._ _It._ Lat. bear, 199
_Ursley_, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. bear, 199
Ursola, _f._ _Span._ Lat. bear, 199
Urssula, _f._ _Russ._ Lat. bear, 199
Ursula, _f._ _Ger._ _Eng._ Lat. bear, 199
Ursule, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. bear, 199
URSUS, _m._ Lat. bear, 199
_Ursyn_, _m._ _Pol._ bear, 199
Urszula, _f._ _Pol._ Lat. bear, 199
_Urte_, _f._ _Lith._ Gr. gift of God, 102
Urvan, _m._ _Russ._ Lat. of the town, 202
Uta, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. rich, 378
UTHYR, _m._ _Welsh_, Kelt. terrible, 267
_Utz_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. noble ruler, 409
Uzziah, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. might of the Lord, 9
V
_Vaccslav_, _m._ _Bohm._ Slav. crown glory, 441
_Vaclav_, _m._ _Bohm._ _Pol._ Slav. crown glory, 441
_Vacslav_, _m._ _Bohm._ Slav. crown glory, 441
_Val_, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. healthy, 153
VALBJORG, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. slaughter protection, 316
Valborg, _f._ _Swed._ Teu. slaughter protection, 316
Valburg, _f._ _Swed._ Teu. slaughter protection, 317
VALD, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. power, 424
Valdemar, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. powerful fame, 315
VALDIS, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. spirit of slaughter, 317
_Valdus_, _m._ _Lat._ Teu. power, 215
_Valericus_, _m._ _Lat._ Teu. slaughter spear, 316
_Valek_, _m._ _Bohm._ Lat. healthy, 153
Valente, _m._ _It._ Lat. healthy, 153
Valentim, _m._ _Port._ Lat. healthy, 153
Valentin, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. healthy, 153
Valentina, _f._ _It._ Lat. healthy, 153
Valentine, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. healthy, 153
Valentine, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. healthy, 153
Valentino, _m._ _It._ Lat. healthy, 153
Valentinus, _m._ _Lat._ healthy, 153
Valentyn, _m._ _Pol._ Lat. healthy, 153
Valer, _m._ _Ger._ Lat. healthy, 152
Valasquita, _f._ _Span._ Teu. slaughter, 317
Valère, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. healthy, 152
Valeria, _f._ _It._ _Ger._ Lat. healthy, 152
VALERIANUS, _m._ Lat. healthy, 152
Valerie, _f._ _Fr._ _Ger._ Lat. healthy, 152
Valerien, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. healthy, 152
Valerij, _m._ _Russ._ Lat. healthy, 152
Valerio, _m._ _It._ Lat. healthy, 152
VALERIUS, _m._ Lat. healthy, 152
Valery, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. slaughter ruler, 317
_Valeska_, _f._ _Slav._ Slav. ruling glory, 441
_Valgard_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. foreign spear, 316
Valgjer, _m._ _Ice._ Teu. foreign spear, 316
Valjgerda, _m._ _Ice._ Teu. foreign guard, 316
Valheri, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. slaughter host, 316
_Vallia_, _m._ _Span._ Teu. slaughter, 316
_Valmont_, _f._ _Fr._ Teu. slaughter protection, 316
_Valpurgis_, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. slaughter protection, or powerful
protection, 317
Valtheof, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. foreign thief, 316
VALTRUD, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. slaughter maid, 317
_Vanjuscha_, _Dutch_, grace of God, 45
_Vanka_, _m._ _Russ._ Heb. grace of God, 45
_Vanni_, _m._ _It._ Heb. grace of God, 45
_Vanora_, _f._ _Scot._ Kelt. white wave, 270
_Vara_, _f._ _Ill._ Gr. stranger, 117
Varfolomei, _m._ _Russ._ Aram. son of furrows, 25
_Varinka_, _f._ _Russ._ Gr. stranger, 117
Varnava, _m._ _Russ._ Aram. son of consolation, 24
Vartholomei, _m._ _Wall._ Aram. son of furrows, 25
Varvara, _f._ _Russ._ Gr. stranger, 117
_Vaschka_, _m._ _Russ._ Gr. kingly, 57
_Vashti_, _f._ _Eng._ Pers. 57
Vasilij, _m._ _Ill._ Gr. royal, 112
_Vaso_, _m._ _Ill._ Gr. royal, 112
Vassilij, _m._ _Russ._ Gr. royal, 112
_Vassja_, _m._ _Russ._ Gr. royal, 112
_Vasska_, _m._ _Russ._ Gr. royal, 112
VATROSLAV, _m._ _Slov._ Slav. fiery glory, 441
Vaubert, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. bright slaughter, 317
Vaubourg, _f._ _Fr._ Teu. slaughter protection, 317
Vaudru, _f._ _Fr._ Teu. slaughter maid, 317
Vautrude, _f._ _Fr._ Teu. slaughter maid, 317
_Vavrinec_, _m._ _Bohm._ Lat. laurel, 174
_Vavrzynec_, _m._ _Pol._ Lat. laurel, 174
VEBJORN, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. sacred bear, 320
VEBRAND, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. sacred sword, 320
VEDIS, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. sacred sprite, 320
VEDORM, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. sacred snake, 321
VEGJER, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. sacred spear, 321
VEDHELM, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. sacred helmet, 321
VEDHILD, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. sacred battle maid, 321
_Vefeli_, _f._ _Ill._ Kelt. white wave, 270
_Vehka_, _Bulg._ great glory, 441
Veicht, _m._ _Bav._ Teu. living, 198
Veidl, _m._ _Bav._ Teu. living, 198
VEKOSLAV, _m._ _Slav._ eternal glory, 441
VEKOSLAVA, _f._ _Slav._ eternal glory, 441
_Veleda_, _f._ Teu. wise woman, 441
VELISLAV, _f._ _m._ _Bulg._ Slav. great glory, 441
VELIKA, _f._ _Bulg._ Slav. great, 441
VELIMIR, _m._ _Bulg._ Slav. great peace, 441
VENCESLAV, _m._ _Slov._ Slav. crown glory, 441
Venedikt, _m._ _Russ._ Lat. blessed, 184
Venetia, _f._ _Eng._ Kelt. blessed, 184
Venice, _f._ _Eng._ Kelt. blessed, 184
_Ventura_, _m._ _It._ Lat. well met, 185
VENUS, _m._ Lat. fair (?)
Venzeslaus, _m._ _Ger._ Slav. crown glory, 441
VENZESLAV, _m._ _Russ._ Slav. crown glory, 441
Vera, _f._ _Serv._ Slav. faith, 449
Verban, _m._ _Slov._ Lat. of the city, 202
Vercingetorix, _m._ _Lat._ Kelt. chief of one hundred heads, 237
Verena, _Ger._ Teu. sacred wisdom, 331
_Verena_, _f._ _Ger._ Lat. Gr. true picture, 207
_Verenchen_, _f._ _Ger._ Lat. Gr. true picture, 227
_Verenund_, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. guardian protector, 377
Vergosillanus, _m._ _Lat._ Kelt. man of the banner, 236
Vermudo, _m._ _Span._ bear’s protection, 339
Vernulfo, _m._ _Span._ Teu. bear wolf, 339
_Verra_, _f._ _Ill._ Slav. faith, 449
Veronica, _f._ _It._ _Eng._ Lat. Gr. true image, 207
Veronike, _f._ _Ger._ Lat. Gr. true picture, 207
Veronique, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. Gr. true picture, 207
VERRES, _m._ _Lat._ boar, 337
Vestan, _m._ _Nor._ sacred stone, 321
VESTESLAV, _m._ _Bohm._ Slav. crown glory, 441
VESTLIDE, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. western wanderer, 432
VETILIDE, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. winter wanderer, 432
_Veva_, _f._ _Ill._ Kelt. white wave, 270
_Vevay_, _f._ _Bav._ Kelt. white wave, 270
_Vevina_, _f._ _Scot._ Kelt. melodious woman, 224
Victoire, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. victorious, 197
VICTOR, _m._ _Ger._ _Fr._ _Eng._ Lat. conqueror, 197
Victoria, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. conqueror, 197
Victorie, _f._ _Ger._ Lat. victorious, 197
Victorine, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. victorious, 197
Vid, _m._ _Bohm._ Lat. life, 320
Vida, _m._ _Hung._ Lat. life, 198, 320
_Vida_, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. beloved, 320
VIGBRAND, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. war sword, 418
Vigelius, _m._ _Lat._ Teu. warring, 418
VIGFUS, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. war eagerness, 418
VIGHEARD, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. war firmness, 418
VIGLAF, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. war relic, 418
VIGLEIK, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. war sport, 418
Viktor, _m._ _Slav._ Lat. conqueror, 197
Vikentij, _m._ _Russ._ Lat. conqueror, 197
VIKING, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. bay inhabitant, 432
VILBJORG, _f._ _Nor._ Teu. resolute protection, 314
Vilem, _m._ _Bohm._ Teu. resolute helmet, 314
Vilelm, _m._ _Pol._ Teu. resolute helmet, 314
Vilgelm, _m._ _Russ._ Teu. resolute helmet, 314
VILGERD, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. resolute protection, 314
Vilhelm, _Slov._ _Hung._ Teu. resolute helmet, 314
Vilhelmine, _f._ _Swed._ Teu. resolute helmet, 314
Viljalm, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. resolute helmet, 314
Vilibaldo, _m._ _Port._ Teu. resolute prince, 314
Vincenc, _m._ _Bohm._ Lat. conquering, 197
Vincencio, _m._ _Span._ Lat. conquering, 197
VINCENS, _m._ _Ger._ Lat. conquering, 197
Vincent, _m._ _Eng._ _Fr._ Lat. conquering, 197
Vincente, _m._ _Port._ Lat. conquering, 197
Vincenty, _m._ _Pol._ Lat. conquering, 197
Vincenz, _m._ _Ger._ Lat. conquering, 197
Vincenzio, _m._ _It._ Lat. conquering, 197
VINCIGUERRA, _m._ _It._ Lat. Teu. conquering war, 197
Vincislao, _m._ _It._ Slav. crown glory, 441
_Vincze_, _m._ _Hung._ Lat. conquering, 197
Viola, _f._ _It._ Lat. violet, 206
Violante, _f._ _Span._ Lat. violet, 206
Violet, _f._ _Scot._ Lat. violet, 206
Violette, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. violet, 206
Virdumarus, _m._ _Lat._ Kelt. great dark man, 237
Virgil, _m._ _Eng._ Lat. flourishing, 153
Virgile, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. flourishing, 153
Virgilio, _m._ _It._ Lat. flourishing, 153
VIRGILIUS, _m._ Lat. flourishing, 153
Virginia, _f._ _It._ _Eng._ Lat. flourishing, 153
Virginie, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. flourishing, 153
Virginio, _m._ _It._ Lat. flourishing, 153
VIRGINIUS, _m._ Lat. flourishing, 153
Viriathus, _m._ _Lat._ Kelt. man of fire(?), 237
Viridis, _f._ _It._ Lat. green, 206
VISHTASPA, _m._ _Pers._ Zend, possessor of horses.
_Vita_, _m._ _Russ._ _Bohm._ Lat. living, 197
_Vjta_, _m._ _Bohm._ Lat. living, 197
Vital, _m._ _Fr._ _Ger._ Lat. of life, 197
Vitale, _m._ _It._ Lat. of life, 197
Vitaliana, _f._ _Ger._ Lat. of life, 197
Vitalianus, _m._ Lat. of life, 197
Vitalij, _m._ _Russ._ Lat. of life, 197
VITALIS, _m._ _Lat._ of life, 197
_Vitgeir_, _m._ _Ice._ Teu. wise man, 321
Vittore, _m._ _It._ Lat. conqueror, 197
Vittoria, _f._ _It._ Lat. conqueror, 197
VITUS, _m._ Lat. living, 197
VIVIA, _f._ Lat. lively, 197
Vivian, _m._ _f._ _Eng._ Lat. lively, 198
Viviana, _f._ _It._ Lat. lively, 198
Viviano, _f._ _It._ Lat. lively, 198
Vivien, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. lively, 198
Vivienne, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. lively, 198
VJERA, _f._ _Russ._ Slav. faith, 439
VLADIMIR, _m._ _Russ._ Slav. ruling the world, 442
VLADISAV, _m._ _Serv._ Slav. ruling the world, 442
VLADISLAV, _m._ _Russ._ Slav. ruling the world, 442
VLADIVOJ, _m._ _Russ._ Slav. ruling the army, 442
VLADYSLAV, _m._ _Pol._ Slav. ruling the world, 442
_Vladislavka_, _f._ _Pol._ Slav. ruling the world, 442
_Vlaho_, _m._ _Hung._ Lat. babbler, 159
_Vlass_, _m._ _Russ._ Lat. babbler, 159
_Vlassij_, _m._ _Russ._ Lat. babbler, 159
VOJCIECH, _m._ _Pol._ Slav. warrior, 441
VOJTECH, _m._ _Bohm._ Slav. warrior, 441
VOJTEH, _m._ _Slav._ Slav. warrior, 441
Volfgango, _m._ _It._ Teu. wolf’s progress, 336
Volker, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. people’s guard, 371
Volkmar, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. people’s fame, 371
_Volguard_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. people’s guard, 371
Volgvard, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. people’s guard, 371
_Volodia_, _m._ _Russ._ Slav. ruling the world, 442
_Volodinka_, _m._ _Russ._ Slav. ruling the world, 442
VOLUNDR, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. artful.(?), 313
Vortigern, _m._ _Eng._ Kelt. great king, 238
_Vortya_, _f._ _Lus._ Gr. gift of God, 102
VRATISLAV, _m._ _Slav._ Slav. brilliant fame, 441
_Vread_, _f._ _Erse_, Gr. pearl, 123
_Vreneli_, _f._ _Swab._ Lat. Gr. true image, 207
VSELAV, _m._ _Slav._ Slav. all glory, 442
VSEVOLOD, _m._ _Slav._ Slav. all ruler, 442
VUC, _m._ _Slav._ Slav. wolf, 336
VUKMIL, _m._ _Slav._ Slav. wolf love, 335
VUKMIR, _m._ _Slav._ Slav. wolf peace, 335
VUKSLAV, _m._ _Slav._ Slav. wolf glory, 335
VULFGAR, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. wolf spear, 335
VULFHERE, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. wolf warrior, 335
VULFHILDA, _f._ _m._ _A.S._ Teu. wolf battle maid, 335
VULFMAR, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. wolf fame, 335
VULFNOT, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. wolf violence, 335
VULFSTAN, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. wolf stone, 335
_Vye_, _f._ _Fris._ wisdom, 107
VYSFSLAV, _m._ _Slav._ Slav. highest glory, 442
Vyvyan, _f._ _Eng._ Lat. living, 198
W
_Wabel_, _m._ _Bav._ Aram. son of furrows, 25
_Wabishaw_, _m._ _Red Indian_, red leaf.
_Wabm_, _m._ _Bav._ Aram. son of furrows, 25
WAITKUS, _m._ _Lith._ Slav. warrior.
Wala, _m._ _Span._ Teu. slaughter, 311
Walaheri, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. slaughter host, 317
Walamund, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. slaughter protection, 317
Walarik, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. slaughter king, 317
Walaram, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. slaughter raven, 317
Walber, _f._ _Esth._ Teu. slaughter protection, 317, 425
Walbert, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. power bright, 317, 425
Waldburga, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. powerful protection,[2] 317, 425
WALDEMAR, _m._ _Eng._ _Ger._ Teu. powerful fame, 425
WALDHERI, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. powerful warrior, 425
Waldl, _m._ _Bav._ Teu. will bold, 315
Waldo, _m._ _Frank._ Teu. power, 425, 315
Waldobert, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. power bright, 425
Waldrich, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. powerful rule, 425
_Walen_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. foreign thief, 316
Waleran, _m._ _Flem._ Teu. or Lat. healthy, 152
_Walfrid_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. powerful peace, 316
_Wallinsch_, _m._ _Lith._ Lat. healthy, 152
_Walmar_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. slaughter fame, 316
_Walpert_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. slaughter bright, 311
_Walpl_, _f._ _Bav._ Teu. powerful protection, 311, 428
_Walpora_, _f._ _Lus._ Teu. slaughter protection, 316
_Walpurd_, _f._ _Flem._ Teu. slaughter protection, 311, 425
Walpurg, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. slaughter protection, 311
Walram, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. slaughter raven, 316
Walstan, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. slaughter stone, 311
Walter, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. powerful warrior, 425
_Waltfrid_, _m._ _O. Ger._ Teu. powerful peace, 425
Waltheof, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. foreign thief, 316
Walther, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. powerful warrior, 425
Waltier, _m._ _O. Fr._ Teu. powerful warrior, 425
_Waltinsh_, _m._ _Lett._ Lat. healthy, 151
_Waltl_, _m._ _Bav._ Teu. powerful warrior, 425
Walwyn, _m._ _Eng._ Kelt. hawk of battle, 272
WAMBA, _m._ _Span._ Teu. belly, 427
_Wanders_, _f._ _Scot._ Kelt. white wave, 270
WARAND, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. protecting, 420
Warmund, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. protecting guard, 420
Warner, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. protecting warrior, 420
_Warno_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. protecting, 420
Warnfrid, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. protecting peace, 420
WARNEBOLD, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. protecting prince, 420
Warren, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. protecting friend, 420
_Wastel_, _m._ _Bav._ Gr. venerable, 111
_Wat_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. powerful warrior, 425
_Watagimat_, _m._ _Red Indian_, eagle’s nest.
_Water_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. powerful warrior, 425
_Waters_, _m._ _Lett._ Teu. powerful warrior, 425
_Watier_, _m._ _O. Fr._ Teu. powerful warrior, 425
_Watlis_, _m._ _Swiss_, Teu. powerful warrior, 425
_Wattles_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. powerful warrior, 425
_Watty_, 425
Wawyn, _m._ _Eng._ Kelt. hawk of battle, 272
_Wawel_, _m._ _Bav._ Aram. son of furrows, 25
Wayland, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. artful (?), 313
_Weigel_, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. warring, 418
WEALTHEOF, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. foreign thief, 316
_Welf_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. wolf, 335
_Welfhard_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. wolf strong, 335
Wenceslaus, _m._ _Eng._ Slav. crown glory, 441
_Wendel_, _f._ _m._ _Ger._ Teu. wandering.
_Wendela_, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. wandering.
_Wendelgard_, _f._ _m._ _Ger._ Teu. wandering guard.
_Wendelgar_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. wandering spear.
_Wendelin_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. wanderer.
_Wendeline_, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. wanderer.
Wenefride, _f._ _Eng._ Kelt. white wave, 270
_Wendis_, _m._ _Lett._ Slav. ruling glory, 441
_Wenzel_, _m._ _Ger._ Slav. crown glory, 441
Werburgha, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. powerful protection, 420
_Werlands_, _m._ _Lett._ Teu. adventuring life, 433
Werner, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. protecting army, 420
WERNHARD, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. protecting firmly, 420
WERNHER, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. protecting army, 420
_Wetu_, _m._ _Finn._ Teu. peace ruler, 296
_Wetukka_, _m._ _Finn._ Teu. peace ruler, 296
_Wiart_, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. war firmness, 418
_Wicko_, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. war bright, 418
_Wido_, _m._ _O. Ger._ Teu. life, 321
WIG, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. war, 418
WIGAND, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. warring, 418
WIGBALD, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. war prince, 418
WIGBERT, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. war bright, 418
WIGBURGA, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. war protection, 418
_Wige_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. warring, 418
WIGHARD, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. war firm, 418
WIGHELM, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. war helmet, 418
WIGHER, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. warrior, 418
WIGLAF, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. war relic, 418
WIGLIND, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. war snake, 418
WIGMANN, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. war man, 418
WIGMAR, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. war fame, 418
WIGRAM, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. war raven, 418
_Wihts_, _m._ _Lett._ Lat. life, 320
_Wike_, _f._ _Lett._ Gr. wisdom, 107
Wilbrand, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. willing sword, 314
Wilfred, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. resolute peace, 314
WILFRITH, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. resolute peace, 314
Wilfroy, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. resolute peace, 314
WILHELM, _m._ _Swiss_, _Ger._ Teu. helmet of resolution, 315
Wilhelmina, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. helmet of resolution, 315
Wilhelmine, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. helmet of resolution, 315
_Wilip_, _m._ _Fris._ Gr. horse lover, 79
_Wilips_, _m._ _Lett._ Gr. horse lover, 79
_Will_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. helmet of resolution, 315
Willaume, _m._ _O. Fr._ Teu. helmet of resolution, 315
_Wille_, _m._ _Swiss_, Teu. helmet of resolution, 315
Willebald, _m._ _Dutch_, Teu. resolute prince, 314
WILLEHAD, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. resolute battle, 314
Willelme, _m._ _Fr._ Teu. helmet of resolution, 314
_Willan_, _m._ _Lus._ _Netherlands_, Teu. helmet of resolution, 314
Willemin, _f._ _Dutch_, Teu. helmet of resolution, 314
_Willempje_, _f._ _Dutch_, Teu. helmet of resolution, 314
William, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. helmet of resolution, 315
Williamina, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. helmet of resolution, 315
WILLIBALD, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. resolute prince, 314
WILLIBERT, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. bright will, 314
WILLIBRORD, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. 314
WILLIBURG, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. resolute protection, 314
_Willie_, _m._ _Scot._ Teu. helmet of resolution, 315
WILLIGIS, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. pledge of resolution, 314
WILLIHARD, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. willing firmness, 314
WILLIHERI, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. resolute warrior, 314
WILLIHILD, _f._ _Frank._ Teu. resolute battle maid, 314
WILLIHOLD, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. resolute power, 314
WILLIMAR, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. resolute fame, 314
WILLIRAM, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. willing raven, 314
WILLIRAT, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. willing resolute council, 314
WILLIRIK, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. willing resolute ruler, 314
_Willo_, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. willing helmet, 314
WILLIWOLF, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. willing wolf, 314
_Willy_, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. helmet of resolution, 315
WILMAR, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. willing fame, 314
_Wilmett_, _f._ _Eng._ Teu. helmet of resolution, 316
WILMOD, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. resolute mood, 315
Wilmot, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. resolute mood, 314
WILRICH, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. resolute ruler, 314
WILTRUD, _f._ _Ger._ Teu. resolute battle maid, 314
Winfred, _m._ _Eng._ Teu. friend of peace, 427
WINFRITH, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. friend of peace, 427
Wingallok, _m._ _Bret._ Kelt. white, 270
Wingar, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. friend of war, 427
WINIBALD, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. friend of valour, 427
Winifrid, _f._ _Eng._ Kelt. white stream, 270
WINMAR, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. friend of fame, 427
WINRAD, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. friend’s council, 427
WINRICH, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. friend of rule, 427
_Winny_, _f._ _Ir._ Kelt. famine, 70
_Wippert_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. war bright, 418
_Wippold_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. war prince, 418
_Wiremo_, _m._ _Maori_, Teu. will helmet, 315
_Wisdom_, _f._ _Eng._ 421
_Wishard_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. wise strength, 321
WITGAR, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. wood spear, 321
Witiza, _m._ _Span._ Teu. wood dweller, 321
Witold, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. wood power, 321
WITOLF, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. wood wolf, 321, 325
WITRAM, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. forest raven, 321
WITTOKIND, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. forest dweller, 321
Wittich, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. wood dweller, 321
Wittig, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. wood dweller, 321
Wladimir, _m._ _Pol._ Slav. ruling peace, 442
_Wladis_, _m._ _Lett._ Slav. ruling glory, 442
Wladislav, _m._ _Pol._ Slav. ruling glory, 442
Wolbrecht, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. wolf brightness, 335
_Wolder_, _m._ _Dutch_, Teu. powerful warrior, 425
WOLF, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. wolf, 335
Wolfer, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. wolf army, 335
WOLFGANG, _m._ _Ger._ wolf’s progress, 335
WOLFHART, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. wolf’s firmness, 335
WOLFMAR, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. wolf fame, 335
WOLFRAD, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. wolf’s advice, 335
WOLFRAMM, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. wolf raven, 335
WOLFRICH, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. wolf ruler, 335
_Wouter_, _m._ _Dutch_, Teu. powerful warrior, 425
_Worsola_, _f._ _Bohm._ Lat. bear, 199
_Wridriks_, _m._ _Lett._ Teu. peace ruler, 296
_Wrizzis_, _m._ _Lett._ Teu. peace ruler, 296
WULFSTAN, _m._ _A.S._ Teu. wolf stone, 335
Wursla, _f._ _Lus._ Lat. bear, 199
_Wya_, _m._ _Ger._ Teu. warring, 418
_Wygard_, _m._ _Fris._ Teu. warring, 418
-----
Footnote 2:
This, one of the English missionary nun princesses in Germany, is the
patroness of the celebrated Valpurgisnacht. She died at Heidenheim,
and her right feast is on the 25th of February; but being translated
to Crichstadt on the 1st of May, and minced into numerous relics, the
latter day was also hers, and strangely became connected with the
witches' sabbath.
X
XANTHIPPE, _f._ _Gr._ yellow horse, 78
XAVER, _m._ _Span._ Arab. bright, 299
Xavier, _m._ _Fr._ Arab. bright, 299
Xaverie, _f._ _Span._ Arab. bright, 299
Xaveric, _m._ _Wall._ Arab. bright, 299
Xaverio, _m._ _It._ Arab. bright, 299
Xavery, _m._ _Pol._ Arab. bright, 299
Xenia, _f._ _Russ._ Gr. hospitality, 93
Xerxes, _m._ _Eng._ Pers. venerable king.
Ximen, _m._ _Span._ 330
Ximena, _f._ _Span._ 330
Ximon, _m._ _Span._ Heb. obedient, 17
Xiste, _m._ _Fr._ Lat. sixth, 138
Y
_Yago_, _m._ _Span._ Heb. supplanter, 17
_Yatmund_, _m._ _Dan._ Teu. happy protection, 378
Yestin, _m._ _Welsh_, Lat. just, 192
YNGVAR, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. Ing’s warrior, 325
YNGVE, _m._ _Nor._ Teu. 325
Ynyr, _m._ _Welsh_, Lat. honourable, 190
Yolande, _f._ _Prov._ Lat. violet, 206
Yolette, _f._ _Fr._ Lat. violet, 206
_Yorwarth_, _m._ _Welsh_, Teu. happy guard, 378
_Ysabel_, _f._ _Span._ Heb. God’s oath, 35
_Ysaie_, _m._ _Fr._ Heb. salvation of the Lord, 48
Yseulte, _f._ _Fr._ Kelt. spectacle, 275
Ysonde, _f._ _Fr._ Kelt. spectacle, 275
Ysolt, _f._ _Eng._ Kelt. spectacle, 275
Yueins, _m._ _Fr._ Kelt. young warrior, 273
Yvain, _m._ _Bret._ Kelt. young warrior, 273
Yvon, _m._ _Ir._ Teu. archer, 326
Ywain, _m._ _Welsh_, Kelt. young warrior, 273
Z
Zacarias, _m._ _Span._ Heb. remembrance of the Lord, 51
Zaccaria, _m._ _It._ Heb. remembrance of the Lord, 51
_Zach_, _m._ _Eng._ _Bav._ Heb. remembrance of the Lord, 51
Zacharia, _m._ _Ger._ Heb. remembrance of the Lord, 51
ZACHARIAH, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. remembrance of the Lord, 51
Zacharias, _m._ _Port._ Heb. remembrance of the Lord, 51
Zacharie, _m._ _Fr._ Heb. remembrance of the Lord, 51
Zachary, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. remembrance of the Lord, 51
Zacharyasz, _m._ _Pol._ Heb. remembrance of the Lord, 51
Zachée, _m._ _Fr._ Heb. remembrance of the Lord, 51
Zacheo, _m._ _It._ Heb. remembrance of the Lord, 51
_Zachers_, _m._ _Bav._ Heb. remembrance of the Lord, 51
Zachereis, _m._ _Bav._ Heb. remembrance of the Lord, 51
_Zaches_, _m._ _Bav._ Heb. remembrance of the Lord, 51
_Zacheo_, _m._ _Port._ Heb. remembrance of the Lord, 51
Zaccheus, _m._ _Eng._ _Ger._ Heb. remembrance of the Lord, 51
Zaidée, _f._ _Fr._ 458
Zakarias, _m._ _Esth._ Heb. remembrance of the Lord, 51
_Zackelina_, _f._ _Russ._ Heb. supplanter, 18
Zakharias, _m._ _Hung._ Heb. remembrance of the Lord, 51
Zakheus, _m._ _Hung._ remembrance of the Lord, 51
_Zako_, _m._ _Ill._ Heb. remembrance of the Lord, 51
_Zan_, _m._ _Dantzig_, Gr. Christian, 105
_Zan_, _m._ _Gr._ Heb. supplanter, 17
_Zaneta_, _f._ _Russ._ Heb. grace of the Lord, 46
Zaqueo, _m._ _Span._ Heb. remembrance of the Lord, 51
_Zara_, _f._ _Arab._ Heb. princess, 13
_Zasso_, _m._ _Fris._ Gr. Christian, 105
Zebulon, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. dwelling.
Zechariah, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. remembrance of the Lord, 51
Zedekiah, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. justice of the Lord, 49
Zedena, _f._ _Ger._ Lat. of Sidon, 200
ZEENAB, _f._ _Arab._ father’s ornament, 62
ZELIMIR, _m._ Slav. wishing peace.
_Zelinde_, conquering snake, 347
ZELISLAV, _m._ Slav. wishing glory.
ZENAÏDA, _f._ _Russ._ Gr. daughter of Zeus, 62
Zenaïde, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. daughter of Zeus, 62
Zenevieva, _f._ _Russ._ Kelt. white wave, 270
ZENO, _m._ Gr. from Zeus, 62
ZENOBIA, _f._ _Lat._ Aram. father’s ornament, 62
Zenobie, _f._ _Fr._ Arab. father’s ornament, 62
Zenobio, _m._ _Milan._ Gr. from Zeus, 62
Zenobius, _m._ Lat. 62
ZENON, _m._ _Gr._ Gr. from Zeus, 62
Zenovia, _f._ _Russ._ Arab. father’s ornament, 62
ZENOVIA, _f._ _Russ._ Slav. goddess of hunting, 440
_Zenz_, _f._ _Bav._ Lat. increasing, 198
_Zenz_, _m._ _Bav._ Lat. conquering, 197
_Zenzel_, _m._ _Bav._ Lat. conquering, 197
_Zenzl_, _f._ _Bav._ Lat. increasing, 198
Zephaniah, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. protected of the Lord, 50
Zephyrine, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. like the zephyr.
Zerah, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. rising of light, 51
Zerdosht, _m._ _Pers._ Zend. gold star, 57, 437
Zerubabel, _m._ _Eng._ Heb. born at Babel.
_Zesk_, _Slav._ Teu. free, 300
Zezilija, _f._ _Russ._ Lat. blind, 144
_Zikmund_, _m._ _Bohm._ Teu. conquering protection, 358
Zilia, _f._ _Ven._ Lat. 145
Ziliola, _f._ _Ven._ Lat. 145
Zillah, _f._ _Eng._ Heb. shadow, 11
Zinevra, _f._ _Ven._ Kelt. white wave, 270
ZIROSLAV, _m._ acorn glory.
ZIVAN, _m._ _Slav._ living, 198
ZIVANA, _f._ living, 198
_Zizi_, _f._ _Russ._ Arab. father’s ornament, 62
ZLATA, _f._ _Slov._ Slav. gold, 445
ZLATANA, _f._ _Slov._ Slav. gold, 445
ZLATIBOR, _m._ _Slov._ Slav. gold, 445
_Zlatke_, _m._ _Slov._ Slav. gold, 445
_Zlatoje_, _m._ _Slov._ Slav. gold love, 445
ZLATOLJUB, _m._ _Slov._ Slav. gold love, 445
ZLATOSLAV, _m._ _Slov._ Slav. gold love, 445
Zlatoust, _m._ _Russ._ Slav. gold mouth, 445
ZOE, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. life, 11
Zofia, _f._ _Pol._ Gr. wisdom, 107
Zoia, _f._ _Russ._ Gr. life, 11
_Zomelis_, _m._ _Lett._ Heb. asked of God, 20
_Zon_, _f._ _Fr._ Gr. carrying ears of corn, 124
ZORA, _f._ _Ill._ Slav. dawn, 437
Zorana, _f._ _Ill._ Slav. dawn, 437
_Zore_, _f._ _Ill._ Heb. princess, 14
Zorica, _f._ _Slav._ dawn, 437
ZORISLAVA, _f._ _Ill._ Slav. dawn of glory, 437
Zoroaster, _m._ _Eng._ Pers. golden star (?), 57, 437
_Zosa_, _f._ _Swiss_, Heb. lily, 50
_Zosel_, _f._ _Swiss_, Heb. lily, 50
_Zosia_, _f._ _Pol._ Gr. wisdom, 107
_Zsiga_, _m._ _Hung._ Teu. conquering protection, 356
_Zsigmund_, _m._ _Hung._ Teu. conquering protection, 356
_Zsoflie_, _f._ _Hung._ Gr. wisdom, 107
_Zsofe_, _f._ _Hung._ Gr. wisdom, 107
_Zsusane_, _f._ _Lett._ Heb. lily, 50
_Zsusanna_, _f._ _Hung._ Heb. lily, 50
ZWETLANA, _f._ _Russ._ Slav. star, 437
_Zygmunt_, _m._ _Pol._ Heb. conquering protection, 358[3]
-----
Footnote 3:
Every form of every name given in the index is not to be found in the
text; but in all cases where a reference is given, the history, as far
as ascertainable, of the leading portion of the original name will be
found.
HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN NAMES.
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.
THE SPIRIT OF NOMENCLATURE.
Much has been written upon the Surname, a comparatively modern
invention, while the individual, or, as we term it, the Christian name,
has barely received, here and there, a casual notice from English
authors, and has seldom been treated of collectively or comparatively.
Yet there is much that is extremely curious and suggestive in the rise
and signification of the appellations of men and women, their universal
or partial popularity, the alterations by which they have been adapted
to different languages, their familiar abbreviations, the patronymics
formed from them, and the places or articles called from them. In fact,
we shall find the history, the religion, and the character of a nation
stamped upon the individuals in the names which they bear.
It is to Christian names, properly so called, that our attention will
chiefly be directed. Other names, not acknowledged at any time as
baptismal, or only given so exceptionally as not to deserve notice, are
here omitted, or only treated of when their analogy is needed to
illustrate the history of a true Christian name.
The original proper names of men and women arose—
First, from some circumstance connected with the birth, such as Esau,
hairy; Jacob, taking by the heel; Agrippa, born with the feet foremost.
Secondly, from the complexion, _e. g._, Edom, red; Flavius and Fulvius,
yellow; Don, brown; Ruadh, red; Boidh, yellow; Blanche, fair.
Thirdly, from the qualities desired for the child, such as David,
meaning beloved; the Persian Aspamitas and Greek Philippos, both lovers
of horses; the Keltic Eochaidh, a horseman; the Teutonic Eadgifu, happy
gift; the Slavonic Przemyszl, the thoughtful.
Fourthly, from an animal, Deborah, the bee; Jonah, Columba, Golubica,
the dove; Zeeb, Lycos, Lupus, Ulf, Yuk, all signifying that strangely
popular wild beast the wolf.
Fifthly, from a weapon, as the Teuton Gar, a spear.
Sixthly, from a jewel, Mote Mahal, in Persian, pearl of the harem; the
Greek, Margarite, a pearl in Greek; the Teutonic Stein, a stone or jewel
in Teutonic.
Seventhly, religious names, dedicating the child to the Divinity, such
as Ishmael, heard of God; Elijah, God the Lord; and among idolaters,
Artemidorus, gift of Artemis; Jovianus, belonging to Jupiter; Brighid,
the Irish goddess of smiths and poets; Thorgils, Thor’s pledge.
To these we may add a few names of flowers, chiefly borne by women, and
always indicating a poetical nation, such as Susanna, Lilias, Rhoda,
Rose, and the Slavonic Smiljana, the amaranth, a description of name
never found among the unimaginative Romans.
Also a few indicating a time of deep sorrow and distress, when the child
was born, such as Beriah, son of evil, named when it went ill with his
father Ephraim; Jabez, sorrow; Ichabod, the glory is departed. These
being of ill omen, never prevailed among the joyous Greeks; but among
the quick-feeling Kelts we find Una, famine, and Ita, thirsty, names
recording, no doubt, times of sorrow. Also Posthumus and Tristan, though
not originally bearing the meaning since attributed to them, and
Dolores, a name of Spanish Roman Catholic growth, have all been applied
to express the mournful circumstances of some “child of misery, baptized
in tears.”
Natural defects have likewise furnished names, such as Balbus, the
stammerer; the Irish Dorenn, the sullen; and Unchi, the contentious.
These are most common among the Romans, owing to their habit of
continuing a father’s name, however acquired, to the son. And the Romans
likewise stand almost alone in their strange and uncomplimentary fashion
of giving individual names from numbers, one in which they have not been
imitated, except now and then, where the number of a family has become
so remarkable as to be deemed worthy of commemoration in the names of
the younger children. There is, however, said to be a family in Michigan
where the sons are called One, Two, Three Stickaway, and the daughters
First, Second, Third Stickaway.
The invention of original names usually takes place in the early stages
of a people’s history, for a preference soon arises for established
names, already borne by kindred, and as the spoken tongue drifts away,
from the primitive form, the proper name becomes a mere appellative,
with the original meaning forgotten, and often with a new one
incorrectly applied to it. The names in popular use almost always belong
to a more ancient language than that spoken by the owners; or else they
are imported from some other nation, and adapted to the mouths of those
who use them. Flexibility of speech is only acquired at a very early
age, and persons who have never spoken any other than their mother
tongue, have no power to catch foreign sounds, and either distort them,
or assimilate them to words of their own. The ear catches the word
imperfectly, the lips pronounce it after their own fashion, and the
first writer who hears it, sets it down to the best of his ability, to
be read, as it may chance, by others, ignorant of the sound the letters
were meant to represent, and thus striking out absolute novelties. Even
where it travels by the medium of writing, the letters of one language
are so inadequate to express the sounds of another, that great changes
take place in pronunciation, even while the spelling remains unaltered,
and these become visible in the popular contractions.
Thus a foreign conquest, or the fusion of one nation into another, while
introducing two orders of names to the same country, and in breaking up
and intermixing their original forms of speech, yet leaves untouched the
names belonging to the old language, though the spoken tongue goes on
living, growing, and altering.
The Hebrew is an instance of this process. It was a living tongue up to
the Babylonish captivity, and constantly formed new names from the
ordinary speech of the people; but when the Jews returned they spoke the
Aramean dialect; the old Hebrew was dead. They still called their
children by mangled and contracted Hebraisms, inherited from their
forefathers, but were in general not aware of their meaning, and were
willing to give them Greek terminations to suit the literary taste of
the East. That there was no vigour to throw out new names, is attested
by the very scanty number of Aramean derivation. Yet it is these
corrupted Hebrew names, marred by Aramean pronunciation, by Greek
writing, and by the speech of every country, that are the most
universally loved and honoured in every Christian land.
Greek may be said to have never died, and it has, from first to last,
been the most vigorous of all languages in creating and spreading names,
which are almost all easily explicable. Hellas, though frequently
conquered, has by its glorious literature, both pagan and Christian,
gained wide dominion for its language, and even the present vernacular
of the peasant and sailor is not so decayed but that they can comprehend
a line of Homer or a verse of St. John. Thus there is a long list of
Greek names ever new, with comparatively few importations from other
tongues, and for the most part conveying their meaning and augury.
On the contrary, before Latin was born, the dialects that had produced
Latin names were decaying, and those who, by inheritance, bore the
scanty stock that came down to them, were often at a loss for their
meaning; nor in general is it so much the names actually borne by
ancient Romans, as appellations formed out of the Latin language, that
have been the Latin contribution to Christian nomenclature. The
universal victors chiefly spread Roman names by adopting the conquered
as their clients, and conferring their own nomina when they bestowed the
right of citizenship.
Keltic still lives in its corners of the world, and its old names have
for the most part continued in use, but usually each with a name by the
side from some more fashionable tongue, supposed to translate it to the
civilized ear. For instance, Tadhg, which means, in Erse, a poet, is
called in English speech, Teague or Thady; and then further transformed
into the Aramean Thaddeus (praise); or the Greek Timothy (honour God);
with an utter loss of the true association.
The Teutonic names are taken from the elder branches of the Teuton
languages, before they became commingled in different degrees with the
later progeny of Latin, and with one another. We here use the word
Teutonic, because it is the most convenient term by which to express the
class of languages spoken by the great Germanic family, though we are
aware that it is not absolutely correct as a class-appellation including
the whole. Iceland and Scandinavia use their ancient tongue, but
slightly altered, and there may be found the true forms and
interpretations of the greater number of the appellations in common use.
Modern German continues the old High German, but it is no safe guide to
the meaning of names which belong to a much earlier form than that in
which we now see it, and it has only created a few modern ones of its
own. Anglo-Saxon explains most of its own names, but it cannot be safely
trusted without comparison with the other branches. It was a language
deteriorated by the Norman conquest, just as the Norse of the invaders
had been previously smothered by their conquest of Neustria, and the
English which grew up among them used more of the High Dutch names
adopted by the Normans in France, than of its own Anglo-Saxon ones; and
only after the Reformation was there an attempt, and that not a very
successful one, at the fabrication of native English names. France kept
Dutch names, and clipped them, while High Dutch minced Latin. Lombardy,
too, used the old heroic names of the fair-haired barbarians, even while
its speech was constant to the flowing Latin; and Spain has much more of
the nomenclature than of the tongue of her Goths.
The Slavonic has corrupted itself, but become Christian, and has sent a
few names of great leaders into the general stock of nomenclature, which
has been formed by contributions from these six original branches, with
a few chance additions from other quarters.
Each nation had a stock of its own at first, but as tribes became mixed,
their names were interchanged, and varied by the pronunciation of those
who adopted them; and when Christianity produced real union, making the
saint of one country the glory and example of the entire Church, the
names of the holy and the great became a universal link, and a token of
the brotherhood established from land to land.
It was not at first, however, that this fusion of names commenced. The
first Christians were Jews, with Hebrew, Aramean, Greek, or Latin names
of their own, and their converts already bore Greek or Latin
appellations, which were seldom altered. In the case of the Romans,
children almost necessarily succeeded to family names, and the Greeks
alone could at first exercise any choice, forming words of Christian
meaning for their children, or adopting those of their revered
instructors in the faith; and afterwards, persons using the Latin
tongue, but not encumbered with the numerous names of a citizen,
followed their example. The Teutons, when converted, were baptized by
the names they already bore, and gave the like to their children; nor
does it seem to have been till the older forms of the languages were
expiring, that the introduction of old saintly names became by any means
frequent. When names were mere appellations, not descriptions, a
favourite character was sought for in the legends of the saints, and the
child was dedicated to, or placed under the protection of, the patron
whose name he bore. The theory was, that the festival in the calendar on
which the birth took place, established the claim of the infant to the
care of the patron, and thus fixed the name, an idea which still
prevails in the Greek Church, but it was more usual to select a
favourite patron, and instead of keeping the child’s birth-day, to feast
him upon the holy day of the saint, a custom still observed in Roman
Catholic countries.
The system of patron saints was greatly established by the veneration of
relics. It was the presence of a supposed fragment of the body that was
imagined to secure the protection of the saint to country, to city, to
village, or family; and often the ‘translation’ of a relic can be traced
as the cause of the nationality of a name, as the Diego of Spain, the
Andreas of Flanders, the Marco of Venice, the Adrianus of Holland, the
Radegonde of Poitiers, the Anne of Prague. Or the prominence of a fresh
doctrine is shown in nomenclature, as by the outburst of Scripture names
in all Calvinist countries; so that in French pedigrees, Huguenotism may
be traced by the Isaacs and other patriarchal apparitions in the
genealogy, and Puritanism has in England produced the quaint Old
Testament appellations to be found in every parish register. On the
other hand, the increasing devotion to the Blessed Virgin is indicated
by the exaggerated use of Mary in Roman Catholic lands, the epithets
coupled with it showing the peculiar phases of the homage paid to her,
and almost gauging the amount of superstition in the country.
Religion has thus been in general the primary guide to individual
nomenclature, and next in order must be ranked the family feeling that
renders Christian names almost hereditary. In many places where
primitive customs are kept up, it was an almost compulsory token of
respect to call the eldest son after his paternal grandfather. This has
indeed been almost universal. The ancient Greeks always did so unless
the grandfather were alive, in which case the child was thought to take
his place by bearing his name, and thus to bring death upon him.
In Scotland and in the north of England, the paternal grandfather and
grandmother have namesakes in the eldest son and daughter, then comes
the turn of the grand-parents on the mother’s side, then of the parents
themselves, after which fancy may step in. In Germany the same practice
prevails as regards the two eldest; and likewise in the south of France,
where the child, whatever its sex, bears the grandfather’s name, thus
accounting for various uncouth feminines; but though thus christened,
the two eldest children are never so called, but always by the
diminutive of their surname.
However, distinguished, or wealthy, or beloved godparents interfered
with these regular successions, and in this manner queens have been the
great conductors of female names, bestowing them on their nobility, from
whom they spread to the commonalty.
Literature requires considerable cultivation before it spreads many
names. It gave some in the latter days of Greece, and more after the old
hereditary customs of Rome were broken up; then, during the dark ages,
its influence was lost, except at Byzantium; and only when the
chivalrous romance became fashionable, did a few poetic knights and
dames call their children after the heroes of the Round Table, or the
paladins of Charlemagne, and then it must have been in defiance of the
whole system of patron saints until the convenient plan of double names,
first discovered by the Germans and French, accomplished the union of
fancy and dedication, or compliment.
The revival of learning in the fifteenth century, however, filled Italy
with classical names, some of which spread into France, and a few into
Germany; but as a general rule in modern times, France, England, and
America have been the countries whose nomenclature has been most
affected by literature; France, especially so, the prevalence of
different tastes and favourite novels being visible from the fifteenth
century downwards, through its Arcadian, its Augustan, its Infidel, its
Revolutionary periods; while England, since the Reformation, has
slightly partaken of all these tastes in turn, but with her own
hereditary fashions and religious influences mingling with them; and
America exaggerates every variety in her mixed population.
PART I.
CHAPTER I.
HEBREW NOMENCLATURE.
Hebrew, the sacred language, and the medium of all our earliest
knowledge of the world and of man, furnishes almost all of the first
names known to us, which are in general, verbs, substantives, or
adjectives from that tongue, suggested either by inspiration or by some
of the natural motives observed in the former chapter.
The minute history of the naming of the twelve patriarchs, furnish the
best illustrations of the presaging spirit of early nomenclature.
Reuben, “behold a son,” cries the mother in her first pride; Simeon, “He
that heareth,” because He had heard her prayer; Levi, a joining, in the
trust that her husband would be joined with her; Judah, praise, in
praise of Him who had given these four sons, and Judah, “thou art he
whom thy brethren shall _praise_,” is repeated by Jacob; Dan, a judge,
is so called by his adoptive mother because her cause is judged, “and
Dan shall _judge_ his people” is his father’s blessing; Naphtali
commemorates Leah’s wrestling with her sister; Gad is one of the _troop_
round Leah, “and a _troop_ shall overcome him,” saith Jacob; Asher, is
_blessed_, and Moses cries, “let Asher be blessed;” Issachar, is _hire_;
and Zebulon, a _dwelling_, because Leah hoped her husband would dwell
with her, and his promise from his father is that he shall _dwell_.
Rachel cannot name her long-desired first-born without a craving that
God would add to her another son, and thus Joseph means an _addition_,
and when that second child was given, and she felt that it was at the
cost of her own life, she mourned over him as Benoni, son of my sorrow;
but his father with more hopeful augury called him (probably at his
circumcision) Benjamin, son of my right hand.
The earlier names were very simple, such as Leah, weary; Adah, ornament.
But about the time of the going into Egypt compound words were employed,
family names began to grow traditional, and several of Egyptian
etymology were acquired.
The Aramaic became the Jewish vernacular, and so continued after the
return from Babylon, nor has it ceased to prevail, under the name of
Syriac, among a considerable portion of the natives of the East.
Moreover, the Greek invasion of the East, and the establishment of the
Macedonian dynasties of Egypt and Syria, rendered the Grecian the
language of foreign relations and of literature, and caused it to be
understood by all who pretended to polite education, or meddled with
politics and commerce. The Septuagint, or Alexandrian version of the
Scriptures, was used in private by the Græcised Jews, and was the form
in which their sacred books became known to those of foreign nations who
took interest in them.
The Roman conquest in like manner brought in a certain amount of
influence from the Latin language, though not to the same extent, since
all cultivated Romans were by this time instructed in Greek as part of
their education, and even those of inferior rank used it as the medium
of communication with the people of the East.
Thus, in the time of the Gospel history, the learned alone entered into
the full import of the old Hebrew names, nor were new ones invented to
suit the occasion, with a very few exceptions, and these few were formed
from the vernacular Aramean. The custom was to recur to the old family
names belonging to ancestors or kindred, and in the account of the
circumcision of St. John the Baptist we see that a deviation from this
practice excited wonder. Tradition and change of language had, however,
greatly marred these old Hebraisms; Jehoiadah, (_j_ pronounced _y_,)
(known of God,) had after the captivity lost its significance in the
form of Jaddua, then was Græcized, as Ἱωδαέ, (Hiodae,) and was Latinized
as Jaddeus! These corrupted ancient appellations were the favourites,
but imitation and compliment caused some Greek ones and even some Latin
ones to be adopted, some persons using their national name at home, and
bearing another for their external relations, such as John or Mark, Saul
or Paul.
The persons most revered by Christians, and who have had the most
influence on nomenclature, thus bore either corrupt Hebrew, or else
Aramean, Greek, or Latin names, which all have been handed down to us
through the medium of Greek authorship, afterwards translated into
Latin, and thence carried by word of mouth into every Christian land,
and taking shape from the prevalent pronunciation there.
Eastern Christians have gone directly to the Greek; but the Western
Church used nothing but the Vulgate translated from the Septuagint and
from the original New Testament. Thus the Old Testament personages, as
well as those of the Gospel, were known to mediæval Europe, and are so
still to the greater part of the continent in their Greco-Latin shape.
But King James I. caused his translators to go back to the fountainhead,
using the original Hebrew and Greek—and only applying to the Septuagint
and Vulgate as means of elucidation, not as authorities. In consequence,
many of the Old Testament names assumed their original shape, as far as
it could be expressed by English letters, but these were mostly those
but slightly known to the world, not those of the principal characters,
since the translators were instructed not to make needless alterations
such as should make the objects of ancient veneration appear in a form
beyond recognition. Therefore it is that some English Old Testament
names are unlike those of other nations.
Those who were at work on the New Testament, however, left the ancient
names, there occurring, as they found them in the Greek, and thus arose
the disparity we remark in the title given to the same individual, Noah
or Noe, Korah or Core, Uzziah or Ozias.
For the most part Old Testament names, as such, have had little
prevalence excepting under the influence of Calvinism. The Roman
Catholic Church neglected them because they did not convey patronage,
and Lutherism has not greatly adopted them, but they were almost a badge
of the Huguenot party in France; and in England, about the latter part
of the reign of Elizabeth, a passion for the most extraordinary and
unusual Scripture names prevailed, for which the genealogist must have
carefully searched. William L'Isle, in 1623, complains of some “devising
new names with apeish imitation of the Hebrew,” and in effect there are
few of these that do not give an impression of sectarianism or
Puritanism. In England and America, the more obscure and peculiar ones
are chiefly adopted by the lower classes; in Ireland several prevail for
another cause, namely, their supposed resemblance to the native Erse
appellations that were long proscribed by the conquerors.
Those that were borne by the remnant of faithful Jews, who were the
stock on which the Christian Church was grafted, have gone out into all
lands, infinitely modified by the changes they have undergone in their
transit from one people to another.[4]
CHAPTER II.
PATRIARCHAL NAMES.
SECTION I.—_Adam._
The oldest of all proper names comes from a word signifying red, and
refers to the red earth (adama) out of which the first man was taken,
reminding us that dust we are, and unto dust shall we return.
Some say that it should he translated ‘likeness,’ and that it comes from
the same root as ‘_adama_,’ red earth, because red earth is always
alike, wherever found. In this case, the first man would have been
called from his likeness to his Creator, but the other explanation is
preferable, especially as the same adjective, pronounced with a change
in the vowel sound, so as to make it Edom, was the surname of Esau
(hairy), on account both of the ruddiness of his complexion and of the
_red_ lentile pottage for which he sold his birthright.
No Israelites or Jews appear to have been called after our first father,
and the first time Adam comes to light again, is among the Keltic
Christians of Ireland and Scotland. It is not improbable that it was
first adopted according to a frequent Gaelic fashion, as the
ecclesiastical name most resembling the native one of Aedh or fire; but
however this may be, there was in the seventh century a distinguished
abbot of Iona, called in the dog Latin of the time, Adamnanus or dwarf
Adam, and best known as Adamnan. Though not recognized by the Roman
calendar, he was regarded as a saint in his own country, but his name
has been much corrupted. At Skreen in Ireland, where he founded a
church, he is styled St. Awnan, at Raphoe he is patron, as St. Ennan, in
Londonderry he is St. Onan; but in Scotland, Adam has become a national
Christian name. The family who most affected it were the ‘gay Gordons.’
_Edie_ is the Scottish contraction. The feminine _Adamina_ has been a
recent Scottish invention.
In Germany and the neighbouring countries there prevails an idea that
Adam is always long-lived, and if the first infant of a family dies, the
life of its successor is secured by calling it either Adam or Eve. In
consequence it has various contractions and alterations. In Lower
Lusatia it is _Hadamk_ in familiar speech; the Swiss abbreviation is
_Odli_; the Esthonian _Ado_ or _Oado_, the Lettisu was _Adums_. With its
contraction, _Ade_, it seems to have been very common at Cambrai through
the middle ages.
“The mother of all living”—received from the lips of Adam a name
signifying life, sounding in the original like _Chavva_, as it began
with a rough aspirate. It was not copied by any of her daughters for a
long time, and when first the Alexandrian Jews came on it in their
translation, they rendered it by _Zoe_ (life), in order to show the
connection of the name with the prophecy; but afterwards in the course
of the narrative they merely made it Eva, or in Latin the _Heva_ or
_Eva_, which English has changed into Eve.
The Eva of Ireland and Scotland, and the Aveline or Eveline of the
Normans, were probably only imitations of the old Keltic names Aoibhiun
and Aoiffe, and will therefore be considered among the Keltic class.
_Eve_ has been seldom used in England, though old parish registers
occasionally show a pair of twins christened Adam and Eve.
The same notion of securing a child’s life that has spread the use of
Adam in Germany and its vicinity has had the same effect upon his wife,
so that Eva is common in both Germany and Scandinavia. Russia has Evva
or Jevva, though not often as a name in use; the Letts as Ewe or
Ewusche; the Lithuanians as Jewa or Jewele, the first letter of course
pronounced like _Y_; and in Lusatia her namesakes are called Hejba or
Hejbka.[5]
The murdered son of Adam is called by a Hebrew word meaning breath,
vapour, or transitoriness, and as some think may have been so termed in
remembrance of his short life. The sound of the original word was more
like Hebel, but through the Greek we receive it as Abel.
It is not absolutely a modern Puritan name, for an Abel existed in Essex
in the time of Henry III., and Awel is known in Russia; but it is
generally given direct from the Bible, as are also Seth (appointed), and
Enoch (dedicated).
Adah (ornament), the wife of Lamech, is often supposed to be the origin
of our English Ada, but this last is the hereditary Latinized form of
Eed (rich), and is the same as the German Ida. Zillah (or shadow), the
other wife of Lamech, is a Gypsy name.
SECTION II.—_Abi._
Common to both the Semitic and Indo-European tongues, and traceable
through all their branches, is the parental title first uttered by the
infant; Abba, Abi, Aba; Atta among the Slavonians, and again among the
Goths; Athair among the Irish, the pater of Greece, fondly called at
home papa, and apphys the _pater_ of Rome, the German Vater, and our own
father—_il babbo_ in Italy, and daddy in English cottages.
In the East a parent is more usually called the father of his son than
by his own name. This, however, is probably a late affectation, not
applying to the time when the greatest of the patriarchs received his
original name of Abram (father of height or elevation), which was
changed by Divine appointment into Abraham (father of a multitude),
foretelling the numerous and enduring offspring that have descended from
him, and even to the present hour revere his name.
No one, however, seems to have presumed to copy it as long as the
Israelites dwelt in their own land, and the first resuscitations of it
appear to have been among the Christians of the patriarch’s native land,
Mesopotamia, towards the end of the fourth century, when a hermit called
Abraham, living near Edessa, obtained a place in the Coptic, Greek, and
Roman calendars; and about the same time another Abraham was among the
martyrs who were put to death by the fire worshipping zeal of the
Sassanid dynasty in Persia. Two other Mesopotamian SS. Abraham lived in
the next century, and died, one at Constantinople, the other in
Auvergne, whither in some unaccountable manner he had been carried
between foul winds and man-stealing barbarians when on a journey to
visit the solitaries in Egypt.
As one of the patrons of Clermont, this Abraham must have been the means
of diffusing namesakes in France, especially on the side towards the Low
Countries. Abraham often occurs in the registers of Cambray; and in
compliance with the fashion of adapting the name of the father to the
daughter, Abra was there formed, though apparently not earlier than
1644. Indeed the Netherlands and Holland are the only countries where
this patriarchal name is really national, generally shortened into Abram
and Bram; and the Dutch settlers carried it into America, where it is
generally called either Bram or Aby.
Many other Scripture names bear this prefix, but it would be contrary to
our plan to dwell upon those that have not been in subsequent use or are
devoid of peculiar interest.
Abigail (father of joy), strikes us as inappropriate to a woman, till we
remember that the eastern nations use this expression for an abstract
quality, and that the title would stand for joyfulness. Her ready
courtesy to David seems to have recommended her to the earliest readers
of the English Bible, for Abigail occurs in registers as early as 1573,
and was for many years very frequent. Abigail Masham’s back-stair
influence over Queen Anne has been generally supposed to have rendered
it a soubriquet for a lady’s maid; but Mr. Bardsley, in his _Curiosities
of Puritan Nomenclature_, shows it to have been the name of the waiting
gentlewoman in Beaumont’s Comedy, _The Scornful Ladie_, played in 1616.
And in a play of Killigrew’s, some thirty years later, the term
‘Abigail’ is used for a waiting-maid, when the back-stair influence and
supposed arts of Abigail Masham in the bedchamber of Queen Anne gave it
a sudden fall. Abigail turned into a cant term for a lady’s maid, and
thenceforth has been seldom heard even in a cottage.
Counter to his name was the course of the “Father of Peace.” He is
Abishalom, or Absalom in the narrative of his life, a history that one
would have thought entailed eternal discredit on the name; but it seems
that in the earlier Christian times of Denmark, as well as in some other
countries, a fashion prevailed, especially among the clergy, of
supplementing the native name with one of Scriptural or ecclesiastical
sound, and thus, about the middle of the twelfth century, Absalom was
adopted by a distinguished Danish bishop as the synonym of what
Professor Munch conjectures to have been his own name of Aslak (reward
of the gods), though Danish tradition has contracted it into Axel. This
last is a national Danish name, and it seems as if Absalom had been
popularly supposed to be the Latin for Axel; since, in a Latin letter of
1443, Olaf Axelsson is turned into Olaus Absalonis.
Before quitting this prefix Ab, it seems to be the place to remark upon
a name coming to us through the Tartar stock of languages, from the same
source—Ab. Ata, (father, the source of Atalik, fatherlike or paternal,)
is to the present day a title among the Usbeks of Bokhara. Thence that
regent of the Huns, the scourge of God, who spread terror to the gates
of Rome, would have been called Attalik among his own people, and thus
historians have written his name of terror Attila.
In the tales of the Nibelungen, the great Hun, whom Kriemhild marries
after the death of Siegfried, and at whose court the general slaughter
takes place, is called Etzel in the German poem, Atli in the Northern
saga, and this has generally been regarded as identifying him with
Attila and fixing the date of the poem; but the monarch of the Huns is
hospitable and civilized, with few features in common with the savage of
Roman history; and if Attalik were a permanent regal title among the
Huns, the chieftain may have been any other of the royal dynasty. His
occurrence in that favourite poem, sung alike by all the Teutonic race,
has rendered Atli very common from early times in the North as well as
Etzel in Germany. The Lombards took it to Italy, where it turned into
Eccelino, and in the person of the fierce mountain-lord, Eccelino di
Romagna, became as fearful as Attila had ever been to the Romans.
The verb to fight or to rule furnished both the names of the wife of
Abraham; Sarai (quarrelsome) was thus converted into Sarah (the
princess). If we may judge from the example of the bride of Tobias, the
daughters of Sarah were occasionally called by her name, and Zara has
been, with what correctness I know not, used as an eastern name.
Sarah now and then occurs in England, as with Sara Beauchamp, (_temp._
Ed. I.,) but I suspect that she as well as Sarrota de Multon, who lived
in the former reign, were alterations of some of the derivatives of the
Teutonic prefix _Sig_—victory, as the masculine Saher or Serlo certainly
came from Sigeheri. Sarah was never commonly used till after the
Reformation, when it began to grow very popular, with its contraction
Sally; and at the same time it was adopted as the equivalent for no less
than three Irish names—Sadhbh (pronounced Soyv), Sorcha (bright), and
Saraid (excellent). The two first are still in use; but Highlanders make
a still stranger use of Sarah, which they use to translate their native
More (great), perhaps in consequence of its meaning.
Elsewhere the name is occasionally used without the _h_ that our
biblical translators gave it. It is not, however, very popular, though
the French have used it enough to make it Sarotte; in Illyria its
diminutive is Sarica; in Lithuania it is Zore.[6]
When the first glad tidings of the Child of Promise were announced,
Sarah laughed for very joy and wonder, and Laughter (Yizchak) became the
name of her son; known in Greek as Ἰσαὰκ, in Latin and to the European
world as Isaac.
It was not revived among the early Jews; but, like Abraham, it was used
by the eastern Christians, and St. Isaac, bishop of Beth Seleucia, was
put to death with other Christian martyrs by Sapor II. of Persia.
Another eastern Isaac was a hermit at Spoleto, in the sixth century, and
Isaak has always been a favourite name in the Greek Church. Several of
the family of Comnenus, both at Constantinople and Trebizond, rendered
Isaak a royal name; and Isaak or Eisaak, whose feast falls on the 30th
of May, is the patron of the cathedral at Petersburg. The name is
frequently used in Russia and the other Greco-Slavonic countries, though
not much varied.
It had not much favour in the West, though it appears once in Domesday
Book, and occurs in the Cambray registers. Mr. Bardsley thinks that it,
with some other Patriarchal names, became familiar through Mystery
plays. But its chief popularity was after the Reformation, when it is
continually to be found among the Huguenots, and it seems to have passed
from them to other French families, since it is sometimes found in
pedigrees, and the noted de Sacy, a grandson of the Arnauld family, was
thus christened long after his forefathers had conformed to the Roman
Catholic Church.
With us Izaak, as our ancestors spelt it, is just so prevalent among us
as to have a recognized contraction, Ike or Ikey.
Isaac’s wife was called from _rabak_ (to bind). The word Ribkâ meant a
cord with a noose, and probably was given as conveying the firmness of
the marriage bond. The Septuagint and Latin gave Rebecca; the authorized
version Rebekah; and both spellings are adopted by those bearing the
name, who are generally called Becky.
Here too should be mentioned the faithful nurse of Rebekah, who was so
lamented that the tree beneath which she was buried was known as the oak
of weeping. Her name of Deborah came from a verb meaning to hum or buzz,
and signified a bee, or, in after times, eloquent.
Deborah found no favour as a name except among English Puritans, and has
acquired a certain amount of absurdity from various literary
associations, which prevent ‘Deb.’ from being used except by the
peasantry.
Of Rebekah’s two daughters-in-law, Rachel signified a ewe.
Dante made _l’antica Rachele_, with her beautiful eyes, the type of
heavenly contemplation, ever gazing at the mirror that reflected
heavenly glory; but her name was not popular, although the Manx
princess, otherwise called Affrica, assumed it upon her marriage with
Somerled, Lord of the Isles, somewhere about the eleventh century.
But Puritan days loved the sound of the word, and “that sweet saint who
sat by Russell’s side” has given it a place in many an English family.
Polish Jews call it Rahel; in which form it was borne by the
metaphysical lady who became the wife of Varnhagen von Ense.
┌──────────────┬──────────────┬──────────────┐
│ English. │ German. │ Bavarian. │
│Matthias │Matthæus │Mathies │
│Mathies │Matthew │Mahe │
│Mat │Matthes │Hies │
│ │Matthis │Hiesel │
│ │ │Mathe │
├──────────────┼──────────────┼──────────────┤
│ Swiss. │Swedish. │ Danish. │
│Mathias │Mathias │Mathias │
│Thies │Mats │Mads │
│Thiesli │ │ │
├──────────────┼──────────────┼──────────────┤
│ Friesland. │ French. │ Italian. │
│Matthies │Matthieu │Matteo │
│Hise │Macé │Maffeo │
│Hisse │ │Feo │
│ │ │Mattia │
├──────────────┼──────────────┼──────────────┤
│ Spanish. │ Russian. │ Polish. │
│Mateo │Matfei │Mateusz │
│ │Matvej │Maciei │
│ │ │Maciek │
│ │ │Matyas │
├──────────────┼──────────────┼──────────────┤
│ Hungarian. │ Slovak. │ Esthonian. │
│Matyas │Matevz │Maddis │
│Mate │Tevz │Mats │
│ │Mattija │ │
└──────────────┴──────────────┴──────────────┘
Rachel’s less beloved and less favoured sister had a name that came from
_lawah_ (hanging upon, dependence, or, as in her case it is explained,
weariness)—Leah, in French Lea, in Italian Lia, under which title Dante
makes her the emblem of active and fruitful, as is her sister of
meditative, love. It was from the same word that she named her third son
Levi, when she hoped that her husband would be more closely united or
dependent on her. Levi’s name was carried on into the Gospel times, and
belonged to the publican who was called from the receipt of custom to
become an Apostle and an Evangelist. His Aramean name was, however, that
by which he calls himself in his own narrative, or more correctly
speaking, by its Græcized form. The old Hebrew Mattaniah (gift of the
Lord) was probably the origin of both the names that we have in the
Greek Testament as Ματθαῖος and Ματθίας, Matthæus and Matthias as the
Latin renders them. Some, however, make the first mean a faithful man;
but it is not possible to distinguish between the various forms that
have risen out of the two among persons who, probably, had no idea that
the Apostle who supplied the place of Judas was a different person from
the Evangelist. The Emperor Charles V. was born on St. Matthias' day,
and the text “The lot fell on Matthias” was regarded as a good augury,
whence Matthias came into favour in Austria and its dependencies. The
name has been more popular in Germany and its dependencies. Matteo heads
the Milanese Visconti, who were mostly named after the Evangelists.
Apostolic names are particularly common in Bavaria, probably from the
once frequent representations of the Mystery of the Passion. In Germany,
SS. Matthew and Matthias have produced the surnames Matthies, Matys,
Thiess, and Thiessen, Latinized after a queer scholarly fashion into
Thysius.
SECTION III.—_Jacob._
The twin sons of Isaac and Rebekah were called from the circumstances of
their birth, Esau, the hairy, and Ja’akob, the latter word being derived
from _âkêb_, the heel, because in the words of the Prophet “he took his
brother by the heel in the womb.” This, the action of tripping up,
confirmed the mother’s faith in the previous prediction that “the elder
should serve the younger,” and thus that the younger should supplant the
elder. “Is he not rightly named Jacob, for he hath _supplanted_, me
these two times,” was accordingly the cry of Esau.
By the time of the return from Babylon we find two if not three persons
mentioned as bearing the name of Akkub, and that this was meant for
Jacob, is shown by its etymology; as it likewise means the supplanter,
by its likeness in sound to Yacoub, the form still current among the
Arabs, and by the fact that the Akkub, who in the book of Nehemiah
stands up with Ezra to read the law to the people, is in the book of
Esdras, written originally in Greek, called Ἰάκοβος (Jakobos).
So frequent was this Jakobos among the returned Jews that it occurs in
the royal genealogy in St. Matthew’s Gospel, and was borne by two of the
twelve apostles, by him called the Great, who was the first to be
martyred, and by him termed the Less, who ruled the Church at Jerusalem.
It is the Great Apostle, the son of Zebedee, who is the saint, in whose
honour most of those bearing this name in Europe have been christened. A
belief arose that he had preached the Gospel in Spain before his
martyrdom at Jerusalem; and though there was no doubt that the Holy City
was the place of his death, yet it was declared that his relics were
brought to Galicia in a marble ship without oar or sail, which arrived
at the port of Aria Flava, since called Patron. A little farther inland
arose what was at first termed in Latin the shrine of Sanctus Jacobus
Apostolus. Men’s tongues quickly turned this into Sancto Jacobo
Apostolo, and thence, confounding the title with the place, arrived at
Santo Jaco de Compostella, or Santiago de Compostella.
A further legend arose that in the battle of Clavijo with the Moors, the
spirits of the Christian Spaniards were revived by the sight of Santiago
mounted on a white steed, waving a white banner, and leading them on to
victory. Thenceforth Santiago became their war-cry, and the saint was
installed as a champion of Christendom. Subsequently no less than three
Spanish orders of knighthood were instituted in his honour, and his
shrine became one of the most universal places of pilgrimage in Europe,
more especially as the most marvellous fables of miracles were forged
thereat. His saintly title had become so incorporated with his name that
his votaries were in some perplexity where to separate them, and in
Castille his votaries were christened Tiago or Diego. Even as early as
the tenth century the Cid’s father was Don Diego de Bivar, and he
himself Don Rodrigo Diaz de Bivar, Diaz being the patronymic.
In 1207, Maria, Queen of Aragon, considering her infant son and heir to
have been granted at the especial intercession of the twelve apostles,
resolved to baptize him after one of their number, and impartially to
decide between them by naming twelve tapers after the apostles, and
calling the child after him whose candle burnt longest. Southey has
comically described the Queen’s agitations until the victorious candle
proved to be that of the great Saint of Galicia, whom Aragonese tongues
called Jayme. The child thus christened became the glory of his kingdom,
and was known as El Conquestador, leaving Jayme to be honourably borne
by Kings of Aragon, Majorca, and Sicily as long as his family remained
distinct. Giacopo Apostolo was the Italian version of the name, whence
they made their various Giacopo, Jacopo, Giacomo, Como, Iachimo, and
Iago according to their various dialects. Germany recurred to the
original Jakob; but the French coming home with their own variety talked
of Jiac Apostol, and named their children Jacques, or fondled them as
Jacquot and Jacqueminot. The great church of St. Jacques, at Liège,
spread the love of the name in Flanders as is testified by Jacob von
Arteveldt, the Brewer of Ghent; and so universal throughout France was
it, that Jacques Bonhomme became the nickname of the peasantry, and was
fearfully commemorated in the Jacquerie, the insurrection of which
English chroniclers supposed James Goodman to have been the leader. It
must have been when English and French were mingled together in the
camps of the Black Prince and Henry V. that Jack and Jock became
confounded together. Henry V. called the wild Jacqueline of Hainault,
Dame Jack. She, like his other Flemish sister-in-law, Jacquette of
Luxemburg, must have been named in honour of the saint of Liège. Edward
VI.’s nurse, whom Holbein drew by the soubriquet of Mother Jack, was
perhaps a Jacquette; Iacolyn and Jacomyn are also found in old
registers, but this feminine never took root anywhere but in France,
where Jacobée also occurs. James had found its way to Scotland ere the
birth of the Black Douglas, and was already a national name before it
was given to the second son of Robert III., in accordance with a vow of
the queen. This James was brought to the throne by the murder of his
brother David, Duke of Rothsay; and thus was the first of the royal
Stuarts, by whom it was invariably borne till the sixth of the line
hoped to avert the destiny of his race by choosing for his sons more
auspicious names. James and Jamie thus became great favourites in
Scotland, and came to England with the Stuarts. The name had indeed been
previously used, as by the brave Lord James Audley under Edward III.,
but not so frequently, and the old English form was actually Jeames.
Norden dedicates his _Survey of Cornwall_ to James I. as Jeames; and
Archbishop Laud so spells the word in his correspondence. In fact, Jemmy
and Jim are the natural offsprings of Jeames, as the word was pronounced
in the best society till the end of the last century. Then the gentry
spoke according to the spelling; Jeames held his ground among the lower
classes, and finally—thanks to _Jeames’s Diary_—has become one of the
stock terms of conventional wit; and in modern times Jacobina and
Jamesina were coined for female wear.
The Highlanders call the name Hamish; the Irish, Seumuis. In fact, its
variations are almost beyond enumeration. In Italy the full name has the
three varieties, Giacomo, Jacopo, Giacobbe, so no wonder the
abbreviations are Coppo and Lapo.
Due honour is paid in the Greek and Slavonic Church to both the
veritable apostles, but not to the mythical Santiago de Compostella,
whom we have traced as the root of all the Jameses of the West.
The great Jakobos, who appeared at the Council of Nicea, and gloriously
defended the city of Nisibis, handed on the apostolic name in the East;
and it has almost as many Greek and Slavonian variations as Latin and
Teutonic ones.
┌─────────────┬─────────────┬─────────────┬─────────────┬─────────────┐
│ English. │ Scotch. │ Erse. │ Gaelic. │ Dutch. │
│Jacob │James │Seumuis │Hamish │Jacob │
│James │Jamie │ │ │Jaap │
│Jem │ │ │ │ │
│Jemmy │ │ │ │ │
├─────────────┼─────────────┼─────────────┼─────────────┼─────────────┤
│ French. │ German. │ Swiss. │ Italian. │ Spanish. │
│Jacob │Jakob │Jakob │Jacopo │Jacobo │
│Jacques │Jackel │Bopp │Iachimo │Santiago │
│Jacquot │Jockel} Bav. │Jock │Giakobbe │Diego │
│Jacqueminot │Gaugl } │Jogg │Coppo │Yago │
│ │ │Jagli │Lapo │Jago │
│ │ │ │Jacobello │Jayme │
├─────────────┼─────────────┼─────────────┼─────────────┼─────────────┤
│ Portuguese. │ Russian. │ Polish. │ Lett. │ │
│Jayme │Jakov │Jakob │Jekups │ │
│ │Jascha │Kuba │Jeka │ │
│ │Jaschenka │Kub │Jezis │ │
│ │ │ │Kubischu │ │
└─────────────┴─────────────┴─────────────┴─────────────┴─────────────┘
The Russian nameday is the 30th of April, either for the sake of St.
James the Less, whose eve it is, or for that of a namesake who perished
in Numidia in the time of Valerian, and whose feast falls on that day.
Jakov gets called Jascha and Jaschenka, and his feminine Jacovina and
Zakelina. The Illyrians twist the masculine into Jakovica, and the
Lithuanians into Jeka or Kubinsch.[7]
-----
Footnote 4:
Books consulted:—Max Müller’s _Lectures on Language_; _Proper Names of
Scripture_; Smith’s _Dictionary of the Bible_.
Footnote 5:
Smith’s _Dictionary_; Michaelis, _Personen Namen_.
Footnote 6:
Books consulted:—_Proper Names of the Bible_; Le Beau’s _Histoire du
Bas Empire_; O'Donovan on _Irish Proper Names_; Michaelis, _Personen
Namen_.
Footnote 7:
Smith’s _Dictionary of the Bible_; Southey’s Poems; Jamieson’s _Sacred
and Legendary Art_; Butler; Michaelis; Pott; Brand’s _Popular
Antiquities_.
SECTION IV.—_Simeon._
Of the twelve sons of Jacob, four only have names of sufficient interest
to deserve individual notice, and among these, the first requiring
notice is Simeon, from _schama_, to hear.
Simeon’s name passed on to numerous Jews, and was very common in the
Gospel times, no less than five personages being so called, namely, the
aged man in the Temple, the son of Jonas, the other apostle called the
Zealot or the Canaanite, and the leper, besides the tanner of Joppa, and
the magician whose attempt to purchase spiritual gifts has given the
title of simony to sins of the same nature.
By this time, however, the Hebrew Simeon had been confounded with the
Greek Σῖμων (Simon), snub-nosed. St. James, in his discourse at
Jerusalem, called St. Peter ‘Simeon,’ and it would thus seem likely that
this was used as their true national name, and that Simon was a Græcism
used in intercourse with strangers, or in writing.
The anchorite who took that strangest freak of fanaticism, the perching
himself for life upon a column, is called both Simeon and Simon
Stylites, but the latter form has generally been the prevalent one, and
has belonged to numerous saints in both the Eastern and Western Church.
The Greek Church has both St. Seeméön on the 3rd of February, and St.
Ssimon on the 10th of May, and the Russian contractions are Ssemen and
Ssenka. The West, too, had sundry Simons of its own, besides those
common to all Christendom. We had a monastic St. Simon Stock, and though
the Christian name is now uncommon, it has left us many varieties of
surnames, as Simmonds, Simkins, Simpson, Simcoe, Sykes, etc., the
spelling but slightly varied. It was more used among the French
peasantry, and acquired the feminine Simonette. The Italian Simone was
not unfrequent, and has made the surname Simoncelli; the Portuguese had
Sima; the Spaniards, Ximon; and the Slavonians have the odd varieties of
the Polish Szymon, the Illyrian Simej, the Lusatian Schymanz.
It is the same word Schama that named the first of the prophets of
Israel. “Asked of God” is the import of Samuel, a name so endeared by
the beautiful history of the call to the child in the temple, that it
could not be quite forgotten. A Samuel, native of Palestine, who
perished in the persecution of Maximian, obtained a martyr’s place in
the calendar, and his name has been a favourite in the Eastern Church,
as Samuil, Samoilo, in Russia; Schombel in Lusatia; Zomelis in
Lithuania. The reading of the Holy Scriptures was, however, no doubt,
the cause of its use here and in Switzerland, since we scarcely find it
before the Reformation, though now Samuel is common in Switzerland, and
Sam here.[8]
-----
Footnote 8:
_Proper Names of the Bible_; Butler; Lower’s _English Surnames_;
Michaelis; Piot.
SECTION V.—_Judah._
In her exultation at having borne so many promising sons, Leah called
her fourth Jehudah (he will be praised); meaning brought forward by her
husband Jacob when, in his death-bed blessing of his sons, he exclaimed,
“Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise.”
Thus, too, it has been with the individual name of Judah. Unused before
the captivity, it was revived again after it, and carried to the highest
fame and popularity by the brave Maccabee, who newly founded Judea and
restored it, for a time, to freedom and honour. His surname is by some
derived from a word meaning the Hammerer, by others from Makkabi, formed
by initial letters of the motto on his standard, “Who among the gods is
like unto Thee, O Lord?” Judas Maccabeus, early as was his death, and
imperfect as was the deliverance of his country when he was slain, was
one of the chief heroes of the world, and occupied a far larger space in
the imagination of our mediæval ancestors than he does in ours. Not only
were the books of Maccabees considered as of equal authority with the
canonical Scriptures, but, before 1240, a French metrical romance had
recounted his exploits, and by Chaucer’s time Judas Maccabeus was ranked
among the nine worthies—the subject of many a ballad and chap-book.
But his name has never occurred! Frequent, indeed, it was among his own
countrymen after his time, but of them was that man who rendered it for
ever accursed.
Another apostle bore the same name, but this did not suffice to redeem
it, though altered into Jude to mark the distinction. The Saint had,
however, two Aramean names, Lebbæus, supposed to mean hearty, or else
from the town of Lebba, and Thaddæus, which is satisfactorily explained
as an Aramean form of the same word Praise, Græcized and Latinized of
course before it came to us.
It is not, however, popular. Italy has indeed used it a good deal as
Taddeo, and Spain knows it as Tadeo; but though Ireland swarms with
Thadys, who write themselves Thaddeus, this is only as a supposed
English version of their ancient Erse, Tadhg (a poet). The Slavonic
nations use it more than the West; it is a favourite Polish name, and
the Russians call it Phaddéi; and the Illyrians, Tadia. No name has been
so altered as Judah; it is Hodaiah after the captivity, and Abiud, or
rather Ab-jud, in St. Luke’s genealogy.
The feminine form of the name, Jehudith, or Judith, belonged primarily
to the Hittite wife of Esau, who was a grief of heart to Rebekah, but
its fame is owing to the heroine of Bethulia, whose name is, however,
said rather to mean a Jewess than to be exactly the feminine of Judah.
Indeed some commentators, bewildered by the difficulties of chronology,
have supposed the history to be a mere allegory in which she represents
the Jewish nation. However, on the uncritical mind of the eighth or
ninth century, her story made a deep impression, and a poem was in
circulation in Europe recording her adventurous deed, and mentioning
among the treasures of Holofernes' tent a mosquito net, whence the
learned argue that the narrative must have been derived from some
eastern source independent of the Apocryphal book.
At any rate, hers was the first name not belonging to their own language
that was borne by Teutonic ladies, and long preceded that of any saint.
Perhaps it was supposed to be the equivalent of the German Juthe from
Ganthe, war; at any rate Juditha, Jutha, or Jutta was in high favour at
the court of the Karling Kaisers, and came to England with the
step-mother, who gave the first impulse to our great Alfred’s love of
learning. Her subsequent marriage took it to Flanders, and we had it
back again with the niece of William the Conqueror, the wicked wife of
Waltheof, and afterwards of Simon de St. Lis. Her uncle cites her as a
witness to a charter by the familiar abbreviation of Jugge, which was
long used as the regular contraction, though Judy has since become more
usual, and is exceedingly common in Ireland.
Even French families gave their daughters the name of Judith, which
belonged to the gentle Comtesse de Bonneval. The Breton form is Juzeth;
and the Swiss ruthlessly turn it into Dith, but across the Alps it comes
forth more gracefully as Giuditta; and the Poles make it Jitka; the
Hungarians, Juczi or Jutka.
On the authority of Eusebius we venture to add a third to those who bore
the name of Judah in the apostolic college, namely, him whom we know by
the Aramaic and Greek epithets Thomas and Didymus, both meaning a twin.
Tradition declares that his fellow-twin was a sister called Lysia. India
is believed to have been the region of his labours and of his death; the
Christians there were called after him; and when, in the sixteenth
century, the Portuguese attained their object of reaching India by sea,
they thought they discovered his tomb at Meliapore, transported the
relics to Goa, and created San Tomàs or Tomè into their patron saint.
Long ere this, however, in every part of Europe had Thomas been revived
with other apostolic names, but its great prominence was derived from
the murdered Archbishop Becket, or St. Thomas of Canterbury. His shrine
at Canterbury was the English Compostella, visited by foreign as well as
native pilgrims, and the greater proportion of churches so termed were
under the invocation of the archbishop instead of the apostle, although
it is only by charter or by wake-day that the dedication can be traced,
since Henry VIII. did his utmost to de-canonize and destroy all
memorials of the bold prelate whom he would most certainly have beheaded
instead of assassinating. In Italy a martyr for ecclesiastical
prerogatives was certain to be in high repute; carvings, glass,
paintings, and even needlework still bear his history and figure, always
denoted by the clean cutting off of his scalp above the tonsure, and
Tomasso flourishes greatly as a Christian name, the Italians, as usual,
abbreviating by the omission of the first syllable instead of the last,
so that where we say Tom, they say Maso, and thence Masuccio, as we call
one of their earliest great painters. Tomasso Agnello was the true name
which, contracted into Masaniello, was the wonder of the day at Naples,
and made the Spanish power there totter on its throne.
The feminine Thomassine, Tamzine, and Tammie, are comparatively recent
inventions. They were frequent in the 17th century, and then went out of
fashion.
┌─────────────────────┬──────────────────┬─────────────────────┐
│ English. │ Scotch. │ French. │
│ Thomas │Thomas │Thomas │
│ Tom │Tam │Thumas │
│ _Fem._{ Thomassine│Tamlane │ │
│ { Tamzine │ │ │
├─────────────────────┼──────────────────┼─────────────────────┤
│ Spanish. │ Italian. │ Russian. │
│ Tomas │Tomaso │ Foma │
│ Tome │Maso │ _Fem._— Fomaida │
│ _Fem._— Tomasa │Masuccio │ │
│ │Masaccio │ │
├─────────────────────┼──────────────────┼─────────────────────┤
│ German. │ Polish. │ Lower Lusatian. │
│ Thoma │Tomasz │Domas │
│ _Fem._— Thomasia │ │Domask │
├─────────────────────┼──────────────────┼─────────────────────┤
│ Lithuanian. │ Hungarian. │ Finland. │
│Tamkus │Tamas │Tuomas │
│Tamoszus │ │ │
│Dummas │ │ │
└─────────────────────┴──────────────────┴─────────────────────┘
Thomas is the accepted equivalent for the Irish Tomalhaid, Tomaltach,
and Toirdelvach, tall as a tower.
SECTION VI.—_Joseph._
When, after long waiting and hoping, a son was at length granted to
Rachel, she called him Joseph from a word signifying an addition,
because she hoped that yet another child would be added to her family.
Joseph, beloved and honoured as he was for his own beautiful character
and eventful history, has perhaps at the present day the greater number
of direct namesakes among the Arabs, who still are frequently called
Yussuf.
Only two Josephs occur again in the Scripture before the captivity in
Babylon, but afterwards they were exceedingly numerous, and in the
Gospel history two remarkable characters are so named, as well as three
others whom we know by the Græcized form of the name as Joses, _i. e._ a
fourth brother of the royal family of James, Simon, and Jude; he who was
usually called by his surname of Barnabas, and he who was also called
Barsabas, whose lot was cast with that of Matthias. The Latinized form
we know as the name of the historian Flavius Josephus. Legend loved to
narrate that Joseph of Arimathea brought the Gospel to England, and that
his staff was the Christmas-flowering thorn of Glastonbury; nay, that he
carried thither the Sanegreal and the holy lance, the mystic objects of
the adventures of the Round Table.
Yet, in spite of the reputation of this holy man, and of the universal
reverence for ‘the just man’ of Nazareth, Joseph was scarcely used as a
name in Europe till in 1621 a festival day was fixed by the pope in
honour of St. Joseph, the husband of the Blessed Virgin.
Therewith an enthusiasm broke forth in Roman Catholic Europe for the
name. All the world in Italy began to call itself Giuseppe or Gioseffo;
or for short, Peppo and Beppo have swarmed ever since in every village.
Spain delighted in Josef or Jose, and the more devout in Jose Maria,
with Pepe or Pepito for the contraction; Pepita for the Josefa, who, of
course, arose at the same time, these becoming the most common of all
Peninsular names.
Not to be behindhand in devotion, the Emperor Leopold christened his son
Joseph, and thus recommended it to all his subjects; and, perhaps, the
Tyrol is the greatest of all the strongholds of the Josephs, the name
being there called by its last syllable in all endearing varieties,
Sepp, Sepperl, &c.; while the Swiss, on the other side, have Sipp and
Sippli. Maria Josepha was a daughter of Maria Theresa, and these two are
seldom separated in Germany, Italy, or France; but as Maria forms part
of the name of every Roman Catholic woman, and of most men, the second
name is the one for use. Marie Josephe Rose was the Christian name of
her whom we know and pity as the Empress Josephine, and to whom it is
owing that France was once full of young ladies usually called Fifine or
Finette; while the rougher damsels of Lucerne are content to be Boppi in
familiar life.
The Slavonians use the varieties Josko and Joska; the Letts turn the
name into Jaschis or Jeps. It is in fact broken into as many odd
contractions as it can possibly undergo. It is Joseef or Oseep in
Russia.
England having freed herself from Roman Catholic influence before this
mighty crop of Josephs sprang up, merely regarded the name as one of the
Scripture names chiefly used by Puritans, although Joseph Addison has
given it distinction in literature; and there Joe is of uncertain
origin, as it is as often the contraction of Josiah or Joshua as of
Joseph. In some parts of England, Joseph and Mary are considered
appropriate to twins. Josephine is with us a mere introduction from the
French.
Joseph, or Joses, as he was called since, coming from Cyprus—he was one
of the Hellenistic Jews—is best known to us under his surname of
Barnabas, which St. Luke explains from the Aramaic as υἱος παρακλησέος
(uios parakleseos), the son of comfort, a word which bears different
interpretations, since comfort may be either exhortation or consolation;
and it is in the latter sense that St. Chrysostom and our translators
have understood the word, though there are many who prefer the other
meaning.
Barnabas has not been a very common name, though, with an apostle for
its origin, it could not fail to be everywhere known; but it was never
royal; and the only historical character so called, Bernabo Visconti,
was enough to give any name an evil odour. We make it Barnaby when we do
use it, the Irish call it Barney and confuse it with Brian, and the
Russians call it Varnava. One Barnabas Hutchinson, proctor of the
chapter of Durham, who died in 1633, is thus commemorated in his
epitaph:—
“Under this thorne tree
Lies honest Barnabee.”[9]
Joseph had named his two sons Manasseh (forgetting), because he said,
“God hath made me _forget_ all my toil,” and Ephraim (twofold increase).
The first was early adopted by the Israelites; we find it belonging to
the son of Hezekiah, and to the father of Judith, and, to our amazement,
to a mediæval knight, whose friends may perhaps have brought it from the
Crusades. Two early bishops of Cambrai bore the name of Manassès, and
there is one among the under-tenants in Domesday Book. In Ireland, the
name of Manus, a corruption of Magnus, derived from the Northmen who
invented it, is turned into Manasses.
Ephraim, like other patriarchal names, lived on in Mesopotamia; and St.
Ephrem of Edessa, who lived in the beginning of the fourth century, is
esteemed as a doctor of the Church, and is the name-saint of numerous
Russians, who keep his day on the 28th of January, though the Roman
Church marks it in July.[10]
-----
Footnote 9:
Kitto’s _Biblical Cyclopædia_; Trollope’s _Greek Testament_;
Michaelis.
Footnote 10:
_Proper Names of the Bible_; Michaelis; O'Donovan’s _Irish Names_.
SECTION VII.—_Benjamin._
When the long-desired ‘addition,’ the second son, was given to Rachel,
and in the words of Jacob she “died by him when there was but a little
way to come to Ephrath,” she called the infant who had cost her life
Ben-oni (son of my sorrow); but this was changed by his father into
Ben-Yamin (son of my right hand, _i. e._ prosperous).
In spite of Rare Ben Jonson, Benjamin is an essentially Puritan and
Jewish name; such a feminine as Benjamina has even been perpetrated.
Oddly enough the Bretons call Benjamin Benoni.
Benoni, “the child of sorrow,” and Ichabod, “the glory is departed,”
were so frequent among the Puritans of the time of James I. that Mr.
Bardsley thinks that they could not have been so much allusions to
family distress as to the afflictions of the Puritan sect. Benoni occurs
in the rate of six to one compared with Benjamin in the registers of the
period.
Afterwards the place of Ben was taken by the Syriac Bar, the earliest
instance being that of old Barzillai, the Gileadite, whose name
signified the son of iron. It seems as though under the Herodean kingdom
the custom was coming in that forms the first surnames, that of calling
the son by his patronymic almost in preference to his own individual
appellation, and thus arose some of the double titles that confuse us as
to the identity of the earlier saints. Thus, the “Israelite without
guile,” is first introduced as Nathanael, the same as the ancient
Nethaneel, captain of the tribe of Issachar, and meaning the gift of
God, being compounded of the Divine Word and nathan (a gift). Nathan was
the name of the prophet who rebuked David, and of the son whose
descendants seem to have taken the place of the royal line. Elnathan
occurs as father to the wife of one of the kings, and Jonathan has
exactly the same meaning, the gift of God. In the list of apostles,
Nathanael is called by his patronymic Bartholomaios, as it stands in the
Greek, and Tholomaios is referred to Talmai (furrows), which occurs in
the list of the sons of Anak, and also as belonging to the King of
Geshur, Absalom’s grandfather.
In the uncertainty whether it was really the apostle, Nathanael was left
unused until those English took it up, by whom it was made into Nat.
The other form, though not popular, is of all nations, and from its
unwieldy length has endless contractions, perhaps the larger number
being German, since it is most common in that central Teutonic land.
┌────────────────┬────────────────┬────────────────┬────────────────┐
│ English. │ German. │ Dutch. │ Swiss. │
│Bartholomew │Bartholomaus │Bartelmês │Bartleme │
│Bart │Bertel │ │Bartli │
│Bartley │Barthol │ │ │
│Bat │Mewes │ │ │
│ │Bartold │ │ │
├────────────────┼────────────────┼────────────────┼────────────────┤
│ Bavarian. │ French. │ Danish. │ Spanish. │
│Bartlmê │Bartholomieu │Bartholomeuis │Bartolome │
│Bartl │Bartolomée │Bartel │Bartolo │
│Wawel │Tolomieu │Bardo │ │
│Wabel │ │ │ │
│Wabm │ │ │ │
├────────────────┼────────────────┼────────────────┼────────────────┤
│ Portuguese. │ Italian. │ Russian. │ Polish. │
│Bartolomeu │Bartolomeo │Varfolomei │Bartlomiej │
│Bartolomeo │Bortolo │ │Bartek │
│Bortolo │ │ │ │
│Meo │ │ │ │
├────────────────┼────────────────┼────────────────┼────────────────┤
│ Illyrian. │ Lusatian │ Esthonian │ Lithuanian │
│Bartuo │Bartolik │Partel │Baltras │
│Barteo │Barto │Pert │Baltramejus │
│Jernij │Batram │ │ │
│Vratolomije │ │ │ │
└────────────────┴────────────────┴────────────────┴────────────────┘
SECTION VIII.—_Job._
We must not quit the patriarchal names without mentioning that of Job.
This mysterious person is stated in the margin of the Alexandrian
version to have originally borne the name of Jobab, which means
shouting; and a tradition of the Jews, adopted by some of the Christian
fathers, makes him the same as the Jobab, prince of Edom, mentioned in
the genealogy in the 33rd chapter of Genesis, a supposition according
with his evident position as a great desert sheik, as well as with the
early date of his history.
Job, however, as he is called throughout his book, is explained by some
to mean persecuted; by others a penitent; and it is evident from a
passage in the Koran that this was the way that Mahommed understood it.
The tradition of his sufferings lived on among the Arabs, who have many
stories about Eyub, or Ayoub, as they pronounce the name still common
among them, and their nickname for the patient camel is Abi Ayub, father
of Job.
Jöv, probably from their eastern connections, is a name used by the
Russians, and has belonged to one of their patriarchs. Otherwise it is a
very infrequent name even in England.
Job’s three daughters, Jemima, Kezia, and Kerenhappuch, are explained to
mean a dove, cassia, and a horn of stibium. This latter is the paint
with which eastern ladies were wont to enhance the beauty of their
eyelashes, and it is curious to find this little artifice so ancient and
so highly esteemed as to give the very name to the fair daughter of the
restored patriarch, perhaps because her eyes were too lovely to need any
such adornment. Hers has never been a popular name, only being given
sometimes to follow up those of her sisters; Kezia is a good deal used
in England, and belonged to a sister of Wesley, who was called Kissy;
but Jemima is by far the most general of the three.
The Hebrew interpretation of Jemima makes it a day, but the Arabic word
for a dove resembles it more closely, and critics, therefore, prefer to
consider it as the Arab feminine version of that which the Israelites
had among them as Jonah (a dove). This belonged to the prophet of
Nineveh. It is not usual in Europe, but strangely enough the Lithuanians
use it as Jonsazus, and the Lapps as Jonka.
What strange fancy can have made Mehetabel, the wife of one of the
princes of Edom, leave her four syllables to be popular in England? Many
village registers all over the country show it. Was it a remnant of the
East in Cornwall, or did Puritans choose it for its meaning, God is
beneficent? It was at Jarrow as early as 1578.
Tamar, a palm tree, it may here be mentioned, has continued common among
eastern Christians, especially since a distinguished Armenian queen was
so called. Now and then very great lovers of biblical names in England
give it, and likewise Dinah (judgment).[11]
-----
Footnote 11:
Smith’s _Dictionary of the Bible_; Kitto’s _Biblical Cycloædia_;
_Proper Names of the Bible_.
CHAPTER III.
ISRAELITE NAMES.
SECTION I.—_Moses and Aaron._
At the time of the Exodus, the Israelites had become a nation, and their
names, though still formed from a living language, were becoming more
hereditary and conventional than those of the patriarchal times.
That of Moses himself, interpreted by the Scripture as meaning drawn out
of the water, belongs rather to the Egyptian than to the Hebrew
language. It probably came from the Coptic _mo_, water, and _usha_,
saved; though the Hebrew, _mâshâh_, also presents a ready derivation:
the great Law-giver. It has never been forgotten in the East, where the
Arabs in the desert point out Gebel Mousa, the rock of Moses, whence
they say the water flowed, and Wady Mousa, the vale of Moses. Mousa is a
frequent name among the Arabs to this day, and among the gallant Moors
of Granada, none stands so prominently forward in the noble rivalry of
Abencerrages and Zegris as does the champion Muza.
Moses was unused by the Jews while they continued a nation, but has been
very common in their dispersion, and in Poland has come to be pronounced
Mojzesz. The frequent Jewish surname Moss is taken from one of these
continental corruptions of the name of the great Law-giver. In Ireland
the name Magsheesh has been adopted by the inhabitants as an imitation
of Moses; but no form of Moses is used elsewhere, except as a direct
Scripture name.
The name of Thermuthis has been found on a tombstone, given apparently
in honour of Pharaoh’s daughter, whom Josephus thus denominates.
Aaron’s name is in like manner considered to be Egyptian, and the
meaning is very doubtful, though it is commonly explained as a high
mountain.
Aaron seems to have been assumed as a name by some of our old British
Christians, or else it was accepted as an equivalent for something
Keltic, for Aaron and Julius were among our very few British martyrs
under Diocletian’s persecution, and a later Aaron was an abbot in
Brittany; but it has never been a name in use.[12]
The sister of Moses and Aaron, who led the songs of the Israelites when
they saw their enemies dead upon the sea-shore, was the first owner of
that name which was to be the most highly honoured among those of women.
Yet it is a name respecting which there is great contention. Gesenius
derives it from _Merî_ (stubbornness), with the addition of the third
person plural, so as to make it mean their rebellion. Other commentators
refer it to the word _Marah_ (bitterness), and thence the bitter gum,
myrrh, the same term that was applied to the brackish springs in the
desert, and to which the desolate widow of Bethlehem declared her right,
when she cried, “Call me not Naomi (pleasant), call me Marah (bitter).”
This is on the whole the most satisfactory derivation, but in the middle
ages it was explained as Myrrh of the Sea, Lady of the Sea, or Star of
the Sea, the likeness to the Latin, Keltic, and Teutonic _mar_ being
probably the guide. Star of the Sea is the favourite explanation among
Roman Catholics, as the loftiest and most poetical, and it is referred
to in many of their hymns and other devotional compositions.
Miriam does not seem to have been repeated until after the captivity,
when it took the Greek forms of Mariam and Mariamne, and became very
frequent among Jewish women, probably in the expectation of the new
deliverance from the bondage that galled them like that of Egypt of old.
It was the name of the Asmonean princess in whom the brave Maccabean
line was extinguished by Herod the Great; it belonged to three if not to
four of the women of the Gospel; and we find it again marking the
miserable being who is cited as having fulfilled the most terrible of
all the woes denounced by Moses upon the daughters of Jerusalem.
The name of Mariam continued in the East, but was very slow in creeping
into the Western Church, though not only the Blessed Virgin herself had
borne it, but two very popular saints, namely, the Magdalen, and the
Penitent of Egypt, whose legends were both current at a very early
period.
The first Maria whom I can find of undoubted western birth was a Spanish
maiden, who was martyred by the Moors at Cordova in 851. Michaelis tells
us that the old Spanish name of Urraca is the same as Maria, but this
can hardly be true.
It seems to have been the devotion of the Crusaders that first brought
Maria into Europe, for we find the first instances about the middle of
the twelfth century all at once; Maria of Antioch, a Crusader’s
daughter, who married the Emperor Manuel Comnenus; her daughter, Maria
Comnena, married to the Marquis of Montferrat; Marie, the daughter of
Louis VII. of France, and our Eleanor of Guienne, named probably during
their Crusader’s fervour; then Marie, the translator of the Breton
legends for Henry III.; Marie, the nun daughter of Edward I., and at the
same time Marie all over the western world.
Probably the addition of the German diminutive _chen_, in French _on_,
formed the name of
“A bonny fine maid of noble degree,
Maid Marion called by name.”
Very soon had her fame travelled abroad, for in 1332 the play of _Robin
et Marion_ was performed by the students of Angers, one of them
appearing as a _fillette déguisée_. The origin of _Marionettes_, puppets
disguised to play the part of Maid Marion, is thus explained. They may,
however, have received their name from the habit of calling small images
of the Blessed Virgin Mariettes, or Marionettes. Several streets of old
Paris, in which were such images, were called Rue des Mariettes, or
later, Rue des Marionettes. All puppets there came to be called
Mariettes and Marmousets; and two streets of Paris were down to the last
century called Rue des Marmousets. Henri Etienne says: “Never did the
Egyptians take such cruel vengeance for the murder of their cats, as has
been wreaked in our days on those who had mutilated some Marmouset or
Marionette.” Even the bauble of a licensed fool was a Marotte, from the
little head at its point, and the supernatural dolls of sorcerers, in
the form of toads or apes, were described as Marionettes in an account
of a trial for witchcraft in 1600. The term Marmoset passed to the
daintiest and most elegant of the monkey tribe, by which it is now
monopolized. Marion became a common name in France, and contracted into
Manon, and expanded into Marionette, as in a poem of the 13th century
where Marion is thus addressed; and in Scotland, where “Maid Marion,
fair as ivory bone,” likewise figured in rustic pageantry, she took a
stronger hold than anywhere else, is in common life yclept Menie, and
has escaped her usual fate of confusion with Marianne. With us, the
Blessed Virgin’s name, having come through the French, was spelt in
their fashion till the translation of the Bible made our national Mary
familiar. Mary II. was the first of our queens who dropped the _ie_. The
chief contractions and endearments are as follows:—
┌────────────────┬────────────────┬────────────────┬────────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ Italian. │ Spanish. │
│Maria │Marie │Maria │Marïa │
│Mary │Marion │Marietta │Marinha │
│Marion │Manon │Mariuccia │Mariquinhas │
│Moll │Maion │ │Mariquita │
│Molly │Mariette │ │Maritornes │
│Polly │Maillard │ │ │
│Malkin │ (Cambrai) │ │ │
│Mawkes │ │ │ │
│Mawkin │ │ │ │
│May[13] │ │ │ │
├────────────────┼────────────────┼────────────────┼────────────────┤
│ Keltic. │ Swedish. │ Bavarian. │ Swiss. │
│Mair (W.) │Maria │Marie │Marie │
│Moissey (Manx) │Maria │Mariel │Mareili │
│Mari (Ir.) │ │Mariedel │Maga │
│ │ │Marei │Maieli │
│ │ │Mareiel │Mija │
│ │ │Marl │Mieli │
│ │ │Medal │ │
│ │ │Miel │ │
├────────────────┼────────────────┼────────────────┼────────────────┤
│ Dutch. │ Russian. │ Polish. │ Illyrian. │
│Maria │Marija │Mary │Maria │
│Marieke │Maika │Marysia │Marica │
│Mike │Mascha │Marynia │Millica │
│ │Mashinka │ │ │
├────────────────┼────────────────┼────────────────┼────────────────┤
│ Lusatian. │ Esthonian. │ Lapland. │ Hungarian. │
│Mara │Marri │Marja │Maria │
│Maruscha │Mai │ │Mari │
│ │Maie │ │Marka │
└────────────────┴────────────────┴────────────────┴────────────────┘
Our Latin Maria is a late introduction, brought in by that taste which
in the last century made everything feminine end with an a.
It is only during the last three centuries that Maria has reigned
supreme in Roman Catholic countries, marking the exaggerated devotion
paid to the original. Indeed, the Italian proverb, answering to the
needle in a bottle of hay, is “_Cercar Maria in Ravenna_,” so numerous
are the Marias there. Even in Ireland there were few Marys till
comparatively recent times; but now the Môr that in some parts of the
island was translated by Sarah, is changed into Mary.
Since Marys have been thus multiplied, the attributes of the first Mary
have been adopted into the Christian name, and used to distinguish their
bearer. The earliest and best of these was the Italian Maria Annunciata,
or Annunziata, contracted into Nunziata; and followed up in Spain by
Maria Anonciada; and in France, by Marie Annonciade. Soon there followed
Maria Assunta, in honour of her supposed assumption bodily into glory,
but this never flourished beyond Italy, Spain, and her colonies.
France has Marie des Anges, at least as a conventual appellation; as in
Spain the votaress of the merciful interceding patroness is called Maria
de Mercedes; and she whose parents were mindful of the Seven Sorrows
supposed to have pierced the heart of the Holy Mother, would choose for
their child Maria de Dolores. There was a legend that Santiago had seen
a vision of the Blessed Virgin standing on a pillar of jasper and
bidding him found at Zaragoza the church thence called Nuestra Señora
del Pilar, whence, in Spain at least, Pilar has become a female name, as
Guadalupe has likewise in honour of a miraculous image of St. Mary,
preserved in the church of the mountain once covered with hermitages.
Moreover, a district in Mexico, formerly called Tlaltelolco, contained a
temple to a favourite goddess of the Aztec race. After the Spanish
conquest, the same site became the scene of a vision of Nuestra Señora,
who appeared to a Christian Indian, and intimated that a church was
there to be built in her honour. As a token of the reality of the
vision, roses burst forth on the bare rock of the Tepeyac, and it
further appeared impressed with a miraculous painting, which has been
the great subject of adoration from the Mexicans ever since. Guadalupe,
a free translation into Spanish of the native name of Tlaltelolco, has
been ever since a favourite name with the damsels of Mexico, and is even
adopted by such of the other sex as regard the shrine with special
veneration. Maria del Incarnaçion is also Spanish. An English gipsy
woman lately said ‘Carnation’ was her daughter’s name, and had been her
grandmother’s. Was it from this source?
As queen of heaven, Maria has votaries, called in Italy Regina or Reina.
The latter was frequent in early times at Florence. In France we find
Reine and Reinette, and Regina is a favourite in some parts of Germany,
where it has been confused with the derivatives of the old Teutonic
Ragin, Council.
Since the promulgation of the new dogma, young ladies in Spain have been
called Maria de la Concepcion; in Italy, Concetta. Surely the
superstition of these races is recorded in their names. The custom of
adding Maria to a man’s name seems to have begun in Italy about 1360,
and now most individuals in Italy, and probably likewise in Spain, as
well as in the more devout French families, bear the name of Maria; and
the old Latin Marius and Virginius, though entirely unconnected except
by the sound, have been pressed into the service, and made to do duty as
Mario and Virginio in her honour.
Perhaps the Jews had in some degree adopted the Roman fashion of similar
names in a family, since the sister of the Blessed Virgin bears the same
as her own, and there is a great similarity between those of the sisters
of Bethany, which both probably come from _mara_ (bitter), although some
deduce Martha from the Aramean _mar_ (a lord), which we often hear as
the title of Syrian bishops, as Mar Elias, &c.
Even the earliest writers on the Gospels were at a loss whether to
identify the meek contemplative Mary of Bethany, by the woman that was a
sinner, who is recorded as performing the same act of devotion, and with
Mary Magdalen, once possessed by seven devils and afterwards first
witness of the Resurrection. While inquiry was cautious, legend was
bold, and threw the three into one without the slightest doubt, going on
undoubtingly to narrate the vain and sinful career of Mary Magdalen,
describing her luxury, her robes, and in especial her embroidered gloves
and flowing hair, and all the efforts of Martha to convert her, until
her final repentance. The story proceeded to relate how the whole family
set out on a mission to Provence, where Martha, by holding up the cross,
demolished a terrific dragon; and Mary, after having aided in converting
the country, retired to a frightful desert with a skull for her only
companion.
It is this legendary Magdalen, whom painters loved to portray in all her
dishevelled grief.
The word itself is believed to be a mere adjective of place, meaning
that she came from Magdala, which, in its turn, means a tower or castle,
and is represented by the little village of Mejdel, on the lake of
Tiberias, so that her proper designation would be Mary of Magdala, _i.
e._ of the tower, probably to distinguish her from Mary of Bethany with
whom she is confounded.
It is curious to observe how infinitely more popular her name has been
than her sister’s, _i. e._ accepting the mediæval belief that they
_were_ sisters. The Marfa of Russia is of course like the English
Martha, Matty, Patty, the true housewifely Martha, independent of the
legend of the dragon, and has there been a royal name occurring
frequently among the daughters of the earlier Tzars; and the Martha used
in Ireland is only as an equivalent for the native Erse Meabhdh, Meave,
or Mab, once a great Irish princess, who has since become the queen of
the fairies. Martha used also to be used for Mor. But the Marthe and
Marthon of the south of France, and the rarer Marta of Italy and Spain,
were all from the Provençal dragon-slayer, and as to the popularity of
Magdalen, the contractions in the following table will best prove it:
┌────────────────┬────────────────┬────────────────┬────────────────┐
│ English. │ German. │ Swiss. │ Danish. │
│Magdalene │Magdalene │Magdalene │Magdelene │
│Maudlin │Madlen │ │Malin │
│Maun │Lene │Leli │Magli │
│Madeline │Lenchen │ │Mali │
├────────────────┼────────────────┼────────────────┼────────────────┤
│ Italian. │ French. │ Polish. │ Servian. │
│Maddalena │Magdelaine │Magdelina │Mandelina │
│ —————————— │Mazaline—_old_ │Magdusia │Manda │
│ Spanish. │Madeleine │Magdosia │ │
│Magdalena │Madelon │Madde │ │
│Madelena │ │ │ │
├────────────────┼────────────────┼────────────────┼────────────────┤
│ Lusatian. │ Esthonian. │ Ung. │ Lettish. │
│Madlena │Madli │Magdalena │Madlene │
│Marlena │Mai │Magdolna │Maddalene │
│Marlenka │Male │ │Madde │
│Madlenka │ │ │ │
└────────────────┴────────────────┴────────────────┴────────────────┘
The penitent Mary of Egypt has had her special votaresses. Maria
Egyptiaca was a princess of Oettingen in 1666.[14]
-----
Footnote 12:
_Proper Names of the Bible_; Liddell and Scott’s _Greek Lexicon_;
Butler’s _Lives of the Saints_; Dean Stanley.
Footnote 13:
Marriott occurs in a Cornish register as a feminine in 1666.
Footnote 14:
Smith’s _Dictionary of the Bible_; Michaelis; Jameson’s _Legends of
the Madonna_; _Sacred and Legendary Art_; _Romancero del Cid_;
Warton’s _History of Poetry_; Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_; O'Donovan,
_On Irish Names_; _Festivals and their Household Words_; _Christian
Remembrancer_; Mme. Calderon de la Borca, _Mexico_.
SECTION II.—_Elisheba, &c._
The names of the wife and son of Aaron bring us to a style of
nomenclature that was very frequent among the Israelites at the period
of the Exodus, and had begun even earlier. This was the habit of making
the name contain a dedication to the Deity, by beginning or ending it
with a word of Divine signification.
The Divine title known to man before the special revelation to Moses in
the burning bush, was the Hebrew word El, in the plural Elohim, which
corresponds to our term Deity or God-head. It was by a derivative from
this word that Jacob called the spot where he beheld the angels, Beth El
(the House of God), and again the place where he built an altar, El
Elohe Israel (the God of Israel), as indeed his own name of Israel meant
prevailing with God.
This termination is to be found in the names of several of his
grandsons; but we will only in the present section review the class of
names where it serves as a prefix.
The first of all of these is Eliezer (God of help), the name of
Abraham’s steward who went to bring home Rebecca, and again of the
second son of Moses. A very slight change, indicated in our version by
the change of the vowels, made it Eleazar, or God will help, the name of
Aaron’s eldest surviving son, the second high priest. Both continued
frequent among the Jews before the captivity, and after it the
distinction between them was not observed, though Eleazar was in high
repute as having belonged to the venerable martyr in the Antiochian
persecution, as well as to the brave Maccabee, who perished under the
weight of the elephant he had stabbed.
In the Gospels, Eleazar has become Lazarus, and in this form is bestowed
upon the beggar of the parable, as well as on him who was raised from
the dead. It is curious to observe the countries where it has been in
use. The true old form once comes to light in the earlier middle age as
St. Elzéar, the Comte de St. Sabran, who became a devotee of St.
Francis, and has had a scanty supply of local namesakes. The beggar’s
name has been frequently adopted in Spain as Lazaro or Lazarillo; Italy
has many a Lazzaro; Poland, shows Lazarz; Russia, Lasar; Illyria, Lazo
and Laze.
Aaron’s wife was Elischeba, meaning God hath sworn, _i. e._ an appeal to
his covenant. It recurred again in the priestly family in the Gospel
period, and had become, in its Greek form, Ελισαβετ; in Latin,
Elisabeth.
The mother of the Baptist was not canonized in the West, though, I
believe, she was so in the East, for there arose her first historical
namesake, the Muscovite princess Elisavetta, the daughter of Jaroslav,
and the object of the romantic love of that splendid poet and sea-king,
Harald Hardràda, of Norway, who sung nineteen songs of his own
composition in her praise on his way to her from Constantinople, and won
her hand by feats of prowess. Although she soon died, her name remained
in the northern peninsula, and figures in many a popular tale and Danish
ballad, as Elsebin, Lisbet, or Helsa. It was the Slavonic nations,
however, who first brought it into use, and from them it crept into
Germany, and thence to the Low Countries.
Elisabeth of Hainault, on her marriage with Philippe Auguste, seems to
have been the first to suffer the transmutation into Isabelle, the
French being the nation of all others who delighted to bring everything
into conformity with their own pronunciation. The royal name thus
introduced became popular among the crown vassals, and Isabelle of
Angoulême, betrothed to Hugues de Lusignan, but married to King John,
brought Isabel to England, whence her daughter, the wife of Friedrich
II., conveyed Isabella to Germany and Sicily. Meantime the lovely
character of Elisabeth of Hungary—or Erzsebet as she is called in her
native country—earned saintly honours, and caused the genuine form to be
extremely popular in all parts of Germany. Her namesake great-niece was,
however, in Aragon turned into Isabel, and when married into Portugal,
received the surname of De la Paz, because of her gentle, peace-making
nature. She was canonized; and Isabel, or Ysabel, as it is now the
fashion to spell it in Spain, has ever since been the chief feminine
royal name in the Peninsula, and was rendered especially glorious and
beloved by Isabel the Catholic.
In the French royal family it was much used during the middle ages, and
sent us no fewer than two specimens, namely, the ‘She-Wolf of France,’
and the child-queen of Richard II.; but though used by the Plantagenets
and their nobility, it took no hold of the English taste; and it was
only across the Scottish border that Isobel or Isbel, probably learned
from French allies, became popular, insomuch that its contraction,
Tibbie, has been from time immemorial one of the commonest of all
peasant names in the Lowlands. The wicked and selfish wife of Charles
VI. of France was always called Isabeau, probably from some forgotten
Bavarian contraction; but she brought her appellation into disrepute,
and it has since her time become much more infrequent in France.
The fine old English ballad that makes ‘pretty Bessee’ the granddaughter
of Simon de Montfort is premature in its nomenclature; for the first
Bess on record is Elizabeth Woodville, whose mother, Jacquetta of
Luxemburg, no doubt imported it from Flanders. Shakespeare always makes
Edward IV. call her Bess; and her daughter Elizabeth of York is the lady
Bessee of the curious verses recording the political courtship of Henry
of Richmond. Thence came the name of Good Queen Bess, the most popular
and homely of all borne by English women, so that, while in the last
century a third at least of the court damsels were addressed as ‘Lady
Betty,’ it so abounded in villages that the old riddle arose out of the
contractions.
During the anti-Spanish alliance between England and France, Edward VI.
was sponsor to a child of Henri II., who received the Tudor name of
Elisabeth, but could not become the wife of Philip II., without turning
into Isabel; indeed, the Italian Elisabetta Farnese—a determined
personage—was the only lady who seems to have avoided this
transformation.
Poetry did not improve our Queen Elizabeth by making her into Eliza, a
form which, however, became so prevalent in England during the early
part of the present century, that Eliza and Elizabeth are sometimes to
be found in the same family. No name has so many varieties of
contraction, as will be seen by the ensuing list, where, in deference to
modern usage, Elizabeth is placed separately from Isabella.
┌────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┐
│ English. │ Scotch. │ German. │ Bavarian. │ Swiss. │
│Elizabeth │Elizabeth │Elisabeth │Lisi │Elsbeth │
│Eliza │Elspeth │Elise │Liserl │Betha │
│Bessy │Elspie │Lise │ │Bebba │
│Betsey │Bessie │Lischen │ │Bebbeli │
│Betty │Lizzie │Elsabet │ │ │
│Lizzy │ │Elsbet │ │ │
│Libby │ │Bettine │ │ │
│Lisa │ │Bette │ │ │
│ │ │Ilse │ │ │
├────────────┼────────────┼────────────┼────────────┼────────────┤
│ Danish. │ French. │ Italian. │ Russian. │ Polish. │
│Elisabeth │Elisabeth │Elisabetta │Jelissaveta │Elzbieta │
│Elsebin │Elise │Elisa │Lisa │Elzbietka │
│Helsa │Babet │Betta │Lisenka │ │
│ │Babette │Bettina │ │ │
│ │Babichon │Lisettina │ │ │
├────────────┼────────────┼────────────┼────────────┼────────────┤
│ Servian. │ Slovak. │ Esthonian. │ Hungarian. │ Lusatian. │
│Jelisavcta │Lizbeta │Ello │Erzebet │Hilzbeta │
│Jelisavka │Liza │Elts │Erzsi │Hilza │
│Liza │Lizika │Liso │Erszok │Hilzizka │
│ │ │ │Orse │Lisa │
│ │ │ │Orsike │Liska │
│ │ │ │ │Beta │
└────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┘
Lise and Lisette are sometimes taken as contractions of Elisabeth, but
they properly belong to Louise.
┌────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┐
│ English. │ Scotch. │ French. │ Spanish. │Portuguese. │
│Isabella │Isabel │Isabeau │Ysabel │Isabel │
│Isabel │Isbel │Isabelle │Bela │Isabelhina │
│Belle │Tibbie │ │ │ │
│Nib │ │ │ │ │
│Ibbot │ │ │ │ │
│Ib │ │ │ │ │
└────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┘
Scotland and Spain are the countries of Isabel; England and Germany of
Elizabeth.
The noblest prophet of the kingdom of Israel was called by two Hebrew
words, meaning God the Lord, a sound most like what is represented by
the letters Eliyahu, the same in effect as that of the young man who
reproved Job and his friends, though, in his case, the Hebrew points
have led to his being called in our Bible Elihu, while we know the
prophet as Elijah, the translators probably intending us to pronounce
the _j_ like an _i_. The Greek translators had long before formed Ἠλιας,
the Elias of the New Testament.
When the Empress Helena visited Palestine, she built a church on Mount
Carmel, around which arose a cluster of hermitages, and thus the great
prophet and his miracles became known both to East and West.
When the Crusaders visited the Mount of Carmel frowning above Acre, and
beheld the church and the hermits around it, marked the spot where the
great prophet had prayed, and the brook where he slew the idolaters, no
wonder they became devoted to his name, and Helie became very frequent,
especially among the Normans. Helie de la Flèche was the protector of
Duke Robert’s young son, William Clito; and Helie and Elie were long in
use in France, as Ellis must once have been in England, to judge by the
surnames it has left. Elias is still very common in the Netherlands.
The order of Carmelites claimed to have been founded by the prophet
himself; but when the Latins inundated Palestine, it first came into
notice, and became known all over the West. It was placed under the
invocation of St. Mary, who was thus called in Italy the Madonna di
Carmela or di Carmine, and, in consequence, the two names of Carmela and
Carmine took root among the Italian ladies, by whom they are still used.
The meaning of Carmel, as applied to the mountain, is vineyard or
fruitful field.
Elisha’s name meant God of Salvation. It becomes Eliseus in the New
Testament, but has been very seldom repeated; though it is possible that
the frequent Ellis of the middle ages may spring from it.
Here, too, it may be best to mention the prophetic name by which the
Humanity of the Messiah was revealed to Isaiah—Immanuel (God with us),
_Imm_ meaning with; _an_ being the pronoun.
The Greeks appear to have been the first to take up this as a Christian
name, and Manuel Komnenos made it known in Europe. The Italians probably
caught it from them as Manovello; and the Spaniards and Portuguese were
much addicted to giving it, especially after the reign of Dom Manoel,
one of the best kings of the noble house of Avis. Manuelita is a
feminine in use in the Peninsula. When used as a masculine, as it is
occasionally in England and France, the first letter is generally
changed to _E_.[15]
-----
Footnote 15:
_Proper Names of the Bible_; Michaelis; Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_.
SECTION IV.—_Joshua, &c._
A still more sacred personal Divine Name was revealed to Moses upon
Mount Horeb—the name that proclaimed the eternal self-existence of Him
who gave the mission to the oppressed Israelites.
The meaning of that Name we know, in its simple and ineffable majesty;
the pronunciation we do not know, for the most learned doubt whether
that the usual substitute for it may not be a mistake. The Jews
themselves feared to pronounce it commonly in reading their scriptures,
and substituted for it Adonai, that which is indicated by the ‘LORD,’ in
capital letters in our Bibles, while the French try to give something of
the original import by using the word _l'Éternel_, and thus the
tradition of the true sound has been hidden from man, and all that is
known is that the three consonants employed in it were J, or rather Y V
H.
Yet, though this holy name was only indicated in reading, it was very
frequent in combination in the names of the Israelites, being the
commencement of almost all those that with us begin with _je_ or _jo_,
the termination of all those with _iah_. Nay, the use of the name in
this manner has received the highest sanction, since it was by
inspiration that Moses added to Hoshea, salvation—the syllable that made
it Jehoshea or Joshua, “the Lord my salvation,” fitly marking out the
warrior, who, by Divine assistance, should save Israel, and place them
safely in the promised land.
That name of the captain of the salvation of Israel seems to have been
untouched again till the return from the captivity, when probably some
unconscious inspiration directed it to be given to the restorer of the
Jews, that typical personage, the high priest, in whom we find it
altered into Jeshua; and the Greek soon made it into the form in which
it appears as belonging to the author of the book of Ecclesiasticus, and
which, when owned by the apostate high priest, under Antiochus
Epiphanes, was made by him from Jesus into Jason, to suit the taste of
the Greek rulers. It had become common among the Jews; it was the
current name for the ancient Joshua, when it was assumed by Him Who
alone had a right to it.
A feast in honour of that Name “to which every knee shall bow,” has been
marked by the Western Church, and it is probably in consequence of this
that the Spanish Americans actually have adopted this as one of their
Christian names—a profanation whence all the rest of Christendom has
shrunk. There too _a_ and _ita_ are added to it to make it feminine.
In the unfortunate son and grandson of the good Josiah (yielded to the
Lord), we see some curious changes of name. The son was called both
Eliakim and Jehoiakim, in which the verb meant “will establish or
judge;” the only difference was in the Divine Name that preceded it.
This miserable prince died during the first siege of Jerusalem, and his
son Jehoiachin (appointed of the Lord), reigned for three months till
the city was taken, and he was carried away to Babylon. The
above-mentioned seems to have been his proper name, but he was commonly
called Jeconiah, and Jeremiah denounces his punishment without the
prefix, as “this man Coniah.”
After the death of Nebuchadnezzar, Jehoiachin was brought out of prison,
and lived in some degree of ease and favour at Babylon; and by Greek
authors a sort of compromise was made between his name and his father’s,
and he becomes sometimes Jeconias, and sometimes Joacim.
There was an early tradition that Joachim had been the name of the
father of the Blessed Virgin, but her private history did not assume any
great prominence till about 1500, and in consequence the names of her
parents are far less often used before than after that era. Her mother’s
name, as we shall see, had a history of its own; and was earlier in
general use than that of her father, which scarcely came into England at
all, and was better known to us when Murat ascended the throne of Naples
than at any other time. Being however found in the apocryphal Gospels,
it was in use in the Greek Church, and is therefore to be found in
Russia. Its forms are,
┌────────────────┬────────────────┬────────────────┬────────────────┐
│ German. │ Bavarian. │ Frisjan. │ Swiss. │
│Joachim │Jochum │Hime │Jocheli │
│Jochim │Jochem │ │ │
│Achim │ │ │ │
│Chim │ │ │ │
├────────────────┼────────────────┼────────────────┼────────────────┤
│ Spanish. │ French. │ Italian. │ Danish. │
│Joaquim │Joachim │Gioachimo │Joachim │
│Joquim │ │Gioachino │Johum │
│Joa │ │Giovachino │ │
├────────────────┼────────────────┼────────────────┼────────────────┤
│ Russian. │ Polish. │ Lett. │ Illyrian. │
│Joachim │Jachym │Juzziz │Accim │
│Akim │ │Jukkums │Jacim │
└────────────────┴────────────────┴────────────────┴────────────────┘
The Germans, French, and Portuguese have the feminine Joachime,
Joaquima; or, in Illyrian, Acima.[16]
The Book of Judges has not furnished many names to collective Europe.
Caleb, the faithful spy, who alone finally accompanied Joshua into the
Land of Promise out of all the 600,000 who had come out of Egypt, had a
name meaning a dog, seldom copied except by the Puritan taste, and only
meeting in one language a personal name of similar signification,
namely, the Irish _cu_ (gen.) _con_.
Caleb’s daughter, Achsah, probably from the shortness and pretty sound
of her name, which means a tinkling ornament for the ancle, has a good
many namesakes in remote village schools, where it is apt to be spelt
Axah. Tirzah (pleasantness) was one of those five daughters of
Zelophehad, whose heiresship occupies two chapters of the Book of
Numbers. She probably was the origin of Thirza, the name of Abel’s wife
in Gessner’s idyll of the _Death of Abel_, a great favourite among the
lower classes in England, whence Thyrza has become rather a favourite in
English cottages.
Gideon (a feller or destroyer) seems by his martial exploits to have
obtained some admirers among the Huguenots of the civil wars of France,
for Gédéon was in some small use among them.
The name of the mighty Nazarene, whose strength was in his hair, is not
clearly explained. Schimschon seems best to represent the Hebrew sound,
but the Greek had made it Σαμψσων; and our translation, Samson. Some
translate it splendid son, others as the diminutive of sun.
The Greek Church and her British daughter did not forget the mighty man
of valour, and Samson was an early Welsh Bishop and saint, from whom
this became a monastic appellation, as in the instance of Mr. Carlyle’s
favourite Abbot Samson. The French still call it Simson, which is
perhaps more like the original; and our Simpson and Simkins may thus be
derived from it, when they do not come from Simon, which was much more
frequent.
The name of the gentle and faithful Ruth has never been satisfactorily
explained. Some make it mean trembling; others derive it from a word
meaning to join together; and others from Reûth (beauty), which is
perhaps the best account of it. In spite of the touching sweetness of
her history, Ruth’s name has never been in vogue, except under the
influence of our English version of the Bible.
Perhaps this may be the fittest place to mention the prevalence of names
taken from the river Jordan during the period of pilgrimages. The Jordan
itself is named from Jared (to descend), and perhaps no river does
descend more rapidly throughout its entire course than does this most
noted stream, from its rise in the range of Libanus to its fall in the
Dead Sea, the lowest water in the world. To bathe in the Jordan was one
of the objects of pilgrims, and flasks of its water were brought home to
be used at baptisms—as was done for the present family of Royal
children. It was probably this custom that led to the adoption of Jordan
as a baptismal name, and it is to be supposed that it was a fashion of
the Normans, since it certainly prevailed in countries that they had
occupied. In Calabria, Count Giordano Lancia was the friend of the
unfortunate Manfred of Sicily, and recognized his corpse. Jourdain was
used in France, though in what districts I do not know, and Jordan was
at one time recognized in England. Jordan de Thornhill died in 1200;
Jordan de Dalden was at the battle of Lewes in 1264, and two namesakes
of his are mentioned in the pedigree of his family. Jordan de Exeter was
the founder of a family in Connaught, who became so thoroughly
Hibernicized, that, after a few generations, they adopted the surname
of, Mac Jordan. Galileo dei Gailïlei probably took both his names from
Galilee, which comes from _Galil_, a circle.
Bethlem Gabor will seem to the mind as an instance of Bethlehem (the
place of bread), having furnished Christian names for the sake of its
associations, and Nazarene has also been used in Germany.
-----
Footnote 16:
Dr. Pusey’s _Commentary on the Prophets_; Kitto’s _Biblical
Dictionary_; Jameson’s _Legends of the Madonna_; Michaelis.
SECTION V.—_Names from Chaanach._
Perhaps no word has given rise to a more curious class of derivatives
than this from the Hebrew Chaanach, with the aspirate at each end,
signifying favour, or mercy, or grace.
To us it first becomes known in the form of Hannah, the mother of
Samuel, and it was also used with the Divine syllable in the masculine,
as Hananeel, Hanani, Hananiah, or Jehohanan, shortened into Johanan.
Exactly the same names were current among the Phœœœœœœnicians, only we
have received them through a Greek or Latin medium. Anna, the companion
sister of Dido, was no doubt Hannah, and becoming known to the Romans
through the worship paid to her and Elisa by the Carthaginians, was,
from similarity of sound, confused by them with their Italian goddess,
Anna Perenna, the presiding deity of the circling year (_Annus_).
Virgil, by-and-by, wove the traditions of the foundation of Carthage,
and the death of Dido, into the adventures of Æneas; and a further fancy
arose among the Romans that after the self-destruction of Dido, Anna had
actually pursued the faithless Trojan to Italy, and there drowned
herself in the river Numicius, where she became a presiding nymph as
Anna Perenna! A fine instance of the Romans' habit of spoiling their own
mythology and that of every one else! Oddly enough, an Anna has arisen
in Ireland by somewhat the same process. The river Liffey is there said
to owe its name to Lifé, the daughter of the chief of the Firbolg race
being there drowned. In Erse, the word for river was Amhain, the same as
our Avon; but on English tongues Amhain Lifé became Anna Liffey, and was
supposed to be the lady’s name; another version declared that it was
Lifé, the horse of Heremon the Milesian, who there perished.
Hanno, so often occurring in the Punic wars, was another version of the
Hebrew Hanan, and the far-famed Hannibal himself answered exactly to the
Hananiah or Johanan of the Holy Land, saying that it was the grace of
Baal that unhappily he besought by his very appellation. The Greeks
called him Annibas, and the Romans wavered between Annibal and Hannibal
as the designation of their great enemy. In the latter times of Rome,
when the hereditary prænomina were discarded, Annibal and Annibalianus
were given among the grand sounds that mocked their feeble wearers, and
Annibale lingered on in Italy, so as to be known to us in the person of
Annibale Caracci.
It is a more curious fact, however, that Hannibal has always been a
favourite with the peasantry of Cornwall. From the first dawn of parish
registers Hannyball is of constant occurrence, much too early, even in
that intelligent county, to be a mere gleaning from books; and the west
country surname of Honeyball must surely be from the same source. A few
other eastern names, though none of them as frequent or as clearly
traced as the present, have remained in use in this remote county, and
ought to be allowed due weight in favour of the supposed influence of
the Phœnician traders over the races that supplied them with tin and
lead.
The usual changes were at work upon the Jewish names Hannah and
Hananiah. Greek had made the first 'Anna, the second Ananias, or Annas.
Indeed Hannah is only known, as such, to the readers of the English
version of the Bible, from whom the Irish have taken it to represent
their native Ainè (joy). All the rest of Europe calls her, as well as
the aged prophetess in the temple, Anne.
The apocryphal Gospels which gave an account of the childhood of the
Blessed Virgin, called her mother Anna, though from what tradition is
not known. St. Anna was a favourite with the Byzantines from very early
times; the Emperor Justinian built a church to her in 550, and in 710
her relics were there enshrined. From that time forward Greek damsels,
and all those of the adjoining nations who looked to Constantinople as
their head, were apt to be christened Anna. In 988, a daughter of the
Emperor Basil married and converted Vladimir, Grand Prince of Muscovy,
whence date all the numerous Russian Annas, with their pretty changes of
endearment. The grand-daughter of this lady, Anne of Muscovy, sister of
Harald Hardrada’s Elisif, carried her name to France, where it grew and
flourished.
St. Anne became the patron saint of Prague, where a prodigious festival
is yearly holden in her honour, and great are the rejoicings of all the
females who hear her name, and who are not a few. It was from Prague
that the Bohemian princess, Anne of Luxemburg, brought it to England,
and gave it to her name-child, Anne Mortimer, by whom it was carried to
the house of York, then to the Howards, from them to Anne Boleyn, and
thereby became an almost party word in England.
Abroad it had a fresh access of popularity from a supposed appearance of
the saint to two children at Auray, in Brittany, and not only was the
Bretonne heiress, twice Queen of France, so named, but she transferred
the name to her god-sons, among whom the most notable was the fierce
Constable, Anne de Montmorency. Her Italian god-daughter, Anna d'Este,
brought it back to the House of Guise, and shortly after a decree from
Rome, in 1584, made the name more popular still by rendering the feast
obligatory, and thenceforth arose the fashion of giving the names of the
Blessed Virgin and her mother in combination, as Anne Marie, or
Marianne. This is usually the source of the Marianne, Mariana, or Manna,
so often found on the continent; in England, Marianne is generally only
a corruption of Marion, and Anna Maria is in imitation of the Italian.
Hardly susceptible of abbreviation, no name has undergone more varieties
of endearment, some forms almost being treated like independent names,
such as the Annot of Scotland, an imitation of the French Annette,
showing the old connection between France and Scotland; and in the
present day, there has arisen a fashion of christening Annie, probably
from some confusion as to the spelling of Ann or Anne.
All these Annes can distinctly be traced from the Byzantine devotion to
the mother of the Blessed Virgin spreading westwards, and at Rome
magnified by Mariolatry. There are however what seem like forms of Anne
in the West before the adoption of the name from Russia and Bohemia.
Welsh Angharawd (far from shame), which is treated as Anne’s equivalent.
The Scottish Annaple and Annabella are likewise too early to come from
St. Anne, and are probably either from Ainè (joy), a favourite name in
early Gaelic times, or from the Teutonic Arnhilda—Eagle heroine.
Annabella by no means is to be explained to mean fair Anna, as is
generally supposed. _Bellus_ did, indeed, signify handsome in Latin, and
became the _beau_ and _belle_ of French, but the habit of putting it at
the end of a name, by way of ornament, was not invented till the late
period of seven-leagued names of literature. Annys, or Anisia, is a
separate name with a saint in the Greek calendar, and was used in
England from the Norman Conquest down at least to 1690. Mr. Bardsley
thinks, however, that this was really Agnes; and certainly the
unfortunate Scotchwoman, who was supposed to have raised the tempest
before the wedding of James VI., is called indifferently Agnes or Annis
Simpson.
┌────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┐
│ English. │ Scotch. │ French. │ Spanish. │ Italian. │
│Hannah │Hannah │Anne │Ana │Anna │
│Anna │Anne │Annette │Anita │Annica │
│Anne │Nannie │Nanette │ │Nanna │
│Nan │Annot │Nanon │ │Ninetta │
│Nancy │ │Ninon │ │ │
│Nanny │ │Ninette │ │ │
│ │ │Nichon │ │ │
│ │ │Nillon │ │ │
├────────────┼────────────┼────────────┼────────────┼────────────┤
│ German. │ Dutch. │ Danish. │ Swiss. │ Bavarian. │
│Anne │Anna │Anna │Anne │Anne │
│Annchen │Antje │Annika │Annali │Annerl │
│ │Naatje │ │Nann │Nannerl │
│ │Annechet │ │Nanneli │ │
├────────────┼────────────┼────────────┼────────────┼────────────┤
│ Bohemian. │ Russian. │ Servian. │ Lusatian. │ Lett. │
│Ana │Anna │Anna │Anna │Anne │
│Ancika │Anninka │Anuschka │Hanna │Annusche │
│Anca │Anjuska │Aneta │Hanzyzka │ │
│ │Anjutka │Anica │Hancicka │ │
│ │Annuschka │Anicsika │ │ │
│ │ │Anka │ │ │
├────────────┴────────────┼────────────┴────────────┼────────────┤
│ Lithuanian. │ Hungarian. │ Polish. │
│Ane │Annze │Anna │Panni │Anna │
│Anikke │ │Nani │Panna │Anusia │
└────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┘
Ἰώαννα, or Ἰαννης, for the masculine, Ἰώαννα for the feminine, were
already frequent among the natives of Judea, though they appear not to
have been used in the family of Zacharias when he was commanded so to
call his son.
The Evangelist who was surnamed Mark, and Joanna the wife of Herod’s
steward, both had received their names independently, and thus Joannes
became a most universal baptismal name, given from the first in the East
and at Rome. There were many noted bishops so called in the fourth
century, the earliest time when men began to be baptized in memory of
departed saints, rather than by the old Roman names. The first whose
name is preserved is Joannes of Egypt, one of the hermits of the
Thebaïd; the next is the great deacon of Antioch, and patron of
Constantinople, Joannes Chrysostomos (John of the golden mouth), whose
Greek surname, given him for his eloquence, has caused him to be best
known as St. Chrysostom, and has perpetuated in Italy, Grisostomo; in
Spain, Crisostomo; whilst the Slavonian nations translate the name and
make it Zlatoust.
At Constantinople, the patriarch St. Joannes the Silent, at Rome, the
martyr Pope St. Johannes I., at Alexandria, the beneficent patriarch St.
Joannes the Almoner, all renewed the popularity of their name. The last
mentioned was originally the patron of the order of Hospitallers, though
when these Franks were living at enmity to the Greek Church, they
discarded him in favour of the Baptist. Each of the two Scriptural
saints had two holidays,—the Baptist on the day of his nativity, and of
his decollation; the Evangelist, on the 27th of December, as well as on
the 6th of May, in remembrance of his confession in the cauldron of
boiling oil.
Thus the festivals were so numerous that children had an extra chance of
the name, which the Italians called Giovanni, or for short, Vanni; and
the French, Jehan.
It was still so infrequent at the time of the Norman Conquest, that
among the under-tenants in Domesday Book, to 68 Williams, 48 Roberts,
and 28 Walters, there are only 10 Johns, but it was flourishing in the
Eastern Church, where one of the Komneni was called, some say from his
beauty, others from the reverse, Kaloioannes, or handsome John, a form
which was adopted bodily by his descendants, the Komneni of Trebizond.
It had come into Ireland at first as Maol-Eoin (shaveling, or disciple
of John), the Baptist sharing with St. Patrick the patronage of the
island; but Shawn or Seoin soon prevailed in Ireland, as did Ian in
Scotland; but not till the Crusades did French or English adopt it to
any great extent, or the English begin to Anglicize it in general by
contracting the word and writing it John.
The misfortunes of the English Lackland and of the French captive of
Poictiers caused a superstition that theirs was an ill-omened royal
name, and when John Stuart came to the Scottish throne, he termed
himself Robert III., without, however, averting the doom of his still
more unhappy surname. It did not fare amiss with any Castilian Juan or
Portuguese Joâo; and in Bohemia a new saint arose called Johanko von
Nepomuk, the Empress’s confessor, who was thrown from the bridge of
Prague by the insane Emperor Wenzel for refusing to betray her secrets.
As St. Nepomucene, he had a few local namesakes, who get called Mukki or
Mukkel. The original word is said to mean helpless.
Double names, perhaps, originated in the desire to indicate the
individual patron, where there were many saints of similar name, and
thus the votaries of the Baptist were christened Gian Battista, or Jean
Baptiste, but only called by the second Greek title—most common in
Italy—least so in England.
┌──────────┬──────────┬──────────┬──────────┬──────────┬──────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ Spanish. │ Italian. │ Swiss. │ Polish. │
│Baptist │Baptiste │Bautista │Battista │Bisch │Baptysta │
│ │Batiste │ │ │Bischli │ │
└──────────┴──────────┴──────────┴──────────┴──────────┴──────────┘
The Illyrians, using the word for christianizing instead of that for
baptizing, make the namesakes of the Baptist Kerstiteli.
It was probably in honour of St. John the Evangelist’s guardianship of
the Blessed Virgin that her name became commonly joined with his.
Giovanni Maria Visconti of Milan, appears in the fifth century, and Juan
Maria and Jean Marie soon followed in Spain and France.
Johann was the correct German form, usually contracted into Hans; and it
was the same in Sweden, where Johann I., in 1483, was known as King
Hans; and in Norway, Hans and Jens, though both abbreviations of Johan,
are used as distinct names, and have formed the patronymics, Hanson and
Jensen, the first of which has become an English surname. Ivan the
Terrible, Tzar of Muscovy, was the first prince there so called, though
the name is frequent among all ranks, and the sons and daughters are
called Ivanovitch and Ivanovna.
Rare as patronymic surnames are in France, this universal name has there
produced Johannot, while the contraction is Jeannot, answering to the
Spanish Juanito and the patronymic Juanez. Jan is very frequent in
Brittany, where the diminutive is Jannik.
Jock is the recognized Scottish abbreviation, and it would seem to have
been the older English one according to the warning to Jockey of
Norfolk, at Bosworth. Jack sounds much as if the French Jacques had been
his true parent; but “sweet Jack Falstaff, old Jack Falstaff” has made
it alienable from John.
Though Joanna was a holy woman of the Gospel, her name did not come into
favour so early as the male form, and it is likely that it was adopted
rather in honour of one of the St. Johns than of herself, since she is
not canonized; and to the thirty feasts of the St. Johns, in the Roman
calendar, there are only two in honour of Joannas, and these very late
ones, when the name was rather slipping out of fashion. Its use seems to
have begun all at once, in the twelfth century, in the south of France
and Navarre, whence ladies called Juana in Spanish, Jehanne or Jeanne in
France, came forth, and married into all the royal families of the time.
Our first princess so called was daughter to Henry II., and married into
Sicily; and almost every king had a daughter Joan, or Jhone, as they
preferred spelling it. Joan Makepeace was the name given to the daughter
of Edward II., when the long war with the Bruces was partly pacified by
her marriage; and Joan Beaufort was the maiden romantically beloved by
the captive James I. The Scots, however, usually called the name Jean,
and adopted Janet from the French Jeanette, like Annot from Annette.
The various forms and contractions are infinite:—
┌────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┐
│ English. │ Scotch. │ Welsh. │ Breton. │ Gaelic. │
│John │John │Jan │Jan │Ian │
│Johnny │Johnnie │Jenkin │Jannik │ │
│Jack │Jock │ │ │ │
│Jenkin │ │ │ │ │
├────────────┼────────────┼────────────┼────────────┼────────────┤
│ Erse. │ German. │ Danish. │ Dutch. │ Belgian. │
│Shawn │Johannes │Johan │Jan │Jehan │
│Eoin │Hans │Janne │Jantje │Jan │
│ │Hanschen │Jens │ │Hannes │
│ │ │Hans │ │Hanneken │
│ │ │Jantje │ │Hanka │
├────────────┼────────────┼────────────┼────────────┼────────────┤
│ Bavarian. │ Swiss. │ French. │ Spanish. │Portuguese. │
│Johan │Johan │Jean │Juan │Joao │
│Hansl │Han │Jeanno │Juanito │Joaninho │
│ │Hansli │Jehan—_old_ │ │Joanico │
│ │Hasli │ │ │Joaozinho │
├────────────┼────────────┼────────────┼────────────┼────────────┤
│ Italian. │Modern Greek│ Russian. │ Polish. │ Bohemian. │
│Giovanni │Ιωαννης │Ivan │Jan │Jan │
│Gianni │Jannes │Vanja │Janek │ │
│Gian │Giannes │Vanka │ │ │
│Giovanoli │Giankos │Ivanjuschka │ │ │
│Giannino │Giannakes │Vanjuschka │ │ │
│Vanni │Joannoulos │Vanjucha │ │ │
│Nanni │Nannos │ │ │ │
│Gianozzo │ │ │ │ │
├────────────┼────────────┼────────────┼────────────┼────────────┤
│ Slavonic. │ Illyrian. │ Lett. │Lithuanian. │ Esthonian. │
│Jovan │Jovan │Janis │Jonas │Johan │
│Ivan │Jovica │Janke │Ancas │Hannus │
│Janez │Jvo │Ans │Jonkus │Ants │
│ │Jveica │Ansis │Jonkutti │ │
│ │Jvic │ │Enseliss │ │
│ │ │ │Enskis │ │
├────────────┼────────────┼────────────┴────────────┴────────────┤
│ Hungarian. │ Lapp. │ │
│Janos │Jofan │ │
│Jani │Jofa │ │
└────────────┴────────────┴──────────────────────────────────────┘
Jessie, though now a separate name, is said to be short for Janet. Queen
Joans have been more uniformly unfortunate than their male counterparts.
Twice did a Giovanna reign in Naples in disgrace and misery; and the
royalty of poor Juana la Loca in Castille was but one long melancholy
madness. There have, however, been two heroines, so called, Jeanne of
Flanders, or Jannedik la Flamm, as the Bretons call her, the heroine of
Henbonne, and the much more noble Jeanne la Pucelle of Orleans. The two
saints were Jeanne de Valois, daughter of Louis XI., and discarded wife
of Louis XII., and foundress of the Annonciades, and Jeanne Françoise de
Chantel, the disciple of St. François de Sales.
Johanna is a favourite with the German peasantry, and is contracted into
Hanne. It was not till the Tudor period, as Camden states, that Jane
came into use; when Jane Seymour at once rendered it so fashionable that
it became the courtly title; and Joan had already in Shakespeare’s time
descended to the cottage and kitchen.
┌────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┐
│ English. │ Scotch. │ German. │ Dutch. │ French. │
│Johanna │Joanna │Johanna │Jantina │Jeanne │
│Joanna │Jean │Hanne │Janotje │Jehanne │
│Joan │Jeanie │ │Jantje │Jeannette │
│Jane │Jenny │ │ │Jeannetton │
│Jone │Janet │ │ │ │
│Jenny │ Jessie │ │ │ │
│ │(Gael.) │ │ │ │
│Janet │ │ │ │ │
│Janetta │Seonaid │ │ │ │
├────────────┼────────────┼────────────┼────────────┼────────────┤
│ Spanish. │Portuguese. │ Italian. │ Russian. │ Polish. │
│Juana │Jovanna │Giovanna │Ivanna │Joanna │
│Juanita │Johannina │Giovannina │Zaneta │Hanusia │
│ │ │ │Anniuscka │Anusia │
├────────────┼────────────┼────────────┼────────────┼────────────┤
│Slovak. │ Illyrian. │ Bulgarian. │ Lusatian. │ │
│Jovana │Ivana │Ivanku │Hanka │ │
│Janesika │Jovana │ │ │ │
│Ivancica │Jovka │ │ │ │
│ │Ivka │ │ │ │
└────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┘
SECTION VI.—_David._
“The man after God’s own heart” was well named from the verb to love,
David, still called Daood in the East. It was Δαυὶδ in the Septuagint;
Δαβὶδ and Δαυεὶδ in the New Testament; and the Vulgate made it the name
well known to us.
The Eastern Church, in which the ancient Scriptural names were in
greater honour than in the West, seems to have adopted David among her
names long before it was revived among the Jews, who never seem to have
used it since the days of their dispersion. It has always been common
among the Armenians and Georgians. Daveed is frequent in Russia, in
honour of a saint, who has his feast on the 29th of July; and in
Slavonic it is shortened into Dako; in Esthonia it is Taved; in Lusatia,
Dabko.
The influence of eastern Christianity is traceable in the adoption of
David in the Keltic Church. Early in the 6th century, a Welshman of
princely birth (like almost all Welsh saints), by name David, or
Dawfydd, lived in such sanctity at his bishopric of Menevia, that it has
ever since been known as St. David’s, the principal Welsh see having
been there transplanted from Caerleon in his time. Dewi was the
vernacular alteration of his name, and the Church of Llan Dewi Brevi
commemorates a synod held by him against the Pelagians. Dafod, or Devi,
thus grew popular in Wales, and when ap Devi ceased to be the
distinction of the sons of David—Davy, Davis, and Davies became the
surname, Taffy the contraction, and Tafline or Vida the feminine. The
Keltic bishop was revered likewise in Scotland, and his name was
conferred upon the third son of Malcolm Ceanmohr, the best sovereign
whom Scotland ever possessed, and whom she deservedly canonized,
although his Protestant descendant James VI. called him “a sore saint to
the crown,” because of his large donations of land to the clergy—at that
time the only orderly subjects in the country. Affection and honour for
the royal saint filled the Lowlands with Davids, and this has continued
a distinctively Scottish name.
The Anglicizing Irish took David as the synonym of Dathi (far darting);
and Diarmaid (a freeman); and the Danes made it serve for Dagfinn (day
white).[17]
-----
Footnote 17:
_Proper Names of the Bible_; Rees, _Welsh Saints_; Jones, _Welsh
Sketches_; O'Donovan, _Irish Names_; _Seven Champions of Christendom_.
SECTION VII.—_Salem._
It is remarkable to observe how the longing for peace is expressed in
the names of almost every nation. The warlike Roman may be an exception,
but the Greek had his Eireneos; the German, his Friedrich; the Kelt, his
Simaith; the Slave, his Lubomirski; testifying that even in the midst of
war, there was a longing after peace and rest! And, above all, would
this be the case with the Hebrew, to whom sitting safely and at peace,
beneath his own vine and his own fig-tree, was the summit of earthly
content.
Schalem (peace)! By the Prophet-King it was bestowed upon the two sons
to whom he looked for the continuance of his throne, and the continuance
of the promises of ‘peace,’—Absalom (father of peace), and afterwards
with a truer presage, Salomo, or Solomon, (the peaceful)!
Long before his time, however, Welsh and Breton saints had been called
Solomon, as well as one early Armorican prince; and likewise an idiot
boy, who lived under a tree at Auray, only quitting it when in want of
food, to wander through the villages muttering “Salaum hungry”—the only
words, except _Ave Maria_, that he could pronounce. When he died, the
neighbours, thinking him as soulless as a dog, buried him under his
tree; but, according to the legend, their contempt was rebuked by a
beauteous lily springing from his grave, and bearing on every leaf the
words _Ave Maria_. Certain it is that an exquisite church was there
erected, containing the shrine of Salaun the Simple, who thus became a
popular saint of Brittany, ensuring tender reverence for those who, if
mindless, were likewise sinless, and obtaining a few namesakes.
Salomon and Salomone are the French and Italian forms; and Solomon is so
frequent among the Jews as to have become a surname.
Russia and Poland both use it, and have given it the feminines,
Ssolominija and Salomea; but Schalem had already formed a true feminine
name of its own, well known in Arabic literature as Suleima, Selma, or
Selima.
But returning to the high associations whence the names of Christians
should take their source, we find Salome honoured indeed as one of the
women first at the sepulchre; and it is surprising that thus
recommended, her name should not have been more frequent. It sometimes
does occur in England, and Salomée is known in France; but it is nowhere
really popular except in Switzerland, where, oddly enough, Salomeli is
the form for the unmarried, and Salome is restricted to the wife.
In Denmark, similarity of sound led Solomon to be chosen as the
ecclesiastical name, so to speak, of persons whose genuine appellation
was Solmund, or sun’s protection. Perhaps it was in consequence that the
Lord Mayor of London, of 1216, obtained the name of Solomon de Basing.
The county of Cornwall much later shows a Soloma.[18] It is a question
whether Lemuel be another name for Solomon. It means “to God,” or
“dedicated to God,” and was a favourite at one time with Puritan
mothers. Swift made it famous; but Lemuel Gulliver was by no means an
improbable north country name, and Lemuel is not wholly disused even
now.
-----
Footnote 18:
_Proper Names of the Bible_; Souvestre, _Derniers Bretons_.
SECTION VIII.—_Later Israelite Names._
By the time the kingdom was established most of the Israelite names were
becoming repetitions of former ones, and comparatively few fresh ones
come to light, though there are a few sufficiently used to be worth
cursorily noting down.
Hezekiah meant strength of the Lord, and in the Greek became Ezekias.
Ezekiel is like it, meaning God will strengthen. The great prophet who
was the chief glory of Hezekiah’s reign was Isaiah (the salvation of the
Lord), made by Greek translators into Esaias, and thence called by old
French and English, Esaie, or Esay. The Russians, who have all the old
prophetic names, have Eesaia; but it is not easy to account for the
choice of Ysaie le Triste as the name of the child of Tristram and
Yseulte in the romance that carried on their history to another
generation, unless we suppose that Ysaie was supposed to be the
masculine of Yseulte! the one being Hebrew, and meaning as above, the
other Keltic, and meaning a sight.
Contemporary with Hezekiah, and persecuted by the Assyrian monarch when
he returned to Nineveh after the miraculous destruction of his host, was
the blind Israelite of the captivity whose name is explained to have
been probably Tobijah (the goodness of the Lord), a name occurring again
in the prophet Zechariah, and belonging afterwards to one of the
Samaritan persecutors. Probably, in Greek, came the variation of the
names of the father and son; perhaps the latter was once meant for
Tobides, the son of Tobias.
The marvellous element in the book of Tobit gained for it much
popularity; scenes from it appeared in art. Thus Tobias had a diffusion
in the later middle ages much greater than the names of his
contemporaries of far more certain history, and in Ireland Toby has
enjoyed the honour, together with Thaddeus and Timothy, of figuring as
an equivalent for Tadgh, a poet.
┌──────────┬──────────┬──────────┬──────────┬────────────┬────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ Swiss. │ Hamburg. │ Italian. │ Russian. │
│Tobias │Tobie │Tobies │Tewes │Tobia │Tobija │
│Tobit │ │Tebes │ │ │Tobej │
│Toby │ │Tebos │ │ │ │
│ │ │Beiali │ │ │ │
└──────────┴──────────┴──────────┴──────────┴────────────┴────────────┘
Hephzibah (my delight is in her), was the wife of Hezekiah, and it may
have been in allusion to her that Isaiah spoke of the land being called
Hephsibah. It has been rather a favourite name in America, where it gets
turned into Hepsy.
As Judah sinned more and more and her fate drew on, Jeremiah stood forth
as her leading prophet. His name meant exalted of the Lord, and became
Jeremias in the Greek, Jeremy in vernacular English. As the name of some
of the early eastern saints it has had a partial irregular sort of use
in the West, and is adopted direct from the prophet in the
Greco-Slavonic Churches. The French, struck by the mournful strain of
the prophet, use Jeremiade to express a lamentation; and the English are
rather too ready to follow their example. Jeremy is considered as
another variety of equivalent for the Gaelic Diarmaid, and this has led
to the frequency of Jerry among families of Irish connection. In
Switzerland, Jeremias is contracted into Meies or Mies; in Russia it is
Jeremija; but nowhere has it been so illustrious in modern times as in
the person of our own Jeremy Taylor. The king whom Jeremiah saw led into
captivity was Zedekiah (justice of the Lord).
The prophet of the captivity, Daniel, bore in his name an amplification
of that of Dan (a judge). The termination signified God the judge, and
the alias Belteshazzar, imposed upon him by the Chaldean monarch, is
considered to translate and heathenize the name, making Bel the judge.
It is observable that Daniel never calls himself thus, though he gives
these heathen titles to his three companions.
Daniel has always flourished as a name in the East. Daniel and Verda (a
rose), were martyred by Shapoor in 344; another Daniel was crazy enough
to succeed Simeon Stylites on his pillar; and thus the Armenian,
Montenegrin, and Slavonian races are all much attached to Daniela, or
Daniil, as they call it in Russia; or in Esthonia, Taniel or Tanni. The
Welsh adopted it as Deiniol, the name of the saint who founded the
monastery of Bangor, the High Choir, in the sixth century, and it was
thus known to the Bretons; and in Ireland it was adopted as the
equivalent to Domnall, Donacha, and other names from Don (or
brown-haired), thus causing Dan to be one of the most frequent of Irish
contractions.
St. Jerome “transfixed with a dagger”—with his pen—the additional
chapters of the Book of Daniel relating to the story of Susanna, to show
that he did not regard it as genuine, but, like the story of Judith, it
was greatly more popular than the narratives in the canonical books, and
was commemorated in ballad, mystery, tapestry, and painting. The name
was properly Schuschannah (a lily), though we know it as Susannah. It
belonged to one of the holy women at the sepulchre, and it was likewise
in the calendar, for two virgin martyrs, named Susanna, had suffered in
the times of persecution, and though not commemorated in the Western
Church, Queen Susanna, the “Lily of Tiflis,” had died for the truth in
the hands of Mahometans. The name has been chiefly popular in France and
Switzerland, as in England. The Swiss contraction, Züsí-Ketti, for
Susanne-Catherine, is quaint.[19]
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ German. │ Bavarian │
│Susannah │Susanne │Susanne │
│Susan │Suschen │Sanrl │
│Susie │Suse │Sandrl │
│Sukey │ │ │
│Sue │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Swiss. │ French. │ Lithuanian. │
│Susanne │Susanne │Zuzane │
│Zosa │Suzette │ │
│Zosel │Suzon │ │
│Zösel │ │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
This may be the best place to mention the Aramean Tabitha, explained by
St. Luke as the same as Dorcas (a roe or gazelle), the Greek word being
from its full dark eye. Tabitha and Dorcas both have associations
unsuited to the “dear gazelle.” As the charitable disciple raised by St.
Peter, her names were endeared to the Puritans.
Of the minor prophets, the names have been little employed. Joel meant
strong-willed; Amos, a burthen; Obadiah, servant of the Lord, has been
slightly more popular, perhaps, in honour of him who hid the prophets in
a cave, with whom the mediæval imagination confounded the prophet, so
that loaves of bread are the emblem of Obadiah in ancient pictures of
the twelve prophets. Even the Abbacuc, as the Apocrypha calls him, who,
in the story of _Bel and the Dragon_ is carried off by the hair to feed
Daniel in the den of lions, seems to have been likewise supposed to be
the same person in the strange notions of Scripture history that once
floated among our forefathers. The name of Abacuck, or Habbakkuk, was
conferred upon a child by one of the last persons one would have
suspected of such a choice, namely, Mary, Queen of Scots. On her way to
mass, she was waylaid by one of her caterers, who acquainted her that he
had a child to be baptized, and desired her to give the name. “She said
she would open the Bible in the chapel, and whatever name she cast up,
that should be given to the child;” and for the child’s misfortune it
proved to be ‘Abacuck!’ The name comes from the verb to clasp, and means
embracing.
Micah is a contraction of Micaiah, and means “Who is like unto the
Lord.” Nahum—to us connected with “Tate and Brady”—was consolation;
Nehemiah expanded it, adding the Divine termination; Zephaniah is,
protected of the Lord; Haggai (festival of the Lord), called Aggae, when
brought through a Greek medium, is rather a favourite in Russia.
Zachariah (remembrance of the Lord), has been more in favour. After
belonging to a king of Israel and to the priest murdered by King
Jehoash, it came forth after the captivity as Zechariah with the
prophet; and in the New Testament, as Zacharias, names the father of the
Baptist; and the mysterious martyr who was to fill up the measure of the
iniquity of the Jews; and again appears as Zaccheus, the publican of
Jericho. It was rather frequent among Eastern Christians, and belonged
to the pope who first invited the Franks into Italy to protect him from
the Lombards; nor has it ever quite died away in the West, although
nowhere popular.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ Italian. │ Danish. │
│Zacharias │Zacharie │Zaccaria │Sakerl │
│Zachary │ │ │ │
│Zach │ │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Bavarian. │ Russian. │ Slavonic. │ Illyrian. │
│Zachereis │Sacharija │ │Sakarie │
│Zacherl │Sachar │Charija │Zaro │
│Zacher │ │ │Zako │
│Zaches │ │ │ │
│Zach │ │ │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
Of those to whom these later prophets were sent, Ezra’s name is thought
to be the same as that of Zerah, son of Judah, the rising of light, from
whom likewise Heman, the writer of the 88th Psalm, is termed the
Ezrahite. The name of Ezra is hardly to be recognized in that of Esdras,
as the Greek translators rendered it.[20] The house of Aphrah, mentioned
in the Prophet Micah, means the house of dust, or ashes, and the
Puritans, with their love of piteous names, adopted Aphra as a name. As
well it appears as ‘Dust’ and ‘Ashes’ in actual English.[21]
-----
Footnote 19:
_Proper Names of the Bible_; Jones, _Welsh Sketches_; Michaelis;
O'Donovan; Butler.
Footnote 20:
_Proper Names of the Bible_; Michaelis; Chambers, _Records of
Scotland_.
Footnote 21:
Bardsley, _Puritan Nomenclature_.
SECTION IX.—_Angelic Names._
We have thrown these together, because, though our common term for those
spiritual messengers is Greek, yet all the other words for them, as well
as the three individual angelic designations that have come into use as
baptismal names, are derived from the Hebrew.
Moreover, the first of these belonged to the last of the prophets,
Malach-jah, the angel or messenger of God. It has even been thought by
some commentators that this title of the prophet was the quotation of
his own words, “Behold, I send my messenger (or Malachi) before my
face.”
Malachi would never have been a modern name, but for the Irish fancy
that made it the equivalent of Maelseachlain, the disciple of St.
Sechnall, or Secundus, a companion of St. Patrick; and as the era of him
who is now called King Malachi with the collar of gold, was particularly
prosperous, the name has come into some amount of popularity.
The Septuagint always translated Malach by Ἀγγελος, even in that first
sentence of the prophet, which in our version bears his name. Angelos
had simply meant a messenger in Greek, as it still does; but it acquired
the especial signification of a heavenly messenger, both in its own
tongue, and in the Latin, whither Angelus was transplanted with this and
no other sense.
Angelos first became a name in the Byzantine Empire. It probably began
as an epithet, since it comes to light in the person of Konstantinos
Angelos, a young man of a noble family of Philadelphia, whose personal
beauty caused him, about the year 1100, to become the choice of the
Princess Theodora Komnena. It is thus highly probable that Angelos was
first bestowed as a surname, on account of the beauty of the family.
They were on the throne in 1185, and Angelos continued imperial till the
miserable end of the unhappy Isaac, and his son, Alexios, during the
misdirected crusade of the Venetians. Angelos thus became known among
the Greeks; and somewhere about 1217, there came a monastic saint, so
called, to Sicily, who preached at Palermo, and was murdered by a wicked
count, whose evil doings he had rebuked. The Carmelites claimed St.
Angelo as a saint of their order, and his name, both masculine and
feminine, took hold of the fancy of Italy, varied by the Neapolitan
dialect into Agnolo or Aniello—_e. g._, the wonderful fisherman,
Masaniello, was, in fact, Tomasso Angelo; by the Venetian into Anziolo,
Anzioleto, Anzioleta; and by the Florentine, into Angiolo, Angioletto,
and thence into the ever-renowned contraction Giotto, unless indeed this
be from Gotofredo. It passed to other nations, but was of more rare
occurrence there, except in the feminine. The fashion of complimenting
women as angels, left the masculine Ange to be scantily used in France,
and Angel now and then in England; but in Italy alone did Angiolo, and
its derivative Angelico, thrive. All the other countries adopted the
feminine, either in the simple form or the diminutive, or most commonly,
the derivative, Angelica (angelical), noted in romance as the faithless
lady, for whose sake Orlando lost his heart, and his senses. She was a
gratuitous invention of Boiardo and Ariosto; whose character for
surpassing beauty made her name popular, and thus Angelica and Angelique
have always been favourites.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ German. │ French. │
│Angela │Engel │Angele │
│Angelot │Engelchen │Angeline │
│Angelina │Angelina │Angelique │
│Angelica │Angelica │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Italian. │ Polish. │ Bohemian. │
│Angiola │Ancela │Anjela │
│Angioletta │ │Anjelina │
│Angelica │ │Anjelika │
│Agnola │ │ │
│Anzioleta │ │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
Angel was most often a man’s name in England. We find it at Hadleigh,
Suffolk, in 1591, and sometimes likewise in Cornwall.
Archangel has even been used as an English name.
The mysterious creatures that are first mentioned as “keeping the way of
the tree of life,” then were represented in the tabernacle overshadowing
the ark, and afterwards were revealed in vision to the Prophet Ezekiel
and to the Apostle St. John, combined in their forms the symbols of all
that was wisest, bravest, strongest, and loftiest in creation—the man,
the lion, the ox, and eagle.
In the lands where Art made the Cherub a mere head with wings, Cherubino
arose as a Christian name, for it is hardly ever to be met with out of
Spain and Italy.
Equally misused is Seraph—now a lady’s name, as Seraphine in France;
Serafina, in Spain and Italy. The word seraph, or saraph, signifies
burning, or fiery, and would apply to that intensity of glory that
Ezekiel struggles to express in the cherubim by comparisons to amber and
to glowing embers, or to their intense fervour of love.
Three individual angels have been revealed to us by name as of the seven
that stand in the presence of God, and foremost of these is Michael (who
is like unto God), he who was made known to Daniel as the protector of
the Jewish people; to Zechariah, as defending them from Satan; to St.
Jude, as disputing with Satan for the body of Moses; and to St. John, as
leading the hosts of Heaven to battle with the adversary and prevailing
over him.
His name would have seemed in itself fit only for an archangel, yet
before apparently he had been made known, it had been borne by the
father of one of David’s captains, and by a son of Jehoshaphat, and it
was almost the same as Micaiah, the name of him who foretold the
destruction of Ahab.
Constantine the Great dedicated a church in his new city in honour of
St. Michael, the archangel, and thenceforth Mickaelion, or Mikael, have
been favourites with all branches of the Eastern Church.
An appearance of the archangel in Colosse led the way to another legend
of his descent upon Monte Galgano in Apulia, somewhere about 493. Then
came a more notable vision, seen by Gregory the Great himself, of the
angel standing with outstretched sword on the tomb of Adrian, which has
ever since been called the castle of St. Angelo. In 706, St. Michael was
again seen to take his stand upon the isolated rock on the Norman coast,
so noted as the fortress and convent of Mont St. Michel. Moreover
tradition placed him upon the Cornish rock,—
“When the great vision of the guarded mount
Looked towards Namancos and Bayona’s hold.”
He was above all others the patron of the Christian warrior; his
armour-clad effigy was seen in almost every church; the young knight was
dubbed in his name, as well as that of the national saint; and since the
prevalence of saintly names, his name has been frequently bestowed. It
is, perhaps, most common in the Greek and Slavonic countries; but
Ireland makes great use of it; and Italy has united it with the epithet
angel, in the one distinguished instance of Michelangelo Buonarotti.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ Spanish. │ Italian. │
│Michael │Michel │Miguel │Michele │
│Mick │Michon │ │ │
│Mike │Michau │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ German. │ Dutch. │ Swedish. │ Russian. │
│Michael │Michiel │Mikael │Michail │
│Micha │Micheltje │Mikel │Michaila │
│Micha │ │Mikas │Misha │
│ │ │ │Mischenka │
│ │ │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Slavonic. │ Servian. │ Lett. │ Hungarian. │
│Miha │Miljo │Mikkelis │Mihaly │
│Mihal │Miho │ │Mihal │
│Mihaljo │Misa │ │Miska │
│ │Mijailo │ │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
There is some confusion in the German mind between it and the old
_michel_ (mickle, large), which, as a name, it has quite absorbed. It
has the rare feminines,
┌──────────────────┬──────────────────┬──────────────────┐
│ French. │ Russian. │ Portuguese. │
│Michelle │Micheline │Miguella │
│Michée │Mikelina │ │
└──────────────────┴──────────────────┴──────────────────┘
Legend has been far less busy with Gabriel, “the hero of God;” the angel
who strengthened Daniel, and who brought the promise to Zacharias and to
the Blessed Virgin. His name is chiefly used by the Slavonians; and in
Hungary we find it in combination with Bethlehem, belonging to that
noted chieftain, Bethlem Gabor.
It was known and used everywhere, however; and the Swedish house of
Oxenstjerna considered it to have been the saving of their line from
extinction, all their sons having died in the cradle, owing, it was
thought, to Satan’s strangling them; till at length one was named
Gabriel; and having thus obtained the protection of the guardian angel,
survived to be the ancestor of the minister of the great Gustavus. The
feminine, Gabrielle, has been a favourite in France ever since la belle
Gabrielle gave it a reputation for beauty.
┌────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┐
│ English. │ German. │ Bavarian. │ Swiss. │ Italian. │
│Gabriel │Gabriel │Gabe │Gabëler │Gabriello │
│Gab │ │Gaberl │ │ │
├────────────┼────────────┼────────────┼────────────┼────────────┤
│ Russian. │ Polish. │ Illyrian │ Lett. │ Hungarian. │
│Gavrül │Gabryel │Gabriel │Gaberjels │Gabriel │
│Gavrila │ │Gavrilo │Gabris │Gabor │
│ │ │Gavril │ │ │
│ │ │Gavro │ │ │
├────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┤
│ FEMININE. │
├────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┤
│ French. │ German. │ Slavonic. │ │ │
│Gabrielle │Gabriele │Gavrila │ │ │
│ │ │Gavra │ │ │
└────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┘
Raphael (the medicine of God), is the angel who guided Tobias and healed
his father. Italy and Spain are the countries where his name is most
used, and well it may, in the first named, after the fame of him who has
made it the highest proverb in art. It hardly varies, except by the
double _ff_ Italian, and the single one of Spain, to supply its Greek φ.
I have heard of a girl at Mentone called Ravelina, probably
Raffaellina.[22]
-----
Footnote 22:
Smith, _Dictionary of the Bible_; _Proper Names of the Bible_;
Williams, _Commentary on the Gospels_; Jameson, _Sacred and Legendary
Art_; Ruskin, _Modern Painters_; Marryat, _Sweden_.
PART II.
NAMES PROM THE PERSIAN.
SECTION I.—_The Persian Language._
Scanty as are the Christian names derived from the Persian race, they
are very curious and interesting, partly on account of the changes that
they have undergone, and still more because the language whence they are
derived belongs to the same group as our own, and testifies in many of
its words to the common origin.
To begin with the sovereign to whom all alike look up; him who is
“called by name in the book of Isaiah,” as the shepherd who should
restore Judah after the Captivity. Kuru is a name said to be older than
the Sanscrit and of unknown signification; although some derive it from
Khur, one name for the sun. Kureish was the original form; Koreish to
the Hebrews; Kyros to the Greeks, whence the Romans took the Cyrus by
which he is known to Europe. His only namesake in his own line was he
who invited the 10,000 from Greece and perished at Cunaxa, and of whom
is told the story of his willing acceptance of the water of the river
Kur or Cyrus, whose name sounded like his own. When the Sassanids
revived the old Achæmenid names they pronounced the royal word as
Khoosroo, and the Byzantines recorded it as Chosröes, when Chosröes
Nushirvan, or the magnanimous, almost rivalled the glory of his
ancestor—Kai Khoosroo, as the _Shahnameh_ called him.
Not only had the fire-worshippers revived the name, but it had been
borne by various Christians in the East, one of whom, a physician of
Alexandria, suffered in one of the persecutions, having been detected in
visiting a Christian prisoner. He was buried at Canope, in Egypt, and
was called in the Coptic calendar Abba Cher, or Father Cyrus; in the
Greek, Abba Cyrus. His relics were afterwards transported to Rome, where
the Church built over them was called, by the Italians, Saint Appassara.
Like a fixed star, the original Cyrus had shone through adjacent
darkness, evident by his lustre, but his lineaments lost in distance,
and thus Ferdosi makes him a mere mythical hero. Herodotus copied some
distorted tradition; Xenophon pourtrayed imaginary perfection in his
_Cyropædia_; and moderns have taken even greater liberties with him.
_Artaban, ou le grand Cyrus_, the ponderous romance of Mlle. de Scudery,
was a stately French tale of love and war, containing a long amorous
correspondence between Cyrus and his beloved, the model and admiration
of the _précieuses_ in their glory, and absolutely not without effect
upon nomenclature. In one village in Picardy there still exist living
specimens of Oriane, Philoxène, Célamire, Arsinoe, Calvandre, all
derived from vassals named by their enthusiastic seigneurs in honour of
the heroines of the fashionable romances, and still inherited by their
posterity long after the seigneurs and the heroines are alike forgotten.
Either from his being mentioned in the Bible, or from the _Cyropædia_,
Cyrus has had some currency as an English baptismal name.[23]
-----
SECTION II.—_Esther._
Khshayarsha, from _Kshaya_ (a king), and _arsha_ (venerable), was the
word that was converted in Hebrew into Achashverosh, and in our Bible
into Ahasuerus, while the Greeks called it Xerxes. In Illyria people are
christened from him Kserksas, and called Sersa, and a few seekers of
Scripture names, chiefly in America, have called their sons Ahasuerus,
in common life Hazzy.
The reigning wife of Xerxes is known to have been Amestris, the daughter
of an Achæmenian noble, and she might well have been Vashti, set aside
only for a time when the address of the nobles gained a victory over
her. The fair daughter of the tribe of Benjamin, whose royalty ensured
her people’s safety, was in her own tongue Hadassah, or the Myrtle; some
say, Atossa; but the Persian epithet by which we know her may have been
taken from _satarah_, a word showing the ancient union of the languages,
since Aster is Arab and Greek; and from thence and the Latin _stella_
have sprung the modern _étoile_, _estrella_, star, _stern_, _stjorna_,
which the Septuagint gave as Ἑστὴρ, the Romans as Esthera and Hestera;
whence the occasional variations in English of Esther or Essie, and
Hester or Hetty.
Not till the days of Racine was Esther much in vogue. The tragedian,
being requested to write a sacred drama to be acted by the young ladies
of St. Cyr, chose this subject in compliment to Madame de Maintenon, as
the faultless Esther preferred before the discarded Vashti, namely,
Madame de Montespan! Esther thereupon became a favourite lady’s name in
France, and vied in popularity with the cumbrous splendours taken from
the Scudery cycle of romance. At the same time it was borne by the two
ladies who had the misfortune to be the object of Dean Swift’s
affection, Esther Johnson and Esther Vanhomrigh, whom he called, one by
the Latin name Stella; the other, by the generic title of our finest
English butterflies, Vanessa. Estrella was the heroine of a Spanish
pastoral, whence the Abbé Florian borrowed his theatrical shepherdess
Estelle, which thus became a French name, though chiefly on the stage,
and both Estelle and Stella are sometimes used as Epiphany names for
girls.
Roschana, as it is now pronounced, is still common in Persia, and means
the dawn of day. Roxane and Statire, as rival heroines of Racine, became
proverbs in France for the stately or the languishing form of tragedy
dame. Roxana, or Roxy, is one of the favourite American grandiloquent
style of names.
PART III.
CHAPTER I.
NAMES PROM THE GREEK.
Passing from Persian to Greek names, we feel at once that we are nearer
home, and that we claim a nearer kindred in thoughts and habits, if not
in blood, with the sons of Javan, than with the fire-worshippers. The
national names are thus almost always explicable by the language itself,
with a few exceptions, either when the name was an importation from
Egypt or Phœnicia, whence many of the earlier arts had been brought.
Each Greek had but one name, which was given to him by his father either
on or before the tenth day of his life, when a sacrifice and banquet was
held. Genealogies were exceedingly interesting to the Greeks, as the
mutual connection of city with city, race with race, was thus kept up,
and community of ancestry was regarded as a bond of alliance, attaching
the Athenians, for instance, to the Asiatic Ionians as both sons of Ion,
or the Spartans to the Syracusans, as likewise descended from Doros.
Each individual state had its deified ancestor, and each family of note
a hero parent, to whom worship was offered at every feast, and who was
supposed still to exert active protection over his votaries. The
political rights of the citizens, and the place they occupied in the
army, depended on their power of tracing their line from the forefather
of a recognized tribe, after whose name the whole were termed with the
patronymic termination _ides_ (the son of). This was only, however, a
distinction, for surnames were unknown, and each man possessed merely
the individual personal appellation by which he was always called,
without any title, be his station what it might. Families used, however,
to mark themselves by recurring constantly to the same name. It was the
correct thing to give the eldest son that of his paternal grandfather,
as Kimon, Miltiades, then Kimon again, if the old man were dead, for if
he were living it would have been putting another in his place, a bad
omen, and therefore a father’s name was hardly ever given to a son.
Sometimes, however, the prefix was preserved, and the termination
varied, so as to mark the family without destroying the individual
identity. Thus, Leonidas, the third son of Anaxandridas, repeated with
an augmentative his grandfather’s name of Leo (a lion), as his father,
Anaxandridas, did that of _his_ own great grandfather, Anaxandras (king
of man), whose son Eurycratidas was named from his grandfather
Eurycrates. A like custom prevailed among the old English.
After the Romans had subdued Greece and extended the powers of becoming
citizens, the name of the adopting patron would be taken by his client,
and thus Latin and Greek titles became mixed together. Later, Greek
second names became coined, either from patronymics, places, or events,
and finally ran into the ordinary European system of surnames.
Among the names here ensuing will only be found those that concern the
history of Christian names. Many a great heart-thrilling sound connected
with the brightest lights of the ancient world must be passed by,
because it has not pleased the capricious will of after-generations to
perpetuate it, or so exceptionally as not to be worth mentioning.
Some of the female Greek names were appropriate words and epithets; but
others, perhaps the greater number, were merely men’s names with the
feminine termination in _a_ or _e_, often irrespective of their meaning.
Some of these have entirely perished from the lips of men, others have
been revived by some enterprising writer in search of a fresh title for
a heroine. Such is Corinna (probably from Persephone’s title Κόρη
(Koré), a maiden), the Bœotian poetess, who won a wreath of victory at
Thebes, and was therefore the example from whom Mdme. de Staël named her
brilliant Corinne, followed in her turn by numerous French damsels; and
in an Italian chronicle of the early middle ages, the lady whom we have
been used to call Rowena, daughter of Henghist, has turned into Corinna;
whilst Cora, probably through Lord Byron’s poem, is a favourite in
America. Such too is Aspasia (welcome), from the literary fame of its
first owner chosen by the taste of the seventeenth century as the title
under which to praise the virtues of Lady Elizabeth Hastings. In the
_Rambler_ and _Spectator_ days, real or fictitious characters were
usually introduced under some classical or pastoral appellation, and
ladies corresponded with each other under the soubriquets of nymph,
goddess, or heroine, and in virtue of its sound Aspasia was adopted
among these. It has even been heard as a Christian name in a cottage.
“Her name’s Aspasia, but us calls her Spash.”[24]
-----
Footnote 23:
Rawlinson, _Herodotus_; Malcolm, _Persia_; Le Beau, _Bas Empire_;
Rollin, _Ancient History_; Butler, _Lives of the Saints_; Dunlop,
_History of Fiction_.
Footnote 24:
Bishop Thirlwall, _Greece_; Smith, _Dictionary of Greek and Roman
Antiquities_; Lappenberg, _Anglo-Saxons_.
CHAPTER II.
NAMES FROM GREEK MYTHOLOGY.
SECTION I.
Greek appellations may be divided into various classes; the first, those
of the gods and early heroes are derived from languages inexplicable
even by the classical Greeks. These were seldom or never given to human
beings, though derivatives from them often were.
The second class is of those formed from epithets in the spoken
language. These belonged to the Greeks of the historical age, and such
as were borne by the Macedonian conquerors became spread throughout the
East, thus sometimes falling to the lot of early saints of the Church,
and becoming universally popular in Christendom. Of others of merely
classic association a few survived among the native Greeks, while others
were resuscitated at intervals; first, by the vanity of decaying Rome;
next, by the revival of ancient literature in the Cinque-cento; then, by
the magniloquent taste of the Scudery romances in France; again, in
France, by the republican mania; and, in the present time, by the same
taste in America, and by the reminiscences of the modern Greeks.
After the preaching of the Gospel, Greece had vigour enough to compose
appropriate baptismal names for the converts; and it is curious to
observe that no other country could have ever been so free from the
trammels of hereditary nomenclature, for no other has so complete a set
of names directly bearing upon Christianity. So graceful are they in
sound as well as meaning, and so honoured for those who bore them, that
many have spread throughout Europe.
Lastly, even modern Greek has thrown out many names of graceful sound,
which are, however, chiefly confined to the Romaic.
SECTION II.—_Names from Zeus._
At the head of the whole Greek system stands the mighty Zeus (Ζεύς), a
word that has been erected into a proper name for the thundering father
of gods and men, whilst the cognate θεὸς (theos) passed into a generic
term; just as at Rome the Deus Pater (God-Father), or Jupiter, from the
same source, became the single god, and _deus_ the general designation.
All come from the same source as the Sanscrit Deva, and are connected
with the open sky, and the idea of light that has produced our word day.
We shall come upon them again and again; but for the present we will
confine ourselves to the personal names produced by Zeus, in his
individual character, leaving those from Theos to the Christian era, to
which most of them belong.
Their regular declension of Zeus made _Dios_ the genitive case; and thus
Diodorus, Diogenes, &c., ought, perhaps, to be referred to him; but the
more poetical, and, therefore, most probably the older, form, was
_Zenos_ in the genitive; and as Dios also meant heaven, the above names
seem to be better explained as heaven-gift and heaven-born, leaving to
Zeus only those that retain the same commencement.
Ζηνὼν, or, as it is commonly called, Zeno, was a good deal used in
Greece throughout the classical times, and descending to Christian
times, named a saint martyred under Gallienus, also a bishop of Verona,
who left ninety-three sermons, at the beginning of the fourth century,
and thus made it a canonical name, although the rules of the Church had
forbidden christening children after heathen gods. Except for the
Isaurian Emperor Zeno, and an occasional Russian Sinon, there has not,
however, been much disposition to use the name.
Zenobios, life from Zeus, is by far the easiest way of explaining the
name of the brilliant Queen of Palmyra; but, on the other hand, she was
of Arabian birth, the daughter of Amrou, King of Arabia, and it is
highly probable that she originally bore the true Arabic name of Zeenab
(ornament of the father); and that when she and her husband entered on
intercourse with the Romans, the name Zenobia was bestowed upon her as
an equivalent, together with the genuine Latin Septima as a mark of
citizenship. When her glory waned, and she was brought as a prisoner to
Rome, she and her family were allowed to settle in Italy; and her
daughters left descendants there. Zenobius, the Bishop of Milan, who
succeeded St. Ambrose, bore her name, and claimed her blood; and thus
Zenobio and Zenobia still linger among the inhabitants of the city.
The romance of her story caught the French fancy, and Zénobie has been
rather in fashion among modern French damsels.
A Cilician brother and sister, called Zenobius and Zenobia, the former a
physician and afterwards Bishop of Ægæ, were put to death together
during the persecution of Diocletian, and thus became saints of the
Eastern Church, making Sinovij, Sinovija, or for short, Zizi, very
fashionable among the Russians.
It is much more difficult to account for the prevalence of Zenobia in
Cornwall. Yet many parish registers show it as of an early date: and
dear to the West is the story of a sturdy dame called Zenobia
Brengwenna, (Mrs. Piozzi makes the surname Stevens,) who, on her
ninety-ninth birthday, rode seventeen miles on a young colt to restore
to the landlord a 99 years' lease that had been granted to her father,
in her name, at her birth.
Probably Zenaïda means daughter of Zeus. Although not belonging to any
patron saint, it is extensively popular among Russian ladies; and either
from them, or from the modern Greek, the French have recently become
fond of Zenaïde.[25]
-----
Footnote 25:
Smith, _Dictionary_; Butler, _Lives_; Gibbon, _Rome_; Miss Beaufort,
_Egyptian Sepulchres and Syrian Shrines_; Hayward, _Mrs. Piozzi_.
SECTION III.—Ἡρα—Hera.
The name of the white-armed, ox-eyed queen of heaven, Ἡρα or Ἡρη (Hera
or Heré), is derived by philologists from the same root as the familiar
German _herr_ and _herrinn_, and thus signifies the lady or mistress.
Indeed the masculine form ἥρως, whence we take our hero, originally
meant a free or noble man, just as _herr_ does in ancient German, and
came gradually to mean a person distinguished on any account,
principally in arms; and thence it became technically applied to the
noble ancestors who occupied an intermediate place between the gods and
existing men. The Latin _herus_ and _hera_ are cognate, and never rose
out of their plain original sense of master and mistress, though the
_heros_ was imported in his grander sense from the Greek, and has passed
on to us.
It is curious that whereas the wife of Zeus was simply the lady, it was
exactly the same with Frigga, who, as we shall by-and-by see, was merely
the Frau—the free woman or lady.
Hera herself does not seem to have had many persons directly named after
her, though there was plenty from the root of her name. The feminine
Hero was probably thus derived,—belonging first to one of the Danaïdes,
then to a daughter of Priam, then to the maiden whose light led Leander
to his perilous breasting of the Hellespont, and from whom Shakespeare
probably took it for the lady apparently “done to death by slanderous
tongues.”
It is usual to explain as Ἡρα-κλῆς (fame of Hera) the name of the son of
Zeus and Alcmena, whose bitterest foe Hera was, according to the current
legends of Greece; but noble fame is a far more probable origin for
Herakles, compound as he is of the oft-repeated Sun-myth mixed with the
veritable Samson, and the horrible Phœnician Melkarth or Moloch, with
whom the Tyrians themselves identified Herakles.
A few compounds, such as Heraclius, Heraclidas, Heracleonas, have been
formed from Herakles, the hero ancestor of the Spartan kings, and
therefore specially venerated in Lacedæmon. The Latins called the name
Hercules; and it was revived in the Cinque-cento, in Italy, as Ercole.
Thus Hercule was originally the baptismal name of Catherine de Medici’s
youngest son; but he changed it to François at his confirmation, when
hoping to mount a throne. Exceptionally, Hercules occurs in England; and
we have known of more than one old villager called Arkles, respecting
whom there was always a doubt whether he were Hercules or Archelaus.
Hence, too, the name of the father of history, Herodotus (noble gift);
hence, likewise, that of Herodes. Some derive this last from the Arab
_hareth_ (a farmer); but it certainly was a Greek name long before the
Idumean family raised themselves to the throne of Judea, since a poet
was so called who lived about the time of Cyrus. If the Herods were real
Edomites, they may have Græcized Hareth into Herodes; but it is further
alleged that the first Herod, grandfather of the first king, was a
slave, attached to the temple of Apollo at Ascalon, taken captive by
Idumean robbers. Hateful as is the name in its associations, its
feminine, Herodias, became doubly hateful as the murderess of John the
Baptist.
SECTION IV.—_Athene._
The noble goddess of wisdom, pure and thoughtful, armed against evil,
and ever the protector of all that was thoughtfully brave and resolute,
was called Αθήνη (Athene), too anciently for the etymology to be
discernible, or even whether her city of Athens was called from her, or
she from the city.
Many an ancient Greek was called in honour of her, but the only one of
these names that has to any degree survived is Athenaïs.
There were some Cappadocian queens, so called; and so likewise was the
daughter of a heathen philosopher in the fourth century, whom the able
Princess Pulcheria selected as the wife of her brother Theodosius,
altering her name, however, to Eudocia at her baptism.
It must have been the Scudery cycle of romance that occasioned Athenaïs
to have been given to that Demoiselle de Mortémar, who was afterwards
better known as Madame de Montespan.
Athenaios (Athenian), Athenagoras (assembly of Athene), Athenadgoros
(gift of Athene), were all common among the Greeks.
Athene’s surname of Pallas is derived by Plato from πάλλειν, to
brandish, because of her brandished spear; but it is more likely to be
from πάλλαξ (a virgin), which would answer to her other surname of
παρθένος, likewise a virgin, familiar to us for the sake of the most
beautiful of all heathen remains, the Parthenon, as well as the ancient
name of Naples, Parthenope. This, however, was a female name in Greece,
and numerous instances of persons called Parthenios and Palladios attest
the general devotion to this goddess, perhaps the grandest of all the
imaginings of the Indo-European.
There is something absolutely satisfactory in seeing how much more the
loftier and purer deities, Athene, Apollo, Artemis, reigned over Greek
nomenclature than the embodiments of brute force and sensual pleasure,
Ares and Aphrodite, both probably introductions from the passionate
Asiatics, and as we see in Homer, entirely on the Trojan side. An
occasional Aretas and Arete are the chief recorded namesakes of Ares,
presiding god of the Areopagus as he was; and thence may have come the
Italian Aretino, and an Areta, who appears in Cornwall. Aphrodite seems
to have hardly one derived from her name, which is explained as the Foam
Sprung.[26]
-----
Footnote 26:
Smith, _Dictionary of Greek and Roman Mythology_; Le Beau, _Bas
Empire_; Gladstone, _Homer_.
SECTION V.—_Apollo and Artemis._
The brother and sister deities, twin children of Zeus and Leto, are,
with the exception of Athene, the purest and brightest creations of
Greek mythology.
The sister’s name, Artemis, certainly meant the sound, whole, or
vigorous; that of the brother, Apollōn, is not so certainly explained;
though Æschylus considered it to come from ἀπόλλυμι, to destroy.
They both of them had many votaries in Greece; such names as Apollodorus
(gift of Apollo), Apollonius, and the like, arising in plenty, but none
of them have continued into Christian times, though Apollos was a
companion of St. Paul. The sole exception is Apollonia, an Alexandrian
maiden, whose martyrdom began by the extraction of all her teeth, thus
establishing St. Apolline, as the French call her, as the favourite
subject of invocation in the toothache. Abellona, the Danish form of
this name, is a great favourite in Jutland and the isles, probably from
some relic of the toothless maiden. The Slovaks use it as Polonija or
Polona.
The votaries of Artemis did not leave a saint to perpetuate them; but
Artemisia, the brave queen of Halicarnassus, had a name of sufficient
stateliness to delight the _précieuses_. Thus Artémise was almost as
useful in French romances as the still more magnificent Artémidore, the
French version of Artemidorus (gift of Artemis).
It was a late fancy of mythology, when all was becoming confused, that
made Apollo and Artemis into the sun and moon deities, partly in
consequence of their epithets Phœbus, Phœbe, from φάω (to shine). The
original Phœbe seems to have belonged to some elder myth, for she is
said to have been daughter of Heaven and Earth, and to have been the
original owner of the Delphic oracle. Afterwards she was said to have
been the mother of Leto (the obscure), and thus grandmother of Apollo
and Artemis, who thence took their epithet. This was probably a myth of
the alternation of light and darkness; but as we have received our
notions of Greek mythology through the dull Roman medium, it is almost
impossible to disentangle our idea of Phœbus from the sun, or of Phœbe
from the crescent moon. In like manner the exclusively modern Greek
φωτεινή (bright), Photinee, comes from φώς phos (light), as does
Photius, used in Russia as Fotie.
Strangely enough, we find Phœbus among the mediæval Counts of Foix, who,
on the French side of their little Pyrenean county were Gaston Phœbus;
on the Spanish, Gastone Febo. Some say that Phœbus was originally a
soubriquet applied to one of the family on account of his personal
beauty, though it certainly was afterwards given at baptism; others,
that it was an imitation of an old Basque name.
Phœbe was a good deal in use among the women of Greek birth in the early
Roman empire; and “Phœbe, our sister,” the deaconess of Cenchrea, is
commended by St. Paul to the Romans; but she has had few namesakes,
except in England; the Italian Febe only being used as a synonym for the
moon.
Cynthia was a title belonging to Artemis, from Mount Cynthus, and has
thence become a title of the moon, and a name of girls in America.
Delia, another title coming from Delos, the place of her nativity, has
been preferred by the Arcadian taste, and flourished in shepherdess
poems, so as to be occasionally used as a name in England, but more
often as a contraction for Cordelia.
Delphinios and Delphinia were both of them epithets of Apollo and
Artemis, of course from the shrine at Delphi. Some say that shrine and
god were so called because the serpent Python was named Delphinè;
others, that the epithet was derived from his having metamorphosed
himself into a dolphin, or else ridden upon one, when showing the Cretan
colonists the way to Delphi.
The meaning of _Delphys adelphus_ is the womb; and thus the Greeks
believed Delphi to be the centre of the earth, just as the mediæval
Christians thought Jerusalem was. It is from this word that delphis (a
brother) is derived, and from one no doubt of the same root, that was
first a mass, and afterwards a dolphin, the similarity of sound
accounting for the confusion of derivatives from the temple and the
fish. Again, the dolphin is said to be so called as being the fish of
the Dolphièm god.
It was probably as an attribute of the god that Delphinos was used as a
name by the Greeks; and it makes its first appearance in Christian times
in two regions under Greek influence, namely, Venice and Southern
France, which latter place was much beholden for civilization to the
Greek colony of Massilia. Dolfino has always prevailed in the Republic
of St. Mark; and Delphinus was a sainted bishop of Bourdeaux, in the
fourth century, from whom many, both male and female, took the name,
which to them was connected with the fish of Jonah, the emblem of the
Resurrection.
In 1125, Delfine, heiress of Albon, married Guiges, Count of Viennois.
She was his third wife; and to distinguish her son from the rest of the
family, he was either called or christened, Guiges Delphin, and assumed
the dolphin as his badge, whence badge and title passed to his
descendants, the Counts Dauphins de Viennois. The last of these left his
country and title to Charles, son of King Jean of France; and thence the
heir-apparent was called the Dauphin.
Dalphin appears at Cambrai before 1200; and Delphine de Glandèves,
sharing the saintly honours of her husband, Count Elzéar de St. Sabran,
became the patroness of the many young ladies in compliment to _la
dauphine_.
It is startling to meet with ‘Dolphin’ as a daughter of the unfortunate
Waltheof, Earl of Mercia; but unless her mother, Judith, imported the
French Delphine, it is probable that it is a mistake for one of the many
forms of the Frank, Adel, which was displacing its congener the native
Æthel. Indeed, Dolfine, which is very common among German girls now, is
avowedly the contraction of Adolfine, their feminine for Adolf (noble
wolf).
SECTION VI.—_Hele._
The sun-god who drove his flaming chariot around the heavenly vault day
by day, and whose eye beheld everything throughout the earth, was in
Homer’s time an entirely different personage from the “far darting
Apollo,” with whom, thanks to the Romans, we confound him.
Helios was his name, a word from the root _elé_ (light), the same that
has furnished the Teutonic adjective _hell_ (bright or clear), and that
is met again in the Keltic _heol_ (the sun).
This root ele (heat or light) is found again in the Greek name of the
moon, Sēēlēnē once a separate goddess from Artemis. One of the
Cleopatras was called Selene; but it does not appear that this was used
again as a name till in the last century, when Selina was adopted in
England, probably by mistake, for the French Céline, and belonged to the
Wesleyan Countess of Huntingdon.
From ēlē again sprang the name most of all noted among Greeks, the fatal
name of Ἑλένε, Helene, the feminine of Helenos (the light or bright),
though Æschylus, playing on the word, made it ἑλένας (the
ship-destroying).
“Wherefore else this fatal name,
That Helen and destruction are the same.”
A woman may be a proverb for any amount of evil or misfortune, but as
long as she is also a proverb for beauty, her name will be copied, and
Helena never died away in Greece, and latterly was copied by Roman
ladies when they first became capable of a little variety.
At last it was borne by the lady who was the wife of Constantius
Chlorus, the mother of Constantine, and the restorer of the shrines at
Jerusalem. St. Helena, holding the true cross, was thenceforth revered
by East and West. Bithynia on the one hand, Britain on the other, laid
claim to have been her birth-place, and though it is unfortunately most
likely that the former country is right, and that she can hardly be the
daughter of “Old King Cole,” yet it is certain that the ancient Britons
held her in high honour. Eglwys Ilan, the Church of Helen, still exists
in Wales, and the insular Kelts have always made great use of her name.
Ellin recurs in old Welsh pedigrees from the Empress’s time. Elayne is
really the old Cambrian form occurring in registers from early times,
and thus explaining the gentle lady Elayne, the mother of Sir Galahad,
whom Tennyson has lately identified with his own spinning Lady of
Shalott. Helen, unfortunately generally pronounced Ellen, was used from
the first in Scotland; Eileen or Aileen in Ireland.
Nor are these Keltic Ellens the only offspring of the name. Elena in
Italy, it assumed the form of Aliénor among the Romanesque populations
of Provence, who, though speaking a Latin tongue, greatly altered and
disguised the words. Indeed there are some who derive this name from
έλεος (pity), but there is much greater reason to suppose it another
variety of Helena, not more changed than many other Provençal names.
Aliénor in the land of troubadours received all the homage that the
Languedoc could pay, and one Aliénor at least was entirely spoilt by it,
namely, she who was called Eléonore by the French king who had the
misfortune to marry her, and who became in time on English lips our grim
Eleanor of the dagger and the bowl, the hateful Aquitainian grandmother,
who bandies words with Constance of Brittany in _King John_. Her
daughter, a person of far different nature, carried her name to
Castille, where, the language being always disposed to cut off a
commencing _e_, she was known as Leonor, and left hosts of namesakes.
Her descendant, the daughter of San Fernando, brought the name back to
England, and, as our “good Queen Eleanor,” did much to redeem its
honour, which the levity of her mother-in-law, the Provençal Aliénor of
Henry III., had greatly prejudiced. Eleanor continued to be a royal name
as long as the Plantagenets were on the throne, and thus was widely used
among the nobility, and afterwards by all ranks, when of course it lost
its proper spelling and was turned into Ellinor and Elinor, still,
however, owning its place in song and story. Annora, frequent in
Northern England, was the contraction of Eleanora, and was further
contracted into Annot. Also Ellen was Lina, or Linot.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ Greek. │ Latin. │ English. │ Scotch. │
│Ἑλένη │Helena │Helena │Helen │
│ │ │Helen │Ellen │
│ │ │Elaine │ │
│ │ │Ellen │ │
│Ἑλένἰσκη │ │Eleanor │ │
│ │ │Elinor │ │
│ │ │Nelly │ │
│Ἑλεναιαι │ │Leonora │ │
│ │ │Annora │ │
│ │ │Annot │ │
│ │ │Lina │ │
│ │ │Linot │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Irish. │ German. │ Italian. │ Spanish. │
│Helena │Helène │Elena │Helena │
│ │ │ │ │
│Eileen │Eleonore │Eleonora │ │
│ │ │ │ │
│Nelly │Lenore │Leonora │Leon │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Russian. │ Polish. │ Slavonic. │ Servian. │
│Jelena │Helena │Jelena │Jelena │
│ │Helenka │Jela │Jela │
│ │ │Jelena │Jelika │
│ │ │Jela │ │
│ │ │Jelika │ │
│ │ │Lenka │ │
│ │ │Lencica │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Lett. │ Esthonian. │ Ung. │ Albanian. │
│Lena │Leno │Ilona │ │
│ │ │Ljena │ │
│ │ │Lenia │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
Meantime the Arragonese conquests in Italy had brought Leonora thither
as a new name independent of Elena, and it took strong root there, still
preserving its poetic fame in the person of the lovely Leonora d'Este,
the object of Tasso’s hopeless affection. To France again it came with
the Galigai, the Maréchale d'Ancre, the author of the famous saying
about the power of a strong mind over a weak one; and unpopular as she
was, Léonore has ever since been recognized in French nomenclature, and
it went to Germany as Lenore.
The Greek Church was constant to the memory of the Empress, mother of
the founder of Constantinople, and Helena has always been frequent
there. And when the royal widow Olga came from Muscovy to seek
instruction and baptism, she was called Helena, which has thus become
one of the popular Russian names. It is sometimes supposed to be a
translation of Olga, but this is a mistake founded on the fact that this
lady, and another royal saint, were called by both names. Olga is, in
fact, the feminine of Oleg (the Russian form of Helgi), which the race
of Rurik had derived from their Norse ancestor, and it thus means holy.
Sweden also has a Saint Helene, who made a pilgrimage to Rome, and was
put to death on her return by her cruel relations in 1160. Her relics
were preserved in Zealand, near Copenhagen, making Ellin a favourite
name among Danish damsels.
Helena has a perplexing double pronunciation in English, the central
syllable being made long or short according to the tradition of the
families where it is used. The Greek letter was certainly the short _e_,
but it is believed that though the quantity of the syllable was short,
the accent was upon it, and that the traditional sound of it survives in
the name of the island which we learnt from the Portuguese.
SECTION VII.—_Demeter._
Among the elder deities in whom the primitive notion of homage to the
Giver of all Good was lost and dispersed, was the beneficent mother
Demeter (Δημητήρ). Some derive the first syllable of this name from γῆ
(the earth), others from the Cretan δήαι (barley), making it either
earth mother, or barley mother; but the idea of motherhood is always an
essential part of this bounteous goddess, the materializing of the
productive power of the earth, “filling our hearts with food and
gladness.”
Formerly Demeter had numerous votaries, especially among the
Macedonians, who were the greatest name-spreaders among the Greeks, and
used it in all the “four horns” of their divided empire. It occurs in
the Acts, as the silversmith of Ephesus, who stirred up the tumult
against St. Paul, and another Demetrius is commended by St. John. The
Latin Church has no saint so called; but the Greek had a Cretan monk of
the fourteenth century, who was a great ecclesiastical author; and a
Demetrios, who is reckoned as the second great saint of Thessalonika.
Hence Demetrios is one of the most popular of names in all the Eastern
Church, and the countries that have ever been influenced by it; among
whom must be reckoned the Venetian dominions which considered themselves
to belong to the old Byzantine empire till they were able to stand
alone. Dimitri has always been a great name in Russia. The Slavonian
nations give it the contraction Mitar, and the feminine Dimitra or
Mitra. The modern Greek contraction is Demos.
In some parts of Greece, Demeter was worshipped primarily as the gloomy
winterly earth, latterly as the humanized goddess clad in black, in
mourning for her daughter, whence she was adored as Melaina. Whether
from this title of the goddess or simply a dark complexion, there arose
the female name of Melania, which belonged to two Roman ladies,
grandmother and granddaughter, who were among the many who were devoted
to the monastic Saint Jerome, and derived an odour of sanctity from his
record of their piety. Though not placed in the Roman calendar, they are
considered as saints, and the French Mélanie and the old Cornish Melony
are derived from them.
On the contrary, her summer epithet was Chloe, the verdant, as
protectress of green fields, and Chloe seems to have been used by the
Greeks, as a Corinthian woman so called is mentioned by St. Paul, and
has furnished a few scriptural Chloes in England. In general, however,
Chloe has been a property of pastoral poetry, and has thence descended
to negroes and spaniels.[27]
-----
Footnote 27:
Smith, _Dictionary_; Keightley’s _Mythology_; Montalembert, _Monks of
the West_; Michaelis.
SECTION VIII.—_Dionysos._
The god of wine and revelry appears to have been adopted into Greek
worship at a later period than the higher divinities embodying loftier
ideas. So wild and discordant are the legends respecting him, that it is
probable that in the Bacchus, or Dionysos, whom the historical Greeks
adored, several myths are united; the leading ones being, on the one
hand, the naturalistic deity of the vine; on the other, some dimly
remembered conqueror.
Dionysos has never been satisfactorily explained, though the most
obvious conclusion is that it means the god of Nysa—a mountain where he
was nursed by nymphs in a cave. Others make his mother Dione one of the
original mythic ideas of a divine creature, the daughter of Heaven and
Earth, and afterwards supposed to be the mother of Aphrodite.
Names given in honour of Dionysos were very common in Greece, and
especially in the colony of Sicily, where Dion was also in use.
Dionysios, the tyrant, seemed only to make the name more universally
known, and most of the tales of tyranny clustered round him—such as the
story of his ear, of the sword of Damocles, and the devotion of Damon
and Pythias.
In the time of the Apostles, Dionysius was very frequent, and gave the
name of the Areopagite mentioned by St. Paul, of several more early
saints, and of a bishop who, in 272, was sent to convert the Gauls, and
was martyred near Paris. The Abbey erected on the spot where he died was
placed under the special protection of the Counts of Paris; and when
they dethroned the sons of Charlemagne and became kings of France, St.
Denys, as they called their saint, became the patron of the country; the
banner of the convent, the Oriflamme, was unfurled in their national
wars, and _Mont joie St. Denys_ was their war-cry. St. Denys of France
was invoked, together with St. Michael, in knighting their young men;
and St. Denys of France was received as one of the Seven Champions of
Christendom.
The Sicilians, having a certain confusion in their minds between the
champion and the tyrant of Syracuse, have taken San Dionigi for their
patron; he is also in high favour in Portugal as Diniz, and in Spain as
Dionis. Denis is a very frequent Irish name, as a substitute for Donogh;
and, to judge by the number of the surnames, Dennis, Denison, and
Tennyson or Tenison, it would seem to have been more common in England
than at present. The Russians have Dionissij; the Bohemians, Diwis; the
Slavonians, Tennis; the Hungarians, Dienes. The feminine is the French
Denise; English, Dionisia, Donnet, Dennet or Diot, which seem to have
been at one time very common in England.[28]
-----
Footnote 28:
Liddell and Scott, Keightley, Michaelis, Smith.
SECTION IX.—_Hermes._
The origin is lost of the name of Hermes, the swift, eloquent, and
cunning messenger of Zeus; but it is supposed to come from hĕra (the
earth), and was called Hermas, Hermes, or Hermeias.
A long catalogue of Greeks might be given bearing names derived from
him; and it was correctly that Shakespeare called his Athenian maiden
Hermia.
Hermas is mentioned in the Epistle to the Romans, and is thought to be
the same with the very early Christian author of the allegory of _The
Shepherd_, but his name has not been followed.
Hermione was, in ancient legend, the wife of Cadmus, the founder of
Thebes, and shared his metamorphosis into a serpent. Afterwards, another
Hermione was the daughter of Helen and Menelaus, and, at first, wife of
Neoptolemus, though afterwards of Orestes, the heroine of a tragedy of
Euripides, where she appears in the unpleasant light of the jealous
persecutor of the enslaved Andromache.
Hermione is generally supposed to be the same as the Italian Erminia and
the French Hermine; but these are both remains of the Herminian gens,
and are therefore Latin.
Hermocrates, Hermagoras, Hermogenes, every compound of this god’s name
prevailed in Greece; but the only one that has passed on to Christianity
is Hermolaos (people of Hermes), a name that gave a saint to the Greek
Church, and is perpetuated in Russia as Ermolaï.[29]
Descending from the greater deities of Olympus, we must touch upon the
Muses, though not many instances occur of the use of their names. Μοῦσαι
(Mousai), their collective title, is supposed to come from μάω (mao), to
invent; it furnished the term mousikos, for songs and poetry, whence the
Latin _musa_, _musicus_, and all the forms in modern language in which
we speak of music and its professors.
Musidora (gift of the Muses) was one of the fashionable poetical
soubriquets of the last century, and as such figures in Thomson’s
_Seasons_.
As to the individual names, they have scarcely any owners except
Polymnia, she of many hymns, whose modern representative, Polyhymnia,
lies buried in a churchyard on Dartmoor, and startles us by her
headstone. The West Indian negresses, sporting the titles of the ships
of war, however, come out occasionally as Miss Calliope, Miss Euterpe,
&c.
The only Muse who has left namesakes is hardly a fair specimen; for
Urania (the heavenly), her epithet, as the presiding genius of
astronomers, is itself formed from one of the pristine divinities of
Greece, himself probably named from heaven itself, of which he was the
personification. Οὐρανός (Ouranos), Uranus, is in Greek both the sky and
the first father of all. The word is probably derived from the root
_or_, which we find in ὄρος (a mountain), and ὄρνυμι (to raise), just as
our heaven comes from to heave.
Uranius was not uncommon among the later Greeks, especially in Christian
names; a Gaulish author was so called, and it was left by the Romans as
a legacy to the British. It makes its appearance among the Welsh as
Urien, a somewhat common name at one time. “Brave Urien sleeps upon his
craggy bed;” but Camden, or some one else before him, thought proper to
identify it with George, which has led to its decay and oblivion.
Urania was revived in the days of euphuistic taste, when Sir Philip
Sidney called himself Sidrophel, and the object of his admiration,
Urania; it became a favourite poetic title both in England and France,
and in process of time, a family name.
Θάλεια (Thaleia), though both Muse of Comedy, and one of the Three
Graces, and signifying bloom, has not obtained any namesakes, though
both her sister Graces have.
These nymphs were the multiplied personifications of Χάρις (Charis)
grace, beauty, or charity. The Greeks were not unanimous as to the names
or numbers of the Charites; the Athenians and Spartans adored only two,
and the three usually recognized were defined by Hesiod. Thalia (bloom),
Aglaia (brightness), Euphrosyne (mirth, cheerfulness, or festivity).
It has been almost exclusively by Greeks that the name has been borne;
it was a great favourite among the Romaic Greeks, figuring again and
again amongst the Porphyrogenitai, and to this present day it is common
among the damsels of the Ionian Isles. I have seen it marked on a
school-child’s sampler in its own Greek letters. In common life it is
called Phroso. In Russia it is Jefronissa.
The other Grace, Aglaia, comes to light in Christian legend, as the name
of a rich and abandoned lady at Rome, who, hearing of the value that was
set on the relics of saints, fancied them as a kind of roc’s egg to
complete the curiosities of her establishment, and sent Boniface, both
her steward and her lover, to the East to procure some for her. He asked
in jest whether, if his bones came home to her, she would accept them as
relics; and she replied in the same spirit, little dreaming that at
Tarsus he would indeed become a Christian and a martyr, and his bones be
truly sent back to Rome, where Aglaia received them, became a penitent,
took the veil, and earned the saintly honours that have ever since been
paid to her. It is unfortunate for the credibility of this story that
the date assigned to it is between 209 and 305, a wide space indeed, but
one in which relic worship had not begun, and even if it had, the bones
of martyrs must have been only too plentiful much nearer home. However,
the French have taken up the name of Aglaë, and make great use of it.
A few ancient Greeks had names compounded of Charis, such as Charinus,
and Charilaus, the nephew of Lycurgus; but it was reserved for
Christianity to give the word its higher sense. Charis, through the
Latin caritas, grew to be the Christian’s Charity, the highest of the
three Graces: Faith, Hope, Love, that had taken the place of Bloom,
Mirth, and Brightness. And thus it was that, after the Reformation,
Charity, contracted into Cherry, became an English Christian name,
perhaps in remembrance of the fair and goodly Charity of the House
Beautiful, herself a reflex of the lovely and motherly Charissa, to whom
Una conducted the Red Cross Knight. Chariton, Kharitoon, in Russian, is
a name in the Greek Church, from a confessor of Sirmium, who under
Aurelius was flogged with ox-hides and imprisoned, but was liberated on
the Emperor’s death, and made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
Perhaps this is the place, among these minor mythological personages, to
mention that Zephyr (the West wind) has absolutely a whole family of
name-children in France, where Zephirine has been greatly the fashion of
late years.[30]
-----
Footnote 29:
Keightley’s _Mythology_; Cave’s _Lives of the Fathers_; Smith,
_Dictionary_; Potter’s _Euripides_.
Footnote 30:
Smith, _Dictionary_; Keightley, _Mythology_; Montalembert.
SECTION X.—_Heroic Names._
Not very many of the heroic names—glorious in poetry—have passed on; but
we will select a few of those connected with the siege of Troy, and
handed on upon that account. Mostly they were not easy of comprehension
even to the Greeks themselves, and were not much copied among them,
perhaps from a sense of reverence. It was only in the times of decay,
and when the recollection of the fitness of things was lost, that men
tried to cover their own littleness with the high-sounding names of
their ancestors. Moreover, by that time, Greek associations were at a
discount. Rome professed to descend from Troy, not from Greece; and,
after her example, modern nations have tried to trace themselves back to
the Trojan fugitives—the Britons to Brut, the French to Francus, &c.—and
thus Trojan names have been more in vogue than Greek. However, be it
observed that the Trojan names are Greek in origin. The Trojans were of
Pelasgic blood, as well as most of their opponents; but they were
enervated by residence in Asia, while the superior race of Hellenes had
renovated their Greek relatives; making just the difference that the
Norman Conquest did to the English Saxon in opposition to his Frisian
brother.
One of these inexplicable names was borne by Ἀχιλλεύς (Achilleus), the
prime glory of Homer and of the Trojan war. The late Greek traditions
said that his first name had been Ligyron, or the whining, but that he
was afterwards called Achilles, from Α privative and χέιλη (cheile),
lip; because he was fed in his infancy on nothing but lions' hearts and
bears' marrow. This legend, however, looks much as if the true meaning
of the word had been forgotten, and this was a forgery to account for
it. However this may be, modern Greece and France alone repeat the name,
and it is much disguised by the French pronunciation of Achille. A
martyr in Dauphiné was called Achilles; and an Achilla appears, as a
lady, early in the Visconti pedigree.
Gallant Hector, who, perhaps, is the most endearing of all the Trojan
heroes, from the perfection of his character in tenderness, devotion,
and courage, and the beautiful poetry of his parting with his wife and
son, bore a name that is an attribute of Zeus, Ἕκτωρ (holding fast), _i.
e._, defending, from Ἕχω (hecho), to have or to hold—a word
well-befitting the resolute mainstay of a falling cause.
Italy, where the descent from the Trojans was early credited and not,
perhaps, impossible, is the only country where his name has been
genuinely imitated, under the form of Ettore. The Hector of Norway is
but an imitation of the old Norse Hagtar (hawk of Thor), and the very
frequent Hector of Scotland is the travestie of the Gaelic Eachan (a
horseman). In like manner the Gaelic Aonghas (excellent valour) and the
Welsh Einiawn (the just), are both translated into Æneas; indeed it is
possible that the early Welsh Saint, Einiawn, may indeed have been an
Æneas; for, in compliment to the supposed descent of the Julii from
Æneas, this name is very common in the latter times of the empire: it
appears in the book of Acts, and belonged to several writers. Latterly,
in the beginning of the classical taste of Italy, the name of Enea
Silvio was given to that Piccolomini who afterwards became a pope. This
form is in honour of that son of Æneas and Lavinia who was said to have
been born in a wood after his father’s death. A son of the Earl of
Hereford was called Æneas (temp. Ed. III).
The pious Æneas owes his modern fame to Virgil. In the time of Homer,
even his goddess-mother had not raised him into anything like the first
rank of the heroes who fought before Troy. His name in the original is
Αἰνείας (Aineias), and probably comes from αἰυέο (aineo), to praise.
The poem that no doubt suggested the _Æneid_, the Homeric story of the
Greek wanderer, contains some of those elements that so wonderfully show
the kindred of far distant nations. We are content to call this
wonderful poem by something approaching to its Greek title, though we
are pleased to term the hero by the Latin travestie of his name—Ulysses,
the consequence, it is supposed, of some transcriber having mistaken
between the letters Δ and Λ. The Romans, likewise, sometimes called him
Ulixes; the Greek σσ and ξ being, by some, considered as the same
letter. Οδυσσεύς (Odysseus), his true name, is traced to the root δυς
(dys), hate, the Sanscrit _dvish_, and from the same source as the Latin
_odio_. Italians talked of Uliseo, and Fenelon taught the French to
honour his favourite hero as _le fils du grand Ulisse_; but the only
place where the name is now used is Ireland, probably as a classicalism
for the Danish legacy of Ulick—Hugleik, or mind reward. The Irish
Finnghuala (white shoulders) was not content with the gentle native
softenings of her name into Fenella and Nuala, but must needs translate
herself into Penelope; and it is to this that we owe the numerous
Penelopes of England, down from the Irish Penelope Devereux, with whom
is connected the one shade on Sidney’s character, to the Pen and Penny
so frequent in many families.
The faithful queen of Ithaca was probably named Πηνελόπη, or Πηνελόπεια,
from her diligence over the loom, since πήνη (pēnē) is thread on the
bobbin, πηνίζομαι is to wind it off; but a later legend declared that
she had been exposed as an infant, and owed her life to being fed by a
kind of duck called πηνέλοψ (penelops), after which she was therefore
called. This has since been made the scientific name of the turkey, and
translators of Christian names have generally set Penelope down as a
turkey-hen, in oblivion that this bird, the D'Inde of France, the
_Wälsche Hahn_ of Germany, always in its name attesting its foreign
origin, came from America 3000 years after the queen of Ithaca wove and
unwove beneath her midnight lamp.
Her son Telemachus (distant battle) had one notable namesake in the
devoted hermit who for ever ended the savage fights of the amphitheatre;
but, though Télémaque was a triumph of genius and tender religious
feeling in spite of bad pseudo-classical taste, has not been again
repeated.
Cassandra appears in Essex in 1560, and named the sister of Jane Austen.
CHAPTER III.
NAMES FROM ANIMALS, ETC.
SECTION I.—_The Lion._
Much of the spirit of the nation is to be traced in the animals whence
their names are derived. The Jew, whose temper, except when thoroughly
roused, was peaceful and gentle, had hardly any save the names of the
milder and more useful creatures: the ewe, the lamb, the bee, the fawn,
&c. The Indo-European races, on the other hand, have the more brave and
spirited animals, many of them running through the entire family of
nations thus derived, and very possibly connected with that ‘beast
epic,’ as Mr. Dasent calls it, which crops out everywhere; in the East,
in apologues and fables; and towards the West, in ‘_mahrchen_,’
according to the expressive German term. It is just as if in the infancy
of the world, there was the same living sympathy with the animal
creation that we see in a young child, and that the creatures had at one
time appeared to man to have an individual character, rank, and history
of their own, explained by myths, in which these beings are the actors
and speakers, and assumed a meaning divine, symbolic, didactic, or
simply grotesque, according to the subsequent development of the peoples
by whom they were handed down.
The lion is one of these universal animals, testifying how long dim
memories of the home in Asia must have clung to the distant wanderers.
Leon, or Leo, was early a favourite name among the Greeks; and Herodotus
thinks, on account of its meaning, that the captive Leo was the first
victim of the Persians. It passed on in unceasing succession through
Greeks of all ranks till it came to Byzantine emperors and Roman
bishops. Two popes, to whom Rome owed the deepest debt of gratitude—to
the one, for interceding with Attila; to the other, for turning away the
wrath of the Saracens—were both called Leo, and it thus became a
favourite on the papal throne, and was considered to allude to the Lion
of the Tribe of Judah, which was therefore sculptured on St. Peter’s, in
the time of the Medicean Leo X.
Leone, and Léon, and Léonie have continued in use in France and Italy.
The word has been much compounded from the earlier Greek times,
Leontius, Leontia, whence the modern French Léonce. The name Leonidas,
the glorious self-devoted Spartan, after entire desuetude, has been
revived in Greece and America.
The Romanized Britons adopted the Lion name, which amongst them became
Llew, the Lot of the romances of the Round Table. Here likewise figured
the gallant Sir Lionel, from whom Edward III., in chivalrous mood, named
his third son, the ancestor of the House of York. An unfortunate young
Dane, to whom the Dutch republic stood sponsor, received the name of Leo
Belgicus. The Slavonic forms are Lev, Lav, and Lew, which, among the
swarms of Jews in Poland, have become a good deal confounded with their
hereditary Levi.
Leandros, Leander, as we call it, means lion-man. Besides the
unfortunate swimming lover whose exploit Byron imitated and Turner
painted, it belonged to a sainted bishop of Seville, who, in 590,
effected the transition of the Spanish Visigoths from Arianism to
orthodoxy. Very likely his name was only a classicalizing of one of the
many Gothic names from _leut_ (the people), which are often confused
with those from the lion; but Leandro passed on as a Christian name in
Spain and Italy.
The name Leocadia, a Spanish maiden martyred by the Moors, had probably
some connection with a lion; but it cannot be traced in the corrupted
state of the language. Léocadie has travelled into France.
The Slavonians have Lavoslav (lion-glory), which they make the
equivalent of the Teutonic Liutpold or Leopold, really meaning the
people’s prince.
Löwenhard (the stern lion, or lion strong), was a Frank noble, who was
converted at the same time as his sovereign, Clovis, and became a hermit
near Limoges. Many miracles were imputed to him, and St. Leonard became
a peculiarly popular saint both in France and England. Leonard is a
favourite name in France; and has some popularity in England, chiefly,
it is said, in the north, and in the Isle of Wight. Lionardo is Italian,
witness Lionardo da Vinci; and, according to Gil Blas, Leonarda is a
Spanish feminine; Germany has in surnames Lenhardt, Lehnart, Leinhardt,
Lowen; Italy invented the formidable Christian name, Brancalleone
(Brachium leonis), or arm of a lion; and Bavaria has Lowenclo
(lion-claw).
┌────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ German. │ Swiss. │ Italian. │
│Leonard │Léonard │Leonhard │Liert │Lionardo │
│ │Leunairs │Lienhard │Liertli │ │
│ │Launart │Lienl │Lienzel │ │
└────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┘
SECTION II.—_The Horse._
The horse is as great a favourite as the lion, and is prominent in many
a myth from the Caspian to the Frozen Ocean. His name in Sanscrit
_açva_, in Zendish _esp_ or _asp_, comes forth in the Greek ἵππος or
ἵkkoς, showing its identity with the Latin _equus_, the Gaelic _each_,
and it may be with the Teutonic _hengst_.
Among these various races it is the Persian, the Greek, and the Gael who
have chiefly used the term for this noble animal in their nomenclature.
The Persian feminine Damaspia is said exactly to answer to the Greek
Hippodameia, the female of Hippodamus (horse-tamer), and Hippos forms
part of far too many Greek names to be here enumerated, except where
they have become popular elsewhere.
One would have imagined that Hippos and λύω (to destroy) must have
suggested the name of Hippolytus, the son of Theseus, who was destroyed
by his own horse, terrified by a sea monster; but, on the other hand, he
appears to have been named after his mother Hippolita, the beautiful
queen of the Amazons, whom Shakespeare has shown us hunting in his
wondrous Attic forest. However this may be, Hippolytus has many
namesakes; among them an early Christian writer, and also a priest at
Rome, who in the year 252 was condemned by the persecuting judge to die
the death his name suggested. The Christians buried him in a catacomb,
which bears his name. Sant’Ippolito became a parish church at Rome, and
of course gave a title to one of the cardinals, and Ippolito and
Ippolita have always been fashionable Italian names. He was also the
patron of horsemen and horses, and the latter were solemnly blessed in
his name. Xanthippe’s name is feminine of Xanthippus (a yellow horse!)
What a pity it was not a grey one!
The Persian Aspamitras (horse-lover) exactly corresponds to the Greek
Φίλιππoς (loving horses). Thus were named many obscure kings of Macedon,
before that sagacious prince who prepared the future glories of his son
by disciplining his army, and crushing Greece in spite of those
indignant orations of Demosthenes, which have made Philippics the
generic term for vehement individual censure.
Macedon, by colonizing the East, spread Philippos over it, and thus was
named the apostle of Bethsaida, and likewise one of the deacons, chosen
for his ‘Grecian’ connections.
The apostle was martyred at Hierapolis; nevertheless an arm of his,
according to the Bollandists, was brought to Florence from
Constantinople, in 1205, and made Filippo, Filippa, Lippo, Pippo, Pippa,
great favourites in Northern Italy.
Greece and her dependent churches always used the name of Philip, or
Feeleep, as they call it in Russia; and it was the eldest son of the
Muscovite Anne, Queen of Henri I., who was the first Philippe to wear
the crown of France. He transmitted his name to five more kings, and to
princes innumerable, of whom one became Duke of Burgundy. His
descendant, the half Flemish, half Austrian Philippe the handsome,
married Juana la Loca of Castille and Aragon, and their grandson was
known as Felipe II. in Spain. During his brief and ill-omened stay in
England, he was godfather to Philip Sidney, whose name commemorated the
gratitude of his mother to the King Consort for having interceded for
the life of his father the Duke of Northumberland.
Philip, in both genders, was, however, already common in England. Queen
Philippe, as she called herself, our admirable Hainaulter, was the
god-daughter of Philippe de Valois, her husband’s rival; and many a
young noble and maiden bore her honoured name, which one female
descendant carried to Portugal, and another to Sweden, where both alike
worthily sustained the honour of Plantagenet.
The name of Philippe is particularly common in the Isle of Jersey, so
that it has become a joke with sailors to torment the inhabitants by
calling them Philip as they would term an Irishman Paddy.
Filippo is additionally popular in Italy at present from the favourite
modern Saint Filippo Neri.[31]
┌────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┐
│ English. │ Scotch. │ French. │ German. │ Italian. │
│Philip │Phillipp │Philippe │Philipp │Filippo │
│Phil │ │Philipot │Lipp │Pippo │
│Phip │ │ │Lipperl │Lippo │
│Philipp │ │ │ │ │
│Lipp │ │ │ │ │
│Lipperl │ │ │ │ │
├────────────┼────────────┼────────────┼────────────┼────────────┤
│Portuguese. │ Spanish. │ Russian. │ Lett. │ Hungarian │
│Felippe │Felipe │Feeleep │Wilips │Fülip │
│Felipinho │ │ │Lipsts │ │
│Felipe │ │ │ │ │
├────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┤
│ FEMININE │
├────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┤
│ English. │ French. │Portuguese. │ Dutch. │ Italian │
│Philippa │Philippine │Felipa │Pine │Filippa │
│ │Flipote │ │ │Pippa │
└────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┘
Footnote 31:
Rawlinson’s _Herodotus_; Keightley’s _Mythology_; Butler; Michaelis.
SECTION III.—_The Goat._
The goat (αἴξ) stands out prominently in northern mythology, though
there scarcely, if at all, used in nomenclature. In Greek mythology he
appears, though not distinctly, and the names derived from him are
manifold.
The goat was the standard of Macedon (the rough goat was the King of
Grecia), as Daniel had announced while Greece was yet in her infancy,
and Macedon in barbarism, not even owned as of the Hellenic confederacy.
The unfortunate posthumous son of Alexander was therefore called Aigos,
or Ægos, in addition to his father’s name.
The aigis, ægis, or shield of Pallas Athene, though said to bear the
gorgon’s head, was probably at first a goat skin. From it is formed
Aigidios, Ægidius. In 475, there was an Ægidius, a Roman commander in
Gaul, who was for a time an independent sovereign, ruling over both
Romans and Franks. About two centuries later, an Athenian, as it is
said, by name Ægidius, having worked a miraculous cure by laying his
cloak over the sick man, fled to France to avoid the veneration of the
people, and dwelt on the banks of the Rhone, living on the milk of a
hind. The creature was chased by the king of France, and, flying wounded
to her master, discovered him to the hunters. Thenceforth he has been
revered as St. Giles, and considered as the patron of numbers thus
called. Now, is Giles a contraction of Ægidius, or is it the corruption
of the Latin Julius; or, again, is it the Keltic Giolla, a servant, or
the Teutonic Gils, a pledge? Every one of these sounds more like it than
the Greek word, and it does seem probable that the Athenian, if Athenian
he were, was seized upon as patron by aliens to his name, and then cut
down to suit them. However, Ægidius continued to be treated as the Latin
for Giles; Egidio became an Italian name; and as St. Giles was patron of
Edinburgh, Egidia was used by Scottish ladies; one of the sisters of
King Robert II. was so called, and even now it is not quite extinct.[32]
SECTION IV.—_The Bee._
The word μείλα (soothing things) gave the verb μειλίσσω, or μελίσσω
(melisso), to soothe or sweeten, whence the name of honey, and of the
honey-bee. Melissa was sometimes said to have been the name of the nymph
who first taught the use of honey, and bees, perhaps from their
clustering round their queen, became the symbol of nymphs. Thence
Melissa grew to be the title of a priestess as well as a lady’s name in
classic times.
Melissa was invented by the Italian poets as the beneficent fairy who
protected Bradamante, and directed Ruggero to escape from Atlante, and
afterwards from Alcina, upon the hippogriff. Thus she entered the domain
of romance, and became confounded with the Melusine and Melisende, who
had risen out of the Teutonic Amalaswinth; and Melisse and Melite were
adopted into French nomenclature.
Akin to Melissa is Γλυκηρά (Glykera), the sweet. This was not a feminine
in good repute in ancient Athens, but it has since belonged to a saint
of the Greek Churches, namely, the daughter of Macarius, thrice consul,
who in the time of Antoninus suffered torments for a long time at
Trajanopolis; and Gloukera is prevalent in Russia; and Glykera, or
Glycère, in France.[33]
-----
Footnote 32:
Keightley’s _Fairy Mythology_; Croker’s _Fairy Legends_; Tooke’s
_History of Russia_; Butler.
Footnote 33:
Liddell and Scott; Professor Munch; Junius.
SECTION V.—_Names from Flowers._
It was not common in Greece to name persons from flowers, but two names
in occasional use are connected with legends of transformation, though
in each case it is evident that the name belonged originally to the
flower, and then was transferred to the man.
Thus the Narcissus, named undoubtedly from ναρκάω (narkao), to put to
sleep, has become the object of a graceful legend of the cold-hearted
youth, for whose sake the nymph Echo pined away into a mere voice, and
in retribution was made to see his own beauty in the water and waste
from hopeless love for his own image, until his corpse became the
drooping golden blossom, that loves to hang above still pools of water,
like the “dancing daffodils” of Wordsworth.
Narcissus seems to have been a name among the Greek slaves of the
Romans, for we twice find it belonging to freedmen of the Emperor. St.
Narcissus was Bishop of Jerusalem in 195, and presided at the council
that fixed the great festival of the Resurrection on a Sunday instead of
on the day fixed by the full moon like the Jews. The Russians call it
Narkiss; the Romans, Narcisso; and it has even been found belonging to
an English peasant.
Hyacinthus (Ὑάκινθος) was a beautiful Spartan youth, who, being
accidentally killed by Apollo in a game with the discus, was caused by
the sorrowing divinity to propagate from his blood a flower bearing on
its petals either his initial Υ or the αί (alas), the cry of
lamentation. A yearly feast was held at Sparta in honour of Hyacinthus,
and his name was perpetuated till Christian times, when a martyr bore it
at Rome, and thus brought it into favour in Italy as Giacinto; also a
Polish Dominican Jacinthus in the thirteenth century, is commemorated as
the Apostle of the North, because he preached Christianity in great part
of Russia and Tartary; but curiously enough it is in Ireland alone that
Hyacinth has ever flourished as a man’s name, probably as a supposed
equivalent to some native Erse name. There it is very common among the
peasantry, and is in common use as Sinty, while in France, Italy, and
Spain, though apparently without a saintly example of their own sex,
Jacinthe, Giacinta, and Jacinta are always feminine, and rather popular
peasant names.
Ῥόδος (Rhodos), the rose, is a word connected in its source with the
origin of the Teuton _roth_, Keltic _ruadh_, and Latin _rufus_. Roses
are the same in almost every tongue, and they almost always suggest
female names; of which the most interesting to us is Rhoda, “the
household maid, of her own joy afraid,” who “opened not the gate for
gladness” when she knew the voice of St. Peter as he stood without the
door after his release from prison and death. Her name, as a Scripture
one, has had some use in England, though, in general, the Roses of each
country have grown upon their own national grafts from the one great
stock, or, more strangely, are changed from horses.
Φύλλις (Phyllis), a green leaf or bough, has another story of
transformation. She was a Thalian damsel who hung herself because her
lover did not keep his promise of returning to marry her, and was
accordingly changed into an almond tree. Phyllis was the name of
Domitian’s nurse, and in process of time found her way among the
dramatis personæ of Arcadian poetry; and arrived at being somewhat
popular as a name in England.
CHAPTER IV.
HISTORICAL GREEK NAMES CONSISTING OF EPITHETS.
SECTION I.—_Agathos._
After passing from the fascinating but confused tales and songs that
group around the ship Argo, the doomed family of Œdipus, and the siege
of Troy, the Greeks are well-nigh lost for a time, but emerge again in
the full and distinct brilliancy of the narratives of Herodotus and his
followers, who have rendered their small aggregate of fragmentary states
and their gallant resistance to Asiatic invasion the great nucleus of
interest in the ancient world.
In the days of these wise and brave men, the nomenclature was, for the
most part, expressive and appropriate, consisting of compounds of words
of good augury from the spoken language, and, usually, as has been
before shown, with a sort of recurring resemblance, from generation to
generation, so as to make the enumeration of a pedigree significant and
harmonious.
Of these was ἀγαθός (the good), precisely the same word as our own
_good_ and the German _guth_, only with the commencing α and a Greek
termination.
Classical times showed many an Agathon, and Agathias, and numerous
compounds, such as Agathocles (good fame), to be repeated in the
Teutonic Gudred, and other varieties; but the abiding use of the word as
an European name was owing to a Sicilian girl, called Agatha, who in the
Decian persecution was tortured to death at Rome. Sicily considered her
as one of its guardian saints. Thus, the festival day of this martyred
virgin is observed by both the Eastern and Western Churches, and her
name is found among all the nations that ever possessed her native
island. Greece has transmitted it to Russia, where the _th_ not being
pronounceable, it is called Agafia; and the masculine, which is there
used, Agafon; and the Slavonian nations derive it from the same quarter.
The Normans adopted it and sent it home to their sisters in Neustria,
where it was borne by that daughter of William the Conqueror who was
betrothed to the unfortunate Earl Edwin, and afterwards died on her way
to a state marriage in Castille. In her probably met the Teutonic Gytha
and the Greek Agatha, identical in meaning and root, and almost in
sound, though they had travelled to her birth-place in Rouen by two such
different routes from their Eastern starting-place. Agatha was once much
more common as a name than at present in England, and seems still to
prevail more in the northern than the southern counties. Haggy, or
Agatha, is the maid-servant’s name in Southey’s _Doctor_, attesting its
prevalence in that class before hereditary or peculiar names were
discarded as at present.
France did not fail to take up Agatha. Spain had her Agatha like that of
the Italians, both alike omitting the _h_ of θ. Portugal makes it
Agneda; and the only other change worth noting is that the Letts cut it
short into Apka.
Aristos (best) was a favourite commencement with the Greeks. Aristides,
most just of men, was thus called the son of the best. He has reappeared
in his proper form in modern Greece; as Aristide in republican France;
as Aristides in America.
Aristobulus (best counsel) came originally from an epithet of Artemis,
to whom Themistocles built a temple at Athens, as Aristoboulè, the best
adviser. It was very common in the various branches of the Macedonian
empire, and was thus adopted in the Asmonean family, from whom it came
to the Herodian race, and thence spread among the Jews. In the Epistle
to the Romans, St. Paul sends his greetings to the household of
Aristobulus; and Welsh ecclesiastical antiquaries endeavour to prove
that Arwystli, whom the Triads say was brought by Bran the blessed to
preach the Gospel in Britain, was the same with this person.
Aristarchus (best judge) is also a Scriptural name; and besides these we
have Aristocles (best fame), Aristippos (best horse), Aristagoras (best
assembly), and all the other usual Greek compounds among the Greeks.
Perhaps this is the fittest place to mention that Arethusa is in use
among the modern Greeks, and interpreted by them to mean the virtuous,
as coming from this source. Aretino has been used in Italy.[34]
-----
Footnote 34:
Smith; Jameson; Rees, _Welsh Saints_.
SECTION II.—_Alexander, &c._
Conquering Macedon was the portion of Greece, if Greece it could be
called, that spread its names most widely and permanently; and as was
but right, no name was more universally diffused than that of the great
victor, he who in history is as prominent as Achilles in poetry.
Ἀλέξανδρος (Alexandros), from ἀλέξω (alexo), to help, and ἄνδρες
(andres), men, was said to have been the title given to Paris by the
shepherds among whom he grew up, from his courage in repelling robbers
from the flocks. It was afterwards a regular family name among the kings
of Macedon, he who gave it fame being the third who bore it. So much
revered as well as feared was this mighty conqueror, that his name still
lives in proverb and song throughout the East. The Persians absolutely
adopted him into their own line, and invented a romance by which
‘Secunder’ was made the son of a native monarch. Among the eastern
nations, Iskander became such a by-word for prowess, that even in the
sixteenth century the Turks would find no greater title of fear for
their foe, the gallant Albanian, Georgios Kastriotes, than Skander Beg,
or Lord Alexander.
Not only did the great conqueror possess many namesakes,—as indeed,
there is a story that all the children born the year of his conquest of
India were called after him,—but Alexandros was already frequent in
Greece; and among the kingdoms formed out of the fragments of his
empire, it recurred so as to become usual all over the Græcized East.
Even the Maccabean Jews used it, and it was common in Judea, as well as
elsewhere, in the time of the Gospels, so that a large proportion of
saints and martyrs bore it and handed it on, especially in Greece and
Italy. A pope, martyred in the second century, rendered it a papal
assumed name; and the Italians used it frequently as Alessandro,
shortened into Sandro. Nowhere, however, is it so thoroughly national as
in Scotland, imported thither, apparently, with other Greek names, by
Margaret Ætheling, who learnt them in the Hungarian court where she was
born and brought up. Her third son was the first of the three Scottish
Alexanders, under whom the country spent her most prosperous days.
No wonder his namesakes were numerous. In the Highlands they came to be
Alaster, and formed the surname MacAlister; in the south, the
contractions were Alick, Saunders, or Sandy, and the feminine Alexa,
Alexandrina, and Alexandra, are chiefly German and Russian, though now
and then occurring in France.
The first half of this name, Alexios, a defender, was in use in ancient
Greece, where it belonged to a noted sculptor. Its saintly honours did
not begin till the fifth century, when a young Roman noble, called
Allexius or Alexis, is said to have been so much bent on a monastic
life, that being compelled by his parents to marry, he fled away on his
wedding day, and lived seventeen years in a convent in Syria; but,
finding his reputation for sanctity too much for his humility, he came
home in guise of a poor pilgrim, and spent another seventeen years as a
beggar maintained on the scraps of his father’s kitchen, and constantly
mocked and misused by the servants, until in his dying moments, he made
himself known to his parents. His church at Rome, called St. Alessio,
gives a title to a cardinal; and his day, July 17th, is observed by the
Greeks as well as the Romans; and yet so strange is his history that it
almost seems as if it might have been one of those instances in which an
allegory acquired the name of a real saint, and attached itself to him
as a legend. Alessio has in consequence always been an Italian name, and
with the family of the Komnenoi, Alexios came into use among the
Byzantine Greeks, with whom it was very frequent. Alexia is often found
as a lady’s name in old records and accounts of the middle ages; but it
is apparently intended merely as the Latin equivalent for Alice, which
we shall show by-and-by to have had an entirely different origin.
┌────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┐
│ English. │ Scotch. │ French. │ Italian. │Spanish. │
│Alexander │Alexander │Alexandre │Alessandro │Alejandro │
│Alex │Alick │ │ │ │
│ │Sanders │ │ │ │
│ │Sandy │ │ │ │
│ │Sawny │ │ │ │
│ │Elshender │ │ │ │
│ │Elshie │ │ │ │
│ │Alaster │ │ │ │
├────────────┼────────────┼────────────┼────────────┼────────────┤
│ Russian. │ Polish. │ Slavonic. │ Ung. │ │
│Aleksander │Aleksander │Aleksander │Sandor │ │
│Ssachka │Leszek │Skender │ │ │
│Ssaschinka │ │ │ │ │
├────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┤
│ FEMININE │
├────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┤
│ English. │ Italian. │Portuguese. │ Spanish. │ │
│Alexis │Alessio │Aleixo │Alejo │ │
│Alexis │ │ │ │ │
│Alexe │ │ │ │ │
├────────────┼────────────┼────────────┼────────────┼────────────┤
│ Russian. │ Slavonic. │ Servian. │ Lusatian. │ Hungarian. │
│Alexei │Ales │Aleksa │Alex │Elek │
│Alescha │Leks │ │Halex │ │
│ │ │ │Holex │ │
└────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┘
SECTION III.—_Anēr, Andros._
We come to the names derived from ἀνήρ, gen. ἀνδρός (anēr, andros), a
man. The word itself has connections in the Sanscrit _nara_, and Zend
_ner_; but its compounds are all from its oblique cases.
The most interesting of these is formed by the corrupt Greek dialect
used in Syria, namely, that which fell to Ανδρέας (Andreas), the
Galilean fisherman, whom the Church Universal reveres as one of the
foremost in the Glorious Company of the Apostles. The saint was martyred
at Patras in Achaia, whence some of his relics were carried in the
fourth century to Scotland, and were thus the occasion of St. Andrew’s
becoming the Metropolitan see. Shortly after, the vision of Hungus, King
of the Picts, of St. Andrew’s Cross, promising him victory, rendered the
white saltire the national ensign, and St. Andrew became not only the
patron saint, but in due time the knightly champion of Scotland, and
made Andrew one of the most universal of names, and the patronymic
Anderson very common. The other relics went first to Constantinople, and
after the taking of that city, were dispersed through Europe. Philip the
Good, of Burgundy, obtained some of them, and made St. Andrew the patron
of the order of the Golden Fleece, and Andreas became a frequent Flemish
and Dutch name. It has a feminine in the countries where it is most
popular, and its variations are as follows:—
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ Scotch. │ Dutch. │ Danish. │
│Andrew │Andrew │Andreas │Anders │
│Andy │Dandie │Andries │ │
│ │ │Andries │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ French. │ German. │ Italian. │ Spanish. │
│André │Andreas │Andrea │Andres │
│Andrien │ │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Russian. │ Slavonic. │ Polish. │ Bohemian. │
│Andrej │Andrej │Andrezej │Ondrej │
│ │Andias │Jedrzej │ │
│ │Necek │ │ │
│ │Andrejeek │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Lusatian. │ Esthonian. │ Hungarian. │ Lapland. │
│Handrej │Andras │Andras │Anta │
│Rajka │Andrus │Bandi │Attok │
│Hendrijshka │ │ │Ats │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
The feminines are the French Andrée and Italian Andreana. The Russians
use Andrean as an equivalent for Henry!
Andronicus, man’s victory, was a great favourite, and occurs in St.
Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, probably having belonged to a Corinthian
who had gone from the busy city of traffic on the Isthmus to the great
Capital of the world. The name continued among the Greeks, and belonged
to numerous emperors, but has not been subsequently in much favour.
SECTION IV.—_Eu._
The word εὖ (well or happily) was the commencement of many a name of
good augury from the earliest times, and mingles as much among Christian
as among classical associations.
Thus in company with ἄγγελος, angelos (a messenger), it formed
evangelus, happy messenger, or bearer of good tidings, the first time
applied to a shepherd, who brought to Ephesus the tidings of a quarry of
beautiful marble for the building of the temple that was the glory of
the city and of all Asia. Adored with heroic honours as he was, the
title must have seemed to the Ephesian Christians, above all, to befit
those spiritual shepherds who brought the best of tidings, and
Evangelista became the term for a preacher, as Evangelium of his
doctrine, both becoming in time restricted to the four-writers of the
personal history of our Lord, and their narrative, as being the very
core and centre of the Good Tidings. Evangelista was an old Italian
name; and Longfellow appears to have invented Evangeline for the heroine
of his poem, whence many of the name have sprung up in America.
Εὔχειρ (Eucheir), dexterous hand, was no doubt at first a mere epithet
of a sculptor, but afterwards considered as a name, and belonging to no
less than four distinguished sculptors of ancient Greece.
Thence the Latinized Eucherius, which belonged to a Bishop of Lyons, a
great author of ecclesiastical works, who died about A.D. 450; from him
comes the Portuguese Euchario, the Italian Eucario, the French Euchaire,
the Russian Jevcharij, the Polish Euckary.
Εὐδώρη (Eudora), happy gift, was one of the Nereids, and afterwards did
duty as Eudore in French romance.
Eudocia and Eudoxia are so much alike as to be often confused, but have
different significations. The first is Εὐδοκία (approval), the second
Εὐδοξία (good fame of glory). Both were great favourites with the Greek
empresses, and were assumed by imperial brides possessed of some
appellation not supposed to befit the purple. Saints of the Greek Church
handed Eudokhia on into Russia, where it has been worn upon the throne,
and becomes in common parlance Jevdoksija.
Εὐγενή (Eugenes), well born, was a very old Greek author; but Eugenios
was the more usual form in classical times, and was carried on as
Eugenius by the Romans. St. Eugenius was an African Confessor, and
another Eugenius was Bishop of Toledo in 646. Both these gave much
popularity to their name; the first in the East, the second in Italy,
where Eugênio came to that high-spirited Savoyard who, growing weary of
lingering at the court of Louis XIV., and hearing himself called _le
petit Abbé du Roi_, rendered the sound of Prince Eugène dear to Austria
and England; terrible to France and Turkey. Foe as he was, it is to his
fame that the great popularity of Eugène in France is owing, whilst even
in the country for which he fought Eugen is far less common. The
Russians have it as Jevgenij; and the Servians as Djoulija; indeed, well
may these last remember the gallant prince who turned back the wave of
Turkish invasion.
Eugenius stands forth again and again in the early roll of Scottish
kings, but whether these sovereigns ever lived or not, their appellation
was certainly not Eugenius, nor any corruption from it; but the Keltic
Eoghan, Ewan, or Evan, still extremely common in the Highlands, and
meaning a young warrior, though, after the favourite custom of the Gael,
Anglicized and Latinized by names of similar sound. The Welsh Owain or
Ywain appears to have had the same fate, as the first means a lamb; but
this is not equally certain, as the British had many Latin and Greek
names current among them, and this _may_ be a corruption of Eugenius.
Eugenia was a virgin Roman martyr, of whom very little is known; but
this convenient feminine for Eugène has been in favour in the countries
where the masculine was popular, and the Empress Eugénie rendered it the
reigning name in France.
The names beginning with this favourite adverb are almost beyond
enumeration, and it is only possible to select those of any modern
interest. Εὐνίκη (Eunike), Eunice, happy victory, was one of the fifty
Nereids, from whom the name passed to Greek women, and thus to Eunice,
the Jewish mother of Timothy, whence this has become a favourite with
English lovers of Bible names.
John Bunyan would have been reminded of his town of _Fair Speech_ by the
number of Greeks called by words of this signification: Eulalius,
Eulogius, Euphemius, all with their feminines, besides Euphrasia.
The feminines were more enduring than the masculines. Eulalia was a
child of ten or twelve years old, who, with that peculiar exaggeration
of feeling that distinguishes Spanish piety, made her escape from the
place of safety where her parents had taken refuge, entered Merida, and
proclaiming herself a Christian, was martyred with the utmost extremity
of torture in the persecution of Diocletian, and was sung by the great
Christian poet Prudentius, himself a Spaniard. His verses spread her
fame into the East, where the Russians carry on her name as Jevlalija;
the Servians, as Evlalija or Lelica. Another virgin martyr of the same
name, under the same persecution, died at Barcelona, whence her relics
spread into Guienne and Languedoc, and thus named the villages of Ste.
Olaille, Ste. Aulazie, and Ste. Aulaire, the last a familiar seignoral
title! Eulalia and Eulalie have been often used in Spain and France, and
the former is found in the register of Ottery St. Mary, Devon—also
frequently in Cornwall.
Euphemia originally meant at once fair speech and abstinence from the
reverse, so that almost in irony it signified silence, and was applied
to the stillness that prevailed during religious rites, or to the
proclamation of silence. The Euphemia who was the parent of the
wide-spread name, was a virgin-martyr of Bithynia, whose legend of
constancy, unshaken and invulnerable, alike by lion and flame, strongly
impressed both the East and the West. Jevfimija, in Russia; Jeva, in
Servia; Bema, in Lusatia; and Pimmie, in Lithuania. Then she is almost
as much changed as by the Effie and Phemie of Scotland, which together
with Euphame have prevailed since very early times. It is a question
whether this Scottish Euphame were really one of the Greek names brought
from Hungary by Queen Margaret, or if it be only another attempt to
translate the Keltic Aoiffe. In the Highlands, however, the name is
called Oighrigh; which, to English eyes and ears, seems equally distant
from either Aoiffe or Euphemia. The church of Santa Eufemia at Rome
gives title to a cardinal, and has spread the name in Italy and France.
It remains somewhat doubtful whether Eustace should be referred to
Εὐστᾶθηος (steadfast), or to Εὔσταχος (happy in harvest). The Eostafie,
or Eustathius, of the Greco-Slavonic Church, certainly has the same
festival-day (September 20th) as the Eustachius of the Latin; but the
Latin Church has _likewise_ a St. Eustachius, a different personage with
a different day. He of September 20th was a Roman soldier, who lived and
suffered under the Emperor Adrian, but his wild poetical legend is
altogether a work of the Western mind. It begins like that of St.
Hubert, with his conversion by the apparition of a crucifix planted
between the horns of a stag, and a voice telling him that he should
suffer great things. A soldier saint was sure to be a great favourite in
the middle ages, and the supposed transport of St. Eustace’s relics to
St. Denis, in very early times, filled France with Eustache, and thence
Eustace, Wistace, or Huistace, as English tongues were pleased to call
it, came over in plenty at the Norman Conquest. Eustace ‘Comes,’ who
holds land in Domesday Book before the Conquest, must have been he of
Boulogne who had such a desperate quarrel with the Godwin sons. There
were six householders of this name after the Conquest, and they, or
their descendants, sometimes called their daughters Eustachie, or
Eustachia. Eustachia, a kinswoman of Henry II., married Geoffrey de
Mandeville; and Eustacie was once in favour in France; but all these
have a good deal lost their popularity, though we sometimes hear of
Eustace in these days. The Bavarian contraction is Staches. Eusebius and
Eusebia mean gentle or holy, and have not been frequent.[35]
SECTION V.—_Hieros._
The word ἵερος (hieros), sacred, gave the term for a priest, or any
other person or thing set apart, and thus formed several names in the
family of the kings of Syracuse, Hieron, Hieracles (holy fame),
Hieronymus, _i. e._ Ἱερώνυμος (with a holy name). These continued in use
among the Greeks, and came at length to that Dalmatian scholar and
hermit, Eusebius Hieronymus Sophronius, who is reckoned as one of the
greatest of the Latin fathers. As a saint of high reputation, his name
underwent the Italian process of changing its aspirate into a _G_, and
he became San Geronimo, or even Girolamo, whence the French took their
frequent Jerome, and we followed their example. The Germans did indeed
hold fast to Hieronymus; and the old English reformers would quote St.
Hierom; but Jerome is the abiding name by which the saint, his
namesakes, and the friars who took his rule are called.
In Ireland, Jerome, like Jeremiah and Edward, has been forced into
representing the good old Keltic Diarmaid.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ Portuguese. │ Spanish. │ Italian │
│Hierom │Jeromino │Jeromo │Geronimo │
│ │Hieronimo │Jeromino │Girolamo │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ French. │ Russian. │ Polish. │ Servian │
│Jerôme │Jeronim │Hieronim │Jerolim │
│ │ │Hirus │Jerko │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
In Cambrai, Hieronome was the form, with the Hieronomette for a
feminine; and among the Swinburnes of Yorkshire, in the seventeenth
century, Jeronima thrice occurs.[36]
-----
Footnote 35:
Liddell and Scott; Smith; Jameson; Sir Isumbras; Ellis, _Domesday
Book_; Michaelis.
Footnote 36:
Grimm; Smith; Scott.
SECTION VI.—_Pan._
A few words beginning with πᾶς (all) must here be mentioned, such as
Pankratios (all ruling). A boy thus called is said to have suffered at
Rome, in his 14th year, in 304, under Diocletian. Even in the time of
Gregory of Tours, it was supposed that certain vengeance followed false
oaths made at his shrine, and his relics were therefore very valuable. A
present of some from Pope Vitalian to our King Oswy brought St. Pancras
into fashion in England, and Pancrace and Pancragio have also named many
churches in France and Italy. The lily called _pancratium_ claims by its
name to excel all others.
Πανταλέων, Pantaleon (altogether a lion), was one of the numerous
Christian physicians who suffered martyrdom. He died at Nicodemia, but
his relics were brought to Constantinople, and thence to France, where
he is the chief saint of the largest church at Lyons, and he is the
patron of doctors next after St. Luke. His name was in use in France and
Italy before. As a peasant name, he fell, with Arlechino and Colombina,
into comedy. His dress was on the stage made to fit tight to his body,
as if all in one piece, and he was always a feeble old man, whence
Shakespeare speaks of the lean and slippered pantaloon. Thence again,
when the entire leg was covered by the trousers instead of by stockings
and breeches meeting at the knee, the name of pantaloon was applied to
the new garment.
Νίκη (victory) was an auspicious word, which, being of feminine gender,
as befitted a goddess, was a favourite close for women’s names; such as
Stratonike (army victory), Φερενίκη, Pherenike (bringing victory).
Berenike was the Macedonian pronunciation of this last, and was in
constant use among princesses of the two Greek kingdoms of Syria and
Egypt. From these ladies, those of the Herod family took the name, and
thus it was borne by that Bernice who heard St. Paul’s defence. Oddly
enough, the peasants of Normandy are fond of calling their daughters
Berenice. Veronica is sometimes said likewise to be a corrupt form.
In men’s names Nike was the prefix, as in Nikon, Niklias, Nikodemos
(conquering people), Nikolaos (Νίκολαος), a word of like meaning. This
last, after belonging to one of the seven first deacons, and to the
founder of a heresy doomed in the Apocalypse, came to the Bishop of
Myra, from whom it acquired a curious legendary fame that made it
universal. St. Nicholas is said to have supplied three destitute maidens
with marriage portions by secretly leaving money at their window, and as
his day occurred just before Christmas, he thus was made the purveyor of
the gifts of the season to all children in Flanders and Holland, who put
out their shoe or stocking in the confidence that Santa Klaus or Knecht
Clobes, as they call him, will put in a prize for good conduct before
the morning. The Dutch element in New England has introduced Santa Klaus
to many a young American who knows nothing of St. Nicholas or of any
saint’s day. Another legend described the saint as having brought three
murdered children to life again, and this rendered him the patron of
boys, especially school-boys.
A saint of both the East and West, with a history so endearing, and
legends still more homely and domestic, Nicholas was certain of many
followers throughout Christendom, and his name came into use in Europe
among the first of the sainted ones. To us it came with the Norman
Conquest, though not in great abundance, for only one Nicolas figures in
Domesday Book, but his namesakes multiplied. The only English pope was
Nicolas Breakspear; and Nicole or Nicola de Camville was the brave lady
who defeated the French invaders at Lincoln, and secured his troublesome
crown to Henry III. She deserves to have had more ladies called after
her in her own country, but the feminines are chiefly confined to
France, where, in the fifteenth century, its contraction was beatified
in the person of a shoemaker’s daughter, Collette Boilet, who reformed
the nuns of St. Clara, and died in the odour of sanctity. The southern
nations almost always contract their names by the omission of the first
syllables, as the northern ones do by leaving out the latter ones; and
thus, while the English have Nick, the Italians speak of Cola, a
contraction that became historical when the strange fortunes of “Cola di
Rienzi, the tribune of the people,” raised him to his giddy height of
honour, and then dashed him down so suddenly and violently, that “You
unfortunate Rienzi” has ever since been a proverbial expression of pity
in Italy.
The French language generally has both varieties of contractions,
perhaps according as it was influenced by the Provençal or the Frank
pronunciation, and thus its Nicolas becomes Nicole or Colas, sometimes
Colin. Thence it has been suggested that Colin Maillard, or
blind-man’s-buff, may be Colin seeking Maillard, the diminutive of
Marie, which would drolly correspond to the conjecture that the “N or M”
of our catechism and marriage service, instead of being merely the
consonants of _nomen_, stand for Nicholas and Mary as the most probable
names. The French Colin is probably Nicolas, and is the parent of all
the Arcadian Colins who piped to their shepherdesses either in the rural
theatricals of the ancient regime, in Chelsea china, or in pastoral
poetry. The Scottish Colin may, perhaps, have been slightly influenced
by French taste, but he bears no relation to Nicolas, being, in fact,
formed from the Irish missionary, Saint Columba. The true Scottish
descendant of the patron of scholars is to be found in that quaint
portrait, Baillie Nicol Jarvie. The _h_ with which Nicolas is usually
spelt in English was probably introduced in the seventeenth century,
which seemed to think good spelling consisted in the insertion of
superfluous letters.
Niel, a pure Keltic word, which was adopted by the Northmen, and became
naturalized in Scandinavia and Normandy, has also been translated by
Nicolas, but quite incorrectly. Nils is the only _real_ Nicolaus except
Klaus used in the North, though Niel, and even Nigel, are sometimes
confounded with it. Denmark has had a King Klaus; otherwise this popular
name has only been on the throne in the instance of that great Tzar whom
we had respected till the last year of his life, when his aggression
forced us into war.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ Scotch. │ French. │ Danish. │
│Nicholas │Nicol │Nicolas │Nikolaus │
│Nick │ │Nicole │Niklaas │
│Nicol │Colas │Colin │Klaus │
│ │ │ │Nils │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Dutch. │ German. │ Bavarian. │ │
│Niklaas │Nikolaus │Niklau │Swiss. │
│Klasse │Niklas │Nickel │Chlaus │
│ │Klaus │Likelas │ │
│ │Nikolaus │Klasl │ │
│ │Niklas │ │ │
│ │Klaus │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Italian. │ Portuguese. │ Russian. │ Slavonic. │
│Nicola │Nicolaio │Nikolaj │Nikola │
│Nicolo │ │Nikolascha │Miklaoz │
│Cola │ │Kolinka │ │
│ │ │Kolja │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Polish. │ Lett. │ Finland. │ Ung. │
│Mikolej │Klavinsh │Laus │Mikos │
│ │Klassis │Nilo │ Lapland. │
│ │ │Niku │Nikka │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
The German Sieg answers exactly to the Greek Nike.
With the _a_ before it, which in Greek contradicts the ensuing word,
like the Latin _in_, and Teutonic _un_, we have Ἀνίκητoς, Aniketos,
Anicetus, unconquered, the name of a pope, a friend of St. Polycarp, and
an opponent of heresy, whence he is a saint both of East and West, and
is called Aniceto at Rome, Anicet in France, and Anikita in Russia.[37]
-----
Footnote 37:
Liddell and Scott; Rollin; Jameson; Butler; Michaelis; Ellis,
_Domesday Book_; Warton, _English Poetry_.
SECTION VII.—_Polys._
Πoλύς (Polys), much, very, or many, was a frequent opening for Greek
names. Polydoros (Πoλύδωρος), many-gifted, was the youngest and last
survivor of the sons of Priam; and as mediæval Europe had a strong
feeling for the fate of Troy, and the woes of ‘Polydore’ had an especial
attraction for them, so Polidoro was revived in Italy, and has never
quite died away.
His sister Polyxena, the feminine of very hospitable, had an equally
piteous fate, being slain by the Greeks at the tomb of Achilles.
According to the legends of the Eastern Church, a lady named Eusebia
(gentle), who had been born at Rome, fled from an enforced marriage with
a king, and took refuge, first at Alexandria, and then in the Isle of
Cos, where she was called Xena, or the stranger. She founded a monastery
at Mylassa in Caria, and there died in the 5th century. Kseenia, as she
is called in Russia, has many namesakes, and probably was made
ornamental by being lengthened into Poliksenja, which is likewise in
use, with the contraction Polinka; and Polixene has also been used from
an early period in Germany.
Πολύευκτος (Polyeuctos), much longed for, answering to the Desiderio of
Italy, and Desirée of France, was an old classic name, and an officer
who was martyred in Lesser Armenia about the middle of the third
century, was placed in the martyrology of both East and West; but only
has namesakes in Russia, where he is called Polieukt.
Πολύκαρπος (Polycarpos), that glorious Bishop of Smyrna, “faithful unto
death,” and “receiving a crown of life when he played the man in the
fire,” has had still fewer imitators of his suitable Christian name,
much-fruit.
SECTION VIII.—_Phile, &c._
Φίλος (Philos) was a most obvious and natural opening for names. It
stood alone as that of several Macedonian ladies, and again with
numerous men called Philon.
Philemon (loving thought) was the good old Phrygian who, with his wife
Baucis, entertained Zeus and Hermes, and were rewarded with safety when
their churlish neighbours were destroyed. Philemon was very common among
the Greeks, and the Epistle of St. Paul to the Colossian master of the
runaway Onesimus, has made it one of the Scriptural names of the
English. The Maories call it Pirimona.
The Ptolemys of Egypt were particularly fond of surnaming themselves
after their love to their relations, though they generally contrived so
to treat them as to make the epithet sound ironical: Ptolemy
Philadelphos (love brother), _because_ he murdered his brother; Ptolemy
Philopater, _because_ he poisoned his father; though at least Philometer
does seem to have had a good mother, and to have loved her. Such
surnames were imitated by the Greek kings of Pergamus, all of whom were
named Attalus, and it was from Attalus Philadelphus, the second of them,
that the city of Philadelphia, mentioned in the Apocalypse, took its
title. This perished city of brotherly love seemed to William Penn to
afford a suitable precedent for the title of the capital of his Quaker
colony, which has ever since been Philadelphia. Less happily,
Philadelphia has even been used among English women, apparently desirous
of a large mouthful of a name.
Whether Philadelphia set the fashion, or whether the length of name is
the allurement, Americans have a decided turn for all these
commencements with ‘Phile’; and Philetus, Philander, &c., are to be
found continually among the roughest inhabitants of the backwoods and
far-west. With us they are at a discount, probably owing to the fashion
of the last century of naming imaginary characters from the qualities
they possessed.
Philaret, fond of virtue, is however popular in Russia, for the sake of
some Eastern saint, who no doubt derived it from Philaretos, a Greek
physician.
The verb πράσσω (prasso), to do or act, and the substantives πρᾶγμα
(pragma), πρᾶξις (praxis), business, were fertile in derivatives.
The Christian interest of the words from this source is through
Praxedes, who, according to the legend, was the daughter of the house in
which St. Peter lodged at Rome, and devoted herself, together with her
sister, to attending on Christians in prison, and burying them when they
were put to death; a course of life that resulted in a glorious
martyrdom. In honour of these two faithful women was built one of the
first churches of Rome, consecrated, it is said, as early as 141, and
still existing in all the glory of its ancient mosaics. Santa Prassede,
as modern Rome terms it, gives title to a cardinal; and the admirable
Carlo Borromeo was thus distinguished, deserving, perhaps, more than any
other known ‘hinge-priest’ of Rome to be called after the saint of holy
activity. Prassede has continued in vogue among Italian women, who
frequently learn their names from Roman churches. I have found Plaxy in
Cornwall, possibly from this source. Here, too, we should place Anysia
(Ἀνύσια), from ἀνύω (anuo), to accomplish or complete. She was a maiden
of Thessalonica, put to death there under Maximian. Her day is the 30th
of October, in the Greek calendar, and Annusia is a Russian name, but
she is not in the Roman calendar; and how the Normans heard of her it is
hard to guess, unless it was either from the Sicilian Greeks, or in the
Crusades; nevertheless, we are often met by Annys, Anisia, Annice, or
Annes, in older pedigrees. The latter form occurs down to 1597 in the
registers of the county of Durham. In later times the form was absorbed
by Anne.
Τροφή, Trophe (food or nourishment), formed Τρόφιμος, Trophimos (the
fruitful or nourishing), the name of an old Greek sculptor, and
afterwards of the Ephesian companion of St. Paul who was left sick at
Miletus. The people at Arles consider that he afterwards preached the
Gospel in their city, and have made him the patron of their cathedral;
but it is Russia that continues the use of his name as Trofeem.[38]
Even among the heathen Greeks, Τρυφή, Tryphe (daintiness, softness, or
delicacy), had not a respectable signification. Yet Τρύφον, or Tryphon,
was a favourite with persons of inferior rank—artists, architects, and
physicians; and in the Decian persecution, a martyr so called was put to
the extremity of torture in Bithynia, and has remained highly honoured
in the calendar of the Greek Church; Trypho continuing in use as a
Russian name.
The feminine form, Τρυφαίνα (Tryphæna), was given to two of the
daughters of the Ptolemys in Egypt, where it was far from inappropriate;
but, probably, the two women whom St. Paul greets so honourably at Rome
as Tryphæna and Tryphosa, were either Alexandrian Jewesses whom he had
met at Corinth on their way to Rome, or else merely so called as being
the daughters of some Tryphon. They were not canonized, and the dainty
Tryphæna has only been revived in England by the Puritan taste.
SECTION IX.—_Names connected with the Constitution.—Laos, &c._
The democratic Greeks delighted in names connected with their public
institutions—ἀγορά (agora), the assembly, δῆμος (dêmos), the public,
λαός, also the people, gave them numerous names, with which were closely
connected the formations from δίκη (dike), justice, and κλέος (kleos),
fame.
Λαοδάμας (Laodamas), people-tamer, had a feminine Λαοδάμεια (Laodameia),
principally noted for the beautiful legend of her bitter grief for her
husband, the first to fall at Troy, having recalled him to earth for
three hours under the charge of Hermes. Probably Florence must have had
a local saint named Laodamia, for it has continued in vogue there.
The demos better answered to the commons; they expressed less the
general populace than the whole voting class of free citizens, and were
more select. We find them often at the beginning or end of Greek names,
like the Theut of the Teutons: Demodokos, people’s teacher; Demoleon,
people’s lion; Nikodemos, conquering people, etc.
Κλέος (Kleos), fame, from κλείω (kleio), to call, had as many
derivatives as the Frank _hlod_, or loud, for renowned, but most of them
have passed out of use, though Κλεάνθης (Kleanthes), famous bloom, the
name of a celebrated sculptor, so struck the fancy of the French that
Cleanthe—their epicene form—was one of the favourite soubriquets for
their portraits of living characters. Even Cleopatra (Κλεοπάτρα), fame
of her father, with all her beauty and fame, did not hand on the name
which she had received in common with a long course of daughters of
Egypto-Greek kings. Russia alone accepts it as a frequent Christian
name, and it is occasionally to be found in England and America.
The wreath of the conqueror was an appropriate allusion to those games
where the Greek youth delighted to contend, and very probably the first
Stephanos (Στέφανος) was so called by an exulting family whose father
had returned with the parsley, or pine-leaf, crown upon his brow, and
named the infant in honour of the victory. For Stephanos was an old
Greek name, which had belonged among others to a son of Thucydides,
before it came to that Hellenist deacon who first of all achieved the
greatest of all the victories, and won the crown.
Besides St. Stephen’s own day, another on the 3rd of August for “the
invention of St. Stephen’s relics,” which were pointed out in a dream to
a priest of Caphargamala in the year 415, by no less a person than the
Jewish doctor, Gamaliel, in a white robe, covered with plates of gold.
The bones were carried to the church on Mount Sion, and thence dispersed
into all quarters; even St. Augustin rejoiced in receiving a portion at
Hippo, other fragments were taken to the Balearic Isles, while Ancona
laid claim to the possession of a bone, carried off at the time of the
saint’s martyrdom!
No wonder the name is common. Seven saints bore it besides the
proto-martyr, and among them, that admirable King of Hungary, who
endeared it to his people, and left the crown so highly honoured at
Prague. Our name of Stephen is probably due to the acquaintance of the
Normans with Ancona, whence William the Conqueror obtained such interest
in St. Stephen as to dedicate to him the Abbey built at Caen. There is
no instance of the name in Domesday Book, and our king of turbulent
memory derived it from his father, the Count de Blois. In the roll of
Winchester householders in Stephen’s reign we find, however, already
Stephen de Crickeled and “Stephen the Saracen.” Could this last have
been a convert brought home from the East, and baptized in honour of the
pious Count de Blois, father of the king—perhaps an adherent of the
family? It is everywhere in use, varied according to the manner in which
the tongue treated the double consonant. The feminine began at Cambrai
at least as early as the thirteenth century, and it is frequent in Caen,
probably in honour of St. Stephen’s Abbey at Caen.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ German. │ French. │ Italian. │
│Stephen │Stephan │Etienne │Stefano │
│ │Steffel │Tiennon │Steffano │
│ │ │Tiennot │ │
│ │ │Estevennes │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Spanish. │ Portuguese. │ Dutch. │ Russian. │
│Estevan │Estevao │Steven │Stefan │
│Esteban │ │ │Stepan │
│ │ │ │Stenka │
│ │ │ │Stepka │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Polish. │ Illyrian. │ Esthonian. │ Hungarian. │
│Sscezepan │Stepan │Tewa │Istvan │
│ ————————— │Stepo │ │ │
│ Lusatian. │Stepko │ │ │
│Scezpan │Stepika │ │ │
│ FEMININE. │
├───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┤
│ English. │ French. │ Portuguese. │ Russian. │
│Stephan │Estephanie │Estephania │Stefanida │
│ │Stefanie │ │———————— │
│ │Etiennette │ │ German. │
│ │Tiennette │ │Stephanine │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
I venture here to include the numerous names of which the leading word
is Ὀλυμπ. They are generally derived from Mount Olympos, the habitation
of the gods; but I cannot help thinking them more likely to be connected
with the Olympian games, and to have been first invented for children
born in the year of an Olympiad.
There were numerous varieties, but none have survived except the
feminine Olympias, belonging to the proud but much beloved mother of
Alexander, and, like all other Macedonian names, spreading through the
East. A Byzantine widow, of great piety and charity, who stood faithful
to St. Chrysostom during his persecution by the empress, was canonized,
and sent Olympias on to be a favourite with the Greeks, so that it
flourishes among all ranks in the Ionian Islands. Italy had her Olimpia,
probably through the Greek connections of Venice; and the noble and
learned Olimpia Morata rendered it famous. It was brought to France by
the niece of Mazarin, the Comtesse de Soissons, of evil fame as a
poisoner, and yet the mother of Prince Eugène. From her, apparently,
Olympe spread among French ladies and long continued fashionable, and
Surtee’s _History of the County Palatine of Durham_ mentions an Olympia
Wray, married in 1660.
Here, too, must be mentioned Milone, though its connection with the
subject is only through Milon, the famous Greek wrestler of Crotona, who
carried a heifer through the Stadium at Olympia, and afterwards ate her
up in a single meal; killed a bull with one stroke of his fist; and
finally, was caught by the hands in the recoil of a riven oak, and there
imprisoned till eaten by the wolves. Michaelis thinks the root of the
word is the same with that of the old German verb _milan_, to beat or
crush, the relation of our _mills_. Thence may likewise have come the
Latin _Miles_, and the Keltic _Milidh_, both meaning a warrior.
Milo belonged to the realms of romance. In the story of the Golden Ass
of Apuleius, Milon is the master of the house where the unfortunate hero
undergoes his transformation; and having thus entered the world of
imagination, Milon, or Milone as Italian poets call him, became a
paladin of Charlemagne; Milan was a Welsh knight in one of Marie of
Bretagne’s lays; and in a curious old French romance, Miles is the
father of two children, one of whom is brought up by a lion, and
defended by an ape as his champion. These stories, or their germs, must
have struck the Norman fancy, for a Milo appears among the newly
installed landholders in Domesday Book, and Milo Fitzwilliam stands
early in the Essex pedigrees, but very soon the vernacular form became
Miles. Among the Norman settlers in Ireland, Miles was a frequent name;
and in the Stanton family, when it had become so thoroughly Hibernicized
as to dislike the Norman appellation, one branch assumed the surname of
MacAveely, son of Milo, according to the change of pronunciation
undergone by Erse consonants in the genitive. Miles or Myles itself was
adopted as an English equivalent for the native Erse Maelmordha, or
majestic chief, and has now become almost an exclusively Irish name,
though sometimes used in England by inheritance from Norman ancestors,
and generally incorrectly derived from the Latin _Miles_, whereas its
immediate parent is certainly the Greek Milo.[39]
-----
Footnote 38:
Butler; Surius; Sir Cuthbert Sharpe, _Extracts from Parish Registers_.
Footnote 39:
Liddell and Scott; Butler; Neale, _Hymns of the Greek Church_; Smith;
Dunlop, _History of Fiction_; Hanmer, _Chronicle of Ireland_;
_Publications of Irish and Ossianic Societies_.
CHAPTER V.
CHRISTIAN GREEK NAMES.
SECTION I.
The names that we place in this class are such as arose under the
Christian dispensation. Some, indeed, are older, and many more may be
so, and may have been in use among slaves, peasants, and persons of whom
history took no cognizance; but the great mass, even if previously
invented, were given with a religious meaning and adaptation, and many
embodied ideas that no heathen could have devised. Greek, above all
others the ecclesiastical tongue, has sent forth more widely diffused
names of truly Christian meaning than any other language; the formations
of Latin, German, and English, in imitation of these are, in comparison,
inharmonious and ungainly, carrying their meaning too openly displayed.
Among these are here mixed, when they belong evidently to the same race,
the exclusively modern Greek names, which have arisen since Greece and
her dependencies ceased to be the great store-house of martyrs and
saints, and the dispenser of sacred thought to the Christian world.
Many, indeed, of these names may be of equally ancient date, only not
belonging to any individual of sufficient renown to have transmitted
them to other countries.
Perhaps no land has been less beholden to others in her nomenclature
than modern Greece. Hebrew names have, indeed, come in through her
religion; a very few were accepted from the Latin in the days when
Constantinople was the seat of the Roman empire, and when the churches
were one; but scarcely one of the wide-spread ‘Frank’ names has ever
been adopted by the Greeks. Even in Slavonic Russia the nomenclature
remains almost exclusively Byzantine; the native Slave names are
comparatively few, and those that come in from other nations are
discarded, as at Constantinople, for some supposed Greek equivalent.
SECTION II.—_Names from Theos._
Already in speaking of Zeus it has been explained that this and Θεός
(Theos) are but differing forms of the same term for Divinity, although
one became restricted to the individual Deity; the other was a generic
term in heathen days, retaining, however, so much of spiritual majesty
that it was employed in the Septuagint to express the true Creator, and
thus Christians embraced it as the designation of the supreme object of
worship.
The word Theos itself had been assumed as a surname by one of the worst
of the line of the Syrian Antiochus, and Theon had never been infrequent
among the Greeks. Θεόφιλος (Theophilos), God-beloved, to whom is
dedicated the Gospel of St. Luke, must have been so called before his
Christianity. Thenceforward Theophilus became a name in the Church; but
it has been less used on the Continent than in England. There, probably
from its occurrence in Holy Scripture, and also from being generally the
title of the favourite speaker in religious dialogues, it has been in
some use. The feminine, Theophila, was the name of the mother of Sir
Joshua Reynolds.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ Italian and │ Portuguese. │
│ │ │ Spanish. │ │
│Theophilus │Théophile │Teofilo │Theophilo │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
Theokles (Θέοκλής), divine fame, was an ancient heathen name, and it is
most probable that Θεκλα (Thekla) is the contraction of the feminine.
St. Thekla was said to have been a disciple of St. Paul, at Inconium,
and to have been exposed to lions at Antioch. Though they crouched at
her feet instead of tearing her, she is considered as the first virgin
martyr, and it was deemed that the highest possible praise for a woman
was to compare her to St. Thekla. Another Thekla of Alexandria is
believed to have been the scribe of that precious copy of the Gospels
given by Cyril Lucar to Charles I., and now in the British Museum; and
thus Thekla has always had high reputation in the East, though less
known in the West, except that ‘Tecla’ is the patroness of Tarragona.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ German. │ French. │ Italian. │ Russian │
│Thekla │Técla │Tecla │Tjokle │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
Θεόδορος (Theodoros), and Θεόδορα (Theodora), divine gift, are the most
usual of these names; the first universal in the East and West, the
second prevalent in the Eastern Church, but less common in the Western
than the incorrect feminine Dorothea.
There were numerous saints called Theodorus; the favourite of the West
being he of Heraclea, a young soldier, who burnt the temple of Cybele,
and was martyred in consequence. The Venetians brought home his legend,
and made him their champion and one of their patron saints, whence
Teodoro has prevailed in the city of the Doge; and from a church
dedicated to him at Rome the Spaniards must have taken their Teodor, the
French their Théodore, and the Germans the similar Theodor, which has
always been frequent there.
The ancient Britons must have known and used this name; for among their
host of obscure saints of princely birth appears Tewdwr; and the Welsh
made so much use of this form that when the handsome Owen ap Tewdwr won
the heart of the widow of Harry of Monmouth, Tudor was an acknowledged
surname, and in two generations more it became a royal one.
Here, however, the Theodores are a recent introduction. They seem only
to have been really hereditary in Wales, Greece, and Venice. By Greece
is also meant all those Greco-Slavonic countries that received their
nomenclature from Constantinople, in especial Russia, where the _th_ is
exchanged for _ph_, so as to produce the word Feodor; and the Germans,
receiving it again, spell it Pheodor.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ Welsh. │ French. │ Portuguese. │ Spanish │
│Tewdwr │Théodore │Theodoro │ and Italian. │
│ ——————— │ │ │Teodoro │
│ English. │ │ │ │
│Theodore │ │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ German. │ Hamburg. │ Russian. │ Polish. │
│Theodor │Tedor │Feodor │Feodor │
│Pheodor │Tetje │Fedor │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Slavonic. │ Illyrian. │ Lett. │ Hungarian. │
│Todor │Todor │Kodders │Twador │
│ │Toso │Kwedders │ ————————— │
│ │ │ │ Finland. │
│ │ │ │Theotari │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
The feminine Theodora has two independent saints, a martyr and a Greek
empress. It suffers no alterations except the Russian _F_ at the
commencement, and is not common except in the East. The West prefers the
name reversed, and rendered incorrect. Dorotheus and Theodorus may
indeed be exact equivalents; but the invention of Theodora makes the
giver feminine instead of the gift. It is the beauty of the legend of
St. Dorothea that has made her name so great a favourite. Never did
pious fancy form a more beautiful dream than the story of the
Cappadocian maiden, who sent the roses of paradise by angelic hands as a
convincing testimony of the joy that she was reaping. The tale is of
western growth, and the chief centre of St. Dorothea’s popularity as a
patroness was in Germany; but the name was likewise in great favour in
England, where Massinger composed a drama on her story. Dorothy was once
one of the most usual of English names; and ‘Dolly’ was so constantly
heard in every household, that it finally became the generic term for
the wooden children that at least as late as the infancy of Elizabeth
Stuart, were called babies or puppets. In the days of affectation, under
the House of Hanover, Dorothy fell into disuse, but was regarded as of
the same old Puritan character as Abigail or Tabitha. Probably from the
influence of German literature, the German contraction Dora, or more
properly Dore, has come in as almost an independent name, which,
perhaps, ought to be translated as simply a gift, though often used as a
contraction for Dorothea. The fashion has again come round, and Dorothy
has become the favourite name. In the last century, Dorinda was a
fashionable English fancy embellishment, Doralice a French one—perhaps
from the German Dorlisa—Dorothea Elisa. The Russian Darija is reckoned
as a translation; but it does not seem probable, for the patroness of
this latter was an Athenian lady, martyred with her husband,
Chrysanthus, at Rome, and buried in a catacomb, which was opened in the
days of Constantine the Great. The modern Greeks call the name,
Thorothea.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ German. │ Bavarian. │
│Dorothea │Dorothée │Dorothea │Derede │
│Dorothy │Dorette │Dore │Duredel │
│Dolly │Doralice │Dorlisa │Durl │
│Dora │Dorothea │ │ │
│Dorinda │Dore │ │ │
│ │Dorlisa │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Swiss. │ Dutch. │ Danish. │ Spanish. │
│Torli │Dört │Daarte │Dorotea │
│ │Dortchen │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Portuguese. │ Italian. │ Russian. │ Polish. │
│Dorothe │Dorotea │Dorofei │Dorota │
│ │ │Darija │Dorosia │
│ │ │Darha │ │
│ │ │Daschenka │ │
│ │ │Dorka │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Illyrian. │ Lusatian. │ Lett. │ Esthonian. │
│Doroteja │Dora │Darte │Tigo │
│Dora │Horta │Tike │Tio │
│Rotija │Horteja │Tiga │ │
│Horta │Vortija │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Lithuanian. │ Ung. │ │ │
│Urte │Doroltya │ │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
Before leaving the word _doros_, we may mention the name Isidoros, a
very old and frequent one among the ancient Greeks, and explained by
some to mean Gift of Isis; but this Egyptian deity is an improbable
origin for a name certainly in use before the Greek kingdom in Egypt was
established, and it seems more satisfactory to refer the first syllable
to ἰς (strength), a word which when it had its digamma was Γις, exactly
answering to the Latin _vis_ (force or strength). It commenced many old
Greek names, but none that have passed on to Christian times except
Isidorus, which was first borne by one of the grim hermits of Egypt,
then by an Alexandrian author, and then by three Spanish bishops of
Cordova, Seville, and Badajos. They probably received it as a
resemblance of the Gothic names beginning with _eisen_ (iron). In
consequence, Isidoro and the feminine Isidora have continued national in
Spain, and Isodoros in Greece, whence Russia has taken Eesidor.
Theodotos (God-given) was in common use among the Greeks of the early
empire, and apparently in Spain was corrupted into Theodosius, since
Spain was the native land of him who rendered this form illustrious.
Theodosia has been in favour in many parts of Europe, copied probably
from some of the Byzantine princesses. The canonized personages of the
masculine and feminine forms are, however, by no means imperial; the one
being a hermit, the other a virgin martyr. Theone is also a German
feminine.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ │ French. │ Italian. │
│Theodosius │ │Théodose │Teodosia │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ English. │ Italian. │ Russian. │ Illyrian. │
│Theodosia │Teodosia │Feodosia │Desse │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
The entire race of Greek words thus derived must be carefully
distinguished from the Gothic ones, which at first sight appear to
resemble them: such as Theodoric, Theudebert, &c., but are all, in fact,
taken from the Teuton word _Theut_ (the people).
Of Theophanos we shall speak among the names taken from sacred
festivals, but we must not leave these titles of pious signification
without mentioning Τιμόθεος (honour God), from τιμὴ (honour or worship),
the noun formed from τίω (to honour or esteem), connected of course with
the Latin _timor_ (fear).
Timotheus had been in use even in heathen times, as in the case of
Alexander’s musician.
But probably it was with a full religious meaning that the good Eunice
chose it for that son who was to be the disciple of St. Paul and the
first bishop of Ephesus. From him, and from several subsequent Saints,
the East and West both learnt it, but at the present day it flourishes
chiefly in Russia as Teemofe. In Ireland, it was taken as one of the
equivalents of the native Tadgh (a bard), and the absurdities of Irish
Tims have cast a ridiculous air over it, mingled with the Puritan odour
of the Cromwellian days, such as to lower it from the estimation its
associations deserve. Mr. Timothy Davison, in 1670, named his daughter
Timothea, but happily his example does not seem to have been
followed.[40]
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ Italian. │ Russian. │
│Timothy │Timothée │Timoteo │Timofei │
│Tim │ │ │Timoscha │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Polish. │ Slavonic. │ Lett. │ │
│Tymotensz │Timoty │Tots │ │
│Timoty │ │ │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
-----
Footnote 40:
Smith; Jameson; Butler; Liddell and Scott; Hartwell Horne,
_Introduction to the Bible_; Le Beau, _Bas Empire_; Michaelis.
SECTION III.—_Names from Christos._
The Greek verb χρίω (chrio), to touch, rub, or anoint, formed the term
Χριστός, which translated the old Hebrew prophetic Messiah (the
Anointed), and thence became the title of the Saviour, the very
touch-stone of faith.
Therefore it was that at Antioch the disciples came to be called
Χρίστιανοι (Christianoi), a Greek word with a Latin termination, the
title that they accepted as their highest glory, and which has ever
since been the universal and precious designation of a believer. The
first person who is known to have been baptized after this title, was
St. Christina, a Roman virgin of patrician birth, who was martyred in
295. Her marvellous legend declares that she was thrown into lake
Bolsena, with a mill-stone round her neck, but that she floated to the
surface, supported by angels, and that she was at last shot to death
with arrows. She is therefore, of course, patroness of Bolsena and of
the Venetian States, where Cristina is frequent; and her fame travelled
to Greece, Bohemia, and Hungary, from which last place the Atheling
family brought it to England and Scotland in the person of Christina,
Abbess of Romsey. Christian, like the other Greek names of this
importation, took deep root in Scotland, where Kirstin is its
abbreviation among the peasantry; and Christina, or Stine, and Tine, is
common in Germany. John Bunyan’s Christiana, as the feminine of his
allegorical Christian, has made this form the most common in England.
Christine, either through Germany or Scotland, found its way to
Scandinavia, where the contraction is Kirste, or Kirstine. Being
vigorous name-makers at the time of their conversion, the Northmen were
not content to leave this as a mere lady’s name inherited from the
saint, but invented for themselves a masculine Christian, or Christiern
as they call it in Denmark, which has belonged to many a sovereign in
that kingdom, where it is especially national, and contracts into
Kirsten.
Christabel was already a name before Coleridge’s time. It is to be found
in Cornwall, in 1727, and in the North of England. It occurs at Crayke,
in Yorkshire, between 1538 and 1652.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ German. │ French. │ Swedish. │
│Christian │Christian │Chrestien │Kristian │
│ │ │Chrétien │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Danish. │ Netherlands. │ Dantzig. │ Frisian. │
│Christian │Kerstan │Zan │Tsassen │
│ │Karston │ —————— │Tziasso │
│ │Krischân │ Dutch. │Zasso │
│ │Kruschan │Korstiaan │Sasze │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Swiss. │ Polish. │ Slavonic. │ Illyrian. │
│Krista │Krystyan │Kristijan │Kristian │
│Chresta │ │ │Kersto │
│Chresteli │ │ │Hristo │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Lusatian. │ Bulgarian. │ Lett. │ Esthonian. │
│Khrystjan │Krustjo │Kristo │Kersti │
│Kristo │ │Skersto │ —————— │
│Kito │ │ │ Hungarian. │
│ │ │ │Kerestel │
├───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┤
│ FEMININE. │
├───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┤
│ English. │ French. │ German. │ Bulgarian. │
│Christiana │Christine │Christiane │Khrustina │
│Christian │ │Christine │ —————— │
│Christina │ │Stine │ Lithuanian. │
│Chrissie │ │Tine │Krikszte │
│Xina │ │Kristel │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Portuguese. │ Spanish. │ Italian. │ Danish. │
│Christinha │Cristine │Cristina │Karstin │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Slavonic. │ Lusatian. │ Lett. │ Esthonian. │
│Kristina │Krystla │Kristine │Kirstin │
│Kina │Kita │Kersti │Kirste │
│ │Kitka │Skersten │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
From the same holy title was derived that of Χριστοφόρος
(Christ-bearer), claimed by many an early Christian as an expression of
his membership, as St. Ignatius on his trial spoke of himself as
Θεοφορος. To this title was attached the beautiful allegory of the giant
ever in search of the strongest master, whom he found at last in the
little child that he bore on his shoulders over the river. Simplicity
soon turned the parable into credited fact, and St. Christopher became
the object of the most eager veneration, especially as there had been a
real martyr so called, and mentioned in the Mozarabic service-book. He
was put to death in Lycia, and his relics were supposed to have been at
first at Toledo and afterwards at St. Denis. The sight of St.
Christopher’s image was thought to be a protection from sickness,
earthquake, fire, or flood, for the rest of the day, and it was
therefore carved out and painted in huge proportions outside churches
and houses, especially in Italy, Spain, and Germany. The cumbrous length
is cut down in England into Kit, Kester, and Chris. The modern Greeks
shorten Christophoros into Christachi. The two feminine are the German
Christophine and English Christophera.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ Scotch. │ French. │ Swedish. │
│Christopher │Christopher │Christophe │Kristofer │
│Kester │Christal │ │Kristofel │
│Kit │ │ │ │
│Chris │ │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Netherlands. │ German. │ Swiss. │ Italian. │
│Toffel │Christoph │Chrestoffel │Cristoforo │
│Toff │Stoffel │Stoffel │Cristovano │
│ │Stoppel │ │Gristovalo │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Portuguese. │ Spanish. │ Russian. │ Polish. │
│Christovao │Cristoval │Christofer │Kristof │
│ │ │Christof │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Lusatian. │ Lett. │ Lithuanian. │ │
│Kitto │Kristoppis │Kristuppas │ │
│ │Kristagis │ │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
Christopher was once far more common in England than it is at present.
In the list of voters at Durham in the year 1500, there were thirteen
Christophers, and in 1813 there were as many as ten. The Germans have
also Christophilon, meaning, loved by Christ.[41]
-----
Footnote 41:
Milman, _Christianity_; Liddell and Scott; Jameson.
SECTION IV.—_Sophia._
Perhaps we ought to consider Sophia (Σοφία) as one of the words most
closely connected with divine attributes, since its use as a name was
owing to the dedication of that most gorgeous of Christian temples by
which Justinian declared that he had surpassed Solomon. It was called,
and it has borne the title through its four hundred years of bondage to
Islam, Sta. Sophia (the holy wisdom of God), that figurative wisdom whom
Christians considered the Book of Proverbs to point out as the Word of
God. Moreover, the words of the ‘Preacher,’ in the Book of
Ecclesiasticus, “Wisdom (Σοφία) is the mother of fair Love and Hope and
holy Fear,” suggested an allegory of a holy woman with three daughters
so called, and thus, in compliment, no doubt, to the glorious
newly-built church, the niece of Justinian’s empress, afterwards wife to
his nephew and successor, was called Sophia, a name which thenceforward
became the fashion among the purple-born daughters, and spread from them
among the Slavonian nations, who regarded Constantinople as the centre
of civilization.
Through these Slavonians Sophia spread to Germany. A Hungarian princess
was so called in 999; another, the daughter of King Geysa, married
Magnus of Saxony, in 1074, and Saxony scattered its Sophias in the next
centuries all over the neighbouring states and into Denmark, where it
has always been a royal name. Very nearly had the Electress Sophia
brought it to our throne, and though the unhappy Sophia Dorothea of
Zelle never took her place in the English Court, her grand-daughters
made it one of the most fashionable ladies' names under the House of
Hanover; and though its reign has passed with the taste for ornamental
nomenclature, yet the soft and easy sound of Sophy still makes her hold
her own.
┌────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ German. │ Danish. │ Frisian. │
│Sophia │Sophie │Sophia │Saffi │Vye │
│Sophy │ │Fieke │ │ │
├────────────┼────────────┼────────────┼────────────┼────────────┤
│ Italian. │ Russian. │ Polish. │ Lett. │ Hungarian. │
│Sofia │Ssofija │Zofia │Sappe │Zsofia │
│ │Ssonia │Zosia │Wike │Zsofe │
│ │Ssoniuska │ │ │ │
└────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┘
SECTION V.—_Petros._
Great is the controversy that hangs on the form of Πέτρος, the surname
divinely bestowed upon the faithful disciple Simon Barjona, when he made
his great confession of faith in the Godhead and Messiahship of his
Master.
“Thou art _Petros_ (a stone), and on this _Petra_ (a rock) I will build
my Church,” are the words.
The apostle was sometimes called in his own lifetime by the Hebrew or
Syriac equivalent Κηφᾶς, or Cephas; but Petros, or Petrus, being both
Greek and Latin words, he went down to posterity thus distinguished.
Many a Pietro was called after him in Italy, to be cut down into Piero
or Pier, and amplified into Pietruccio, or Petruccio and Petraccio. The
devout Spaniards caught up the name, and had many a Pedro, nay, three
Pedros at once were reigning at a time in three Peninsular kingdoms, and
the frequency of Perez as a surname shows how full Spain is of the sons
of Pedro. France had many a Pierre, Pierrot, or, in Brittany, Perronnik.
Perrault, a common surname, may be a derivation from it, as is St.
Pierre, one of the territorial designations. Before the Revolution, La
Pierre and La France were the unvarying designations of the two lackeys
that every family of any pretension always kept in those days of
display.
England had Peter, which Peter-pence, perhaps, hindered from being a
favourite, and borrowed from the French, Piers and Pierce. Feories is
the Irish version of Pierce. Pedder or Peer are both much used in the
North, and Peter in Germany; while the great Muscovite made Petr notable
in his empire. The Irish, regardless of the true history of Patricius,
want to make St. Patrick a namesake of St. Peter, and therefore the
Paddys own not only their national apostle, but the prince of apostles,
for their patrons. The feminines of Peter are Petronilla, said to have
been his daughter, and whence has come Petronilla in Spanish, Petronille
shortened into Nille in Norway, Pernel or Parnel, once exceeding common,
though now forgotten, in England; but other female names have been made
direct from that of the saint, Peronetta in Italy, Perretta in France,
and even Petrina in Scotland and Sweden.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬─────────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ Swedish. │ Danish. │
│Peter │Pierre │Per │Peder │
│Piers │Pierrot │ │ │
│Pierce │Perrin │ │ │
│ │Peire │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼─────────────────┤
│ Dutch. │ Italian. │ Spanish. │ Portuguese. │
│Pieter │Pietro │Pedro │Pedro │
│Piet │Piero │ │Pedrinho │
│ │Pier │ │ │
│ │Pietruccio │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼─────────────────┤
│ Russian. │ Polish. │ Illyrian. │ Lusatian. │
│Petr │Picti │Petai │Pjeti │
│Petruscha │Pies │Pero │Petsch │
│Petrinka │ │Petrica │Peto │
│ │ │Pejo │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼─────────────────┤
│ Bulgarian. │ Lett. │ Esthonian. │ Kelt. │
│Petur │Peteris │Pedo │Pétar } _Erse_ │
│Petko │ │Pet │Feoris } │
│ │ │ │ │
│ │ │ │Per } _Breton_│
│ │ │ │Petrik } │
├───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴─────────────────┤
│ FEMININE. │
├───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬─────────────────┤
│ English. │ French. │ Italian. │ Portuguese. │
│Petrina │Perette │Petronilla │Petronilha │
│Petronella │Petronelle │ ———————————— │ ———————————— │
│Pernel │Petrine │ German. │ llyrian. │
│ │ │Petronille │Petra │
│ │ │Nelle │Petrija │
│ │ │Nillel │Petrusa │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴─────────────────┘
SECTION VI.—_Names of Immortality._
Rejoicing that “life and immortality had been brought to light” quickly
broke out in the very names given to Christians at their baptism, and
full of import were the appellations invented in these early ages of the
Church, to express the joyful hope of everlasting life.
Even in the Sanscrit, _a-mrita_ expresses the elixir of life, “the
amreeta cup of immortality,” which terminates the woes of Kailyal in the
_Curse of Kehama_, and according to Hindoo myth was produced by the
celebrated churning of the ocean. The name is traced to _a_ privative
and _mri_, a word to be met with again in _mors_, _murder_, &c., and the
notion of a water of life continued to pervade all the Indo-European
races. Among the Greeks this life-giving elixir was ἀμβροσία (ambrosia),
immediately derived from ἄμβροτος (immortal), a word from the same
source. In various legends this ambrosia served to express the human
craving for heavenly and immortal food, until at length, in later times,
ambrosia came to be regarded as the substantial meat of the gods, as
nectar was their drink.
It was reserved for Christianity to proclaim the true ambrosia, the
veritable food of Paradise, and thus it was that Ambrosios became a
chosen name, borne in especial by that great Archbishop of Milan, who
spent one of the most illustrious lives recorded in Church history. The
Church has never forgotten this great saint; and Milan, where his own
liturgy has never been discontinued, is especially devoted to her Sant'
Ambrogio, but his history is perhaps a little too much in the clear
light of day to afford the convenient shadow requisite for
name-spreading legend, and his name has but moderate popularity.
Already, as we may suppose, his fame had spread to Britain when Aurelius
Ambrosius, the brave champion who so long withstood the Saxon invaders,
bore it and left it to the Welsh as Emrys.
┌────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ Italian. │ Spanish. │ Russian. │
│Ambrose │Ambroise │Ambrogio │Ambrosio │Amvrossij │
│Brush │ │ │ │ │
├────────────┼────────────┼────────────┼────────────┼────────────┤
│ Polish. │ Bohemian. │ Lusatian. │ Hungarian. │ Welsh. │
│Ambrozij │Ambroz │’Bros │Ambrus │Emrys │
│ │ │Mros │ │ │
│ │ │Brosk │ │ │
│ │ │Mrosk │ │ │
└────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┘
In the same spirit was formed Ἀθανασίος (Athanasios), from the word
θάνατος (death). The Undying was in itself a name of good hope for a
Christian, and it became dear to the Church at large through the great
Alexandrian patriarch, the bulwark of the faith. It is in the East that
his name has been kept up; the West, though of course knowing it and
using it for him individually, shows few namesakes except in Italy,
where it is probably a remnant of the Greek influence upon Venice and
Naples. The feminine Atanasia is, I believe, solely Italian.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ French. │ Italian. │ Russian. │ Servian. │
│Athanase │Atanasio │Afanassij │Atanacko │
│ │Atanagio │ │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
So again the new Christians took the old word ἀνάστασις (meaning an
awakening or raising), from ἀνίστημι (to make to stand up), and used it
to signify the Resurrection; then formed from Ἀναστάσιος (Anastasios),
of the Resurrection,—having the elements of the Resurrection within him
or her, for the feminine Anastasia was as early and as frequent as the
masculine. Indeed the strange caprices of fate have decreed that, though
the masculine form is exceedingly common all over the Eastern Church, it
should, in spite of three saints in the calendar, one of papal dignity,
be almost unused in the West, except in Bavaria, whilst the feminine,
borne by two virgin martyrs, is prevalent everywhere, and chiefly in
Ireland. England once used the name more than at present, and then
Anglicized it into Anstace. Anstiss, Anstish, Anstyce, all occur
frequently as _female_ names in the elder pages of a Devonshire parish
register, where Anstice is now a surname. Anstis Squire is in the
Froxfield register in 1587, and the name must once have been much more
usual.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ French. │ Italian. │ Polish. │ Bavarian. │
│Anastase │Anastagio │Anastazij │Anastasl │
│ │ │ │Stas │
│ │ │ │Stasl │
│ │ │ │Stasi │
├───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┤
│ FEMININE. │
├───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┤
│ English. │ Irish. │ French. │ Russian. │
│Anastasia │Anastasia │Anastasie │Anastasia │
│Anstace │Anty │ │Nastassja │
│ │Stacy │ │Nastenka │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
Amongst these well-chosen baptismal titles may be mentioned Ζωή (Life),
no doubt given as meaning that the principle of Eternal Life was then
implanted. It is strange that neither the Eastern nor Western calendar
shows a Zoë, though a woman thus entitled was said to have been cured of
dumbness by a miracle of St. Sebastian, and afterwards to have been the
first of the martyrs in the persecution in which he died, about the year
286. After this, Zoë became frequent among the women of the Greek
Church, belonging to many of the royal ladies of the Blachernal, among
others to her who endeavoured to shake the constancy of the sea-king,
Harald Hardrada, to his Muscovite Elisif. From the lower empire it
travelled to Russia, where Zoia is at present very common, and in the
time of romantic interest in the new Greek kingdom, Zoé became
fashionable in France, and still is much used there.[42]
-----
Footnote 42:
Liddell and Scott; Southey, Notes to _Curse of Kehama_; Snorre,
Sturleson, _Heimskringla_; Le Beau, _Bas Empire_.
SECTION VII.—_Royal Names._
Σέβας (Sebas), awe or veneration, was compounded into the word Σεβαστός
(Sebastos), as a translation for Augustus, the imperial title coined by
Octavianus to express his own peculiar sacred majesty.
It was not, however, apparently used for the original Augustus; at least
St. Luke calls him Αὔγουστος; and its technical use probably did not
begin till the division of the empire by Diocletian, and his designation
of two emperors as Augusti or Sebastoi, with their heirs as Cæsars.
Subsequently to this arrangement no one would have dared to assume the
name so intimately connected with the jealous wearers of the purple;
and, accordingly, it was a contemporary of the joint emperors, who is
the martyr-saint of this name—Sebastianus, a soldier at Rome, who, when
other Christians fled, remained there to encourage the flock in the
first outburst of the last persecution. He endured a double martyrdom;
first, by the well-known shower of arrows directed against him; and
next, after his recovery under the care of a pious widow, who had
carried away his supposed corpse to bury it, he defied the emperor
again, and was beaten to death in the arena by clubs.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ Italian. │ Spanish. │
│ │ │ │ │
│Sebastian │Sebastien │Sebastiano │Sebastian │
│ │Bastien │Bastiano │ │
│ │ │Basto │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Portuguese. │ German. │ Norse. │ Bavarian. │
│Sebastião │Sebastian │Sebastian │Bastian │
│Bastiao │Bastian │Baste │Basti │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Swiss. │ Russian. │ Slavonic. │ Hungarian │
│Bastia │Ssevastjan │Bostjan │Sebestyen │
│Bastiali │ │Bostej │ │
│Bascho │ │ │ │
├───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┤
│ FEMININE. │
├───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┤
│ German. │ French. │ Russian. │ Bohemian. │
│Sebastiane │Sebastienne │Ssevastjana │Sebesta │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
Devout women buried him in the catacombs, and his name slept for at
least a hundred years till Pope Damasus built a church over his
catacomb, which has ever since been called after him, and subsequent
popes made presents of his relics to Tuscany, France, and other
countries. A notion arose, Mrs. Jameson thinks, from his arrows
reminding the classical world of the darts of Apollo, that he was
connected with pestilence. His name is thus found all over Europe,
though less commonly in England and the Protestant parts of Germany than
farther south. Indeed its especial home is Portugal, where it must have
been specially cherished in memory of the rash Don Sebastião, the last
of the glorious House of Avis, for whose return from the fatal African
campaign his country so long looked and longed.
More ancient was the term βασιλεύς (basileus), a king or prince,
properly answering to the Latin _rex_, as did Sebastos to Augustus, but
usually applied in the Greek-speaking countries to the emperor. Thence
came many interesting words, such as the term used in the empire for
courts of royal judgment, Basilica, whence upon their conversion into
places of Christian worship, the title Basilicon became synonymous with
church.
So, too, that royal-looking serpent who was supposed to wear a crown on
his head, and to kill with a look, was the basilisk; and the familiar
basilicon ointment was so termed as being fit for a king.
Βασίλειος (kingly) was not infrequent among the early Christians, and
gained popularity through that great father of the Church, the Bishop of
Neo-Cæsarea, as well as other more obscure saints. It is extremely
common in the Eastern Church, and especially in Russia, where the first
letter suffers the usual change into _V_. The feminine, Basilia, is
still in use among the modern Greeks, and once even seems to have been
known among English ladies, since the sister of Earl Strongbow is thus
recorded in history, but its use has died away amongst us.
┌────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ Italian. │ Russian. │ Polish. │
│Basil │Basile │Basilio │Vassilij │Bazyli │
│ │Basine │ │Vasska │ ———————— │
│ │ │ │ │ Illyrian. │
│ │ │ │ │Vassilij │
│ │ │ │ │Vaso │
└────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┘
SECTION VIII.—_Irene._
In heathen days Εἰρήνη (Eirene), peace, was personified and adored as a
goddess; in Christian times, when peace on earth was preached, it was
formed into a name—that which we know as Irene. Irene was the pious
widow, whose care revived St. Sebastian after his first martyrdom, and
in 303, three sisters, Agape (love), Irene, and Chionia underwent
martyrdom at Thessalonica, but Irene seems to have absorbed almost all
the subsequent honour, although Agapè is occasionally to be found in
modern Greece, and formed the masculine surname Agapetus, once the
property of a pope, and still used in Russia.
Irene was extremely frequent among the Greek empresses, and belonged to
the lady who would fain have added herself to the list of Charlemagne’s
many wives. Thence the Russians have it as Eereena, and in that ancient
Greek colony at Sorrento, where the women’s features so strongly recall
their Hellenic descent, Irene is continued as one of their baptismal
names.
Thence was derived the name of the great father of the Church, Εἰρηναῖος
(Eirenaios), Irenæus; but few of the fathers had popular names, and
Irenæus has been little copied, except in Eastern Europe, where the
Russians call it Irinej, and the Hungarians, Ernijó.
The Teuton _fried_ and Slavonic _mir_ have been infinitely more fruitful
in names than the Greek Irene, and as to the Roman _pax_, its
contributions to nomenclature are all posthumous.
Erasmus comes from ἰράω (íráo), to love, and is related to Eros. The
first Erasmus was tortured to death in Diocletian’s persecution, at
Formici, whence his relics were transferred to Gaeta, and he there
became the patron of the Mediterranean sailors, who used to invoke him
as St. Ermo or St. Elmo, at the approach of a storm, and he thus was
thought to send the pale pure electric light that shimmers on the
topmast, warning the sailor of the impending storm. The name of Erasmus
was assumed by the learned Dutchman, under the belief that it translated
his name of Gerhard (_really_ spearhard), and from him Rasmus and Asmus
are common in Holland, and Rasl has somehow found its way to Bavaria.
Russia, too, has Jerassom, but this name lies in doubt between Erasmus
and Gerasimus (the venerable), one of the early ascetics of Palestine.
Gelasius, the laugher, was the name of a pope, and for that reason was
considered as appropriate and ecclesiastical. It has had the strange lot
of being used in Ireland as the substitute for their native name of
Giolla Iosa, or servant of Jesus, and was actually so used by the
Primate reigning at the time of the English annexation of Ireland.[43]
-----
Footnote 43:
Le Beau; Smith; Michaelis.
SECTION IX.—_Gregorios._
Γρηγόριος (Gregorios), came from γρηγορέω, a late and corrupt form of
the verb ἐγείρω (to wake or watch). A watchman was a highly appropriate
term for a shepherd of the Church, and accordingly Gregorios was
frequent among early bishops. Gregorios Nazianzen the friend of St.
Basil, Gregorios Thaumaturgos or the wonder-worker, and others of the
same high fame, contributed to render it highly popular in the East, and
in the West it was borne by the great pope, for whose sake it became a
favourite papal title, so that it has been borne by no less than sixteen
occupants of the chair of St. Peter.
It has, however, been far less popular among those who own their sway
than among the Eastern Christians who are free from it, and though we
find it in Scandinavia, this is only as a modernization of the Norse
Grjotgard, while the Macgregors of Scotland draw their descent not from
Gregory, but from Grig or Gairig, a Keltic word meaning the fierce.[44]
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ Italian. │ Danish. │
│Gregory │Gregoire │Gregorio │Gregos │
│ │ —————————— │ │Gregus │
│ │ German. │ │ —————————— │
│ │Gregor │ │ Swedish. │
│ │Gregus │ │Greis │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Russian. │ Polish. │ Bohemian. │ Slavonic. │
│Grigorij │Grzegorz │Rehor │Gregor │
│Grischa │ │ │Grega │
│ │ │ │Gorej │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Illyrian. │ Lett. │ Lithuanian. │ Hungarian. │
│Gregorije │Grigg │Greszkus │Gergelj │
│Gerga │ │Grygallis │Gero │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
-----
Footnote 44:
Michaelis; Butler.
SECTION X.—_Georgos._
The Maronite Christians have a tradition that Georgos was a Christian
sentinel at Damascus, who connived at the escape of St. Paul, when he
was let down in the basket, and was therefore put to death; but whether
this be true or false, among what may be called the allegorical saints
of the Greek Church, one of the most noted is our own patron Γῆ (Ge),
earth, and ἔργω (ergo), anciently Γέργω (fergo), descended from the same
source as our own verbs to work and to urge, formed Γεωργός (earthworker
or husbandman). A Cappadocian saint and martyr, of whom nothing was
known but that he had been a soldier and died in the last persecution,
bore the name of Georgios, and was deeply reverenced in the East, where
Constantine erected a church in his honour at Byzantium. As in the case
of St. Christopher, and probably of St. Alexis, this honoured name
became the nucleus of the allegory, of the warrior saint contending with
the dragon, and delivering the oppressed Church, and of course the
lovers of marvel turned the parable into substance. In 494, Pope
Gelasius tried to separate the true Georgius from the legend, which he
omitted from the offices of the Church, but popular fancy was too strong
for the pope, and the story was carried on till the imaginations of the
Crusaders before Jerusalem fixed upon St. George as the miraculous
champion whom they beheld fighting in their cause, as Santiago had done
for Galicia. Thereby Burgundy and Aquitaine adopted him as their patron
saint; and the Burgundian Henry carried him to Portugal, and put that
realm under his protection; as a hundred years later Richard I. did by
England, making “St. George for merry England” the most renowned of
battle-cries. From Burgundy he was taken by the Germans as a patron; and
Venice, always connected with Greece, already glorified him as her
patron, so that “In the name of St. George and St. Michael I dub thee
knight,” was the formulary throughout half Europe, and no saint had so
many chivalrous orders instituted in his honour.
Still the name was less early used in the West than might have been
expected, perhaps from the difficulty of pronunciation. Georgios always
prevailed in the East, and came to Scotland in the grand Hungarian
importation, with the ancestor of the House of Drummond, who bear three
wavy lines on their shield in memory of a great battle fought by the
side of a river in Hungary, before the Atheling family were brought back
to England, attended by this Hungarian noble. On the usurpation of
Harold, he fled with them to Scotland, and there founded a family where
the Eastern Christian name of George has always been an heir-loom. It
was probably from the same Hungarian source that Germany first adopted
Georg, or Jürgen, as it is differently spelt, and thence sent it to
England with the House of Brunswick; for, in spite of George of
Clarence, brother of Edward IV., and a few other exceptions, it had been
an unusual name previously, and scarcely a single George appears in our
parish registers before 1700, although afterwards it multiplied to such
an extent as to make it doubtful whether George, John, or Charles be the
most common designation of Englishmen.
The feminine is quite a modernism. The first English lady on record, so
called, was a godchild of Anne of Denmark, who caused her to be
christened Georgia Anna. The name had, however, previously existed on
the Continent.
Venice took its Giorgio direct from Greece, but the name was not popular
elsewhere in Italy; and at Cambrai, an isolated instance occurs in the
year 1300, nor has it ever been common in France. The Welsh Urien
(Uranius) descends from heaven to earth by considering George as his
equivalent. The Irish translate the name into Keltic as Seoirgi.[45]
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ Scotch. │ French. │ Italian. │
│ │ │ │ │
│George │George │Georges │Giorgio │
│Georgy │Geordie │Georget │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Spanish. │ Portuguese. │ Wallachian. │ Provençal │
│Jorge │Jorge │Georgie │Jortz │
│ │Jorgezinho │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ German. │ Frisian. │ Bavarian. │ Swiss. │
│Georg │Jurgen │Görgel │Jörg │
│Jurgen │Jurn │Gergel │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Swedish. │ Danish. │ Dutch. │ Russian. │
│Göran │Georg │Georgius │Gayeirgee │
│ │Jorgen │Joris │Georgij │
│ │ │Jurriaan │Jurgi │
│ │ │Jurria │Egor │
│ │ │ │Egorka │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Polish. │ Bohemian. │ Slavonic. │ Illyrian. │
│Jerzy │Jiri │Jurg │Giuraj │
│ │ │Jurck │Giuro │
│ │ │ │Giuko │
│ │ │ │Djuradj │
│ │ │ │Djurica │
│ │ │ │Juro │
│ │ │ │Jurica │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Lusatian. │ Lett. │ Lithuanian. │ Esthonian. │
│Juro │Jorrgis │Jurgis │Jurn │
│Jurko │Jurrusch │Jurguttis │ │
├───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┤
│ FEMININE. │
├───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┤
│ English. │ French. │ German. │ Portuguese. │
│Georgiana │Georgine │Georgine │Georgeta │
│Georgina │Georgette │ │ —————————— │
│ │ │ │ Illyrian. │
│ │ │ │Gjurjija │
│ │ │ │Gjurgjinka │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
-----
Footnote 45:
Liddell and Scott; Jameson; Butler; Michaelis; O'Donovan.
SECTION XI.—_Barbara._
Of the four great virgin saints, revered with almost passionate
affection in the Roman Catholic Church, each has been made the
representative of an idea. Probably Agnes, Barbara, Katharine, and
Margaret were veritable maidens who perished in the early persecutions,
and whose lives, save for some horrible incident in their tortures, were
unknown; but around them crystallized the floating allegories of the
Church, until Agnes became the representative of the triumph of
innocence, Margaret of the victory through faith, Katharine of
intellectual, and Barbara of artistic devotion. There was a speedy lapse
from the allegory to the legend, just as of old, from the figure to the
myth; and the virgins' popularity in all countries depended, not on
their shadowy names in the calendar, but on the implicitly credited
tales of wonder connected with them.
Barbara was said to be a maiden of Heliopolis, whose Christianity was
revealed by her insisting that a bath-chamber should be built with three
windows instead of two, in honour of the chief mystery of the Creed. Her
cruel father beheaded her with his own hands, and was immediately
destroyed by thunder and lightning. Here, of course, was symbolized the
consecration of architecture and the fine arts to express religious
ideas, and St. Barbara became the patroness of architects, and thence of
engineers, and the protectress from thunder and its mimic, artillery.
The powder room in a French ship is still known as _la sainte Barbe_.
Her name has thus been widely spread, though chiefly among the daughters
of artificers and soldiers, seldom rising to princely rank. Barbara is
the feminine of βάρβαρος (a stranger), the term applied by the Greeks to
all who did not speak their own tongue. Horne Tooke derives it from the
root _bar_ (strong), and thinks it a repetition of the savage people’s
own reduplicated bar-bar (very strong); but it is far more probably an
imitation of the incomprehensible speech of the strangers; as, in fact,
the Greeks seem rather to have applied it first to the polished Asiatic,
who would have given them less the idea of strength than the Scyth or
the Goth, to whose language _bar_ belonged in the sense of force or
opposition. It is curious to observe how, in modern languages, the
progeny of the Latin _barbarus_ vary between the sense of wild cruelty
and mere rude ignorance, or ill-adapted splendour.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ Scotch. │ French. │ Italian. │
│Barbara │Babie │Barbe │Barbara │
│Bab │ │ │ │
│Barbary │ │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Danish. │ German. │ Swiss. │ Russian. │
│Barbraa │Barbara │Baba │Varvara │
│ │Barbeli │Babali │Varinka │
│ │Barbechen │Babeli │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Slavonic. │ Illyrian. │ Bohemian. │ Lusatian. │
│Barbara │Barbara │Barbora │Baba │
│Barba │Varvara │ │Babuscha │
│Barbica │Bara │ │ │
│ │Vara │ │ │
│ │Barica │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Lett. │ Lithuanian. │ Hungarian. │ │
│Barbule │Barbe │Borbola │ │
│Barbe │Barbutte │Boris │ │
│Babbe │ │ │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
The true old English form is Barbary. It appears thus in all the
unlatinized pedigrees and registers; and the peasantry still call it so,
though unluckily it is generally turned into Barbara in writing.[46]
-----
Footnote 46:
Jameson; Horne Tooke; Michaelis.
SECTION XII.—_Agnes._
The word ἄγος (agos), a thing to which religious awe attaches, gave the
adjective ἄγνος (agnos), sacred or pure, whence was named the tree whose
twigs the Greek matrons strewed on their beds during the festival of
Demeter, and which the Romans called by a reduplication of its title in
both languages, the Agnus Castus. Agnus, the Latin for a lamb, is said
to have come from the consecration of those creatures to sacred
purposes; and thence, too, came Agnes, the name of the gentle Roman
maiden, the place of whose martyrdom named the church of Sant' Agnese.
It is said to have been built by Constantine the Great only a few years
after her death, on the spot where she was put to the utmost proof; and
it retains an old mosaic, representing her veiled only by her long hair,
and driven along by two fierce soldiers.
Another very ancient church of Sant' Agnese covers the catacomb where
she was interred, and she has always been a most popular saint both in
the East and West, but most especially at her native city. There a
legend became current, probably from her name, that as her parents and
other Christians were weeping over her grave in the catacomb, she
suddenly stood before them all radiant in glory, and beside her a lamb
of spotless whiteness. She assured them of her perfect bliss, encouraged
them, and bade them weep no more; and thus in all later representations
of her, a lamb has always been her emblem, though it does not appear in
the numerous very early figures of her that are still preserved.
A saint who was the object of so many legends could not fail of numerous
votaries, and Agnes was common in England and Scotland, and was a royal
name in France and Germany. The Welsh form is Nest. A Welsh Nest was the
mother of Earl Robert of Gloucester. Iñes, as the Spaniards make it,
indicating the liquid sound of the _gn_ by the cedilla, gained a
mournful fame in Portugal by the fate of Iñez de Castro, and Iñesila has
been derived from it, while the former English taste for stately
terminations to simple old names made the word Agneta. It is more common
in Devonshire than in other counties. In Durham, there is a curious
custom of calling any female of weak intellect, “a Silly Agnes.” Italy
has invented the masculine Agnolo and Agnello, often confounded with
Angelo, and used as its contraction.[47]
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ Welsh. │ Manx. │ French. │
│Agnes │Nest │Nessie │Agnes │
│Aggie │ │ │Agnies │
│Agneta │ │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Italian. │ Spanish. │ Portugues │ Swedish. │
│Agnese │Ines │Inez │Agnes │
│Agnete │Inesila │ │Agneta │
│Agnesca │ │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Danish. │ Russian. │ Polish. │ Slavonic. │
│Agnes │Agnessa │Agnizka │Neza │
│Agnete │Agnessija │ ————————— │Nezika │
│ │ │ Bohemian. │ │
│ │ │Anezka │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Servian. │ Lett. │ Esthonian │ Lithuanian. │
│Janja │Agnese │Neto │Agnyta │
│ ————————— │Nese │ │ │
│ Lusatian. │ │ │ │
│Hanza │ │ │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
-----
Footnote 47:
Jameson; Brand, _Popular Antiquities_; Liddell and Scott; Michaelis.
SECTION XIII.—_Margaret._
No name has been the occasion of more pretty fancies than Μαργαρίτης (a
pearl), itself taken from the Persian term for the jewel, Murvarid
(child of light), in accordance with the beauteous notion that the
oysters rising to the surface of the water at night and opening their
shells in adoration, received into their mouths drops of dew congealed
by the moon-beams into the pure and exquisite gem, resembling in its
pure pale lustre nothing so much as the moon herself, “_la gran
Margherita_,” as Dante calls her. The thought of the pearl of great
price, and of the pearl gates of the celestial city, no doubt inspired
the Christian choice of Margarite for that child of light of the city of
Antioch in Pisidia, whose name as virgin martyr standing in the Liturgy
without any authentic history, became, before the fifth century, the
recipient of the allegory of feminine innocence and faith overcoming the
dragon, even as St. George embodied the victory of the Christian
warrior. Greek though the legend were, as well as the name, neither
flourished in the Eastern Church; but Cremona laid claim to the maiden’s
relics, and Hungary in its first Christianity eagerly adopted her name,
and reckons two saints so called in the eleventh century, besides having
sent forth the sweet Margaret Ætheling, the wife of Malcolm Ceanmohr,
the gentle royal saint of the Grace Cup, who has made hers the national
Scottish female name. From Scotland it went to Norway with the daughter
of Alexander III., whose bridal cost the life of Sir Patrick Spens; and
it had nearly come back again from thence with her child, the Maid of
Norway; but the Maid died on the voyage, and Margaret remained in
Scandinavia to be the dreaded name of the Semiramis of the North, and
was taken as the equivalent of Astrid and of Grjotgard. From Cremona
Germany learnt to know the child-like Margarethe, one of the saints and
names most frequently occurring there; and Provence, then an integral
part of the Holy Roman Empire, likewise adopted her. From her was called
the eldest of the four heiresses of Provence, who married St. Louis,
leaving Marguérite to numerous French princesses. Her niece, the
daughter of Henry III., was the first English Margaret; but the name was
re-imported from France in the second wife of Edward I., and again in
Margaret of Anjou, from whom was called Margaret Beaufort, mother of
Henry VII., and founder of the Lady Margaret professorship.
In her grand-daughter, Margaret Tudor, it ceased to be royal in England,
though it had taken root among the northern part of the population,
while, strangely enough, it hardly ever occurs among the southern
peasantry. The Italian reverence for Margherita, or Malgherita, as they
called her, was increased by the penitence of Margherita of Cortona,
whose repentance became so famed that she was canonized. Many are the
contractions of this favourite name, since it is too long for the
popular mouth. The oldest is probably the Scottish Marjorie, as Bruce’s
daughter was called, and which cut down into Maisie, the “proud Maisie”
of the ballad, and later into Mysie, and was treated as a separate name.
Mr. Lower tells us that the surname of Marjoribanks is derived from the
barony of Raltio, granted to Marjorie Bruce on her marriage with the
High Steward of Scotland. Margaret turned into Meg before the time of
“Muckle-moued Meg of the Border,” and this as well as Maggie was shared
with England, which likewise had Margery and Marget, as well as the more
vulgar Peggy and Gritty, and likewise Madge.
The French contraction was in the sixteenth century Margot, according to
the epitaph, self-composed, of the Austrian, Flemish, or French damsel,
who was so nearly Queen of Spain:
“Ci gît Margot, la gentille demoiselle,
Qui a deux maris et encore est pucelle.”
But Gogo is not an improvement. Marcharit is the Breton form.
In Germany Grethel figures in various ‘_Mahrchen_,’ but Gretchen is now
most common, and is rendered classical by Goethe. Mete in the time of
Klopstock’s sway over the lovers of religious poetry was very
fashionable; and Meta almost took up her abode in England, though the
taste for simplicity has routed her of late.
Denmark, where the Semiramis of the North has domesticated the name,
calls it Mette and Maret, and places it in many a popular tale and
ballad as Metelill, or little Margaret.
Even the modern German Jews use it and call it Marialit; and the
Vernacular Gaelic contraction used in Ireland is Vread, though Mairgreg
is the proper form.[48]
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ Scotch. │ French. │ Italian. │
│Margaret │Margaret │Marguérite │Margherita │
│Margaretta │Marjorie │Margot │Malgherita │
│Margery │Maisie │Margoton │Ghita │
│Maggy │Maidie │Goton │Rita │
│Meggy │Maggie │Gogo │ │
│Madge │Meg │ │ │
│Marget │May │ │ │
│Peggy │ │ │ │
│Gritty │ │ │ │
│Meta │ │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Spanish. │ German. │ Swiss. │ Danish. │
│Margarita │Margarethe │Margarete │Margarete │
│ ————————— │Grete │Gretli │Mette │
│ Portuguese. │Gretchen │ │Maret │
│Margarida │Grethe │ │Melletel │
│ │Grethel │ │ │
│ │Grel │ │ │
│ │Marghet │ │ │
│ │Mete │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Polish. │ Bohemian. │ Slavonic. │ Finland. │
│Margareta │Markota │Marjarita │Reta │
│Malgorzata │ │Marjeta │ │
│Malgosia │ │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Lett. │ Esthonian. │ Lithuanian. │ Hungarian. │
│Margrete │Maret │Magryta │Margarta │
│Greta │Kret │Gryta │Margit │
│Maije │Krot │Greta │ │
│Madsche │ │ │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
Footnote 48:
Reeves, _Conchology_; Liddell and Scott; Butler; Michaelis; Grimm;
Weber, _Northern Romance_.
SECTION XIV.—_Katharine._
The maiden martyr, whose name was chosen as the centre of the allegory
of intellectual religion, was Καθαρινή (Kathariné), Catharina in Latin,
from a virgin martyr of Alexandria, whose history being unknown, became
another recipient of a half-allegorical legend. It is not found recorded
earlier than the eighth century, and, indeed, the complete ignorance of
the state of the Roman empire, shown by making her the daughter of a
king of Egypt, argues its development at a very late period. Her
exceeding wisdom, her heavenly espousals, her rejection of the suit of
Maximus, the destruction of the wheels that were to have torn her in
pieces, her martyrdom by the sword, and the translation of her body by
angels to Mount Sinai, are all familiar through the numerous artistic
works that have celebrated her. The legend is thought to have grown up
to its full height among the monks of the convent that bears her name at
the foot of Mount Sinai. And the many pilgrims thither had the zest of a
new and miraculous legend, such as seems always to have been more
popular than the awful truth beside which it grew up; but it never
obtained credit enough in the East to make Katharina come into use as a
name in the Greek Church, and it was only when the Crusaders brought
home the story that it spread in ballad and mystery throughout the West.
Indeed, the name did not prevail till it had been borne by the Italian
devotee, Santa Caterina of Sienna, who tried to imagine the original
Katharina’s history renewed in herself, and whose influence is one of
the marvels of the middle ages. Before this, however, the fair
Katharine, Countess of Salisbury, had been the heroine of the Garter,
and John of Gaunt had named the daughter, who, as Queen of Castille,
made Catalina a Spanish name, whence it returned to us again with
Katharine of Aragon; but in the mean time Catherine de Valois, the Queen
of Henry V., had brought it again from France.
The cause of the various ways of spelling this word would appear to be
that the more ancient English made no use of the letter _K_, which only
came in with printing and the types imported from Germany. Miss
Catherine Fanshaw wrote a playful poem in defence of the commencement
with _C_, avouching _K_ to be no Saxon letter, and referring to the
shrewish Katharina and the Russian empress as examples of the bad repute
of the _K_; but her argument breaks down, since the faithful Spanish
Catalina, as English queen, wrote herself Katharine, while the ‘Shrew’
in Italy could only have been Caterina, and the Russian empress is on
her coins Ekaterina. On the whole, Katherine would seem properly to be a
namesake of the Alexandrian princess, Catherine, the Votaress of Sienna.
No name is more universal in all countries and in all ranks, partly from
its own beauty of sound, partly from association, and none has more
varied contractions. Our truest old English ones are Kate and Kitty—the
latter was almost universal in the last century, though now supplanted
by the Scottish Katie and the graceful Irish Kathleen.
Catherine has even produced a masculine name. Perhaps Anne and Mary are
the only others which have been thus honoured; but the sole instance is
Caterino or Catherin Davila, the historian, who had the misfortune to
have Catherine de Medici for his godmother.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ Scotch. │ Irish. │ Welsh. │
│Katharine │Catharine │Kathleen │Cathwg │
│Catherine │Katie │Katty │ │
│Catharina │ —————————— │ │ —————————— │
│Kate │ Dutch. │ │ Bret. │
│Kitty │Kaat │ │Katel │
│Katrine │Kaatje │ │Katelik │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ French. │ Portuguese. │ Spanish. │ Italian. │
│Cathérine │Catharine │Catalina │Caterina │
│Catant │ │ │ │
│Caton │ │ │ │
│Gaton │ │ │ │
│Trinette │ │ │ │
│Cataut │ │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Swedish. │ Danish. │ German. │ Dantzic. │
│Katarina │Kathrina │Katharine │Trien │
│Kajsa │Karina │Kathchen │Kasche │
│Kolina │Karen │Kathe │ │
│ │Kasen │Thrine │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Bavarian. │ Swiss. │ Russian. │ Polish. │
│Katrine │Kathri │Ekaterina │Katarnyna │
│Kadreinl │Kathrili │Katinka │Kasia │
│Treinel │Tri │Katinsha │ │
│Kadl │Trili │Katja │ │
│Kattel │Trine │ │ │
│Ketterle │Hati │ │ │
│ │Hatili │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Slovak. │ Illyrian. │ Esthonian. │ Hungarian. │
│Katrina │Katarina │Katri │Katalin │
│Katra │Katica │Kaddo │Kati │
│Katrej │ │Kats │Katicza │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
SECTION XV.—_Harvest Names._
From θέρω (to heat) was derived θέρος (summer), which, in sunny Greece,
came likewise to mean the summer crop, just as in Germany _Herbst_
serves for both autumn and harvest. θερίζω (to reap or gather in the
crop), and from this verb comes the pretty feminine Theresa, the reaper.
“The first to bear the predestined name of Theresa,” as Montalembert
says, was a Spanish lady, the wife of a Roman noble called Paulinus,
both devotees under the guidance of St. Jerome, whose writings most
remarkably stamped the memory of his friends upon posterity; and this
original Theresa was copied again and again by her own countrywomen,
till we find Teresa on the throne of Leon in the tenth century. The name
was confined to the Peninsula until the sixteenth century, when that
remarkable woman, Saint Teresa, made the Roman Catholic Church resound
with the fame of her enthusiastic devotion. The Spanish connection of
the House of Austria rendered it a favourite with the princesses both of
Spain and Germany. The Queen of Louis XIV. promoted it in France as
Thérèse, and it is specially common in Provence as Térézon, for short,
Zon. The empress-queen greatly added to its fame; and it is known
everywhere, though more in Roman Catholic countries and families than
elsewhere. That it nowhere occurs in older English pedigrees is one of
the signs that it was the property of a saint whose claims to reverence
began after the Reformation.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ Portuguese. │ Spanish. │
│Theresa │Thérèse │Theresa │Teresa │
│Terry │Térézon │ │Teresita │
│Tracy │Zon │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Italian. │ German. │ Hamburg. │ Bavaria. │
│Teresa │Theresia │Tresa │Res’l │
│Teresina │ │Trescha │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Bohemian. │ Slavonic. │ Illyrian. │ Hungarian. │
│Terezie │Terezija │Tereza │Terezia │
│ │ │Terza │Threzsi │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
The real popularity of the word, witnessed by its many changes of sound,
is, be it observed, in those Eastern domains of the empress where her
noble spirit won all hearts to the well-remembered cry “_Moriamur pro
Rege nostrâ Maria Theresa_.”
Eustaches has already been explained as one of these harvest names. And
to these may be added that of the old Cypriot shepherd hermit Σπυρίδων
(Spiridōn), from σπυρίς (a round basket). He was afterwards a bishop,
and one of the fathers of Nicea, then going home, died at a great age,
asleep in his corn field; in honour of whom Spiridione, or Spiro, as the
Italianized Greeks call it, is one of the most popular of all names in
the Ionian Islands, and has the feminine Spira.[49]
-----
Footnote 49:
Liddell and Scott; Montalembert; Surius; Anderson, _Genealogies_.
SECTION XVI.—_Names from Jewels._
Margaret, which has been spoken of elsewhere, is the most noted of jewel
names, and it probably suggested the few others that have prevailed.
Σμάραγδος (Smaragdos) is supposed to have been named from μαίρω or
μαρμαίρω (to twinkle or sparkle), whence the dog-star was called Μαῖρα
(Maira). This beauteous precious stone, bearing the colour of hope, was
further recommended to Christians because the rainbow of St. John’s
vision was “in sight like unto an emerald.” Thus, Smaragdos was one of
the early martyrs; and the same occurs occasionally in early times, once
as an exarch of Ravenna; but it was never frequent enough to be a
recognized name, except in two very remote quarters, namely, as the
Spanish Esmeralda and the Cornish Meraud, the last nearly, if not quite,
extinct.
The Sapphire was erased for ever from the nomenclature of Christians by
the fate of the unhappy Sapphira, except that Σαπφήρω (Sapphēro), a name
thus derived, is used among the modern Greeks of the Ionian Islands; and
so also is Διαμάντω (Diamanto).
For want of a better place, the Italian name Gemma must here be
mentioned, though purely Latin, and coming from a word meaning the young
crimson bud of a tree, though since used for a gem or jewel. In Erse
Gemlorg, gem-like, is almost exactly the same in sound and spirit.
Moreover, both precious metals are used as female names in modern
Greece, Ἀργύρω (Argyro), silver, connecting itself with the Arianwen, or
silver lady, of Wales; and Χρυσωῦχα (Chrysoucha) from Χρυσός (Chrysós),
gold. This latter word has formed many other names, beginning from
Chryses and his daughter Chryseis, whose ransom was the original cause
of “Achilles' wrath of mighty woes the spring.” In the soubriquet of
Chrysostomos, or Golden Mouth, we have already seen it, and it is found
also in Χρύσανθος (Chrysanthos), golden flower, the husband of Saint
Daria, in whose honour prevails the Bavarian Chrysanth or Santerl.
Muriel, an old English name, comes from μύρον (myrrh). Both it and
Meriel were once common, and have lately been revived.[50]
-----
Footnote 50:
Smith, _Life of Chaucer_; Butler; Michaelis.
SECTION XVII.—_Kosmos and Damianos._
The pursuit of the relics of saints had already begun even in the fourth
century. No church was thought thoroughly consecrated save by the bones
of some sainted Christian, and it was during the first fervour that led
men to seek the bodies of the martyrs in their hiding-places, that St.
Ambrose discovered the bodies of two persons at Milan, whom a dream
pronounced to be Kosmos and Damianos, two martyred Christians.
They, of course, were placed among the patrons of Milan, and their names
became favourites in Italy. Kosmos originally meant order; but, having
been applied to the order of nature, has in our day come usually to mean
the universe.
Cosimo, or Cosmo, as the Italians called it, was used at Milan and
Florence, where it gained renown in the person of the great man who made
the family of Medici eminent, and who prepared the way for their
aspirations to the elevation that proved their bane and corruption.
France calls the word Côme without using it as a name, and Russia adopts
it as Kauzma.
Damianos was from the verb δαμάω, identical with our own tame, which we
have already seen in composition. He had a good many chivalrous
namesakes, as Damiano, Damiao, Damien, and the Russians call him Demjan.
The old Welsh Dyfan is another form strangely changed by pronunciation.
SECTION XVIII.—_Alethea, &c._
Ἀλήθεια (Aletheia), truth, came from α and λήθω (to hide), and thus
means openness and sincerity.
When it first came to be used as a name is not clear. Aletha, of Padua,
appears in 1411; and the princess, on whose account Charles I., when
Prince of Wales, made his journey to Spain, was Doña Maria Aletea. About
that time Alethea made her appearance in the noble family of Saville,
and either to a real or imaginary Alethea were addressed the famous
lines of the captive cavalier:—
“Stone walls do not a prison make,
Nor iron bars a cage.”
Moreover, in 1669, Alethea Brandling, at the age of nine, was married to
one Henry Hitch, esq., and the name occurs several times in Durham
pedigrees.
As far as the English Alethea is concerned, she is probably the
alteration of an Irish name, for she chiefly belongs to the other
island, and is there called Letty. What feminine it was meant to
translate must be uncertain, perhaps Tuathflaith (the noble lady). Tom
Moore called his Egyptian heroine Atethe, from the adjective, and this
has been in consequence sometimes used as a name.
The name Althea must not be confounded with it. This last is Ἄλθεια
(wholesome). It belonged of old to the unfortunate mother of Meleager,
and now designates a genus of mallows, in allusion to their healing
power.
We find the prefix πρό, forming part of the word προκοπή (progress),
whence the name Προκόπιος (Prokopios); in Latin, Procopius, progressive.
It was the name of a martyr under Diocletian, in Palestine, and is a
favourite in the Greek Church. The short-lived successor of Jovian was
so called; also the great Byzantine historian; and now Prokopij is very
common among the Russian clergy; and Prokop or Prokupek has found its
way into Bohemia. Russia, likewise, uses in the form of Prokhor, the
name of Próchorus (Πρόχορας), one of the seven deacons, and much
Græcized indeed must the imaginations of his Jewish parents have been
when they gave him such an appellation, signifying the leader of the
choral dances in the Greek theatres.
PART IV.
CHAPTER I.
LATIN NOMENCLATURE.
Hitherto we have had to deal with names at once explained by the
language of those who originally bore them. With a very few exceptions,
chiefly in the case of traditional deities, the word has only to be
divided into its component parts, and its meaning is evident, and there
was a constant fabrication of fresh appellations in analogy with the
elder ones, and suited to the spirit of the times in which they were
bestowed.
But on passing the Gulf of Adria we come upon a nation of mingled blood,
and even more mingled language, constantly in a condition of change;
their elder history disguised by legends, their ancient songs
unintelligible to the very persons who sang them, their very deities and
rites confused with those of Greece, till they were not fully understood
even by their most cultivated men; and their names, which were not
individual but hereditary, belonging to forgotten languages, and often
conveying no signification to their owner.
The oldest inhabitants of Italy are thought to have been Pelasgi, which
is argued, among other causes, from the structure of the language
resembling the Greek, and from the simple homely terms common to both;
but while the Pelasgi of the Eastern Peninsula became refined and
brought to perfection by the Hellenes, the purest tribe of their own
race, those of the Western Peninsula were subjected to the influence of
various other nations. In the centre of Italy the Pelasgians appear to
have been overrun by a race called Oscans, Priscans, or Cascans, who
became fused with them, and called themselves Prisci Latini, and their
country Latium or Lavinium. Their tongue was the elder Latin, and the
Oscan is believed to have supplied the element which is not Greek, but
has something in common both with Kelt and Teuton. These Latins were,
there can be no doubt, the direct ancestors of the Romans, whose
political constitution, manners, and language, were the same, only in an
advanced condition.
Roman legend and poetry brought the fugitive Æneas from Troy to conquer
Latium, and found Alba Longa; and after the long line of Alban kings,
the twins, Romulus and Remus, founded the City of the Seven Hills, and
filled it with Latins, _i. e._ the mixed Pelasgic and Oscan race of
Latium. The first tribe of pure Oscans who came in contact with the
Romans were the Sabines, who, after the war begun by the seizure of the
Sabine women, made common cause with Rome, and thus contributed a fresh
Oscan element to both blood and language. The Oscan race extended to the
South, divided into many tribes, and their language was spoken in a pure
state by the southern peasantry far on into Roman history. The numerous
Greek colonies which caused the South to be termed Magna Græcia, became
in time mingled with the Oscans, and gave the whole of Apulia, Bruttium,
and Calabria, a very different character from that of central Italy.
Northward of Latium was the powerful and mysterious race calling
themselves the Raseni, and known to the Romans as Tusci. They are
usually called Etruscans, and their name still survives in that of
Tuscany. They are thought by some to have been Keltic, but their tongue
is not sufficiently construed to afford proof, and their whole history
is lost. Their religion and habits were unlike those of their Roman
neighbours, and they were in a far more advanced state of civilization.
In the time of Tarquinius Priscus they obtained considerable influence
over Rome, many of whose noblest works were Etruscan; and though this
power was lost in the time of Tarquinius Superbus, and long wars were
waged between Rome and Etruria, the effects of their intercourse lasted,
and many institutions were traceable to the Etruscan element. Of the
Roman families, some considered themselves descended from different
Latin tribes, others from Sabines, others from Etruscans; and their
genealogy was carefully observed, as their political position depended
upon it.
Their nomenclature was, in fact, the immediate parent of our own.
Every Roman citizen had necessarily two names. The second of these was
the important one which marked his hereditary position in the state, and
answered to our surname. It was called the _nomen_, or name, _par
excellence_, and was inherited from his father, belonging also to the
entire _gens_, or tribe, who considered themselves to have a common
ancestor, and who, all alike, whether wealthy or otherwise, took the
rank of their gens, whether patrician, equitial, or plebeian. The
daughters of the gens were called by the feminine of its name, and
sometimes took that of the gens of their husband, but this was not
always the custom.
Besides these large tribes, there were lesser ones of families. If an
ancestor had acquired an additional appellation, whether honourable or
ludicrous, it passed to all his male descendants, thus distinguishing
them from the rest of their gens, and was called the cognomen. For
instance, after Marcus Manlius had saved the capitol, Capitolinus would
be the cognomen not merely of himself but of his posterity.
Clients and freedmen took the gentile name of their patron, and when the
freedom of Rome was granted to a stranger, he took the gentile name of
him from whom it was received, thus infinitely spreading the more
distinguished nomina of the later republic and early empire, and in the
Romanized countries gradually becoming the modern hereditary surname,
the convenience of the family distinction causing it to be gradually
adopted by the rest of the world. When the last of a gens adopted the
son of another clan to continue his line, the youth received the nomen
and one or more cognomina of his new gens, but brought in that of his
old one with the augmentative _anus_. As for instance, Publius Æmilius
Paullus being adopted by Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus, became
Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus Æmilianus, and his daughter was
simply Cornelia. Again, Caius Octavius, as adopted into the Julian gens,
became Caius Julius Cæsar Octavius; and the emperors being all adopted,
arrived at such a multitude of names that the accumulation was entirely
useless, and they were called by a single one.
Added to all these family names, each man had his own individual name,
which was bestowed in later times, or more properly registered when, at
the age of fourteen, he laid aside the childish tunic and bulla, or
golden ball, which he had worn from infancy, put off the toga
prætextala, and assumed the _toga virilis_, or manly gown, white edged
with purple, which was the regular official Roman dress. In the latter
days, the prænomen was given on the eighth day, with a lustratio or
washing of the infant. There was a very small choice of Roman prænomina,
not above seventeen; an initial was sufficient to indicate which might
be intended, nor did ladies receive their feminines in the earlier
times. By which name a man might be called was arbitrary; the gentile
name was the distinction of rank, and perhaps the most commonly used by
his acquaintance, unless the tribe were very large, when the cognomen
would be used; and among brothers the prænomen was brought in first as
the Christian name is with us. The great Marcus Tullius Cicero was
called Cicero by those who only knew him politically, while to his
correspondents he was Tullius; his son, of the same name, was termed
Marcus Cicero; his brother, Quintus Cicero; and Caius Julius Cæsar
figures in contemporary correspondence as C. Cæsar.
In Christian times, the lustratio at the giving of the prænomen became
Holy Baptism, thus making our distinction between baptismal and
hereditary names. The strict adherence to the old prænomina had been
already broken into, especially in favour of women, who had found the
universal gentile name rather confusing, and had added to it feminine
prænomina or agnomina, had changed it by diminution or augmentation, or
had taken varieties from the other gentes to which they were related.
Christianity had given individuality to woman, and she was no longer No.
1, or No. 2, the property of the gens. Significant names, Greek names,
or saintly ones were chosen as prænomina, and the true Christian name
grew up from the old Roman seventeen. Besides these, the numerous
slaves, who formed a large part of the Roman population, had each a
single name. Some of these were in their own language, disguised by
Latin pronunciation; others were called by Greek or Latin words; others
bore their masters' names. Many of these slaves were among the martyrs
of the Church, and their names were bestowed on many an infant
Christian. Others were afterwards formed from significant Latin words,
but far fewer than from Greek words, the rigid hereditary customs of
Latin nomencloture long interfering with the vagaries of invention, and
most of these later not being far removed from classical Latinity.
It should be observed that the original Latin word, especially if
descriptive or adjectival, usually ends in _us_, representing the Greek
ος, and in the oblique cases becoming _i_ and _o_—in the vocative _e_.
When it was meant to signify one of or belonging to this first, the
termination was _ius_—thus from Tullus comes one belonging to
Tullus—Tullius, in the vocative _i_; and again, one of the gens adopted
into another, would become Tullianus,—Tullus, Tullius, Tullianus. The
diminutive would be _illus_, or _iolus_, and in time became a separate
name: Marcus, Marcius, Marcianus, Marcellus. In the adoption of Latin by
the barbarous nations, the language was spoken without the least
attention to declension; the Italians and Spanish used only the dative
termination, making all their words end in _o_; but the former
preserving the nominative plural _i_, and the latter the accusative
plural _os_, while the French stopped short at the simple elementary
word, and while finishing it in writing with an _e_, discarded all
pronunciation of its termination. The vocative was their favourite case
in pronunciation, and has passed to us in our usual terminal _y_. The
_a_ of feminine names was retained by Italy and Spain; cut off by
France, Germany, and England.[51]
-----
Footnote 51:
Niebuhr, _Rome_; Arnold, _Rome_; Smith, _Dictionary of Greek and Roman
Antiquities_; Max Müller.
CHAPTER II.
LATIN PRÆNOMINA.
SECTION I.—_Aulus, Caius, Cnæus, Cæso._
For the sake of convenient classification, it may be best to begin the
Latin names with the original prænomina and their derivatives, few in
number as they are, and their origin involved in the dark antiquity of
the Roman pre-historic times. The chief light thrown upon them is in a
work entitled _De Factis Dictisque Memorabilibus_, compiled by one
Marcus Valerius Maximus, in the Augustan age, to which is appended a
dissertation on Roman prænomina of doubtful authorship; but whether this
be by Valerius himself, or by his abridger and imitator, it is the
earliest information we possess as to these home appellations of the
stern conquerors of the world.
Caius, or Caiius as the elders spelt it, was one of the most common of
all Roman prænomina, and was pronounced Gaius, as it is written in St.
Paul’s mention of “Gaius mine host.” Men indicated it by the initial C;
women who bore it, used the same C reversed (ↄ) on coins or
inscriptions. Valerius, or his imitator, deduces it from _gaudium
parentum_, the parents' joy, but it is more probably from the root-word
_gai_. When a Roman marriage took place with the full ceremonies such as
rendered divorce impossible, the names Caius and Caia always stood for
those of the married pair in the formulary of prayer uttered over them
while they sat on two chairs with the skin of the sheep newly sacrificed
spread over their heads; and when the bride was conducted to her
husband’s house, spindle and distaff in hand, she was demanded who she
was, and replied, “Where thou art Caius, I am Caia;” and having owned
herself his feminine, she was carried over his threshold, to prevent the
ill omen of touching it with her foot, and set down on a sheepskin
within. From this rite all brides were called Caiæ. It is said that it
was in honour of Tanaquil, whose Roman name was Caia Cæcilia, and who
was supposed to be the model Roman woman, fulfilling the epitome of
duties expressed in the pithy saying, _Domum mansit, lanam fecit_ (she
staid at home and spun wool), and was therefore worshipped by Roman
maids and matrons. The Romans introduced Caius into Britain, and the Sir
Kay, seneschal of Arthur’s court, who appears in the romances of the
Round Table, was probably taken from a British Caius; but the Highland
clan, Mackay, are not sons of Caius, but of Ey.
It was probably from a word of the same source, that the Italian town
and promontory of Caieta were so called, though the Romans believed the
name to be taken from Caieta, the nurse of Æneas, a dame who only
appears among Latin authors. The city has become Gaeta in modern
pronunciation, and from it has arisen the present Italian Gaetano. Who
first was thus christened does not appear, but the popularity of the
name began on the canonization of Gaetano di Thienna, a Vicentine noble
and monk, who, in 1524, instituted the Theatine order of monks. He
himself had been called after an uncle, a canon of Padua, learned in the
law; but I cannot trace Gaetano back any further. It is in right of this
saint, however, that it has become a great favourite in Italy. The
Portuguese call it Caetano, the Spaniards, Cajetano; the Slavonians (who
must have it through Venice), Kajetan or Gajo. It was a family name in
Dante’s time, and his contemporary, Pope Boniface VIII., of whom he
speaks with some scorn, had been Benedetto Gaëtano.[52]
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ Welsh. │ French. │ Italian. │
│Lucy │Lleulu │Lucie │Lucia │
│Luce │ │Luce │Luzia │
│Lucinda │ │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Russian. │ Polish. │ Hungarian. │ Spanish. │
│Luzija │Lucya │Lucza │Lucia │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
-----
Footnote 52:
Smith; Diefenbach, _Celtica_; Butler; Michaelis.
SECTION II.—_Lucius._
_Lux_ (light) gave the very favourite prænomen Lucius, one born at
daylight, or, as some say, with a fair complexion. Many an L at the
opening of a Roman inscription attests the frequency of this name, which
seems first to have come into Rome with the semi-mythical Lucius
Tarquinius Priscus, and was derived from his family by the first Brutus.
The feminine Lucia belonged to a virgin martyr of Syracuse, whose name
of light being indicated by early painters by a lamp or by an eye, led
to the legend that her beautiful eyes had been put out.
The Sicilian saints were, as has been already said, particularly
popular, and Santa Lucia is not only the patroness of the Italian
fishermen, and the namesake of their daughters, but she was early
adopted by the Normans; and even in the time of Edward the Confessor,
the daughter of the Earl of Mercia had been thus baptized, unless indeed
her husband, Ivo Taillebois, translated something English into Lucia.
The house of Blois were importers of saintly names, and Lucie, a sister
of Stephen, was among those lost in the White Ship. The name has ever
since flourished, both in England and France, but was most popular in
the former during the seventeenth century, when many noble ladies were
called Lucy, but poetry chose to celebrate them as Lucinda, or by some
other fashionable variety of this sweet and simple word.
The lady has here had the precedence, because of her far greater
popularity, but the masculine is also interesting to us. The root _luc_
(light) is common to all the Indo-European languages; and ancient
Britain is said to have had a king called Lleurwg ap Coel ap Cyllin, or
Llewfer Mawr (the Great Light), who was the first to invite teachers of
the Gospel to his country. He is Latinized into Lucius, and this word
has again furnished the Welsh Lles. Nothing can be more apocryphal than
the whole story, but it probably accounts for the use of Lucius amongst
Englishmen just after the Reformation, when there was a strong desire
among them to prove the conversion of their country to be anterior to
the mission of Augustine. Named at this time, Lucius Cary, Viscount
Falkland, rendered the sound honourable, though it has not become
common. Lucio, or Luzio, is hereditary in Italy. The Irish Lucius is the
equivalent of the native Lachtna and Loiseach.
The Lucillian gens of the plebeian order was formed from Lucius, and
thence arose Lucilla, borne by several Roman empresses, and by a local
saint at Florence; and in later times considered as another diminutive
of Lucy.
Lucianus, on the other hand, was a derivative, and having belonged to
several saints, continued in use in Italy as Luciano or Luziano, whence
Lucien the Buonaparte derived the appellation, so plainly marking him,
like his brother, as an Italian Frenchified.
Luciana has continued likewise in Italy, and was anciently Lucienne in
France. Perhaps the English Lucy Anne may be an imitation of it.
Lucianus contracted into Lucanus as a cognomen, and thus was named the
Spanish poet, Marcus Annæus Lucanus, usually called in English Lucan;
but it has a far nearer interest to us. Cognomina in _anus_, contracted
into the Greek ας, were frequently bestowed on slaves or freed-men,
especially of Greek extraction. These were often highly educated, and
were the librarians, secretaries, artists, and physicians of their
masters, persons of Jewish birth being especially employed in the
last-mentioned capacity. Thus does the third Evangelist, the beloved
physician and reputed painter, bear in his name evidence of being a
Greek-speaking protégé of a Roman house, Λουκας (Lukas) being the Greek
contraction of Lucanus or Lucianus. “His sound hath gone out into all
lands,” and each pronounces his name in its own fashion; but he is less
popular as a patron than his brethren, though more so in Italy than
elsewhere.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ │ │ │ Spanish and │
│ English. │ French. │ Italian. │ Portuguese. │
│Luke │Luc │Luca │Lucas │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ German. │ Russian. │ Wallachian. │ Bohemian. │
│Lukas │Luka │Luka │Lukas │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Slavonic. │ Lusatian. │ Hungarian. │ │
│Lukash │Lukash │Lukacz │ │
│ │Lukaschk │ │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
Lucretius, the name of a noted old gens, is probably from the same
source, though some take it from _lucrum_ (gain). “Lucrece, combing the
fleece under the midnight lamp,” that fine characteristic Roman tale,
furnished Shakespeare with an early poem; and Lucrezia was one of the
first classic names revived by the Italians; and though borne by the
notorious daughter of the Borgia, has continued fashionable with them
and with the French, who make it Lucrèce; while we have now and then a
Lucretia, learnt probably from the fanciful designations of the taste of
the eighteenth century.[53]
-----
Footnote 53:
Smith; Butler; Kitto; Jameson.
SECTION III.—_Marcus._
The origin of Marcus, represented by the _M_, so often a Roman initial,
is involved in great doubt. It has been deduced from the Greek μαλακὸς
(soft or tender), a very uncongenial epithet for one of the race of
iron. Others derive it from _mas_ (a male), as implying manly qualities;
and others, from Mars, or more correctly, Mavers or Mamers, one of the
chief of the old Latin deities. Diefenbach thinks also that it may be
connected with the Keltic Marc (a horse), and with the verb to march.
It extended into all the provinces, and was that by which John, sister’s
son to Barnabas, was known to the Romans. Tradition identifies him with
the Evangelist, who, under St. Peter’s direction, wrote the Gospel
especially intended for “strangers of Rome,” and who afterwards founded
the Church of Alexandria, and gave it a liturgy. In consequence, Markos
has ever since been a favourite Greek name, especially among those
connected with the Alexandrian patriarchate. In the days, however, when
relic-hunting had become a passion, some adventurous Venetians stole the
remains of the Evangelist from the pillar in the Alexandrian church, in
which they had been built up, and transferred them to Venice.
Popular imagination does not seem to have supposed the saints to have
been one whit displeased at any sacrilegious robberies, for San Marco
immediately was constituted the prime patron of the city; and, having
been supposed to give his almost visible protection in perils by fire
and flood, the Republic itself and its territory were known as his
property, and the special emblem of the state was that shape among the
Cherubim which had been appropriated as the token suited to his Gospel,
namely, the lion with eagle’s wings, the Marzocco, as the populace
termed it, and another such Marzocco figures at Florence.
Marco was the name of every fifth man at Venice, and the winged lion
being the stamp on the coinage of the great merchant city, which was
banker to half the world, a marc became the universal title of the piece
of money which, though long disused in England, has left traces of its
value in the legal fee of six-and-eightpence.
The chief popularity of the Evangelist’s name is in Italy, especially
Lombardy; though the Greek Church, as in duty bound, has many a Markos,
and no country has ceased to make use of it. Some, such as Niebuhr for
his Roman-born son, and a few classically inclined English, have revived
the ancient Marcus; but, in general, the word follows the national
pronunciation.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ Italian. │ Spanish and │
│ │ │ │ Portuguese. │
│Mark │Marc │Marco │Marcos │
│Marcus │ │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Esthonian and │ Polish and │ Lusatian. │ Hungarian. │
│ Russian │ Bohemian │ │ │
│Mark │Marek │Markusch │Markus │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
From Marcus sprang the nomen Martius, or, as it was later written,
Marcius, belonging to a very noble gens of Sabine origin, which gave a
king to Rome, and afterwards was famous in the high-spirited and
gentle-hearted Cnæus Marcius Coriolanus.
The daughters of this gens were called Marcia, and this as Marzia,
Marcie, Marcia, has since been used as the feminine of Mark. From
Martius again came Martinus, the name of the Roman soldier who divided
his cloak with the beggar, and afterwards became Bishop of Tours, and
completed the conversion of the Gauls. He might well be one of the
favourite saints of France, and St. Martin of Tours rivalled St. Denys
in the allegiance of the French, when kings and counts esteemed it an
honour to belong to his chapter; and yet Martin occurs less frequently
in French history than might have been expected, though it is to be
found a good deal among the peasants, and is a surname. Dante speaks of
Ser Martino as typical of the male gossips of Florence; and from the
great prevalence of the surname of Martin in England, it would seem to
have been more often given as a baptismal name. Martin was a notable
king of Aragon; but zealous Romanist countries have perhaps disused
Martin for the very reason that Germans love it, namely, that it
belonged to “Dr. Martinus Luther,” as the learned would call the
Augustinian monk, whose preachings opened the eyes of his countrymen.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ Italian and │ Portuguese. │
│ │ │ Spanish. │ │
│Martyn │Martin │Martino │Martin │
│ │Mertin │ │Martinho │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ German. │ Swiss. │ Dutch. │ Lett. │
│Martin │Märti │Martijn │Martschis │
│Mertil │Martili │Marten │ ————————— │
│ │ │ ————————— │ Hungarian. │
│ │ │ Swedish. │Martoni │
│ │ │Marten │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
Martina was one of the young Roman girls who endured the fiery trial of
martyrdom under the Emperor Decius. Her plant is the maidenhair fern, so
great an ornament to the Roman fountains; and her name, whether in her
honour, or as the feminine of Martin, is occasionally found in Italy,
France, and England.
Marcianus was an augmentative of Marcus, whence Marciano or Marcian were
formed. Marcellus is the diminutive, and became the cognomen of the
great Claudian gens. Marcus Claudius Marcellus was the conqueror of
Syracuse, and the last of his direct descendants is that son of Octavia
and nephew of Augustus, the prediction of whose untimely death is placed
by Virgil in the mouth of his forefather, Anchises, in the Elysian
Fields. St. Marcellus was a young Roman soldier who figures among the
warrior saints of Venice, and now and then has a French namesake called
Marcel.
Marcella was a pious widow, whose name becoming known through her
friendship with St. Jerome, took the fancy of the French; and Marcelle
has never been uncommon among them, nor Marcella in Ireland.
Marcellianus, another derivative from Marcellus, was the name of an
early pope, whence Marcellin is common in France.
From Mars again came Marius, the fierce old warrior of terrible memory;
but who, in the form of Mario, is supposed by the Italians to be the
masculine of Maria, and used accordingly.[54]
-----
Footnote 54:
Smith; Diefenbach; Roscoe, _History of Venice_; Grimm; _Transactions
of Philological Society_.
SECTION IV.—_Posthumus, &c._
Posthumus is generally explained as meaning a posthumous son, from
_post_ (after) and _humus_ (ground); born after his father was
underground; but there is reason to think that it is, in fact, Postumus,
a superlative adjective, formed from _post_, and merely signifying
latest; so that it originally belonged to the son of old age, the last
born of the family. It became a frequent prænomen by imitation, and in
several Roman families was taken as a cognomen.
The pseudo Valerius Maximus derives Titus from the Sabine Titurius;
others make it come from the Greek τίω (to honour), others from _tutus_
(safe), the participle of _tueor_ (to defend). It was one of the most
common prænomina from the earliest times, and belonged to both father
and son of the two emperors connected with the fall of Jerusalem. Both
were Titus Flavius Sabinus Vespasianus, but the elder is known to us by
his cognomen, the younger by his prænomen. Titus should have been a more
usual Christian name in honour of the first Bishop of Crete, but it has
hardly survived, except in an occasional Italian Tito; and here Dr.
Titus Oates gave it an unenviable celebrity. Tita is also sometimes used
in Italy. The historian, Titus Livius, has been famous enough to have
his name much maltreated, we calling him Livy, the French Tite Live.
SECTION V.—_Numeral Names._
Thus far and no farther went Latin invention for at least seven hundred
years in the way of individual domestic names. Beyond these ten, the
Romans had, with a very few exceptions, peculiar to certain families,
nothing but numerals for their sons; some of which became names of note
from various circumstances. The words, though not often the names, have
descended into almost all our modern tongues.
Primus, the superlative of _præ_ (before), _præ_, _prior_, _primus_, was
only used as a slave’s name, or to distinguish some person of an elder
race.
_Sequor_ (to follow) gave Secundus; the feminine of which fell sometimes
to the share of daughter No. 2, to distinguish her from the elder
sister, who was called by the family name. Men only had it as a
cognomen, and that only in the later times. It has passed into our own
tongue as well as into the more direct progeny of Latin, but Germany
holds out against it. Rome likewise used Secundus in the sense of
favourable, much as we speak of seconding in parliamentary language. St.
Secundinus was a companion of St. Patrick, called by the Irish St.
Seachnall. His disciples were christened Maol Seachlain, pupils of St.
Secundinus, a name since turned into Malachi. King Malachi with the
collar of gold, is truly the shaveling of the lesser follower.
Tertius barely occurs as a Roman name; but Tertia was rather more common
than Secunda, and by way of endearment was called Tertulla. From this
diminutive arose Tertullus and Tertullianus.
The next number is identical in all the tongues, though a most curious
instance of varied pronunciation. The _quadra_, or four equal-sided
Quartus, only occurs once in St. Paul’s writings, and so far as we know,
nowhere else. Quadratus and Quartinus were late nomina.
Why Quintus should have been so much more prevalent with the Romans than
the earlier numerals does not appear, but it was one of the commonest
prænomina, and was always indicated by the initial _Q_; while the Greeks
called it Κοίντος. Thence came the Quintian, or Quinctian, gens, an
Alban family removed by Tullus Hostilius to Rome, so plain and stern in
manners that even their women wore no gold, and principally illustrious
in the person of Cæso Quinctius Cincinnatus. An obscure family named
Quintianus sprung again from this gens, and in time gave its name to one
of the missionary martyrs of Gaul, who, in 287, was put to death at
Augusta Veromanduorum on the Somme. His corpse being discovered in 641,
the great goldsmith bishop of Noyon, St. Eloi, made for it a magnificent
shrine, and built over it a church, whence the town took the name of St.
Quentin, and Quentin became prevalent in the neighbourhood. It was also
popular in Scotland and Ireland, but it is there intended to represent
Cu-mhaighe (hound of the plain), pronounced Cooey. From the diminutive
of the Quinctian gens came Quintilius, and thence again Quintilianus,
the most noted Roman rhetorician. Pontius is thought to be the Samnite
or Oscan word for fifth, related to the Greek _pente_, and Keltic
_pump_, five. It was an old nomen among those fierce Italians, and
belonged to the sage who gave the wise advice against either sparing or
injuring by halves, the Romans at the Caudine Forks. Pontius Pilatus
should, it would seem, have brought it into universal hatred, but it
probably had previously become hereditary in Spain as Ponce, whence
sprang the noble family of Ponce de Leon; the French had Pons; and the
Italians, Ponzio, and our _Punch_ is by some said to be another form. It
may, perhaps, come from _pons_ (a bridge).
Sextus was the prænomen of the hateful son of Tarquinius Superbus, but
after him it was disused, although thence arose the Sextian, Sestian,
and Sextilian gentes. In later times it came again into use, and a
bishop of Rome, martyred under Valerian, was named Sixtus, whence this
has grown to be one of the papal adopted names, and is called by the
Italians Sisto, whence the Sistine chapel takes its name, and the
Dresden Madonna of Raffaelle is called di San Sisto, from the
introduction of one of the three sainted popes so termed. The French
used to call these saints Xiste.
The Latin _septem_ gave Septimus, a name exceptionally used among them,
as it is among us, for a seventh son.
Some unknown Octavus (the eighth) probably founded the Octavian gens,
which had only been of note in Rome for 200 years before Caius Octavius
Rufus married Julia, the sister of Cæsar, and their son Caius, being
adopted as heir of the Julian line, became C. Julius Cæsar Octavianus,
though he afterwards merged this unwieldy title in that of Augustus.
Octavius gained a certain renown through him, and Ottavio has passed on
in Italy, while eighth sons are perhaps most usually named Octavius. The
gentle Octavia, his sister, the most loveable of matrons, has made
Ottavia an Italian name, and Octavie is one adopted by modern French
taste. October is the eighth month in all modern tongues.
Nonnus, from _nonus_, the ninth, is not known as a name till very late,
when Latin and Greek names were intermixed. Then it belonged to a poet,
at first heathen, afterwards Christian. Nonna was the name to that
female slave who wrought the conversion of Georgia to Christianity, and
(we believe) has there been continued; and in Rome Nonnius and Nonianus
occur in later times as gentile appellations. Nona has been bestowed in
England upon that rare personage a ninth daughter. November again bears
traces of its having been the ninth month of the Romans, as does
December of the tenth.
Decimus was a prænomen in the family of Junius Brutus, inherited mayhap
from a tenth son, and it was at Decimus Brutus that Cæsar’s dying
reproach, _Et tu Brute_, is thought to have been levelled. Decimus and
Decima are now and then to be found among us in unusually large families
of one sex. Decius was the name of a great plebeian gens, one of the
oldest in Rome, and illustrated by the self-devotion of Decius Mus.[55]
-----
Footnote 55:
Clark, _Handbook of Comparative Grammar_; Liddell and Scott;
Facciolati; Junius; Smith; _Publications of the Irish Society_;
Butler.
CHAPTER III.
NOMINA.
SECTION I.—_Attius._
The Latin nomina were those that came by inheritance, and denoted the
position of the gens in the state, its antiquity, and sometimes its
origin. Their derivation is often, however, more difficult to trace than
that of any other names, being lost in the darkness of the Oscan and
Latin dialects; and in the latter times they were very wide-spread,
being adopted by wholesale by persons who received the franchise, as
Roman citizens, from the individual who conferred it; and after the time
of Caracalla, A.D. 212, when all the free inhabitants of the empire
became alike Roman citizens, any person might adopt whatever name he
chose, or even change his own if he disliked it. The feminine of this
gentile name, as it was called, was the inheritance of the daughters;
and on marriage, the feminine of the husband’s nomen was sometimes,
though not uniformly, assumed.
These names are here placed in alphabetical order, as there seems to be
nothing else to determine their position, and it is in accordance with
the rigid Roman fashion of regularity.
Thus we begin with the Accian, Attian, or Actian gens; one of no great
rank, but interesting as having been fixed on by tradition as the
ancestry of the great mountain lords of Este, who were the parents of
the house of Ferarra in Italy, and of the house of Brunswick, which has
given six sovereigns to Britain. Accius is probably derived from Acca,
the mother of the Lares, an old Italian goddess, afterwards turned into
the nurse of Romulus. Valerius, however, deduces both it and Appius from
a forgotten Sabine prænomen Attus. The Appian gens was not a creditable
one; but Appia was sometimes the name of mediæval Roman dames.
The genealogists of the house of Este say that Marcus Actius married
Julia, sister of the great Cæsar, and trace their line downwards till
modernized pronunciation had made the sound Azzo.
Him whom they count as Azo I. of Este was born in 450, and from him and
his descendants Azzo and Azzolino were long common in Italy, though now
discarded.
SECTION II.—_Æmilius._
Almost inextricable confusion attends the development of the title of
one of the oldest and most respectable of the plebeian gentes, namely
the Æmilian, anciently written Aimilian. The family was Sabine, and the
word is, therefore, probably Oscan; but the bearers were by no means
agreed upon its origin, some declaring that it was αἵμυλος (flattering
or witty), and called it a surname of their founder, Mamercus, whom some
called the son of Pythagoras, others of Numa. The later Æmilii, again,
claimed to descend from Aemylos, a son of Ascanius; and others of them,
less aspiring, contented themselves with Amulius, the granduncle of
Romulus. Can this most intangible Amulius be, after all, a remnant of
the Teutonic element in the Roman race, and be the same with the
mythical Amal, whence the Gothic Amaler traced their descent? It is
curious that _maal_ or _âmal_ means _work_ in Hebrew, while _aml_ is
work, likewise, in old Norse, as our _moil_ is in English, though in
Sanscrit _amala_ is spotless. Altogether, it seems most probable that
the word _mal_ (a spot or stroke) may underlie all these forms, just as
it does the German _mal_ (time); that Amal was, in truth, the dimly
remembered forefather; and that thus the proud Æmilii of Rome, and the
wild Amaler of the forests, bore in their designations the tokens of a
common stock.
Several obscure saints bore the name of Æmilius or Æmilianus; and Emilij
has always been a prevailing masculine name in Russia. In Spain, a
hermit, Saint Æmilianus, is always known as St. Milhan. Emilio was of
old-standing in Italy; but the great prevalence in France of Émile, of
late, was owing to Rousseau’s educational work, the hero of which had
numerous namesakes among the children born in the years preceding the
Revolution.
The feminine had been forgotten until Boccaccio wrote his _Teseide_, and
called the heroine Emilia. It was at once translated or imitated in all
languages, and became mixed up with the Amalie already existing in
Germany. Amalie of Mansfeld lived in 1493; Amalie of Wurtemburg, in
1550; and thence the name spread throughout Germany, whence the daughter
of George II. brought it to England, and though she wrote herself
Amelia, was called Princess Emily. Both forms are recognized in most
European countries, though often confounded together, and still worse,
with Amy and Emma.
┌────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ Italian. │ Slovak. │ Lusatian. │
│Emily │Émilie │Emilia │Emilija │Mila │
│Emilia │ │ │Milica │Milka │
└────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┘
SECTION III.—_Antonius._
Two gentes were called Antonius, a word that is not easy to trace. Some
explain it as inestimable, but the Triumvir himself chose to deduce it
from Antius, a son of Hercules. One of these clans was patrician, with
the cognomen Merenda; the other plebeian, without any third name, and it
was to the latter that the avenger of Cæsar and lover of Cleopatra
belonged—Mark Anthony, Marc Antoine, or Marcantonio, as modern tongues
have clipped his Marcus Antonius. The clipping had, however, been
already performed before the resuscitation of his evil fame in the
fifteenth century, for both his names had become separately saintly, and
therefore mutilated; Mark in the person of the Evangelist, Antonius in
that of the great hermit of the fourth century—the first to practise the
asceticism which resulted in the monastic system. Of Egyptian birth, his
devotions, his privations, and his conflicts with Satan, were equally
admired in the Eastern and Western Churches, and Antonios has been as
common among the Greeks as Antonius among the Latin Christians.
St. Antony was already very popular when St. Antonio of Padua further
increased the Italian devotion to the name, and Antonio has ever since
been exceedingly common in Italy and Spain. Classical pedantry made
Antonio Paleario turn it into Aonio in honour of the Aonian choir; but
whatever he chose to call himself he made glorious by his life and
death.
The Dutch seem to have needlessly added the silent _h_, and we probably
learnt it from them. The popularity of Antony has much diminished since
the Reformation in England, where perhaps it is less used than in any
other country.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ Provençal. │ Italian. │
│Antony │Antoine │Antoni │Antonio │
│Anthony │ │ │Tonio │
│Tony │ │ │Tonetto │
│Antholin │ │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ German. │ Frisian. │ Dutch. │ Swiss. │
│Antonius │Tönnes │Anthonius │Antoni │
│Tenton │Tonjes │Theunis │Toni │
│Tony │ │Toontje │ │
│ │ │Tool │ │
│ │ │Antoonije │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Russian. │ Polish. │ Slovak. │ Servian. │
│Antonij │Antoni │Anton │Antun │
│Anton │Antek │Tone │Antonija │
│ │Antos │Tonek │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Lusatian. │ Lett. │ Esthonian. │ Hungarian. │
│Anto │Antons │Tönnis │Antal │
│Hanto │Tennis │Tonnio │ │
│Tonisch │Tanne │ │ │
│Tonk │ │ │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
The feminine form, Antonia, is very common in Italy and Spain. The
Germans have it as Antonie, and this was the original name of Maria
Antonia, whom we have learnt to regard with pitying reverence as Marie
Antoinette, whence Toinette is a common French contraction.
┌────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┐
│ French. │ Italian. │ Swedish. │ Swiss. │Lithuanian. │
│Antoinette │Antonia │Antonia │Tonneli │Ande │
│Toinette │Antonietta │Antonetta │ │ │
│Toinon │Antonica │ │ │ │
└────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┘
The Aurelian gens was an old Sabine one, and probably derived its name
from _aurum_ (gold), the _oro_ of Italy and _or_ of France, though
others tried to take it from _Helios_ (the sun).
The old name, Aurelia, for a chrysalis was, like it, taken from the
glistening golden spots on the cases of some of the butterfly pupæ. The
Aurelian gens was old and noble, and an Aurelia was the mother of Julius
Cæsar.
SECTION IV.—_Cæcilius._
The most obvious origin of the nomen of the great Cæcilian gens would be
_cæcus_ (blind); in fact _Cæcilia_ means a slow-worm, as that reptile
was supposed to be blind; but the Cæcilii would by no means condescend
to the blind or small-eyed ancestor; and while some of them declared
that they were the sons of Cæcas, a companion of Æneas, others traced
their source to the founder of Præneste, the son of Vulcan, Cæculus, who
was found beside a hearth, and called from _caleo_ (to heat), the same
with καίω (to burn). There was a large gens of this name, famous and
honourable, though plebeian; but rather remarkably, the feminine form
has always been of more note than the masculine. As has been before
said, Caia Cæcilia is said to have been the real name of Tanaquil, the
model Roman matron, patroness of all other married dames; and who has
not heard of the tomb of Cæcilia Metella? But the love and honour of the
Roman ladies has passed on to another Cæcilia, a Christian of the days
of Alexander Severus, a wife, though vowed to virginity, and a martyr
singing hymns to the last. Her corpse was disinterred in a perfect state
two hundred years after, when it was enshrined in a church built over
her own house, which gives a title to a cardinal. A thousand years
subsequently, in 1599, her sarcophagus was again opened, and a statue
made exactly imitating the lovely, easy, and graceful position in which
the limbs remained.
This second visit to her remains was not, however, needed to establish
her popularity. She is as favourite a saint with the Roman matrons as is
St. Agnes with their daughters; and the fact of her having sung till her
last breath, established her connection with music. An instrument became
her distinguishing mark; and as this was generally a small organ, she
got the credit of having invented it, and became the patroness of music
and poetry, as St. Katharine of eloquence and literature, and St.
Barbara of architecture and art. Her day was celebrated by especial
musical performances; even in the eighteenth century an ode on St.
Cecilia’s day was a special occasion for the laudation of music; and
Dryden and Pope have fixed it in our minds, by their praises, not so
much of Cecilia, as of Timotheus and Orpheus. Already, in the eleventh
century, the musical saint had been given as a patroness; and the
contemporaries, Philip I. of France, and William I. of England, had each
a daughter Cécile.
From that time, Cécile in France was only less popular than the English
Cicely was with all ranks before the Reformation. Cicely Neville, the
Rose of Raby, afterwards Duchess of York, called “Proud Cis,” gave it
the chief note in England; but her princess grandchild, Cicely
Plantagenet, was a nun, and thus did not transmit it to any noble
family. After the Reformation, Cicely sank to the level of “stammel
waistcoat,” and was the milkmaid’s generic name. And so the gentlewomen
who had inherited Cicely from their grandmothers, were ashamed of it;
and it became Cecilia, until the present reaction against fine names
setting in, brought them back to Cecil and Cecily. In Ireland, the
Norman settlers introduced it, and it became Sighile.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ Italian. │ German. │
│Cecilia │Cécile │Cecilia │Cacilia │
│Cecily │ │ │ │
│Cicely │ │ │ │
│Cecil │ │ │ │
│Sisley │ │ │ │
│Sis │ │ │ │
│Sissot │ │ │ │
│Cis │ │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Hamburg. │ Russian. │ Polish. │ Illyrian. │
│Cile │Zezilija │Cecylia │Cecilia │
│ │ │ │Cecilija │
│ │ │ │Cila │
│ │ │ │Cilika │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
Sessylt, the British form of the masculine, lasted on long in Wales; and
the Italians kept up Cecilio. The English masculine Cecil is, however,
the surname of the families of Salisbury and Exeter, adopted as a
Christian name.
Moreover, Cæcilianus is supposed to be the origin of Kilian, one of the
many Keltic missionaries who spread the light of the Gospel on the
Continent, in the seventh century. St. Kilian is said to have been of
Irish birth. He preached in Germany, and was martyred at Wurtzburg; and
his name has never quite ceased to be used in the adjacent lands.[56]
-----
Footnote 56:
Facciolati; Smith; Valerius Maximus; Butler; Jameson; Michaelis; Pott.
SECTION V.—_Cœlius._
Cœles Vivenna, an Etruscan general, named the Cœlian hill, and the
Cœlian gens, whence the Italians have continued Celio and Celia. In
Venice the latter becomes Zilia and Ziliola, and is often to be found
belonging to noble ladies and the wives of doges. At Naples it was
Liliola, and it seems to be the true origin of Lilian and Lilias. The
Irish, too, have adopted it as Sile, or Sheelah, and Célie and Celia
have been occasionally adopted by both French and English, under some
misty notion of a connection with _cœlum_ (heaven). The prevalence of
Celia among the lower classes in English towns is partly owing to the
Irish Sheelah, partly to some confusion with Cecilia.
Cœlina was a virgin of Meaux, converted to a holy life by St. Geneviève.
She is the origin of the French Céline, who probably suggested the
English Selina, though, as we spell this last, we refer it to the Greek
Selene (the moon).
SECTION VI.—_Claudius._
Another personal defect, namely lameness, probably was the source of the
appellation of the Claudian gens, although by some the adjective
_claudus_ is rejected in favour of the old verb _clueo_, from the same
root as the Greek _kleo_, I hear, and _kluo_, I am called, or I am
famous, meaning to be called, _i. e._, famed. The Claudii were a family
of evil fame, with all the darker characteristics of the Roman, and they
figure in most of the tragedies of the city. They were especially proud
and stern, and never adopted any one into their family till the Emperor
Claudius adopted Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, who did not improve the
fame of the Claudian surname of Nero. But the reign of the Emperor
Claudius and the number of his freedmen, and new citizens, gave his
gentile name an extensive vogue, and from his conquests in Britain was
there much adopted. Besides, the Claudia who sends her greeting to St.
Timothy in St. Paul’s Epistle, is believed to have been the daughter of
a British prince and wife of Pudens, whose name is preserved in
inscriptions at Colchester.
The epigrams of Martial speak of a British lady of the same name, and
thus Claudia is marked by the concurrence of two very dissimilar
authorities as one of the first British Christians, while the hereditary
Welsh name of Gladys, the Cornish Gladuse, corroborate the Christian
reverence for Claudia. The masculine form, Gladus, is likewise used, and
in Scotland Glaud, recently softened into Claud, is not uncommon.
Claudie is very common in Provence. Louis XII., who gave both his
daughters male names, called the eldest Claude, and when she was the
wife of François I., la Reine Claude plums were so termed in her honour.
Her daughter carried Claude into the House of Lorraine, where it again
became masculine, and was frequent in the family of Guise. The painter
Gelée assumed the name of Claude de Lorraine in honour of his patrons,
and thus arose all the picturesque associations conveyed by the word
Claude.
Claudine is a favourite female Swiss form.[57]
┌──────────┬──────────┬──────────┬──────────┬──────────┬──────────┐
│ English. │ Scotch. │ French. │ Italian. │ Russian. │ Slovak. │
│Claud │Glaud │Claude │Claudio │Klavdij │Klavdi │
│ │ │Godon │ │ —————— │ │
│ │ │ │ │Illyrian. │ │
│ │ │ │ │Klavdij │ │
├──────────┴──────────┴──────────┴──────────┴──────────┴──────────┤
│ FEMININE. │
├─────────────────────┬─────────────────────┬─────────────────────┤
│ French. │ Welsh. │ Italian. │
│Claude │Gladys │Claudia │
│Claudine │ │ │
│Claudie │ │ │
└─────────────────────┴─────────────────────┴─────────────────────┘
-----
Footnote 57:
Facciolati; Smith; Rees, _Welsh Saints_.
SECTION VII.—_Cornelius, &c._
The far more honourably distinguished clan of Cornelius has no traceable
origin, unless from _cornu belli_ (a war horn), but this is a suggestion
of the least well-informed etymologists, and deserves no attention.
Scipio and Sylla were the most noted families of this gens, both
memorable for very dissimilar qualities; and Cornelia, the mother of the
Gracchi, inherited her name from her father, Publius Cornelius Scipio
Africanus I. The centurion of the _Italian_ band was probably a
hereditary Roman Cornelius; but earliest gentile Christian though he
were, he was not canonized, and the saint of the Western Church is a
martyred Pope Cornelius of the third century, whose relics were brought
to Compiègne by Charles the Bald, and placed in the Abbey of St.
Corneille, whence again a portion was carried to the Chapter of Rosnay,
in Flanders. This translation accounts for the popularity of both the
masculine and feminine forms in the Low Countries, in both kingdoms of
which they constantly are found, and where Cornelius gets shortened into
Kees, Knelis, Nöll, or Nelle, and Cornelia into Keetje, or Kee. As an
attempt to translate the native Keltic names beginning with _cu_, or
_con_, Cornelius, or Corney, is one of the most frequent Irish
designations. Nelleson is the Dutch surname, and Nelson is as likely to
be thus derived as from the northern Nielson. The Dantzic contraction is
Knelz, and the Illyrians call the feminine Drenka!
The great Fabian gens was old Latin, and was said by Pliny to be so
called from their having been the first to cultivate the bean, _faba_,
while others say the true form was _fodius_, or _fovius_, from their
having invented the digging of pits, _foveæ_, for wolves, a proceeding
rather in character with the wary patient disposition displayed by the
greatest man of the race, Quintus Fabius Maximus, whose agnomen of
Cunctator so well describes the policy that wasted away the forces of
the Carthaginian invader. Fabio has been occasionally a modern Italian
name; Fabiola is the diminutive of Fabia; Fabianus the adoptive
augmentation, whence the occasional French Fabien, and, more strange to
record, the Lithuanian Pobjus.
Fabricius is probably from _Faber_ (a workman), but there was no person
of note of the family except Caius Fabricius Luscinus, whose interview
with Pyrrhus and his elephant has caused him to be for ever remembered.
Fabrizio Colonna, however, seems to be his only namesake.
_Flavus_ and _Fulvus_ both mean shades of yellow, and there were both a
Flavian and a Fulvian gens, no doubt from the complexion of an early
ancestor, Flavius being probably a yellow-haired mountaineer with
northern blood; Fulvius a tawny Italian. It is in favour of this
supposition that Constantius, who brought the Flavian gens to the
imperial throne, had the agnomen Chlorus, also expressing a light
complexion. Out of compliment to his family the derivatives of Flavius
became common, as Flavianus, Flavia, and Flavilla. Flavio is now and
then found in modern Italy, and Flavia figured in the poetry and essays
of the last century. Fulvia, “the married woman,” as her rival Cleopatra
calls her, was the wife of Antony, and gave her name an evil fame by her
usage of the head of the murdered Cicero.[58]
The Herminian gens is believed to be of Sabine origin, and its first
syllable, that lordly _herr_, which we traced in the Greek Hera and
Hercules, and shall find again in the German Herman. There is little
doubt that the Roman Herminius and the brave Cheruscan chief, whom he
called Arminius, were in the same relationship as were the Emilii and
Amaler.
Herminius is the word that left to Italy the graceful legacy of Erminia,
which was in vogue, by inheritance, among Italian ladies when Tasso
bestowed it upon the Saracen damsel who was captured by Tancred, and
fascinated by the graces of her captor. Thence the French adopted it as
Hermine, and it has since been incorrectly supposed to be the Italian
for Hermione; indeed, Scott indiscriminately calls the mysterious lady
in George Heriot’s house Erminia or Hermione. The Welsh have obtained it
likewise, by inheritance, in the form of Ermin, which, however, they now
murder by translating it into Emma.
Hortensius (a gardener), from _hortus_, a garden, belonged to an
honourable old plebeian gens, and has been continued in Italy, both in
the masculine Ortensio, and feminine Ortensia, whence the French
obtained their Hortense, probably from Ortensia Mancini, the niece of
Mazarin.
The Horatian gens was a very old and noble one, memorable for the battle
of the Horatii, in the mythic times of early Rome. Some explain their
nomen by _hora_ (an hour), and make it mean the punctual, but this is a
triviality suggested by the sound, and the family themselves derived it
from the hero ancestor, Horatus, to whom an oak wood was dedicated. The
poet Horace bore it as an adoptive name, being of a freedman’s family.
Except for Orazio, in Italy, the name of Titian’s son, it slept till
Corneille’s tragedy of _Les Horaces_ brought it forward, and the
influence of Orazio made it Horatio in England. Thus the brother and son
of Sir Robert Walpole bore it, and the literary note of the younger
Horace Walpole made it fashionable. Then came our naval hero to give it
full glory, and that last mention of his daughter Horatia seems to have
brought the feminine forward of late years. The name is not popular
elsewhere, but is called by the Russians, Goratij, by the Slovaks,
Orac.[59]
-----
Footnote 58:
Smith; Butler; Facciolati; _Irish Society_.
SECTION VIII.—_Julius._
“At puer Ascanius, cui nunc cognomen Iulo,
Additur Ilus erat dum res stetit Ilia regno.”
“The boy Ascanius, now Iulus named—
Ilus he was while Ilium’s realm still stood,”
quoth Jupiter, in the first book of the _Æneid_, whence Virgil’s
commentators aver that Ascanius was at first called after Ilus, the
river that gave Troy the additional title of Ilium; but that during the
conquest of Italy he was termed Iulus, from ιουλος (the first down on
the chin), because he was still beardless when he killed Mezentius. The
father of gods and men continues:
“Nascetur pulchrâ Trojanus origine Cæsar,
(Imperium Oceano, famam qui terminet astris,)
Julius, a magno nomen Iulo.”
“A Trojan, by high lineage shall arise—
Cæsar (whose conquering fame the sea and stars shall bound),
Called Julius, from Iulus, mighty name.”
The Julian gens certainly exceeded Rome in antiquity, and one of their
distinguished families bore the cognomen of Iulus; but in spite of
Jupiter and Virgil, Livy makes Iulus, or Ascanius, not the Trojan son of
Æneas and the deserted Creusa, but the Latin son of Æneas and Lavinia,
and modern etymologists hazard the conjecture that Julus may be only a
diminutive of dius (divine), since the derivation of Jupiter from Deus
pater (father of gods) proves that such is the tendency of the language.
The family resided at Alba Longa till the destruction of the city by
Tullus Hostilius, and then came to Rome, where, though of very high
rank, they did not become distinguished till, once for all, their star
culminated in the great Caius Julius Cæsar, after whom the Julii were
only adoptive, though Julia was the favourite name of the emperors'
daughters, and their freedmen and newly-made citizens multiplied Julius
and Julianus throughout the empire.
Julius was hereditary throughout the empire, and lingered on long in
Wales, Wallachia, and Italy. It is the most obvious source for the
French Gilles; though, as has been already said, that word claims to be
the Greek Aigidios, and is like both the Keltic Giolla and Teutonic Gil.
The modern French Jules and English Julius were the produce of the
revived classical taste. The latter belonged to a knight whose family
name was Cæsar; and Clarendon tells a story of a serious alarm being
excited in a statesman by finding a note in his pocket with the ominous
words “Remember Julius Cæsar,” which left him in dread of the ides of
March, until he recollected that it was a friendly reminder of the
humble petition of Sir Julius Cæsar.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│English. │Welsh. │Breton. │French. │
│Julius │Iolo │Sulio │Jules │
│ │ │Iola │Julot │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Italian. │ Spanish and │ German. │ Wallachian. │
│ │ Portuguese. │ │ │
│ │ │ │ │
│Giulio │Julio │Julius │Julie │
│ │ │ │ —————————— │
│ │ │ │ Slavonic. │
│ │ │ │Julij │
The feminine shared the same fate, being hereditary in Italy, and
adopted as ornamental when classical names came into fashion in other
countries. The heroine of Rousseau’s _Nouvelle Heloïse_ made Julie very
common in France.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English, │ French and │ Italian. │ Russian. │
│ Spanish and │ German. │ │ │
│ Portuguese. │ │ │ │
│Julia │Julie │Giulia │Julija │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Polish. │ Lett. │ Hungarian. │ Slovak. │
│Julia │Jule │Juli │Iliska │
│Julka │ │Julis │ —————————— │
│ │ │Juliska │ Breton. │
│ │ │ │Sulia │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
As every family that in turn mounted the imperial throne was supposed to
be adopted into the Julian gens, all bore its appellation; and thus it
was that out of the huge stock of nomina that had accumulated in the
family of Constantius, the apostate bore by way of distinction the
adoptive form of Julianus.
As the adoptive form this was more widely diffused than Julius itself in
the Latinized provinces, and thus came to the Conde Julian, execrated by
Spain as the betrayer of his country into the hands of the Moors.
To redeem the name of Julian from the unpopularity to which two
apostates would seem to have condemned it, it belonged to no less than
ten saints, one of whom was the nucleus of a legend afloat in the world.
He was said to have been told by a hunted stag that he would be the
murderer of his own parents; and though he fled into another country to
avoid the possibility, he unconsciously fulfilled his destiny, by
slaying them in a fit of jealousy before he had recognized them when
they travelled after him. In penance, he spent the rest of his life in
ferrying distressed wayfarers over a river, and lodging them in his
dwelling; and he thus became the patron of travellers and a saint of
extreme popularity.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ Scotch. │ Welsh. │ Breton. │
│Julian │Jellon │Julion │Sulien │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ French. │ Spanish. │ Portuguese. │ Italian. │
│Julien │Julian │Juliao │Giuliano │
│ │ │ │ —————————— │
│ │ │ │ │
│ │ │ │Julian │
The feminine was already abroad in the Roman empire in the days of
martyrdom, when St. Juliana was beheaded at Nicomedia under Galerius;
and in the days of Gregory the Great, her relics were supposed to be at
Rome, but were afterwards divided between Brussels and Sablon. She is
said to have been especially honoured in the Low Countries, and must
likewise have been in high favour in Normandy, perhaps through the
Flemish Duchess Matilda. Julienne was in vogue among the Norman
families, and belonged to that illegitimate daughter of Henry I. whose
children he so terribly maltreated in revenge for their father’s
rebellion; and it long prevailed in England as Julyan: witness the
heraldic and hunting prioress, Dame Julyan Berners; and, indeed, it
became so common as Gillian, that Jill was the regular companion of
Jack, as still appears in nursery rhyme; though now this good old form
has almost entirely disappeared, except in the occasional un-English
form of Juliana. In Brittany, it has lasted on as Suliana, the proper
name of the nun-sister of Du Guesclin, who assisted his brave wife to
disconcert the night assault of their late prisoner.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ Breton. │ Italian. │
│Julyan │Julienne │Suliana │Giuliana │
│Juliana │ │ │ │
│Gillian │ │ │ │
│Gill │ │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Spanish, │ German. │ Slavonic. │ Hungarian. │
│ Portuguese, │ │ │ │
│and Wallachian.│ │ │ │
│Juliana │Juliana │Julijana │Julianja │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
Another feminine diminutive, Julitta, was current in the empire in the
time of persecution, and belongs in the calendar to a martyr at Cæsarea
in Cappadocia, as well as to her who has been already mentioned as the
mother of the infant St. Kyriakos, or Cyr, a babe of three years old.
She was undergoing torture herself when she beheld his brains dashed out
on the steps of the tribunal, and till her own death, she gave thanks
for his safety and constancy. Together the mother and child were
commemorated throughout the Church; and the church of St. Gillet records
her in Cornwall, as does that of Llanulid in Wales. Her name, however,
when there borne by her namesakes was corrupted into Elidan. Jolitte was
used among the French peasantry, and Giulietta in Italy, whence
Giulietta Capellet appears to have been a veritable lady, whose mournful
story told in Da Porta’s novel, was adopted by Shakespeare, and rendered
her name so much the property of poetry and romance, that subsequently
Juliet, Juliette, and Giulietta, have been far more often christened in
memory of the impassioned girl, than of the resolute Christian
mother.[60]
-----
Footnote 59:
Butler; Michaelis.
Footnote 60:
Smith; Facciolati; Michaelis; Pott; Butler; Arrowsmith, _Geography_;
Rees; Jameson; _Gesta Romanorum_.
SECTION IX.—_Lælius, &c._
Lælius, an unexplained gentile name, left to the Italians, Lelio, which
was borne by one of the heresiarchs Socini; also Lelia, in French Lélie,
and sometimes confused with the names from Cœlius.
It was said that the city of Pompeii was so called from _pompa_, the
splendour or pomp with which Hercules founded it. However this might be,
it is likely that from it came the nomen of the Pompeian gens, which did
not appear in Rome till a late period, and which its enemies declared
was founded by Aulus Pompeius, a flute-player. The gallant Cnæus
Pompeius won for himself the surname of Magnus, and made sufficient
impression on the world to have his name adapted to modern pronunciation
by the Pompée of the French, and the English Pompey. When a little negro
boy was the favourite appendage of fine ladies of the early seventeenth
century, the habit of calling slaves by classical titles, made Pompey
the usual designation of these poor little fellows; from whom it
descended to little dogs, and though now out of fashion, even for them,
it has obtained a set of associations that is likely to prevent that
fine old Roman Pompey, surnamed the big, from obtaining any future
namesakes, except in Italy, where Pompeio has always flourished,
probably from hereditary associations.
On Roman authority, the Porcii were the breeders of _porcus_ (a pig),
according to the homely, rural, and agricultural designations of old
Latinity, which to modern ears have so dignified a sound. It was the
clan of the two Catones, but the masculine has not prevailed; though
that “woman well reputed, Cato’s daughter” Porcia, or, as the Italians
spelt it, Porzia, caused her name to be handed on in her native land,
where Shakespeare took it, not only for her, but for his other heroine—
“Nothing undervalued
To Cato’s daughter, Brutus' Portia;”
from whom Portia, as after his example we make it, has become an
exceptional fancy name. The Romans thought no scorn of the title of the
unclean beast, and three families in other clans likewise bore its name,
Verres, Scrofa, and Aper; the last, it is just possible, being the
origin of the Sir Bors of the Round Table; in Welsh, Baez.
The origin of Sulpicius is not known. It may possibly be connected with
the obsolete word that named Sulla, from a red spotted visage; but this
is uncertain. There were three saints of the name: Severus Sulpicius, a
friend of St. Martin; Sulpicius (called the severe), Bishop of Bourges,
in the sixth century; and Sulpicius (called the gentle), also Bishop of
Bourges, in the seventh. It is an arm of this last of the three that has
led to the consecration of the celebrated church at Paris, in the name
of St. Sulpice. In Germany, it is Sulpiz.
Terenus (soft or tender) was the origin given by the Romans to the
Terentian gens, which produced Terentia, wife of Cicero, called in
affection Terentilla, and likewise gave birth to the comic poet, Publius
Terentius Afer, known to us as Terence, and to the Germans as Terenz. As
a supposed rendering of Turlough, Terence is a very favourite name in
Ireland, and is there called Terry, but it prevails nowhere else.
The meaning of the name of Sergius is not known, but the Sergian gens
was very ancient, and believed itself to spring from the Trojans. From
them Cataline descended, and from another branch the deputy Sergius
Paullus, from whom some suppose St. Paul to have taken his name.
One saint called Sergius was martyred at the city of Rasapha, in Syria;
and was honoured by the change of the name of the place to Sergiopolis,
in Justinian’s time. His relics are at Rome and at Prague; but a far
greater favourite as a namesake is the Russian Ssergie, who founded a
monastery near Moscow, and died there in 1292, in the highest esteem for
sanctity, so that his monastery is a place of devotional pilgrimage, and
Ssergij or Sserezka are favourite names in Russia.[61]
-----
Footnote 61:
Butler; Michaelis; Smith; Facciolati; Courson, _Peuples Bretons_;
Pott; Valerius Maximus.
SECTION X.—_Valerius._
Deep among the roots of Indo-European tongues lies the source of our
adverb _well_, the German _wohl_, Saxon _wel_, Gothic _waila_, an
evidently close connection of the Latin verb _valeo_ (to be well); and
which the Keltic _gwall_ links again with the Greek καλός (well, or
beautiful), related to the Sanscrit _kalya_ (healthy, able, or well).
_Valeo_ was both to be sound and to be worth, and to the old Roman a
sound man was necessarily _valiant_, worth something in the battle; and
_valor_, which to them and the Italians is still value, is to the
chivalrous French and English _valour_.
This word of well-being named the old Sabine Valerian gens, one of the
most noble and oldest in Rome, who had a little throne to themselves in
the Circus, and were allowed to bury their dead within the walls of the
city. The simple masculine form of the name had but two saints, and they
were too obscure to be much followed, though Valère and Valerot as
surnames have risen from it in France. The feminine of it was in honour
at Rome for the sake of Valeria, the public-spirited lady who took the
lead in persuading the mother of Coriolanus to intercede with her son to
lay his vengeance aside and spare his mother-city; Valérie is a
favourite French name, but the compounds of this word have had far
greater note. Valerianus, the adoptive name, was borne by Publius
Sicinius Valerianus, that unhappy persecuting emperor who ended his
career as a stepping-stone to Shahpoor. Saint Valerianus was Bishop of
Auxerre, and though properly Valérien in French, Valerian in English,
was probably the patron of the Waleran, or Galeran, occurring in the
middle ages, chiefly among the Luxembourgs, Counts of St. Pol.
Valentinianus has been continued by the Welsh in the form of Balawn.
Valentinus was a Roman priest, who is said to have endeavoured to give a
Christian signification to the old custom of drawing lots in honour of
Juno Februata, and thus fixed his own name and festival to the curious
fashion prevailing all over England and France, of either the choice of
a “true Valentine,” or of receiving as such the first person of the
opposite sex encountered on that morning.
These customs increased the popularity of Valentine and Valentina, the
latter being more probably used as the feminine of the former, than as
the name of an obscure martyr who died under Diocletian.
Valentina Visconti was the wife of the Duke of Orleans, brother of
Charles VI. of France, and as one of the bright lights in a corrupt
court, merited that her name should have become more permanent than it
has been.
The Slavonic contractions of the masculine are curious. Lower Lusatia
makes it Batyn, Tyno, Bal, and Balk; Lithuanian, Wallinsch; and Hungary,
Balint.[62]
It is not easy to separate the idea of Virginia from _virgo_ (a virgin),
especially since Sir Walter Raleigh gave that name to his American
colony in honour of the Virgin Queen, and it was probably under this
impression that Virginie was made by Bernardin de St. Pierre, the
heroine of his tropical Arcadian romance, which reigned supreme over
French, English, and German imaginations of a certain calibre, and
rendered Virginie triumphant in France, and a name of sentiment in
England. Nay, had the true Virginia lived and died a couple of centuries
earlier, her story would have passed for a myth expressed in her
appellation; but the fact is, that she derived it from a good old
plebeian gens, who formerly spelt themselves Verginius, thus connecting
themselves with _ver_ (the spring), Persian _behar_, Eolic Βεαρ, the old
Greek Γέαρ, and with all its kindred of _virga_ (a rod, or green bough),
_vireo_ (to flourish), _viridis_ (green); and again with the more remote
descendants of these words in modern Europe—_vert_, _verdure_, _il
vero_, &c. Virginio was a name in the Orsini family, but otherwise it
has not been kept up.
-----
Footnote 62:
Liddell and Scott; Pott; Facciolati; Smith; Arnold; Jones, _Welsh
Sketches_; Brand, _Popular Antiquities_; Michaelis.
CHAPTER IV.
COGNOMINA.
SECTION I.
Roman cognomina were originally neither more nor less than nick-names,
sometimes far from complimentary, but for the sake of convenience, or of
honourable association, continued in the family.
Sometimes they were adjectives, such as Asper (the rough), Cæcus (the
blind), Brutus (the stupid). Sometimes they were suggested by the
appearance, such as Naso (the nose), or Scævola (the left-handed), the
soubriquet earned by that Mutius who seared his right hand in the fire
to prove to Porsenna what Roman constancy was. Sura (the calf of the
leg), Sulla (the red-pimpled), Barbatus (the bearded), Dentatus (the
toothed), Balbus (the stammerer), and even Bibulus and Bibacula (the
drunkard).
Sometimes, like some of the gentle nomina previously mentioned, they
came from animal or vegetable, connected in some way with the ancestor,
either by augury, chase, or culture, such as Corvinus, from _corvus_ (a
raven), Buteo (a buzzard), Lentulus (a bean), Piso, from _pisum_ (a
pea), Cicero (a vetch), Cæpio, from _cæpe_ (an onion). Others were from
the birthplace of the forefather, such as Hadrianus, Albinus; others
were the ablative case of the name of the tribe to which the gens
belonged, as Romilia, or Palatina. Sometimes a _cognomen secundus_, or
agnomen, was superadded in the case of distinguished personages, in
memory of their services, such as Coriolanus, Capitolinus, Africanus,
Asiaticus. The latest example of an agnomen of victory was
Peloponnesiacus, which was conferred in 1688 by the Venetian Republic
upon Francesco Morosini, the conqueror of the Morea.
Whatever the cognomen,—fortuitous, derisive, or honourable,—it remained
attached for ever to the family, and served to designate that section of
the gens, but did not naturally descend to females; though in the latter
and more irregular periods, when the gentes were so extensive that the
feminine was no distinction, they were usually assumed by the daughters
of the house, and altered to suit their construction.
_Ater_, black, was the source of the name of Adria in Picenum, whence
was called Adriatic Sea. A family of Ælii, migrating through Spain, were
known by the cognomen of Adrianus, or Hadrianus, both place and name
being usually spelt with the aspirate. The Emperor Publius Ælius
Hadrianus built our famous northern wall, still called after him, as is
the city of Adrianople; but he failed in imposing his gentile name of
Ælia upon Jerusalem. The Italian surname of Adriani is probably derived
from the original city. An Adrianus was the first abbot of St.
Augustin’s, Canterbury, and another was first bishop of Aberdeen; but
the most popular St. Adrianus was an officer in the imperial army who
was converted by the sight of the martyrdoms under Galerius, and was
martyred himself at Nicomedia, whence his relics were taken to
Constantinople and to Rome, and thence again to Flanders, where they
were transported from one abbey to another, and supposed to work such
miracles that Adrianus has ever since been a universal name in the Low
Countries, where it gets contracted into Arje, or Janus, while the more
northerly nations call it, in common use, Arrian, or Arne. The French
make it Adrien, and have given it the feminine Adrienne; and the
Italians have not unfrequently Adriano and Adriana. In Russia it is
Andreïän.
Aquila (an eagle) was a cognomen in several Roman families, either from
augury or from the national feature. It reminds us of the Greek _Aias_,
and of many of the Teuton names beginning with _ar_.
Aquila was a companion of St. Paul; and another Aquila, under Hadrian,
wavered long between Judaism and Christianity, and translated the Old
Testament into Greek; but Aquila has not been followed save here and
there in England and America as a Scripture name.
Agrippa was not well understood by the Romans themselves, though they
settled that it meant one born with his feet foremost. The explanation
we quote from Professor Aufrecht: “He (Gellius) ascribes to that
preposterous birth all the calamities which befell the world through
Agrippa’s ill-starred descendants. ‘To fall on one’s feet’ was therefore
no auspicious event in Italy. But how can we possibly reconcile that
signification with the etymology? I think the legs peep out of the _pp_,
and that _ppa_ is probably a contraction of _peda_. In Greek Ἀκρόπους
means only ‘the beginning or tip of the foot;’ but it might as well have
signified an individual, who, on entering this shaky world of ours,
philosophically chose to take a firm ‘stand-point,’ rather than begin by
a foolish act, and plunge into it headlong.” It was at first a prænomen,
but became a cognomen in the clan of Menenius and of many others. Marcus
Vipsanius Agrippa was the friend and son-in-law of Augustus. From him
the Herods called themselves Agrippa; and his daughter was the first of
those ladies named Agrippina, whose tragic stories mark the early years
of the Roman empire. Cornelius Agrippa was probably assumed by the
learned man of Cologne, who has connected it in the popular mind with
alchemy and necromancy. St. Agrippina was martyred at Rome under
Valerian, and her remains being transferred to Girgenti in Sicily, she
became known to the Greeks. Her name is used in Russia in the softened
form of Agrafina, and the rude contraction Gruscha or Grunja. Some
suggest that Agrippa may be the Greek ἀργίπους (swift-footed).
The city of Alba Longa doubtless took its first name from that universal
word that named the Alps, the Elbe, Elves, Albion, and Albin from their
whiteness, and left _albus_ still the adjective in Rome. Legend declared
that the city was called from the white sow with fifty piglings, who
directed Æneas to its site; but, however this might be, it was the
source of the family of Albinus in the Postumian gens, whence, slightly
altered, came the name of the soldier Albanus, the British martyr, whose
death led to the change from Verulamium to St. Albans, and from whom we
take the English Christian name of Alban. Another St. Albanus, or Abban,
was an Irish bishop, consecrated by St. Patrick, and probably the source
of the Scottish Christian name Albany, which was often used as a
rendering of the Keltic Finn, also meaning white. Another Albanus, or
Albinus, of a British family, established in Armorica, was a monastic
saint and bishop of Angers, naming the family of St. Aubin; and perhaps
William de Albini, the ancestor of the Howards. The modern English
feminine Albina, or Albinia, must have been formed as a name of romance
from some of these.
SECTION II.—_Augustus._
Augustus is the agnomen conferred by the senate upon the second Cæsar,
meaning reverend or set apart, and was selected as hedging him with
majesty, though not offending the citizens with the word king. It is
closely related to _avigur_ or _augur_, which the Romans said was “_ob
avium garritus_” because the augur divined by the chatter of birds;
while others make it come from _augeo_ (to increase); but it is not
impossible that it may be related to the Teuton _æge_ (awe). At Rome,
after Diocletian, the Augustus was always the reigning emperor, the
Augusta was his wife; and no one presumed to take the name till the
unfortunate Romulus Augustus, called Augustulus in contempt, who ended
both the independence of Rome and the empire with the names of their
founders.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ German. │ Lett. │
│Augustus │Auguste │August │Aujusts │
│Gussy │ │ │Justs │
│ │ │ ———————— │ ———————— │
│ │ │ Russian. │ Hungarian. │
│ │ │Avgust │Agoston │
├───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┤
│ FEMININE. │
├───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┤
│ English. │ German │ Italian. │ Lusatian. │
│Augusta │Auguste │Augusta │Avgusta │
│Gussie │Asta │ │Gusta │
│ │Guste │ │Gustylka │
│ │Gustel │ │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
The Welsh formed the name of Awst from Augustus; but it does not seem to
have been elsewhere used, except as an epithet which the flattering
chroniclers bestowed upon Philippe III. of France, until about the
middle of the sixteenth century, a fancy seized the small German princes
of christening their children by this imperial title. August of Anhalt
Plotzgau appears in 1575—seven years earlier, August of Braunsweig
Luneburg. Then August of Wolfenbüttel names his daughter Anne Augusta;
and we all recollect the Elector Johann August of Saxony, memorable as
the prisoner of Charles V. Thenceforth these names flourished in
Germany, and took up their abode in England with the Hanoverian race.
The diminutive had, however, been adopted under the Roman empire in
later times, and was borne by the great Father Augustinus of Hippo, and
his namesake, the missionary of the Saxons. This was chosen by a Danish
bishop as a Latinization of his proper name of Eystein (island stone);
and it has always been somewhat popular, probably owing to the order of
Augustin or Austin Friars, instituted in honour of the first St.
Augustin, and once the greatest sheep owners in England. S
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ German. │ Spanish. │
│Augustin │Augustin │Augustin │Augustino │
│Austin │ │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Portuguese. │ Italian. │ Polish. │ │
│Agostinho │Aogostino │Agostin │ │
├───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┤
│ FEMININE. │
├───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┤
│ Irish. │ French. │ German. │ Italian. │
│Augusteen │Augustine │Augustine │Agostina │
│ │ │Stine │ ————————— │
│ │ │ │ Portuguese. │
│ │ │ │Agostinha │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
SECTION III.—_Blasius._
Some consider Blasius to be a mere contraction of the Greek _basilios_
(royal); but long before that name prevailed, at least among historical
personages, we hear of Blatius, Blattius, or Blasius, as a man of
Salapia, in Apulia, whose name seems to have signified a babbler.
Nevertheless, Blasio was a surname in the Cornelian gens, and Blasius
was Bishop of Sebaste, in Nicomedia, where he was martyred in 316. In
the time of the Crusades, his relics were imported from the East, he
became patron of the republic of Ragusa; and from a tradition that he
had been combed to death with iron combs, such an implement was his
mark, and he was the favourite saint of the English wool-staplers. The
only vestige of this as a name in England is, however, in Goldsmith’s
_Madam Blase_; but in Spanish Blas is used, as no reader of _Gil Blas_
can forget. Blasius is found in Bavaria; and Plase, Blase, Bleisig, and
Bläsing, are surnames thence derived.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ Spanish. │ Portuguese. │
│Blaze │Blaise │Blas │Braz │
│Blase │Blaisot │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│Italian. │ German. │ Dutch. │ Russian. │
│Biagio │Blasius │Blaas │Vlassij │
│Biasio │Blasi │ │Vlass │
│Baccio │Blasol │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Servian. │ Illyrian. │ Hungarian. │ │
│Blazej │Blasko │Balás │ │
│ │Vlaho │ │ │
│ │Bearck │ │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
The Germans have even the feminine Blasia.[63]
-----
Footnote 63:
Smith; Brand; Michaelis.
SECTION IV.—_Cæsar, &c._
No cognomen has ever been so much used as that of Cæsar, which first
began in the Julian gens, nearly two centuries before the time of the
great Dictator. Some derived it, like Cæso, from _cædo_ (to cut); others
said that the eyes of the first owner of it were unusually blue
(_cæsius_), or that his hair (_cæsaries_) was wonderfully profuse; and a
fourth explanation declared that it was the Moorish word for an
elephant, which one of the Julii had slain with his own hand in Africa.
However this might be, adoption into the family of Cæsar was the means
of obtaining that accumulation of magisterial offices that placed the
successor of Julius at the head of affairs, civil and military; and
whilst habits of republican equality were still retained by the
emperors, Cæsar was merely used as their designation. After the first
twelve, adoption could no longer be strained into any fiction of the
continuance of the Julian clan, and Cæsar became more properly a title.
After the new arrangement of the empire under Diocletian, Augustus was
the title of the emperor who had become an actual monarch, and Cæsar of
the heir to the empire with considerable delegated power. In
consequence, when Charlemagne relieved Rome from the attacks of the
Lombards, the pope, as the representative of the S.P.Q.R., created him
Cæsar, and the title has been carried on among his German
representatives as Kaiser, though no elected “King of the Romans” might
assume this sacred title until he had been crowned by the pope’s own
hand. As a Christian name it has seldom occurred. Cesare Borgia was
named, like many Italians of his date, in the classical style, but no
one wished to inherit it from him, and it is seldom found except in
France as Cesar; though in some counties of England the peasantry give
it in baptism, having taken it, perhaps, from the surname Cæsar. The
only feminine I can find is Cesarina Grimaldi, in 1585. Kaiser occurs in
the same manner in Germany.
Camilla was a warlike Volscian nymph, dedicated to the service of Diana,
and celebrated in the _Æneid_. Her name is said to have been Casmilla,
and to have been given as meaning that she was a votaress of Diana. It
is believed to be an Etruscan word, and the youth of both sexes were
termed Camilli and Camillæ when employed in any solemn office; and thus
Camillus became a name in the gens of Furius, and was noted in him who
saved the capitol. Nymphs always had an attraction for the French, and a
Camille figures in Florian’s romance of _Numa Pompilius_, while Camilla
was adopted in the rage for classical names which actuated the English
after the Reformation, and in some few families it has been handed on to
the present day. Camillo was revived with classical names in Italy; and
at the time of the Revolution, Camille was very fashionable in France.
Camilla is still very common in the Abruzzi, its old classic ground.
Clemens came in so late that it hardly deserves to be called a cognomen,
but we find it as the third name of Titus Flavius Clemens, Vespasian’s
nephew, who was put to death by Domitian, on a charge of atheism, like
others who went over to the Jewish superstition, _i. e._ to
Christianity. A very early church at Rome is dedicated to him, and he is
thought by some to be the same as the Clemens mentioned by St. Paul
(Phil. iv. 3), author of two epistles, and first of nine bishops of Rome
so called. Another great Father, St. Clemens of Alexandria, was likewise
of the same name; besides a martyr of Ancyra, all called from the
adjective _clemens_, which has much the same meaning as its derivative
clement in all modern tongues. Its origin is uncertain: some saying it
meant of clear mind, others of inclining mind; but the substantive
Clementia was a personified idea, worshipped at Rome as a goddess,
bearing a cup in one hand and a lance in the other. “Your Clemency”
became a title of the emperors, and we find the orator Tertullus even
addressing it to Felix. It is possible that it was thus that Clemens
first passed to the emperor’s kinsman. There is a pretty legend that St.
Clement was martyred by being beheaded, and thrown into the sea, where a
shrine (I think of coral) was formed round his head, and he thus became
the patron of sailors, above all, of Danes and Dutchmen. In Germany
Clemens has preserved its Latin form, but cuts down into Klenim, Mente,
Menz, Mentzel; as in Denmark into Klemet and Mens. The English surname,
Mence, may perhaps be from this source; and Clement and Clementi are
French and Italian surnames, as Clement and Clemente are the Christian
ones. Italy probably first modernized the abstract goddess into
Clemenza, whence France took up Clémence, while Germany invented
Clementine for the feminine, whence our Clementina, rendered popular for
a time in honour of the Italian lady in _Sir C. Grandison_. The Russians
have Kliment, the Hungarians Kelemen, and the Esthonians contract the
name into Lemet. It must have been from the Dutch connections of eastern
England, that Clement and Clemency were both at one time frequent.[64]
-----
Footnote 64:
Smith; Cave; Marryat, _Jutland_; Michaelis.
SECTION V.—_Constantius._
Constantius arose likewise as late as any cognomen deserving to be
reckoned. It comes from _constans_ (constant), a word meaning holding
together firmly, and compounded of _con_ (together), and _stans_, the
participle of the verb _sto_ (I am, or I stand).
So late, indeed, did Constantius become prominent in history in the
person of Flavius Valerius Constantius, that he does not even seem to
have had a prænomen, and his sons and grandsons varied the cognomen by
way of distinction into Constans and Constantinus. Of these the first
Christian emperor rendered the diminutive glorious, and though it has
not been much copied in the West, Κονστάντινος is one of the very few
Latin names that have been Latinized among the Greeks, as well it might
be, in memory of the emperor who transported the seat of empire to a
Greek city, and changed its appellation from Byzantium to
Constantinopolis.
Constantius Chlorus was very popular in Britain, and—as has been said
before—the belief that his wife Helena was of British birth, held the
island firm in its allegiance till the death of the last emperor who
claimed kindred with him. And then Constantius and Constantinus were
names assumed by the rebels who first began to break the bonds of union
with the empire, as if the sound were sure to win British hearts.
Indeed, Cystenian has never entirely disappeared from the Welsh
nomenclature, nor Kusteninn from Brittany.
Perhaps one charm of the name to a Kelt was its first syllable, which
resembles the _con_ or _cu_ (wisdom or _hound_), which was one of their
favourite beginnings. The Constantines of Hector Boece’s line of
Scottish kings are ornamental Congals and Conchobars; and, in like
manner, Ireland has turned many a Connal and Connor into Constantine in
more modern times, accounting for the prevalence of the trisyllabled
Roman as a surname.
In Russia Konstantin has been carried on, especially since the days of
Catharine II., as a witness to the continuation of the Byzantine empire
in that of Muscovy; and here and in the other Slavonian countries alone
does it really prevail as a popular name, frequent enough for vernacular
contractions, such as Kostja, Kosto, Kostadin.
The feminine of both names was used by the daughters of the imperial
family, and Constantia continued among the Provençal ladies, so as to be
brought to the throne of France by the termagant Constance of Provence,
wife to that meek sovereign, Robert the Pious. She is said to have
insisted on his composing a Latin hymn in her honour, when he, not being
in a mood for flattery, began to sing “_O constantia martyrum_” which
she took as a personal compliment. Constance has ever since been a royal
and noble name in France, but the unfortunate Breton duchess, mother of
Arthur, probably received it as a supposed feminine to Conan, the name
of her father. Italy made it Gostanza, and the Sicilian mother of
Frederick II. transmitted it to Germany as Constanz, or Stanze. Her
great granddaughter, the heiress of Manfred’s wrongs, took it to Spain
as Constanza, the traces of which we see in the Custance, by which
Chaucer calls that excellent daughter of Pedro the Cruel, who was the
wife of John of Gaunt. After her time it was common in England, and it
is startling to find a real Constance de Beverley in disgrace in the
reign of Henry VIII., not, however, for forging Marmion’s letters, but
for the much more excusable misdemeanour of attending the Marchioness of
Exeter in a stolen visit to the Nun of Kent. In the times immediately
after the Reformation, Constance died away, then came forth as
Constantia in the Minerva press, and at present reigns among the
favourite fancy names.
Kostancia, Kotka, Stanca are used in the Slavonian countries, but far
less commonly than the masculine Constantine, which is almost entirely
disregarded by the Teuton side of Europe.
SECTION VI.—_Crispus, &c._
Crispus (curled, or wrinkled), the same word which has produced our
crisp; and the French _crépé_ (applied to hair), became a cognomen, and
in late times produced Crispinus and Crispinianus, two brothers who
accompanied St. Quentin when he preached the Gospel in France. They
settled at Soissons, and there, while pursuing their mission, supported
themselves by making shoes until their martyrdom, A.D. 287. Shoemakers,
of course, adopted them as their patrons, and theirs was a universal
holiday.
“Oh! that we now had here
But one ten thousand of those men in England
Who do no work to-day.”
That day being the 25th of October, that of the battle of Agincourt, of
which King Henry augurs—
“And Crispin, Crispian, shall ne’er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered.”
Crispin has never been a frequent Christian name, but it has become a
surname with us, and the French have Crêpin, Crêpet, and the Italians
Crispino. _Crispin_ is still the French for a shoemaker’s last. Crêpin
means a little stool which the Irish call a creepeen.
Drusus, a cognomen in the Livian gens, was only accounted for among the
Romans by a story that its first owner took it from having killed a
chieftain in Gaul named Drausus. This word is explained by comparative
philologists as firm or rigid in Keltic, _Drud_, strong, in Welsh,
_droth_ in Erse. Either the Gaul was the real cause of the surname, or
it is an instance of the Keltic element in old Italian. It is hardly
worthy of notice, except that, in imitation of the sister and daughter
of his patron Caligula, Herod Agrippa called his daughter by the
feminine diminutive Drusilla, by which she appears by the side of Felix,
hearing but little regarding the discourse of St. Paul.
The name of Felix himself was an agnomen frequently assumed by
peculiarly fortunate individuals. It meant happy, and has given rise to
all manner of words of good augury in the modern languages. No less than
eleven saints so called are numbered in the Roman calendar, and yet it
has never been a popular name, though sometimes occurring in Spain and
France in the original form, and as Felice in Italy. The feminines,
Felicia and Félise, in England and France, have been constructed from
it, and Felicia was Queen of Navarre in 1067; but the abstract idea,
Felicitas (happiness), once worshipped as a goddess at Rome, named the
slave-martyr of Carthage, who suffered with St. Perpetua. There was
another Felicitas who, with her seven sons, under Antoninus Pius,
presented a Christian parallel to the mother in the Maccabees. Felicità
in Italy, and Félicité in France, are the votaries of one or others of
these. Felix is adopted in Ireland as a substitute for Feidlim or Phelim
(ever good).
Faustus and Faustina are formed exactly in the same spirit of good
augury, and Fausto is sometimes an Italian name.[65]
-----
Footnote 65:
Facciolati; Diefenbach; Smith; Butler; Anderson: _Irish Society_;
Grimm.
SECTION VII.—_Galerius, &c._
The Teutonic _helm_ (protection), turned in the Latin pronunciation into
_galea_ (helmet), named the persecuting Emperor Galerius, and continued
in Lombardy till it formed that of Galeazzo, which became notable among
the Visconti of Milan, and was called by the French Galeas. Old Camden
augured that the first Galearono was so called from all the cocks in
Milan crowing at the time of his birth, and certainly, unless the
frequent Roman cognomen Gallus indicates a partly Gallic extraction, it
would either be one of the farming names, and show that the owner was
notable for his poultry, or be a differently spelt variety from Galea or
helmet. Galileo, Galilei, and Galeotti are all Italian continuations of
this old Latin name—that is, if the great astronomer’s name be not in
honour of Galilee. It is also possible that it may be connected with the
Keltic _Gal_ (courage, or a stranger), which occurs again as the Irish
saint who founded an abbey in Switzerland; but more of this in Keltic
regions of names.
Niebuhr considers the Prisci to have been the original Latin tribe,
whose name acquired its sense of age from their antiquity, just as
Gothic was at one time a French and English synonym for antiquated.
Priscus was the Porcian cognomen, probably denoting the descent of the
gens from the Prisci; and he whom we are accustomed to call Cato the
elder, as a translation of Marcus Porcius Priscus Cato, was the first to
add the second cognomen, the meaning of which is wary, from Catus,
probably a contraction from Cautus (cautious). Priscus and Prisca are
both found in the Roman martyrology; but to us the most interesting
person thus named is Priscilla, the fellow-worker of St. Paul, in honour
of whom this diminutive has had some prevalence in England, though
somewhat of a puritan kind.
Sabinus, of course indicating a Sabine family, occurs among the Flavii,
and many other gentes. Sabina was the second name of that Poppæa, Nero’s
wife, whose extravagances have become a proverb, who bathed in asses'
milk, and shod her mules with gold. As a frequent cognomen, this was the
name of many other women, and specially of a widow who was converted by
her maid, Seraphia, to the Christian faith, and was martyred in
Hadrian’s persecution. There is a church at Rome dedicated to her, which
was formerly the first “Lent station,” a fact which commended her to the
notice of the Germans, and has made Sabine frequent among them. Sabina
is often found among the peasantry about Gloucester, but it is possible
that this may be a corruption of Sabrina (the Severn).
Serenus (serene, or good-tempered) was an old cognomen, and two saints
were so called. Serena was the niece of Theodosius, and wife of
Stilicho. Her appellation was chosen by Hayley for the heroine of his
_Triumphs of Temper_; but it is more often imaginary than real. In
Norway, however, it has been revived as an ornamental form of Siri, the
contraction of Sigrid.
Scipio means nothing but a staff; but it is a highly honourable title,
since it was given to one of the Cornelii, who served as the staff of
his old blind father; and the same filial piety distinguished the great
Africanus when, at seventeen, he saved the life of his father in the
battle of the Ticinus. Distinguished as is the cognomen it has not often
been followed, though Scipione has occasionally occurred in Italy, and
if Gil Blas may be trusted, in Spain.
Traherne, an old Welsh name, is formed from Trajanus, which belonged to
others besides the emperor, whose noble qualities had made such an
impression on the Italian mind as to have led to the remarkable
tradition that St. Gregory the Great had obtained permission to recall
him from the grave, and convert him to the true faith.
Torques (a neck-chain) gave the cognomen Torquatus to the fierce Lucius
Manlius, who, having slain a gigantic Gaul in single combat, took the
gold chain from about his neck, and hung it on his own; and who
afterwards put his son, Titus Manlius Torquatus, to death for the breach
of discipline in accepting a like challenge from a Tusculan noble.
Torquato Tasso is the sole modern instance of the recurrence of the
surname of this “Roman Father,” the northern Torquil being from an
entirely different source, _i.e._ Thorgils (Thor’s pledge).[66]
-----
Footnote 66:
Pott; Michaelis; Camden; Diefenbach; _Philological Society_; Niebuhr;
Butler; Dante; Arnold.
SECTION VIII.—_Paullus and Magnus [small and large]._
The precedence must be given to the _less_ on account of its far greater
dignity.
There can be no doubt that the cognomen Paullus, or Paulus, the
contraction of Pauxillus, originated with one of the Æmilian gens, who
was small in stature. It was common in other gentes, though chiefly
distinguished among the Æmilii, and was most probably the name by which
“Saul of Tarsus” would have been enrolled as a citizen, either from its
resemblance to his Jewish name, or from the person who had conferred
liberty upon his parents.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ Italian. │ Portuguese. │
│Pawl │Pol │Paolo │Paulo │
│Paul │Paul │ │ │
│ │Paulot │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Spanish. │ Wallachian. │ German. │ Russian. │
│Pablo │Pawel │Paul │Pavel │
│ │ │ ——————— │Pavlenka │
│ │ │ Dutch. │Pavluscha │
│ │ │Paultje │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Illyrian. │ Lett. │ Hungarian. │ Lapp. │
│Pavl │Pavils │Pal │Pava │
│Pavle │ │Palko │Pavek │
│Pavo │ │ │ │
├───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┤
│ FEMININE. │
├───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┤
│ Italian. │ Spanish. │ Russian. │ Illyrian. │
│Paola │Pala │Paola │Pava │
├───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┤
│ DIMINUTIVE. │
├───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┤
│ Welsh. │ Italian. │ Spanish. │ Slavonic. │
│Peulan │Paolino │Paulino │Pavlin │
├───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┤
│ FEMININE. │
├───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┤
│ English. │ French. │ Italian. │ German. │
│Paulina │Pauline │Paolina │Pauline │
│ │Paulette │Paoletta │ ——————— │
│ │ │ │ Slavonic. │
│ │ │ │Pavlina │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
Some, however, imagine that he assumed it out of compliment to the
deputy, Sergius Paulus; others, that it was an allusion to his
“weakness” of “bodily presence,” or that he took it in his humility,
meaning that he was “less than the least of the Apostles.” Be that as it
may, he has given it an honour entirely outshining that which is won
from the Æmilii, and has spread Paul throughout Europe. The strong
presumption that St. Paul preached the Gospel in Spain has rendered
Pablo very common there; but, in fact, the name is everywhere more usual
than in England, in spite of the tradition that the great Apostle
likewise landed here, and the dedication of our great cathedral. Perhaps
this may be owing to the fact that twelve other SS. Paul divide the
allegiance of the Continent with the Apostle. Paula is not only honoured
as his feminine, but as the name of the friend and correspondent of St.
Jerome, the mother of Eustochium; and Paola is in consequence found in
Italy. Paulinus (the lengthened form) became in Welsh, Pewlin, and also
named three saints—among them our first Northumbria, bishop of York; but
it has not been followed, except in Italy, by Paolina, and _there_ is,
perhaps, a mere diminutive of Paulus. Yet the feminine is far more
fashionable; and Paulina, Pauline, Paolina, are the favourite forms
everywhere occurring. Perhaps Pauline became the more popular in France
for the sake of that favourite grandchild whose Christian name is almost
the only one mentioned in Madame de Sévigné’s letters. It was the only
form commonly recognized in France; but it seems that the sister of
Napoleon was commonly called Paulette in her own family. The direct
Italian diminutive always seems to be a greater favourite with the
southern blood than its relative from the northern _chen_.
The adjective of size is another word of universal kindred, though not
always with the same meaning. The Sanscrit _mahat_, and Persian _mi_ or
_meah_, are close connections of the Gothic _mikils_ (which survives in
mickle and muckle, and has furnished our much), and of the Greek μεγαλος
or μεγας, and Roman _magnus_ and Slavonic _magi_. All these possibly may
be remotely connected with the verb _magan_ (may), which is the source
of _macht_ (might) in all Teutonic tongues.
Magnus was an agnomen added as a personal distinction, as in the case of
Pompey. It was never a name till long after the Roman empire was over,
when Karl der Grösse, as his Franks called him, had been Latinized into
Carolus Magnus, and honoured by the French as Charlemagne. St. Olaf of
Norway was known to be a great admirer of Charlemagne, whose example he
would fain have imitated, and his followers, by way of a pleasant
surprise and compliment to him, before they woke him to announce to him
the birth of his first son, christened the child, as they thought, after
the latter half of the great Emperor Carolus Magnus. That child became a
much-beloved monarch, under the denomination of King Magnus Barefoot,
from his having established his identity on his return from Ireland, by
the ordeal of walking unshod over red-hot ploughshares. In honour of his
many excellencies, as King of Norway, the entire North uses his name of
Magnus, and transplanted it to Ireland, where it flourished under the
form of Manus, until it became the fashion to ‘Anglicize’ it into
Manasses. The Scottish islands, where the population is Norse, likewise
use Magnus as a baptismal name; and the Lapps have turned it into Manna,
or Mannas.
Maximus was likewise properly an individual agnomen of size, or of
victory, as with Fabius Maximus; but it came to be a proper name, and
was borne by Maximus the Monk, a great Greek ecclesiastic of the sixth
century, as well as by many other obscure saints, from whom the Italians
derive their Massimo, and the French Maxime, and the Welsh their old
Macsen.
Maxentius and Maximinus, both named not only persecuting emperors, but
Christian martyrs, whence Maxime and Maximien. Maximilianus was one of
the Seven Sleepers, but he is not the origin of the German imperial
name. According to Camden, this was a compound invented by the Emperor
Frederick VII., and bestowed on his son in his great admiration of
Fabius Maximus and Scipio Æmilianus. “The Last of the Knights,” with his
wild effrontery and spirited chamois-hunting might be despised by the
Italians, as _Massimiliano Pochi Danari_; but he was beloved by the
Austrians as “Our Max.” His great grandson, Maximilian II., contributed
to the popularity of his unwieldy name, and Max continues to be one of
the favourite German appellations, from the archduke to the peasant, to
the present day; and has even thrown out the feminine Maximiliane. The
Poles and Illyrians use _ks_ instead of _x_ in spelling it.
SECTION IX.—_Rufus, &c._
Rufus, the red or ruddy, was a cognomen of various families, and was, in
fact, one of the adjectives occurring in the nomenclature of almost
every nation; and chiefly of those where a touch of Keltic blood has
made the hair vary between red and black. Flavius, Fulvius, Rufus, and
an occasional Niger, were the Roman names of complexion; and it is
curious to find the single instances of Chlorus (the yellow), occurring
in the Flavian family. The Biondi of Italy claim to be the Flavii, and
thence the Blound, Count de Guisnes, companion of William the Conqueror,
took the name now Blount!
Rufus is, indeed, the Latin member of the large family of which we spoke
in mentioning the Greek Rhoda; and the Kelts had, in plenty, their own
Ruadh or Roy; nevertheless, such as fell under Roman dominion adopted
the Roman Rufus or Rufinus; and it passed on by tradition in Wales, as
Gruffin, Gruffydd, or as the English caught it and spelt it, correctly
representing the sound of _dd_, Griffith. It was the name of many Welsh
princes, and has passed into a frequent surname.
In its Gruffin stage, it passed into the commonwealth of romance. Among
the British names that had worked through the lost world of minstrelsy,
to reappear in the cycle with which Italian poets graced the camp and
court of Charlemagne, is Grifone, a descendant of Bevis of Hampton. By
this time, no doubt, his name was supposed to be connected with the
Griffin, that creature with _griffes_, or claws; that after having
served in earlier times, as with Dante, to represent the Italian idea of
the vision of the cherubim, had been gradually degraded to a brilliant
portion of the machinery of romance.
No doubt the Italians who bore the name of Grifone, thought more of the
“right Griffin” and the true knight, than of the ruddy Roman whose
Ruffino or Ruffo was still left lingering among them; together with
Rufina, the name of a virgin martyr.
Rufus is, for some reason or other, rather a favourite at present with
our American neighbours.
Niger (the black) was a cognomen of various Romans of no great note, and
distinguished a teacher from Antioch, mentioned in the Acts. The
diminutive Nigellus seems to have been adopted in France, by the
Normans, as a translation of the Nial which they had brought from
Norway, after having learned it of the Gael, in whose tongue it means
the noble. In Domesday Book, twelve proprietors are recorded as Nigel,
both before and after the Conquest, being probably Danish Nials thus
reduced to the Neustrian French Latin. Of these was Nigel de Albini
(_temp._ William I.), and Nigel de Mowbray (_temp._ Henry II.). The
influx of Anglo-Normans into Scotland introduced this new-fashioned
Nigel, and it was adopted as the English form of Niel, and has since
become almost exclusively confined to Scotland, where it is a national
name, partly perhaps in memory of the untimely fate of Niel or Nigel
Bruce; and among the covenanters, for the sake of the fierce Nigel
Leslie, Master of Rothes. It has shared the fate of Colin and of the
true Nial, and has been taken for Nicolas. The French used a like name,
which Froissart spells Nesle; but this is probably from the inference
that a lengthened sound of _e_ infers a silent _s_.
CHAPTER V.
NAMES FROM ROMAN DEITIES.
SECTION I.
A short chapter must be given to the modern names that, in spite of the
canon prohibiting the giving of names of heathen gods in baptism, are
either those of Latin divinities, or are derived from them. These,
though few in number, are more than are to be found in the Greek class,
from the fact that where a Roman deity had become identified with a
Greek one, the Latin name was used throughout Western Europe in all
translations, and only modern criticism has attempted to distinguish
between the distinct myths of the two races. Most of these are, or have
been, in use either in France or England, the modern countries most
under the dominion of fancy with regard to names.
Aurora (the dawn), so called, it is said, from _aurum_ (gold), because
of the golden light she sheds before her, assumed all the legends
attached by the Greeks to their Eos, whose rosy fingers unbarred the
gates of day. When the Cinque-cento made classic lore the fashion,
Aurore came into favour with the fair dames of France, and has ever
since there continued in vogue, occasionally passing into Germany. In
Illyria, the dawn and the lady are both called Zora, and she in
endearment Zorana.[67]
Bellona was not a goddess whose name one would have expected to find
renewed in Christian times, yet instances have been found of it in
England among those who probably had some idea that it was connected
with beauty instead of with _bellum_ (war). In effect, hers is not quite
a proper name, being really an adjective, with the noun understood,
_Bellona Dea_ (the war goddess). An infant born in the streets of Weimar
during the sack that followed the battle of Jena was named Angelina
Bellona, as having been an angel of comfort to her parents in the
miseries of war. She became a great musician, and won renown for her
name in her own land.[68]
The old Latin deities were often in pairs, masculine and feminine.
Divus, that part of their title that is still recognized as belonging to
the supernatural, is from the same source as the Sanscrit _deva_,
Persian _dev_, Greek δῖος, 0εός, Zeus, and was applied to all. Divus
Janus and Diva Jana were one of these pairs, who presided over day and
night, as the sun and moon. Divajana became Diana; and as groves were
sacred to her, and she was as pure a goddess as Vesta, there was every
reason for identifying her with the Greek Artemis, and giving her
possession of the temple of Ephesus, and the black stone image that
“fell down from Jupiter,” or the sky; she had Apollo given as her fellow
instead of Janus, and thenceforth was the goddess of the silver bow,
daughter of Jupiter and Latona, as Artemis had been of Zeus and Leto.
Her name slept as a mere pagan device till the sixteenth century, when
romances of chivalry gave place to the semi-classical pastoral, of which
Greece was usually the scene. Jorge de Montemayor, the Spanish gentleman
who led the way in this flowery path, named his heroine, Diana, and she
was quickly copied by the sponsors of Diane de Poitiers, the fair widow
whose colours of black and white were worn by Henry II. of France even
to his last fatal tournament. Diane thus became so fashionable in
France, that when the Cavalier court was there residing, the English
caught the fashion, and thenceforth Lady Dye at times appeared among the
Ladies Betty and Fanny of the court. In the lower classes, Diana seems
to be at times confused with the Scriptural Dinah, though it may
sometimes be adopted as a Bible name, since a peasant has been known to
pronounce that he well knew who was “greatest ‘Diana of the
Ephesians,’—a great lady of those parts, and very charitable to the
poor.” At Rome Jewesses now alone bear it, and Italian Christians
consequently despise it, and only give it to dogs. However, in the
eighteenth century, a Monna Diana existed at Florence, who is recorded
as an example of the benefits of a heavy head wrapper, for a large stone
fell upon her head from a building, and she took it for a small pebble!
Diana’s fellow, Divus Janus, had a very different career. He was
sometimes called Dianus, but much more commonly Janus, and from being
merely the sun, he became allegorical of the entire year, and had a
statue with four faces for the seasons, and hands pointing the one to
300, the other to 55, thus making up the amount of days then given to
the year; and before him were twelve altars, one for each month. He thus
presided over the beginning of everything, and the first month of the
year was from him called Januarius, as were all gates _jani_, and doors
_januæ_; and above all, that gate between the Sabines and the Romans,
which was open when they were friends, shut when they were foes. When
the two nations had become thoroughly fused together, the gate grew to a
temple; but the ceremony of shutting the doors was still followed on the
rare occasions when Rome was at peace, and of opening them when at war
to let the god go out, as it was now said, to help the Romans. This idea
of peace, however, turned Janus into a legendary peaceful monarch, who
only wore two heads that he might look both ways to see either side of a
question, and keys were put into his hand as the guardian of each man’s
gate. His own special gate continued to be called Janicula, and his name
passed from the door, _janua_, to the porter, _janitor_; and thence in
modern times to St. Peter, who, bearing the keys, was called by the
Italians, _il Janitore di Cielo_, and thence the fish, which was thought
to bear the mark of St. Peter’s thumb, was _il janitore_, or, as we call
it, the John Dory, if not from its gilded scales, _dorée_ or _dorado_.
Its Spanish name of San Pedro would favour the janitor theory. The month
of Janus, Janvier, January, Gennaro, Januar, has kept its name, like all
the other months of the Roman calendar, in spite of the French attempt
to displace them with Glacial, Pluvial, &c. Birth in the month of
January occasioned the name of Januarius to be given to various persons
in the time of the Roman empire, to one of the seven sons of St.
Felicitas, to a martyr whose day is the 13th of October, and especially
to St. Januarius, of Beneventum, who in the persecution of Diocletian
was thrown to wild beasts at Pozzuoli, and on their refusal to hurt him,
was beheaded. His blood was already a religious curiosity before the
eighth century, when it was thought to have delivered Naples from an
eruption of Mount Vesuvius, and it furnishes one of the most
questionable and most hotly-defended miracles of the Church of Rome.
After this Gennaro cannot fail to be a very frequent Neapolitan
Christian name.[69]
SECTION II.—_Florentius._
The goddess of flowers was called from their Latin name _flos_, the same
that has passed into all European languages except the German. In late
times the name of Florus was formed from that of the goddess, and is
memorable as that of the procurator, whose harshness drove the Jews to
their last rebellion. Flora was probably first used merely as the
feminine of Florus. There is a church at Florence to SS. Fiore and
Lucilla, otherwise the first occurrence of any variety of Flora is in
Roman-Gothic Spain, where the unhappy daughter of Count Julian was
called by the Spanish diminutive Florinda, and thus caused the name to
be so much detested, that while Spanish ballads called her _la Cava_,
the wicked, her Christian name was only bestowed upon dogs, and
curiously enough it was the little spaniel (a Spanish breed), for which
Flora was considered in England as an appropriate name. A Spanish
maiden, however, who was martyred by the Moors in 851, brought Flora
into better repute; and Flore became known to the French, though
probably first adopted as a romantic epithet; and through the close
connection between France and Scotland, it passed to the latter country,
the especial land of floral names, and there became frequent as the
English equivalent to the Gaelic Finghin. It was spelt as Florie by the
island heroine of the '45. Florentius was the natural product of the
goddess Flora, and named a female saint, Florentia, martyred with two
others, both men, in Diocletian’s persecution in Gaul, and commemorated
by a monastery built over the spot. St. Florentius was likewise a Gaul,
and was sent by St. Martin to preach in Poitou. His relics were at first
at Saumur, but in the eleventh century were taken to Roye, and in the
time of Louis XI., were divided between the two cities. As an Angevin
saint, he quite accounts for the prevalence of Florence in the masculine
gender among the Anglo-Norman nobles of the middle ages; but it soon
died away. The recent revival is chiefly owing to the name having been
given to English girls born at the Italian city so called, and it has
since acquired a deeper and dearer honour in the person of Florence
Nightingale. From the city, or else as a diminutive of Florentius, arose
Florentinus, a name borne by various distinguished persons in the latter
days of the empire, and saintly in the person of a martyr of Burgundy.
Florentina was one of the daughters of St. Leander, of Spain, and the
relics of these saints scattered the names of Florentin and Florentine
over a wide extent in France. Besides these, should be mentioned the
romantic name, Blanchefleur. It is given to Sir Trystan’s mother, and
probably translates some Keltic name analogous to the Erse Blathnaid,
Finbil, and Finscoth, all of which mean white flower.
The Irish Florence, or Flory, so common among the peasantry, is intended
for Finghin, or Fineen (fair offspring); also for Flann, Fithil, and
Flaithri.[70]
-----
Footnote 67:
Keightley; Michaelis.
Footnote 68:
Keightley; Smith; Key, _Latin Grammar_; Madame Scopenhauer, _Memoirs_.
Footnote 69:
Keightley; Smith; Bouterwek; _Istoria de Firenze_; Brand; Butler;
_Spanish Literature_.
Footnote 70:
Smith; Butler; _Irish Society_; Pott.
SECTION III.—_Laurentius._
It appears natural to refer Laurentius direct to _laurus_ (the bay or
laurel); but there is reason to think that it, as well as the tree, must
go farther back to the dim vestiges of early Roman mythology. From the
Etruscans the Romans learnt the beautiful idea of guardian spirits
around their hearths, whom they called by the Etruscan word _lar_ or
_lars_; meaning lord or master. The spirits of great statesmen or heroes
became public _lares_, and watched over the welfare of the city; those
of good men, or of innocent infants under forty days old, were the
_lares_ of their home and family. Their images, covered with dogskins,
and with the figure of a dog beside them, were placed beside every
hearth; and, curiously enough, are the origin of the name dogs, still
applied to the supports on either side of a wood fire-place. They were
made to partake in every household festival; cups were set apart, in
which a portion of every meal was poured out to them; the young bride,
on being carried across her husband’s threshold, made her first
obeisance to these household spirits of his family; and on the nones,
ides, and calends of each month, when the master returned from the war,
or on any other occasion of joy, the lares were crowned with wreaths and
garlands. Pairs of lares stood in niches at the entrance of the streets;
other lares guarded districts in the country; and the lares of all Rome
had a temple to themselves, where stood twin human figures with a dog
between them. All these wore green crowns on festival days, especially
on those of triumph; and thus there can be little doubt that the
evergreen whose leaves were specially appropriated to the purpose was
thence called _laurus_, as the poplar was from forming people’s crowns.
The special feast of the lares was on the 22nd of December, and it was
immediately followed by that of a female deity called Lara, Larunda,
Larentia, Laurentia, or Acca Laurentia, who was termed in old Latin
_genita mana_ (good mother), received the sacrifice of a dog, and was
entreated that no good domestic slave might depart. Thus much custom had
preserved to the Romans; but when Greek mythology came in, flooding and
corrupting all their own, poor Laurentia was turned into a nymph, so
given to chattering (λαλιά) that Jupiter punished her by cutting out her
tongue and sending her, in charge of Mercury, to the lower world; and
the lares, now allowed to be only two, were made into her children and
those of Mercury. Another story, wishing to account for all traditions
in one, made her into the woman who nursed Romulus and Remus, and thus
disposed of her and of the she-wolf at once, and made the twelve rural
Lares her sons; whilst a third version degraded her, like Flora, and
made her leave all her property to the state, in the time of Ancus
Martius.
Laurentius does not occur in early history; but it belonged to the
gentle Roman deacon who, on the 10th of August, 258, showed the “poor
and the maimed, the halt and the blind,” as the treasures of the Church,
and was martyred, by being roasted over a fire on bars of iron.
Constantine built a church on his tomb, and seven other Churches at Rome
are likewise dedicated to him. Pope Adrian gave some of his relics to
Charlemagne, who took them to Strasburg, and thus rendered him one of
the regnant saints in Germany, where the prevalence of shooting stars on
the night of his feast has occasioned those meteors to be called St.
Lorenz’s sparks. In fact, his gentle nature, his peculiar martyrdom, and
his church at Rome, caused him to be a saint of universal popularity;
and a fresh interest was conferred on him, in Spanish eyes, by Philip
II.’s belief that the battle of St. Quentin, fought on his day, was won
by his intercession, and the consequent dedication of the
gridiron-palace convent of the Escurial to him.
Besides the original saint, England owns St. Laurentius among the band
of Roman missionaries who accompanied St. Augustine, and, in succession,
became archbishops of Canterbury. When England, in her turn, sent forth
missionaries, another Laurence preached the Word in the North, with such
effect as to compel the Trollds themselves to become church builders,
much against their will, and to leave his name, cut down into Lars, its
primitive form, as a favourite in all Scandinavia. In Ireland, Laurence,
whose name I strongly suspect to have been Laghair, a son of Maurice
O'Tuathail, of Leinster, was archbishop of Dublin at the time of the
conquest by the Norman adventurers, and was thus brought into close
connection with Canterbury and with Rome, knitting the first of the
links that have made the Irish so abject in their devotion to the Papal
See. It was probably on this account that he was canonized, but he was
also memorable as one of the builders of St. Patrick’s cathedral at
Dublin, and for his charities during a terrible famine, when he
supported as many as 300 destitute children. It is he who has rendered
Lanty and Larry so common among the Irish peasantry. Besides all these,
the modern Venetian saint, Lorenzo Justiniani, worthily maintained the
honour of the Christian name already so illustrious in excellence, and
it has continued in high esteem everywhere, though, perhaps, less common
in England than on the Continent. Germany is the place of its special
reign; and in the Harz mountains, to bow awkwardly is called _krummer
Lorenz machen_.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ Scotch. │ Irish. │ French. │
│Lawrence │Lawrence │Laurenc │Laurent │
│Laurence │Laurie │Lanty │ │
│Larkin │ │Larry │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Italian. │ Spanish. │ Portuguese. │ Swiss. │
│Lorenzo │Lorenzo │Laurençho │Lori │
│Renzo │ │ │Lenz │
│ │ │ │Enz │
│ │ │ │Enzali │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ German. │ Wallachian. │ Swedish. │ Danish. │
│Lorenz │Lavrentia │Laurentius │Lorenz │
│ │ │Lars │Lars │
│ │ │ │Lauritz │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Norse. │ Russian. │ Polish. │ Bohemian. │
│Laurans │Lavrentij │Vavrzynec │Vavrinec │
│Jörens │ │ │ │
│Larse │ │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Slovak. │ Lithuanian. │ Lapp. │ Hungarian. │
│Lovre │Labrenzis │Laur │Lörencz │
│ │Brenzis │Laures │ │
│ │Lauris │Laura │ │
│ │ │Raulus │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
Some languages have the feminine, but it is not frequent anywhere. The
Italian Lorenza is, perhaps, the most frequent.
The name of Laura is a great perplexity. It _may_ be taken from Laurus,
and ladies so called consider St. Laurence as their patron; but it may
also be from the word Laura, the Greek Λαβρα, or Λαυρα, meaning an
avenue, the same as labyrinth, and applied to the clusters of hermitages
which were the germ of monasteries. Or again, a plausible derivation is
that Lauretta might have commemorated the laurel-grove, or Loreto,
whither Italian superstition declared that the angels transported the
holy house of Nazareth away from the Turkish power on the conquest of
Palestine. Those who call the milky-way the Santa Strada di Loretto,
might well have used this as one of their varied forms of seeking the
patronage of the Blessed Virgin. The chief objection that I can find to
this theory is, that the first Lauretta that I have met with was a
Flemish lady, in 1162; the next was a daughter of William de Braose,
Lord of Bramber, in the time of King John, a period antecedent to the
supposed migration of the holy house, which did not set out on its
travels till 1294. Others think it the same with Eleonora, which I
cannot believe; but, at any rate, it was the Provençal Lora de Sades, so
long beloved of Petrarch, who made this one of the favourite romantic
and poetical names, above all, in France, where it is Laure, Lauretta,
Loulou.[71]
-----
Footnote 71:
Smith; Keightley; Loudon, _Arboretum_; Butler; Jameson; Grimm; Pott;
Michaelis; Dugdale; Hanmer, _Chronicle of Ireland_.
SECTION IV.—_Sancus._
Sancus, or Sanco-Sancus, was the divinity who presided over oaths, and
guarded the marriage vow and treaties between nations. He was afterwards
mixed up with Hercules, and so entirely forgotten that his altar was
long supposed to have been an early Christian erection bearing the word
sanctus.
This word is the past participle of the verb _sancire_ (to decree). It
was equivalent to instituted, and was gradually applied to mark the
institutions of religion. That “all the congregation are holy,” all
under sanctification, all once at least saints, was a faith strong in
the Church, and prompted the name of Sanctus among the first Christians.
One Sanctus was a deacon of the band of martyrs at Lyons, and another
Sanctus was a Christian physician of Otriculum, a city of central Italy,
and was put to death under the Antonines. There is some doubt whether he
is the same physician of Otriculum who is also called St. Medicus.
Sanctus was the favourite patron in Provence, Biscay, and Navarre; and
Sancho and Sancha were constantly in royal use in the early kingdoms of
the struggling Christians of Spain; though as royalty and nobility
became weary of what was national and peculiar, they were left to the
peasantry, and would have been entirely forgotten, but for that
wonderful personification of the shrewd, prosaic, selfish, yet faithful
element in human nature, Sancho Panza, whom Cervantes has made one of
the most typical yet individual characters of literature.
The Provençals had both the masculine and feminine forms in frequent
use; and the co-heiress of Provence, who married our Richard, Earl of
Cornwall, king of the Romans, was Sancia, or Sancie; but the name did
not take root in England, and sorely puzzled some of our old
genealogists, who record the lady as Cynthia, Scientia, or Science. This
last name actually occurs several times in the seventeenth century, both
in Latin and English, in the register of a small Hampshire parish; but
whether meant for Sancha, or chosen in love for abstract knowledge,
those who named ‘Science Dear’ alone could tell.
Italy, as in duty bound, remembered her saintly physician as Sancto at
Rome, and Sanzio with the ‘lingua Toscana,’ where it came as a family
name to the greatest of painters.[72]
SECTION V.—_Old Italian Deities._
Februus was the old Italian god both of the dead and of fertility, to
whom February was sacred. The word is thought to mean purification, but
after the Etruscan deities were forgotten, Juno, who had also a share in
the month, absorbed it all, and was called Juno Februata. Thence,
probably, arose the name of Febronia, a nun of Sibapolis on the borders
of Assyria, who suffered horrid torments under her persecutors, and was
at last beheaded. She is venerated by the Greek Church on the 25th of
June, and suggested to Russia the names Fevronia, or Khevronia.
Though not divine, the name of Lavinia should be mentioned here as that
of a mythical personage imitated by the moderns, though not by the
Romans themselves. In Livy and in Virgil, she is the daughter of King
Latinus, and the last wife of Æneas, in whose right he obtained a
footing in Italy. Niebuhr and his followers deny her existence, and make
her a mere personification of the Latin territory, and whether this be
the case or not, hers is certainly a feminine form of Latinus, the _t_
changed to _v_, as happened in other instances. The classical Italians
of the Cinque-cento revived Lavinia for their daughters; and by way of
recommending the story of the Book of Ruth to the taste of the
eighteenth century, Thomson had the audacity to translate the Moabitess
into “the lovely young Lavinia,” whence it has happened that this has
become rather a favourite with those classes in England who have a taste
for many syllables ending in _ia_.
Picus was another old Italian deity who used to be represented with a
woodpecker on his head. Whether he or the woodpecker first had the name
of Picus does not appear; but in English that term passed to the pyot or
magpie, and some recurrence to old tradition caused Pico to be revived
in Italy in the person of the famous Pico de Mirandola and his
namesakes.
From _fors_ (chance) came Fortuna, the goddess of prosperity and
success. She was said on entering Rome to have thrown away her globe,
and shed her wings like a queen-ant, to denote that here she took up her
permanent abode. She was adored at Rome as early as the reign of Ancus
Martius, and to her was ascribed the success of the women’s entreaty in
turning away the wrath of Coriolanus.
Her name does not appear to have been used in the heathen times, but in
212 SS. Felix and Fortunatus were martyred at Valence in Dauphiné, and
it was probably from the latter that Fortunio became a name among the
early Asturian and Navarrese sovereigns.
What shall we think of the augury of names when we find in the parish
register of St. John’s, Newcastle, on the 20th of June, 1599, the
marriage of Umphraye Hairope, husbandman, to Fortune Shafto,
gentlewoman?
A pair of twins, girls, of the Wycliffe family, born in 1710, were
christened Favour and Fortune; and Fortune is a surname in Scotland.[73]
-----
Footnote 72:
Butler; Keightley; Smith.
Footnote 73:
Niebuhr; Arnold; Surius; Keightley; Sir O. Sharpe, _Extracts from
Parish Registers_.
SECTION VI.—_Quirinus._
Quirinus, one of the oldest of the war-gods, was called from the Oscan
_quiris_ (a spear), which likewise was the source of the old Roman name
of Quirites, and of that of the Quirinal Hill. Spearmen alike were the
Quirites and their unconquerable foes; the Gjermanner, the Germans, nay,
probably _gher_ and _quiris_ are the very same word, equally related to
the Keltic _coir_.
Others, however, call Quirinus the mere personified god of the town of
Cures. When all had become confusion in the Roman mind as to their old
objects of worship, and they had mingled them with “gods whom their
fathers knew not,” they took it into their heads that Quirinus was the
deified Romulus who had been transported to the skies by his father,
Mars, in the middle of a muster of his warriors in the Campus Martius;
and when a still later age distrusted this apotheosis, some rationalist
Roman suggested that, weary of Romulus' tyranny, the senators had
secretly assassinated him during the review, and to prevent detection
had cut his body to pieces, each carried a portion home under his toga,
and professed to have beheld the translation to the skies. Quirinus had
become a cognomen at the Christian era, but first occurs as a Christian
name in 304, when St. Quirinus was Bishop of Siscia on the Save, and
after a good confession before the tyrant Maximus, was dragged in chains
through the cities on the banks of the Danube, and then drowned at
Sabaria, now Sarwar. His relics were afterwards taken to Rome, but are
now said to be in Bavaria; and in his honour Cyran has become a French
name. As a saint connected with Germany, various chapters arose in
commemoration of him; and Mrs. Elizabeth Carter describes her meeting
with a pretty little _chanoinesse_ at Spa, who wore her medal of St.
Quirinus, but was able to give so little account of him that Mrs.
Carter, better read in Roman history than in hagiology, concluded him to
be the “Saint who built Rome and killed his brother.”
Quirinius was the name of the Roman governor whom St. Luke called in
Greek Κυρήνιος, and our translators render Cyrenius.
The name of Romulus is thought by many to have been a mere myth made out
of that of his city Roma, a word that probably signified strength, and
was no inappropriate title for that empire of iron. Ῥώμη is the Greek
word for strength; the same root is found in the Latin _robur_, and it
may be in the Teutonic _ruhm_ (fame). Others say that _groma_ (a
cross-road) was the origin of this most famous of all local titles.
However this may be, after Romulus Augustulus had seen the twelve
centuries of Rome fulfilled, Romolo still lingered on as a name in
Italy; the first bishop of Fiesole was thus named, and was so popular at
Florence, that Catherine dei Medici was actually christened Romola.
When to be a Roman citizen was the highest benefit a man of a subject
nation could enjoy, Romanus was treated as a cognomen. Pliny had two
friends so called. There are seven saints thus named, and three
Byzantine emperors. But when Teuton sway had made a Roman the meanest
and most abject epithet, Romain or Romano died away in popularity, and
only occurs now and then in French genealogy, though it is still used in
Italy.
They must not be confounded with Romeo and Romuald, which are genuine
Teutonic.[74]
-----
Footnote 74:
Diefenbach; Arnold; Livy; Butler.
SECTION VII.—_Sibylla._
The Sibyls were beings peculiar to Roman mythology, prophetesses half
human, half divine, living to a great age, but not immortal.
Etymologists used to interpret their name as coming from the Greek Ζεύς
and βουλή (Zeus' councils), but it is far more satisfactorily explained
as coming from _sabius_, or _sabus_, an old Italian, but not a Latin
word, which lives still in the vernacular _Sabio_, thus making Sibulla
signify a wise old woman.
Old, indeed! for the Cumean Sibyl, who guided Æneas to the infernal
regions, was likewise said to be the same who brought the prophetic
books for sale to Tarquinius Priscus, and on each refusal of the sum
that she demanded for them, carried them off, destroyed one, and brought
the rest back rated at a higher price. The single remaining roll bought
by the king was said to contain all the mysterious prophecies that were
afterwards verified by the course of events, and above all, that
prediction of the coming rule of peace, which Virgil, following
Theocritus, embodied in his eclogue as fulfilled in Augustus. That
eclogue, flattery though it were, won for Virgil his semi-Christian
fame, and caused the learned men of Italy to erect the Sibyls into the
personifications of heathen presages of Gospel truth—
“Teste David cum Sibylla,”
as says the glorious hymn uniting the voices of Hebrew and Gentile
prophecy; and in this character do Michel Angelo’s magnificent Sibyls
adorn the Sistine Chapel; though later painters, such as Guido and
Domenichino, made them mere models of female intellectual beauty.
Sibilla, probably through the influence of Campania upon nomenclature,
early spread as a Christian name. Possibly the word was the more
acceptable to Northern ears from its resemblance to the Gothic _sibja_
(peace, or friendship), the word familiar to us as the Scottish _sib_
(related), forming with us the last syllable of gossip, in its old sense
of god-parent. Thence came Sippia, Sib, or Sif, the lovely wife of Thor,
whose hair was cut off by Lok, and its place supplied by golden tresses,
which some consider to mean the golden harvest.
Perhaps it was this connection that recommended the Italian Sibila to
the Norman chivalry. At any rate, Sibila of Conversana was the wife of
Robert of Normandy, and Sibille soon travelled into France, and belonged
to that Angevin Queen of Jerusalem, whose many marriages gave so much
trouble to the Crusaders. It was very frequent among English ladies of
Norman blood; and in Spain, Sevilla, or Sebilla, is frequent in the
earlier ballads. Sibella, Sibyl, or Sibbie, is most frequent of all in
Ireland and Scotland; but I believe that this is really as the
equivalent for the ancient Gaelic Selbhflaith (lady of possessions).
Russia has the name as Ssivilla; the Lithuanians call it Bille; and the
Esthonians, Pil. Sibilley is the form in which it appears in a Cornish
register in 1692; in 1651 it is Sibella.[75]
SECTION VIII.—_Saturn, &c._
Saturnus was a mythical king of ancient Italy, peaceful, and given to
agriculture, indeed, his name is thought to come from _satus_ (sown). It
is very odd that he should have become the owner of all the fame of the
Greek Kronos, infanticide, planet rings, and all; but so completely has
he seized upon them that we never think of him as the god of seed-time,
but only as the discarded king of heaven and father of Jupiter.
We should have little to do with him were it not that the later Romans
formed from him the name of Saturninus, which belonged to sundry early
saints, and furnished the old Welsh Sadwrn.
Sylvanus was a deity called from _sylva_ (a wood), the protector of
husbandmen and their crops, in the shape of an old man with a
cypress-tree in his hand. His had become a Roman name just before the
Christian era, and belonged to the companion of St. Paul, who is called
Sylvanus in the Epistles, and, by the contraction, Silas in the Acts.
This contracted form, Silas, has been revived in England as a Scripture
name.
St. Sylvanus, or Silverius, was a pope whom his Church esteems a martyr,
as he died in the hands of Belisarius; but sylvan, or salvage, was
chiefly used in the middle ages to express a dweller in a forest, rude
and hardly human. Silvano, Selvaggio, or Silvestro, was generally the
name of monsters with shaggy locks, clubs, and girdles of ivy leaves,
who appeared in romance; and Guidon Selvaggio was the rustic knight of
Boiardo and Ariosto. Occasionally these words became names, and about
the year 1200, Sylvestro Gozzolini, of Osimo, founded an order of monks,
who, probably, are the cause that Sylvester became known in Ireland as a
Christian name, and has come to us as a surname, while the French have
it as Sylvestre.
The son of Æneas and Lavinia was said to have been born in a wood, and
therefore called Æneas Silvius, and his name was given to one of the
Piccolomini family, Enea Silvio, afterwards pope; and also belonged to
an historian. Sylvain, Sylvan, Sylvius, Sylvia became favourite names
for shepherds and shepherdesses in the time of the pastoral romance;
Sylvia turned into a poetical name for a country maid, and has since
been used as a village Christian name, having been perhaps first chosen
by some fanciful Lady Bountiful.
CHAPTER VI.
MODERN NAMES FROM THE LATIN.
There still remain a class of names derived from the Latin, being
chiefly Latin words formed into names. Some of them answer to the class
that we have called Christian Greek, being compound words assumed as
befitting names by early Roman Christians, such as Deusvult.
There are fewer of these than of the like Greek designations, both from
the hereditary system of nomenclature, and from the language being less
suitable for such formations than the Greek, which was so well known to
all educated Romans that a Greek appellation would convey as much
meaning as a Latin one, and in that partially veiled form that always
seems to have been preferred in nomenclature in the later ages of
nations. Some, however, either from sound, sense, or association, have
become permanent Christian names in one or more nations; and with these,
for the sake of convenience, have been classed those formed from Latin
roots, and which, though coined when their ancestral language was not
only dead but corrupt, are too universal to be classed as belonging to
any single country of modern Europe, though sometimes the product of a
Romance tongue rather than of genuine Latin, or appearing in cognate
languages in different forms; cousins, in fact, not brethren, and
sometimes related to uncles sprung from the elder tongue.
SECTION I.—_From Amo._
Of these are all the large class of names sprung from _amo_, which has
descended into all the Southern languages of Western Europe nearly
unaltered. The Gallic Christians seem to have had a particular delight
in calling their children by derivatives of this word; for in their
early times there occur in the calendar, Amabilis (loveable), Amator (a
lover), Amandus (about to be loved), and Amatus and Amata (loved);
Amadeus (loving God) seems to have been still older. Out of this
collection, St. Amand has survived as a territorial surname; whilst
Amanda, from its meaning, was one of the complimentary _noms de plume_
of the eighteenth century; and Amandine is sometimes found in France.
Amabilis was a male saint of Riom, known to France as St. Amable;
nevertheless, his name passed to Aimable, the Norman heiress of
Gloucester, who so strongly protested against accepting even a king’s
son without a surname. Her name became on English lips Amabel, which has
been handed down unchanged in a few old English families, though country
lips have altered it into Mabel, in which form it is still used among
the northern peasantry. Ignorant etymologists have tried to make it come
from _ma belle_ (my fair one), and lovers of false ornament turn it into
Mabella.
Nothing is known of the female saint, Amata, or Aimée, but that the
people of Northern France used to honour her, and she had namesakes in
old French pedigrees, so that there can be little doubt that Norman
families brought in the pretty simple Amy that has never been entirely
disused, and has been a frequent peasant name in the West of England.
St. Amatus, or Amé, was about the end of the seventh century a hermit in
the Valais, and afterwards became Bishop of Sion, and was persecuted by
one of the Merovingian kings. He thus became the patron saint of Savoy,
and for a long succession the Counts were called Amé; but after a time,
they altered the name to Amadeus, Amadée, or Amadeo, as it was
differently called on the two sides of the mountain principality, and as
it has continued to the present time. Amyot and Amyas in England, and in
Romance the champion Amadis de Gaul, drew their names from this Savoyard
source. This notable knight is believed to have been invented in Spain,
and the Italians call him Amadigi. It is possible, however, that he may
come from the Kymry, for Amaethon, son of Don, appears in the
_Mabinogion_, and was a mystic personage in Welsh mythology. His name
meant the husbandman, another offshoot from the universal Amal. He must
have been the Sir Amadas of the Round Table.
The old English Amicia, so often found in old pedigrees, is probably a
Latinizing of Aimée. The most notable instance of it is Amicia, the
daughter of the Earl of Leicester, who brought her county to the fierce
old persecutor, Simon de Montfort, and left it to the warlike earl, who
imprisoned Henry III. His sister carried Amicie into the Flemish family
of De Roye, where it continued in use, and it descended again into Amice
in England. Amadore was in use in Florence, cut into Dore.[76]
-----
Footnote 75:
Max Müller, _Science of Language_; Keightley; Ruskin; Grimm;
Michaelis.
Footnote 76:
Butler; Pott; Dugdale; _Mabinogion_; Lady C. Guest; Dunlop, _Fiction_.
SECTION II.—_Names from Beo._
The old verb _beo_ (to make happy or bless) formed the participle
_beatus_ (happy or blessed), which was applied by the Church to her
departed members, and in time was bestowed on the living. Indeed, in
France, _béate_ was so often applied to persons who lived in the
profession of great sanctity, that _une vieille béate_ has now come to
be used in the sense of a hypocritical pretender.
St. Beatus, or Béat, was an anchorite near Vendôme, in the fifth
century; but we do not find instances of his patronage having been
sought for men, though in England Beata is a prevailing female name in
old registers and on tombstones up to the seventeenth century, when it
dies away, having, I strongly suspect, been basely confounded with
Betty. Beata and Bettrys are however still used in Wales. This last
stands for Beatrice (a blesser), which seems to have been first brought
into this island as a substitute for the Gaelic Bethoc (life), of which
more in its place.
The original Beatrix, the feminine of Beator (a blesser), is said to
have been first borne by a Christian maiden, who, in Diocletian’s
persecution, drew the bodies of her martyred brothers from the Tiber,
and buried them: afterwards she shared their fate, and her relics were
enshrined in a church at Rome, whence her fame spread to all adjacent
countries; and her name was already frequent when Dante made the love of
his youth, Beatrice Portinari, the theme of his _Vita Nuova_, and his
guide through Paradise. Thus it was a truly national name at Florence;
and Shakespeare used the Italian spelling for his high-spirited heroine,
thus leading us to discard the old Latin _x_. It has been a queenly name
in Spain, but less common here than it deserves.
┌────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┐
│ English. │ Welsh. │ French. │ Italian. │ Spanish. │
│Beatrix │Bettrys │Béatrix │Beatrice │Beatriz │
│Trix │ │ │Bice │ │
│Beatrice │ │ │ │ │
├────────────┼────────────┼────────────┼────────────┼────────────┤
│Portuguese. │ German. │ Russian. │ Slavonic. │ │
│Beatrix │Beatrix │Beatriks │Beatrica │ │
└────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┘
This same _beo_ is said to be the source of _benus_, the old form of
_bonus_, which survives in the adverb _benè_. Both adjective and adverb
are familiar in their many derivatives in the southern tongues, as well
as in the _bonnie_ and _bien_ that testify to the close connection of
France and Scotland when both alike were the foes of England.
The feminine Bona, or Bonne, was probably first invented as a
translation of the old German Gutha; for we find a lady, in 1315,
designated as Bona, or Gutha, of Göttingen. Bona was used by the
daughters of the Counts of Savoy, and in the House of Luxemburg, and
came to the crown of France with the daughter of the chivalrous Johann
of Luxemburg, the blind King of Bohemia.
St. Benignus, whose name is from the same source, was a disciple of St.
Polycarp, and is reckoned as the apostle of Burgundy, where he was
martyred, and has been since commemorated by the splendid abbey of St.
Benigne, at Dijon, whence it happens that Benin has been common among
the peasantry in that part of France, and Benigne is to be found among
the string of Christian names borne by the French gentry of the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Servia has the feminine form,
Benyma, shortening it into Bine.
_Benedico_ (to speak well) came to have the technical sense of to bless;
and the patriarch of the Western monks rendered Benedictus (blessed) so
universally known that different forms of it prevail in all countries,
lesser luminaries adding to its saintly lustre.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ Breton. │ Italian. │
│Benedict │Benoît │Bennéad │Benedetto │
│Bennet │ │Bennéged │Betto │
│ │ │ │Bettino │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Spanish. │ Portuguese. │ German. │ Swedish. │
│Benedicto │Benedicto │Benedikt │Bengt │
│Benito │Bento │Dix │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Norse. │ Swiss. │ Russian. │ Polish. │
│Benedik │Benzel │Venedict │Benedykt │
│Benike │Benzli │ │ │
│Bent │ │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Slavonic and │ Lusatian. │ Lithuanian. │ Lapp. │
│ Illyrian. │ │ │ │
│Benedikt │Beniesch │Bendzus │Pent │
│Benedit │ │Bendikkas │Penta │
│Benko │ ———————— │ ———————— │Pint │
│ │Lett. │Hungarian. │Pinna │
│ │Bindus │Benedik │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
There was a Visigothic nun in Spain canonized as Benedicta, but most of
the feminines were meant in devotion to the original founder of the
Benedictine rule. Indeed, in France, Benedicte must have been far more
often assigned on the profession of a nun than have been given in
baptism, except when the child was destined from her birth to a
conventual life.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ French. │ Italian. │ Spanish. │ German. │
│Benoîte │Benedetta │Benita. │Benedikta │
│ │Betta │ │Benedictine │
│ │Bettina │ │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
How the localities of these feminines mark the extent of monasticism in
modern times!
The sister of St. Benedict bore the strange name of Scholastica, a
scholar, from _schola_ (school). Monasticism spread the name, but it was
never much in vogue, though England shows a Scholastica Conyers, in
1299.
Bonifacius (good-worker) was the name of a martyr; then of a pope; and
next was assumed by our Saxon Wilfred, when in the sixth century he set
out to convert his continental brethren. Perhaps, if he had kept his
native name, it would have been more followed, both at home and in
Germany; but in both, Boniface has withered away out of use, though
Bonchurch, in the Isle of Wight, is a contraction of the Church of St.
Boniface, that having probably been the last English ground beheld by
the saint when he sailed on his mission. In Italy, however, Bonifacius
was a papal name. Bonifazio prevailed among the Alpine lords of
Monferrat, and thus is still found in Italy. It has become one of the
stock names for the host of an inn, and has named the straits between
Sardinia and Corsica.
┌────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┐
│ English. │ Italian. │ Russian. │ Polish. │ Bohemian. │
│Boniface │Bonifacio │Bonifacij │Bonifacij │Bonifac │
│ │Facio │ │ │ │
│ │Bonifazio │ │ │ │
│ │Fazio │ │ │ │
└────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┘
Of modern Italian date and construction is Bonaventura. Its origin was
the exclamation of St. Francis on meeting Giovanni de Fidenza, the son
of a dear friend: _O buona ventura_ (happy meeting). These words became
the usual appellation of young Fidenza, and as he afterwards was
distinguished for holiness and learning, and was called the seraphic
doctor, he was canonized as San Bonaventura, and has had sundry
namesakes in Italy and France; in the latter country being called
Bonaventure. Benvenuto Cellini may perhaps be reckoned as one, unless
his name be intended to mean welcome without reference to the saint.
SECTION III.—_From Clarus._
Clarus (bright or clear) was used by the Romans in the sense of famous,
and St. Clarus is revered as the first bishop of Nantes in Brittany, in
A.D. 280. Another Clarus, said to have been a native of Rochester, was a
hermit, near Rouen, where he was murdered at the instigation of a wicked
woman who had vainly paid her addresses to him. Two villages of St.
Clair, one on the Epte, the other near Coutance, are interesting as
having (one or the other of them) named two of the most noted families
in the history of Great Britain, besides the various De St. Clairs of
France, who came either from thence or from a third St. Clair in
Aquitaine.
A Norman family, called from one of these villages, became the De
Clares. ‘Red De Clare,’ stout Glo’ster’s earl, the foe of Henry III.,
was one of them; and his son marrying into the house of Geraldin, in
Ireland, received from Edward I. a grant of lands in Thomond, now known
from his lordship as County Clare. His heiress carried the county to the
De Burghs, and their heiress again marrying Lionel, son of Edward III.,
the county becoming a dukedom and royal appanage, was amplified into
Clarence, and gave title to Clarencieux—king-at-arms, when Thomas,
brother of Henry V., was Duke of Clarence—unless this be from Clare, in
Suffolk. Clarence as a male Christian name did not solely arise when
William IV. was Duke of Clarence, but began as early as 1595, when
Clarence Babbington was christened at Hartlepool.
Spanish ballad lore gives a daughter, Clara, to Charlemagne, and a son,
Don Claros de Montablan, to Rinaldo, and of course marries them; but it
is to Italy that the feminine name, so much more universal, is owing.
The first Chiara on record was the devoted disciple of St. Francis, who,
under his direction, established the order of women following his rule,
and called, poor Clares, or sisters of St. Clara. From them the name of
Clara spread into the adjoining countries, little varied except that the
French used to call it Claire, until recently, when they have added the
terminal _a_, just as the English on the other hand are dropping it, and
making the word Clare. The Bretons use both masculine and feminine as
Sklear, Skleara; and the Finns have the feminine as Lara.
The old Latin feminine of words ending in _or_, meaning the doer, was
_ix_—_nutor_, _nutrix_—and this became _ice_ in modern Italian. Thus
Clarice was probably intended to mean making famous. A lady thus named
was the wife of Lorenzo de Medici, and France learnt it probably from
her, but made the _c_ silent; and England, picking it up by ear,
obtained Clarissa, which, when Richardson had so named the heroine of
his novel, was re-imported into France as Clarisse. Clarinda was another
invention of the same date.
Esclairmonde, a magnificent name of romance, the heroine of _Huon de
Bourdeaux_, walked into real life with a noble damsel of the house of
Foix, in the year 1229, and was borne by various maidens of that family;
but who would have thought of two ladies called Clarimond, in
Devonshire, in 1613 and 1630?
SECTION IV.—_Columba._
Columba is one of the sweetest and most gentle of all words in sound and
sense, yet it has not been in such universal use as might have been
expected from its reference to the dove of peace.
A virgin martyr in Gaul, and another in Spain, were both called Columba;
and Columbina must at one time have prevailed in Italy, as a peasant
name, since from the waiting damsel in the impromptu comedies that the
poetical Italians loved to act, it passed to the light-footed maiden of
modern farce, and now is seldom used save for her and the columbine, the
dove-flower, so called from the resemblance of the curled spurs of its
four purple petals to doves drinking.
It was from his gentle character that Crimthan, the great and admirable
son of the House of Neill, was called Columba, a fitting name for him
who was truly a dove of peace to the wild Hebrides. In Ireland this good
man is generally called St. Columkill, St. Columb of the cell, or
monastery, because of the numbers of these centres of Christian
instruction founded by him, and he is thus distinguished from a second
Columb, called after him. He has, indeed, left strong traces on the
nomenclature of the country that he evangelized. Colin, so frequent
among the Scots of all ranks, is the direct descendant of Columba,
though it is often confounded with the French Colin, from Nicolas, who
is the chief Colin of modern Arcadia, and perhaps has the best right to
the feminine invention of Colinette. Besides this, it was the frequent
custom to be called Gillie-colum and Maol-colm, the disciple, or
shaveling, of Columb, from whence arose Malcolm, one of the most
national of Scottish names. Colan, probably called after the patron
saint of the place, was married at St. Columb Magna, in Cornwall, in
1752; but earlier it was Columb for men, Columba for women, both now
disused.
Columbanus, another great Irish missionary saint, was probably called,
after old Latin custom, by the adoptive formed from Columba. His
influence on the Continent, newly broken and almost heathenized by the
Teutonic invasions, was so extensive, reaching as it did from Brittany
to Switzerland, and still marked by the relics of Irish art in the books
of the monasteries of his foundation, that we wonder not to find more
traces of his name. His day, November 1st, is called by the Germans St.
Colman’s, and it is thought that the surnames Kohl and Kohlmann are
remains of his name, as well as the French Coulon. So, too, the Genoese
Colon was by historians identified with Columbus, when they Latinized
the mariner who “gave a new world to Spain.” Two spots in that new world
bear his name, that in Terra Firma, where he landed on his third voyage,
and the bishopric newly founded in Vancouver’s Isle.
The Slavonian dove is Golubica, a cognate word to this and sometimes
used as a name.[77]
SECTION V.—_Durans._
Durans (enduring, or lasting) formed the name which no reader of _Don
Quixote_ can forget as that of the enduring hero, lying on his back on
the marble tomb, in the cave of Montesinos, who uttered that admirable
sentiment, “Patience, cousin, and shuffle the cards!”
The name of Durandus prevailed in other countries; and Durand, to our
surprise, figures constantly in Domesday Book, probably having belonged
to French immigrants. A Durand and Marta, who jointly owned a house at
Winchester in the reign of Stephen, were almost certainly Provençal,
since St. Martha was hardly known except in the scene of her exploit
with the dragon. Durand Grimbald is a specimen of a French Christian and
English surname then prevailing. Durandus is the Latinized surname of
the great French lawyer of the middle ages; and Durandus again is
familiar to the lover of mediæval symbolism; but none of these can
approach in honour the great Florentine Durante Alighieri, whose glory,
_lasting_ like that of Homer and Shakespeare, has made his contracted
appellation of Dante stand alone and singly.
-----
Footnote 77:
Butler; Hanmer, _Ireland_; Chalmer, _Caledonia_; Montalembert;
_Ossianic Society_; Pott; Michaelis.
SECTION VI.—_Names of Thankfulness._
A great race of Christian names were fabricated, in Latin, after the
pattern of the Greek Theophilus, Theophorus, &c., though hardly with
equal felicity, and chiefly in the remoter provinces of the West, where
Latin was, probably, a matter of scholarship. Thus, in the province of
Africa, we find, just before the Vandal invasion, Quodvultdeus (what God
wills) and Deogratias (thank God), neither of which had much chance of
surviving. Deusvult (God wills), Deusdedit (God gave), and Adeodatus,
lived nearer to Italy; indeed, Deusdedit was a pope. Adeodatus or
Deodatus (God given) was a Gallic saint, called, commonly, St. Die, and
with the other form, Donum Dei, continued in use for children whose
birth was hailed with special joy. When Louis VII. of France at length
had a son, after being “afflicted with a multitude of daughters,” he
called him Philippe Dieudonné; but this grateful name was discarded in
favour of the imperial Auguste, by which he is distinguished. Deodati di
Gozo, the Knight of Rhodes who slew the dragon, better kept his
baptismal name, and it often occurs in Italian history, and is an
Italian surname. Deodatus is an occasional name only found in England.
The old French knightly name, Dudon, called in Italian romantic poetry
Dudone, is, probably, a contraction of Dieudonné, as the surnames
Donnedieu, Dondey, Dieudé, can hardly fail to be. Deicola (a worshipper
of God) was invented for a pupil of St. Columbanus, who followed his
master to France, lived as a hermit, and became the patron-saint of
Franche Comté, where boys are still called, after him, Diel or Diez, and
girls, Dielle. There is likewise an Italian name Diotisalvi, or God save
thee, only to be paralleled by some of our Puritan devices.
To these may be added Donatus (given), which evidently was bestowed in
the same spirit, though not mentioning the giver. It occurs, like most
of this class, in the African province, and belonged to the bishop of
Numidia, whose rigour against the penitent lapsed made him the founder
of the exclusive schismatical church named after him. Another Donatus
was St. Jerome’s tutor; and, before his time, several martyrs had been
canonized by his name, and it seems to have prevailed in Gaul and
Britain. In Wales it was pronounced Dynawd; and, by the time St.
Augustine came to England and disputed with the Cymric clergy, the
history of the word had been so far forgotten that Dynawd, abbot of
Bangor-Iscoed, was Latinized into Dionothius. Donat, or Donath, is found
in Ireland, but it was probably there adopted for the sake of its
resemblance to the native Gaelic Don, meaning brown-haired. Donato,
likewise, at one time prevailed in Italy, and produced the frequent
surname, Donati. Donnet was a feminine in Cornwall in 1755.
Desiderius, or Desideratus, was of the same date, and given, in like
manner, to express the longing desire or love of the parents towards the
child. In fact the word _desiderium_, in Latin, more properly means
affection than wish, as we explain its derivatives in modern languages.
The Desiderius of history was a brother of Magnentius, the opponent of
Constantine, and the Desiderius of the calendar was a bishop of Bourges,
in the seventh century; but, in the mean time, the last Lombard king of
Italy either had become so Italianized as to adopt it, or else used it
as a translation of one of the many Teuton forms of Leofric, Leofwin,
&c., for he was known to Italy as Desiderio, to France as Didier; and
his daughter, whom Charlemagne treated so shamefully, was Desiderata,
Desirata, or Desirée. The latter has continued in use in France, as well
as Didier and Didiere; and the masculine likewise appears in the
Slavonic countries as Zljeko, and among the Lithuanians as Didders or
Sidders.
The most learned men were not perfect philologists in the sixteenth
century, when they played the most curious tricks with their names.
Erasmus began life as Gerhard Gerhardson, signifying, in fact, firm
spear, a meaning little suited to his gentle, timid nature. He was
better pleased to imagine _ger_ to be the German all, and _ard_ to be
_erd_ (earth or nature); of this all-nature he made out that affection
embraced all, therefore he called himself Desiderius, and then, wanting
another equally sounding epithet, he borrowed Erasmus from the Greek,
where it had named an ancient bishop. It came from ἐράω (to love); and
thus Desiderius Erasmus, the appellation by which he has come down to
posterity, was an ingenious manufacture out of the simple Gerard.[78]
-----
Footnote 78:
Pott; Butler; Sismondi; _Life of Erasmus_.
SECTION VII.—_Crescens, &c._
The verb _cresco_ (to increase or grow) has descended into all our
modern languages. It has formed the French _croître_ (to grow), our
_increase_ and _decrease_, and our _crescent_. Its participle was
already adopted as a name in St. Paul’s time, at least it is thus that
his companion, Κρήσκης, is rendered, who had departed to Dalmatia; and a
later Crescens is said to have brought about the death of Justin Martyr,
in the second century. The occasion, however, of the modern name was one
of the many holy women of Sicily—Crescentia, a Christian nurse, who
bred-up her charge, the infant Vitus, in her own faith, fled with him to
Italy, and was there seized and martyred, under Diocletian. Crescenzia,
and the masculine, Crescenzio, prevail in both Naples and Sicily; and
the election of the Angevin-Sicilian Carobert, to the throne of Hungary,
carried the former thither as Czenzi; whence Bavaria took it as Cresenz,
Zenz, Zenzl.
SECTION VIII.—_Military Names._
In the slender thread of connection with which we try to unite names
given in the same spirit, we put together those that seem to have
accorded with the tastes of the Roman army.
Thus _eligo_ (to choose), which originally caused the title of Legion,
was in the participle _electus_, and thus led to words most familiar to
us in the state as political terms, to the theological term elect or
chosen for salvation.
There is some doubt whether St. John’s third epistle be indeed to a lady
called Electa, or to an elect lady, as it is in our version; but when a
name from this source next appears, it is among the cultivated
Gallo-Romans, when they had gradually worked their way to consideration
among the rude Franks, who had nearly trodden out civilization in the
conquered country. Eligius was the great goldsmith bishop who designed
King Dagobert’s throne, made shrines for almost all the distinguished
relics in France, and doubtless enjoyed the fame of having made many
more than could have come from his hand. He is popularly called St.
Eloy, and some derive from him the Provençal Aloys; but this is far more
probably a southern form of Hlodweh, or Louis.
The Roman veterans were termed _emeriti_ (having deserved) from _mereor_
(to deserve). From these old soldiers must have come the name
Emerentius, which is to be found as Emerenz in Germany, and Emérence in
France.
St. Emerentiana was said to have been a catechumen, who was killed by
soldiers who found her praying on the tomb of St. Agnes. Her name
(probably her relics) passed to Denmark, and to Lithuania, where it is
called Marenze, and Embrance is the old English feminine.
The very contrary, Pacifico (peaceful), is a modern Italian and Spanish
name—as Peace is Puritan.
Here, too, we place that which the soldier most esteems—_honos_, or
_honor_. Honor was a deity in later Rome, but no old classical names
were made from him, and Honorius first appears as one of the
appellations of the Spanish father of the great Theodosius; then again
inherited by that imbecile being, his grandson, the last genuine Roman
emperor; also by a niece, called Justa Grata Honoria, who dishonoured
all her three honourable names. Yet some lingering sense of allegiance
to the last great family that gave rulers to the empire perpetuated
their names in the countries where they had reigned; and the Welsh Ynyr
long remained as a relic of Honorius, in Wales. Honorine was a Neustrian
maiden, slain in a Danish invasion, and regarded as a martyr; so that
Honorine prevails in France and Germany, and one of the favourite modern
Irish names, is Onora, Honor, or in common usage, Norah.
Russia has the masculine as Gonorij; Lithuania, the feminine cut down
into Arri. There were two Gallic bishops named Honoratus, whence the
French Honoré, which has named a suburb of Paris, and we had one early
archbishop of Canterbury so called, from whom we have derived no names,
though Honor was revived in England in the days of names of abstract
qualities, and Honoria was rather in fashion in the last century,
probably as an ornamental form of the Irish Norah.[79]
-----
Footnote 79:
Butler; Smith, _Antiquities_; Le Beau.
SECTION IX.—_Names of Gladness._
A large class of names of joy belonging to the later growth of the Latin
tongue may be thrown together; and first those connected with the word
_jocus_, which seems to have arisen from the inarticulate shout of
ecstasy that all know, but none can spell, ἰουας (in Greek), and with us
joy, the French _joie_, and Italian _gioia_.
The original cry is preserved in the Swiss _jodel_, or shout of the
mountaineers, and this indeed seems to be the sound naturally rising
from the cries that peal from one hill to another, for here the Eastern
meets the Western tongue. The sound at which the walls of Jericho fell,
was called the Yobêl; and the fifty years' festival of release,
inaugurated with trumpet sounds, was the Yobêl (the jubilee). _Jubilo_
(to call aloud), already a Latin word, also from the sound of the shout
and exultation, had been connected with it even before the _annum
jubileum_ had come in from the Hebrews.
_Giubilare_ and _Giubileo_ made themselves at home in Italian, while
German, either from the Latin or its own resources, took its own word
_jubel_. Giubileo was probably born in the year of a jubilee.
From _jocus_ came Jodocus, an Armorican prince, belonging to a family
which migrated from Wales. He refused the sovereignty of Brittany, to
live as a hermit in Ponthieu, where he is still remembered as St. Josse,
and named at least three villages, perhaps also forming Josselin; but in
his native Brittany, Judicael, an old princely name, seems to have been
the form of his commemoration. In _Domesday Book_ we find Judicael
_Venator_ already a settler in England before the conquest, probably
brought by the Confessor. Germany accepted this as a common peasant
name, as Jost, or Jobs; Bavaria, as Jobst, or Jodel; Italy, as Giodoco;
and the feminine, Jodoca, is not yet extinct in Wales.
Neither is the very similar Jocosa, once not uncommon among English
ladies, by whom it was called Joyce. The contractions of this name are,
however, almost inextricably confused with those of Justus. Joy stands
alone as one of our abstract virtue names.
Another word very nearly related to our own glad, is _gaudium_ (joy),
still preserved in the adjective gaudy, and in gaudy (the festival day)
of a college. It named St. Gaudentius, whence the Italian Gaudenzio, and
the old German name of Geila.
_Hilaris_ (cheerful) formed Hilarius, whence was called the great doctor
of the Gallican Church, known to us as St. Hilary, of Poitiers; and to
France, as St. Hilaire. A namesake was the Neustrian hermit who made
Jersey his abode, and thus named St. Helier; and moreover the Welsh
called those who traditionally had been named Hilarius, first Ilar, then
Elian; and then thought they had found their patron in the Greek
Ælianus.
┌────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ Italian. │ Russian. │ Frisian. │
│Hilary │Hilaire │Ilario │Gilarij │Laris │
└────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┘
Portugal likewise has Hilariāo, and Russia Hilarion; and the feminine,
Hilaria, was once used in England, and is still the Russian Ilaria, and
Slovak Milari.
_Lætus_ (glad) formed the substantive _lætitia_, which was turned into a
name by the Italians as Letizia, probably during the thirst for novelty
that prevailed in the Cinque-cento; and then, likewise, Lettice seems to
have arisen in England, and must have become known in Ireland when
Lettice Knollys was the wife of the Earl of Essex. Thence Letitia, or
Letty, have been common among Irishwomen.
Prosperus, from the Latin _prosper_, formed of _pro_ and _spero_, so as
to mean favourable hope, formed the mediæval Roman Prospero, of which
Shakespeare must have heard through the famous condottiere, Prospero
Colonna, when he bestowed it upon his wondrous magician Duke of
Milan.[80]
-----
Footnote 80:
Kitto, _Bible Cyclopædia_; Butler; Pott; Michaelis; Dugdale; Petre
Chevalier.
SECTION X.—_Jus._
_Jus_ (right), and _juro_ (to swear), are intimately connected, and have
derivatives in all languages, testifying to the strong impression made
by the grand system of Roman law.
_Justus_, the adjective which we render as just, named the Gallic St.
Justus, or St. Juste, of Lyons; also the Dutch Jost; Italian Giusto; and
Portuguese Justo.
Justa was a virgin martyr, but her fame was far exceeded by that of
Justina, who suffered at Padua, and became the patron saint of that
city, whose university made its peculiarities everywhere known. The
purity of St. Justina caused her emblem to be the unicorn, since that
creature is said to brook no rule but that of a spotless maiden; and
poison always became manifest at the touch of its horn, for which the
twisted weapon of the narwhal did duty in collections. The great battle
of Lepanto was fought on St. Justina’s day, and the victory was by the
Venetians attributed to her intercession; so that Giustina at Venice,
Justine in France, came for the time into the foremost ranks of
popularity.
The noted Justinus, whom we call Justin Martyr, was one of the greatest
of the early writers of the Church, meeting the heathen philosophers
upon their own ground in argument, and bequeathing to us our first
positive knowledge of Christian observances. From him the name was
widely spread in the Church; and Yestin was one of the many old Roman
names that lingered on long among the Welsh. Justin was frequent in
France and Germany, and has become confused in its contractions with
Jodocus. Josse and Josselin seem to have been used for both in France;
and from the latter we obtained the Joscelin, or Joycelin, once far more
common in England than at present. The Swiss Jost and Jostli are
likewise doubtful between the two names.
In Ireland, the name of Justin has been adopted in the M'Carthy family,
as a translation of the native Saerbrethach (the noble judge).[81]
-----
Footnote 81:
Cave, _Lives of the Fathers_; Jameson; _Irish Society_.
SECTION XI.—_Names of Holiness._
The infants whom Herod massacred at Bethlehem were termed in Latin
_innocentes_, from _in_ (not), and _noceo_ (to hurt). These harmless
ones were revered by the Church from the first, and honoured on the
third day after Christmas as martyrs in deed. The relics of the Holy
Innocents were great favourites in the middle ages, and are to be found
as frequently as griffins' eggs in the list of treasures at Durham; but
names taken from them are almost exclusively Roman. A lawyer of the time
of Constantine was called Innocentius, and a Pope contemporary with St.
Chrysostom handed it on to his successors, many of whom have
subsequently assumed this title, and are called by their subjects
Innocenzio.
Pius, applied at first to faithful filial love, as in the case of Æneas,
assumed a higher sense with Christianity, and from being an occasional
agnomen, became the name of a martyr Pope, under Antoninus Pius, and
thus passed on to be one of the papal appellations most often in use,
called Pio at Rome, and generally left to the pontiffs, though the
feminine Pia is occasionally used in Italy. The Puritans indulged in
Piety, and it still sometimes occurs in England, as well as Patience and
Prudence, though the givers are little aware that there were saints long
ago thus called, St. Patiens, of Lyons, and St. Prudentius, the great
Christian poet of primitive times.
In like manner we have Modesty, or Moddy, as a Puritan name in England,
taken from the abstract virtue, while the peasant women of Southern
France are christened Modestine, probably in honour of a Roman martyr
called Modestus, who was put to death at Bezières. Indeed, Modestinus
and Modestus were both in use even in the earlier Roman times, and were
understood by those who first bore them not in the sense of
‘shamefastness,’ but of moderation or discretion, the word coming from
_modus_ (a measure).
To these, perhaps, should be added that which Italy and Spain have
presumed to form from that title of the Blessed Saviour, Salvatore, or
Salvador, the latter more common in South America than in the Old World.
_Cœlum_ (heaven) formed, in late Latin, _Cœlestinus_, the name of one of
the popes who was martyred, and afterwards canonized, and imitated by
several successors, whence the French learned the two modern feminines,
Celeste and Celestine.
_Restitutus_ (restored), from _re_ and _sisto_, seems as if it could be
given only in a Christian sense, as to one restored to a new life; yet
its first owner known to us was a friend of Pliny, and an orator under
Trajan. It came to Britain, and is found in Wales as Restyn.
Melior (better), is a Cornish female name, probably an imitation of some
old Keltic one. It is found as early as 1574.
SECTION XII.—_Ignatius._
Ignatius is a difficult name to explain. Its associations are with the
Eastern Church; but it occurs at a time when Latin names prevailed as
much as Greek ones in the Asiatic portions of the Roman empire, and thus
the Latin _ignis_ (fire) is, perhaps, the most satisfactory derivation,
though it is not unlikely that the word may come from the source both of
this and of the Greek ἁγνός, purity and flame being always linked
together in Indo-European ideas.
The birth-place of the great St. Ignatius is unknown, but tradition has
marked him as the child whom our Lord set in the midst of His disciples,
and he is known to have been the pupil of St. John, ordained by St.
Peter, and at the end of his long episcopate at Antioch, he was martyred
at Rome by command of Trajan, writing on his last journey the Epistles
that are among the earliest treasures of the Church. So much is his
memory revered in his own city, that to the present day the schismatic
patriarchs of Antioch of the Monophysite sect uniformly assume the name
of Ignatius on their election to their see.
The Greek Church has continued to make much use of this name, called in
Russia Ignatij, Eegnatie, or Ignascha; and in the Slovak dialect cut
short into Nace. The Spanish Church likewise adopted it in early times,
and among the Navarrese counts and lords of Biscay, as far back as 750,
we encounter both men and women called Iñigo and Iñiga, or more commonly
Eneco and Eneca, used indifferently with the other form, and then
Latinized into Ennicus and Ennica.
Navarre preserved the name, and it was a Navarrese gentleman, Don Iñigo
Loyola, who, while recovering from his wounds, after the siege of
Pampeluna, so read the lives of the saints as to become penetrated with
enthusiasm as fiery as his name. Where the Jesuits have had their will
may be read in the frequency of this renewed Iñigo, or Ignace, as it was
in France, Ignaz in Roman Catholic Germany. It is Bohemia, where the
once strong spirit of Protestantism was trodden out in blood and flame,
that Ignaz is common enough to have turned into Hynek, and in Bavaria
that it becomes Nazi and Nazrl.
Our English architect, whose name is associated with the unhappy medley
of Greek and Gothic which was the Stuart imitation of the Cinque-cento
style, was a Roman Catholic, and was no doubt christened in honour of
Loyola. The few stray specimens of Inigo to be found occasionally in
England are generally traceable to him; one occurs at St. Columb Major,
in 1740.[82]
-----
Footnote 82:
Michaelis; Cave; Stanley, _Lectures on the Eastern Church_; Mariana,
_Istoria de España_; Anderson, _Royal Genealogies_.
SECTION XIII.—_Pater._
The word _pater_, which, as we have already shown, is one of those that
make the whole world kin, was the source of _patria_ (the father-land),
and of far too many words in all tongues to recount. _Patres Conscripti_
was the title of the senators, and the _patricii_, the privileged class
of old Rome, were so called as descendants from the original thirty
_patres_. _Patricius_ (the noble) was as a title given half in jest to
the young Roman-British Calpurnius, who was stolen by Irish pirates in
his youth, and when ransomed, returned again to be the apostle of his
captors, and left a name passionately revered in that warm-hearted land.
The earlier Irish, however, were far too respectful to their apostle to
call themselves by his name, but were all Mael-Patraic, the shaveling,
or pupil of Patrick, or Giolla-Patraic, the servant of Patrick. This
latter, passing to Scotland with the mission of St. Columba, turned into
the Gospatric, or Cospatrick, the boy (gossoon or _garçon_) of Patrick,
Earls of Galloway; and in both countries the surname Gilpatrick, or
Kilpatrick, has arisen from it.
Afterwards these nations left off the humble prefix, and came to calling
themselves Phadrig in Ireland, Patrick in Scotland; the former so
universally as to render Pat and Paddy the national soubriquet. Latterly
a bold attempt has been made in Ireland to unite Patrick and Peter as
the same, so as to have both patron saints at once, but the Irish will
hardly persuade any one to accept it but themselves. The Scotch Pate, or
Patie, is frequent, though less national; and the feminine, Patricia,
seems to be a Scottish invention. The fame of the curious cave, called
St. Patrick’s Purgatory, brought pilgrims from all quarters, and
Patrice, Patrizio, and Patricio, all are known in France, Italy, and
Spain, the latter the most frequently. Even Russia has Patrikij.
Paternus (the fatherly) was the Latin name of two Keltic saints, one
Armorican, the other of Avranches, where he is popularly called Saint
Pari.[83]
SECTION XIV.—_Grace, &c._
The history of the word _grace_ is curious. We are apt to confuse it
with the Latin _gracilis_ (slender), with which it has no connection,
and which only in later times acquired the sense of elegant, whereas it
originally meant lean, or wasted, and came from a kindred word to the
Greek γράω (grao), to consume.
_Grates_, on the contrary, were thanks, whence what was done _gratiis_,
or _gratis_, was for thanks and nothing else, according to our present
use of the word—whence our gratuitous. So again _gratus_ applied to him
who was thankful, and to what inspired thanks; and _gratia_ was favour,
or bounty, and was used to render the Greek χάρις; and thus have the
Greek Charities come down to us as Graces. Then, too, he was _gratiosus_
who possessed the free spirit of bounty and friendliness, exactly
expressed by our gracious; but, in Italy, it was degraded into mere
lively good-nature, till _un grazioso_ is little better than a buffoon;
and _gracieux_ in France means scarcely more than engaging.
_Gratia_ was used by early Latin writers for divine favour, whence the
theological meaning of grace. And from _grates_ (thanks) comes our
expression of “saying grace before meat.”
The English name of Grace is intended as the abstract theological term,
and was adopted with many others of like nature at the Reformation. Its
continuation after the dying away of most of its congeners is owing to
the Irish, who thought it resembled their native _Grainé_ (love), and
thereupon adopted it so plentifully that Grace or Gracie is generally to
be found wherever there is an Irish connection.
Spain likewise has Engracia in honour of a maiden cruelly tortured to
death at Zaragoza, in 304; and Italy, at least in Lamartine’s pretty
romance, knows Graziella.
Gratianus (favourable) rose among the later Romans, and belonged to the
father and to the son of the Emperor Valens, and it left the Italians
Graziano for the benefit of Nerissa’s merry husband.
_Pulcher_ (fair) turned into a name in late days, and came as Pulcheria
to that noble lady on whom alone the spirit of her grandfather
Theodosius in all his family descended. She was canonized, and Pulcheria
thus was a recognized Greek name; but it has been little followed except
in France, where Chérie is the favourite contraction.
_Spes_ (hope) is the only one of the Christian graces in Latin who has
formed any modern names; and these are the Italian Sperata (hoped for),
and Speranza (hope). Esperanza in Spain, and Espérance in France, have
been made Christian names.
_Delicia_ (delightful) is an English name used in numerous families, and
Languedoc has the corresponding Mesdelices, shortened into Médé, so that
Mademoiselle Mesdélices is apt to be called Misé Médé in her own
country. In Italy, Delizia is used.
_Dulcis_ (sweet, or mild) is explained by Spanish authors to have been
the origin of their names of Dulcia, Aldoncia, Aldonça, Adoncia, all
frequent among the Navarrese and Catalonian princesses from 900 to 1200,
so that it was most correct of Don Quixote to translate his Aldonça
Lorenço into the peerless Dulcinea del Toboso. Probably the Moorish
article was added by popular pronunciation in Spain, while Dulcia
lingered in the South of France, became Douce, and came to England as
Ducia in the time of the Conqueror, then turned into Dulce, and
by-and-by embellished into Dulcibella, and then by Henry VIII.’s time
fell into Dowsabel, a name borne by living women, as well as by the wife
of Dromio. Dousie Moor, widow, was buried in 1658, at Newcastle.[84]
-----
Footnote 83:
Arnold; Hanmer; _Irish Society_; Lower.
Footnote 84:
Facciolati; Butler; Bowles, _Don Quixote con Annotaciones_.
SECTION XV.—_Vinco._
The verb _vinco_ (to conquer), the first syllable the same as our _win_,
formed the present participle _vincens_, whence the name Vincentius
(conquering), which was borne by two martyrs of the tenth persecution,
one at Zaragoza, the other at Agen; and later by one of the great
ecclesiastical authors at Lerius, in Provence. Thus Vincent, Vincente,
Vincenzio, were national in France, Spain, and Italy, before the more
modern saints, Vincente Ferrer, and Vincent de St. Paul, had enhanced
its honours.
┌────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ Spanish. │ Italian. │ German. │
│Vincent │Vincent │Vincente │Vincenzio │Vincenz │
├────────────┼────────────┼────────────┼────────────┼────────────┤
│ Bavarian. │ Russian. │ Polish. │ Bohemian. │ Hungarian. │
│Zenz │Vikentij │Vincentij │Vincenc │Vincze │
│Zenzel │ │ │ │ │
└────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┘
Even the modern Greeks have it as Binkentios.
Conquest is a word found in all classes of names,—the Sieg of the
Teuton, the Nikos of the Greek.
The past participle is _victus_; whence the conqueror is Victor—a name
of triumph congenial to the spirit of early Christianity, and borne by
an early pope as well as by more than one martyr, from whom Vittore
descended as rather a favourite Italian name, though not much used
elsewhere till the French Revolution, when Victor came into fashion in
France. Tollo is the Roman contraction, as is Tolla of the feminine.
The original Victoria was a Roman virgin, martyred in the Decian
persecution; whence the Italian Vittoria, borne by the admirable
daughter of the Colonne, from whom France and Germany seem to have
learned it, since after her time Victoire and Victorine became very
common in France; and it was from Germany that we learnt the Victoria
that will, probably, sound hereafter like one of our most national
names.
SECTION XVI.—_Vita._
_Vita_ (life) was used by the Roman Christians to express their hopes of
eternity; and an Italian martyr was called Vitalis, whence the modern
Italian Vitale and German Veitel.
Vitalianus, a name formed out of this, is hardly to be recognized in the
Welsh form of Gwethalyn.
Vivia, from _vivus_ (alive), was the first name of Vivia Perpetua, the
noble young matron of Carthage, whose martyrdom, so circumstantially
told, is one of the most grand and most affecting histories in the
annals of the early Church. Her other name of Perpetua has, however,
been chosen by her votaresses.
Vivianus and Viviana were names of later Roman days, often, in the West,
pronounced with a _B_, and we find a Christian maiden, named Bibiana,
put to death by a Roman governor, under Julian the Apostate, under
pretence of her having destroyed one of his eyes by magic, a common
excuse for persecution in the days of pretended toleration. A church was
built over her remains as early as 465, and, considering the accusation
against her, it is curious to find Vyvyan or Viviana the enchantress of
King Arthur’s court.
Vivian has been a name for both sexes, and a Scottish Vivian Wemyss,
bishop of Fife in 615, was canonized, and known to Rome as St. Bibianus.
Vitus was the child whom St. Crescentia bred up a Christian, and who
died in Lucania with her. His day was the 15th of June, and had the
reputation of entailing thirty days of similar weather to its own.
Vitus is Vita, in Bohemia; Vida, in Hungary; Veicht and Veidl, in
Bavaria; and is used to Latinize Guy; but it is probable that this last
is truly Celtic, and it shall be treated of hereafter.[85]
-----
Footnote 85:
Fleury, _Histoire Ecclesiastique_; Butler; Villemarque, _Romans de la
Table Ronde_; Roscoe, _Boiardo_; Brand, _Popular Antiquities_; Grimm;
Michaelis.
SECTION XVII.—_Wolves and Bears._
The Roman _lupus_ had truly a right to stand high in Roman estimation,
considering the good offices of the she-wolf to the founder, and the
wolf and the twins will continue an emblem as long as Rome stands, in
spite of the explanation that declared that the nurse was either named
Lupa, or so called, because the Roman word applied to a woman of bad
character, and in spite of the later relegation of the entire tale to
the realms of mythology. Lupus was accordingly a surname in the Rutilian
gens, and was borne by many other Romans, thus descending to the three
Romanized countries. St. Lupus, or Loup of Troyes, curiously enough
succeeded St. Ursus, or Ours, and was notable both for his confutation
of the Pelagian heresy, and for having saved his diocese by his
intercession with Attila. Another sainted Lupus, or Loup, was Bishop of
Lyons. Italy has the Christian name of Lupo; Portugal, Lobo; Spain,
Lope. The great poet, Lope de Vega, might be translated, the wolf of the
meadow.
The bear was not in any remarkable favour at Rome; but the semi-Romans
adopted Ursus as rather a favourite among their names. Ursus and Ursinus
were early Gallic bishops; whence the Italian Orso and Orsino, the
latter becoming the surname of the celebrated Roman family of Orsini.
Ours is very common in Switzerland, in compliment to the bears of Berne.
An old myth of the little bear and the stars seems to have been turned
into the legend of Cologne, of Ursula, the Breton maiden who, on her way
to her betrothed British husband, was shipwrecked on the German coast,
and slain by Attila, King of the Huns, with 11,000 virgin companions.
Some say that the whole 11,000 rose out of the V. M. for virgin martyr;
others give her one companion, named Undecimilla, and suppose that this
was translated into the 11,000. Skulls and bones, apparently from an old
cemetery, are shown at Cologne, and their princess’s name has been
followed by various ladies.
┌───────────────────────┬─────────────────────┬───────────────────────┐
│ French. │ Swiss. │ Italian. │
│Ours │Ours │Orso │
│ │Orsvch │Ursilo │
│ │ │Ursello │
├───────────────────────┴─────────────────────┴───────────────────────┤
│ FEMININE │
├────────────────┬─────────────────┬─────────────────┬────────────────┤
│ English. │ French. │ Spanish. │ Portuguese. │
│Ursula │Ursule │Ursola │Ursula │
│Ursel │ —————————— │ │ │
│Ursley │ Dutch. │ │ │
│Nullie │Orseline │ │ │
├────────────────┼─────────────────┼─────────────────┼────────────────┤
│ Italian. │ German. │ Swiss. │ Russian. │
│Orsola │Ursel │Orscheli │Urssula │
│ │Urschel │Urschel │ │
│ │ │Urschla │ │
├────────────────┼─────────────────┼─────────────────┼────────────────┤
│ Polish. │ Slavonic. │ Lusatian. │ Hungarian. │
│Urszula │Ursa │Wursla │Orsolya │
│ —————————— │ │Hoscha │ │
│ Bohemian. │ │Oscha │ │
│Worsula │ │ │ │
├────────────────┴─────────────────┴─────────────────┴────────────────┤
│ DIMINUTIVE. │
├───────────────────────┬─────────────────────┬───────────────────────┤
│ Roman. │ French. │ Polish. │
│Ursino │Ursin │Ursyn │
└───────────────────────┴─────────────────────┴───────────────────────┘
SECTION XVIII.—_Names from Places and Nations._
The fashion of forming names from the original birthplace was
essentially Roman. Many cognomina had thus risen; but a few more must be
added of too late a date to fall under the usual denominations of the
earlier classical names.
The island of Cyprus must at some time have named the family of Thascius
Cyprianus, that great father of African birth, who was so noted as
Bishop of Carthage; but though Cyprian is everywhere known, it is
nowhere common, and is barely used at Rome as Cipriano. In 1811, Ciprian
was baptized in Durham cathedral; but then he was the son of the
divinity lecturer, which accounts for the choice.
Neapolis, from the universal Greek word for _new_, and the Greek πόλις
(a city), was the term bestowed as frequently by the Greeks as Newtown
is by Keltic influence, or Newby and Newburgh by Teutonic. One Neapolis
was the ancient Sychar, and another was that which is still known as
Napoli or Naples.
From some of these ‘new cities’ was called an Alexandrian martyr, whose
canonized fame caused him to be adopted as patron by one of the Roman
family of Orsini, in the course of the twelfth century. Neapolion,
Neapolio, or Napoleone, continued to be used in that noble house, and
spread from them to other parts of Italy, and thence to Corsica, where
he received it who was to raise it to become a word of terror to all
Europe, and of passionate enthusiasm to France, long after, in
school-boy fashion, at Brienne, its owner had been discontented with its
singularity.
The city of Sidon formed the name Sidonius, which was borne by Caius
Sollius Apollinaris Sidonius, one of the most curious characters of the
dark ages, a literary and married bishop of Clermont, in the fifth
century, an honest and earnest man, but so little according to the
ordinary type of ecclesiastical sanctity, that nothing is more
surprising than to find him canonized, and in possession of the 23rd of
August for a feast day. It is curious, too, that his namesakes should be
ladies. Sidonie is not uncommon in France; and, in 1449, Sidonia, or
Zedena, is mentioned as daughter to George Podiebrand, of Silesia; and
Sidonia, of Bavaria, appears in 1488.
From the city of Lydia was named the seller of purple who hearkened to
St. Paul at Thyatira, and to her is owing the prevalence of Lydia among
English women delighting in Scriptural names.
To these should be added, as belonging to the same class, though the
word is Greek, Anatolius, meaning a native of Anatolia, the term applied
in later times by the Greeks to Asia Minor, and meaning the sunrise. St.
Anatolius, of Constantinople, was one of the sacred poets of the Greek
Church; and after his death, in 458, his name and its feminine,
Anatolia, became frequent in the countries where his hymns were used.
A Phocian is the most probable explanation of the name of Φοκας
(Phocas), though much older in Greece than the date of most of those
that have been here given. To us it is associated with the monster who
usurped the imperial throne, and murdered Maurice and his sons; but it
had previously belonged to a martyred gardener, under Diocletian, whose
residence in Pontus made him well known to the Byzantine Church; and
thus Phokas is still found among Greeks, and Foka in Russia.
The Romans called their enemies in North Africa Mauri, from the Greek
ἀμαυρός, which at first was twilight or dim, but came afterwards to
signify dark, or black.
Maura was a Gallican maiden of the ninth century, whose name, it would
seem highly probable, might have been the Keltic Mohr (great), still
current in Ireland and the Highlands. She led a life of great
mortification, died at twenty-three, was canonized, and becoming known
to the Venetians, a church in her honour named the Ionian island of
Santa Maura, which had formerly been Leucadia. There was, however, a
genuine Greek St. Maura, the wife of Timothy, a priest, with whom she
was crucified in the Thebaid, under Maximian. She is honoured by the
Eastern Church on the 3rd of May, and is the subject of a poem of Mr.
Kingsley’s. From her, many Greek girls bear the name of Maura, and
Russian ones of Mavra and Mavruscha.
Mauritius was naturally a term with the Romans for a man of Moorish
lineage. The first saint of this name was the Tribune of the Theban
legion, all Christians, who perished to a man under the blows of their
fellow-soldiers, near the foot of the great St. Bernard. To this brave
man is due the great frequency of Maurits, in Switzerland, passing into
Maurizio on the Italian border, and Moritz on the German. The old French
was Meurisse, the old English, Morris; but both, though still extant as
surnames, have as Christian names been assimilated to the Latin
spelling, and become Maurice. The frequent Irish Morris, and the once
common Scottish Morris, are the imitation of the Gaelic Moriertagh, or
sea warrior.
Meuriz is in use in Wales, and appears to be the genuine produce of
Maurice; but it is very difficult to disentangle the derivations from
the Moor, from ἀμαυρός, and from the Keltic _mohr_ (large) and _mör_
(the sea).
The Saxon Moritz, who played a double game between Charles V. and the
Protestant League, was brother-in-law to the great William the Silent,
and thus his name was transmitted to his nephew, the gallant champion of
the United Provinces, Maurice of Nassau, in whose honour the Dutch
bestowed the name of Mauritius upon their island settlement in the
Indian Ocean, and this title has finally gained the victory over the
native one of Cerine, and the French one of the Isle of Bourbon.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ Welsh. │ Breton. │ French. │
│Morris │Meuriz │Noris │Meurisse │
│Maurice │ │ │Maurice │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Italian. │ Spanish. │ German. │ Danish. │
│Maurizio │Mauricio │Moritz │Maurids │
│ │ │ │Morets │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Russian. │ Polish. │ Bohemian. │ Hungarian. │
│Moriz │Maurycij │Moric │Moricz │
│Mavrizij │ │ │ │
│Mavritij │ │ │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
Germanus cannot be reckoned otherwise than as one of the varieties of
names from countries given by the Romans. It does indeed come from the
two Teutonic words _gher_ (spear) and _mann_; but it cannot be classed
among the names compounded of _gher_, since the Romans were far from
thus understanding it, when, like Mauritius, it must have been inherited
by some ‘young barbarian’ whose father served in the Roman legions.
St. Germanus was greatly distinguished in Kelto-Roman Church history, as
having refuted Pelagius, and won the Hallelujah victory, to say nothing
of certain unsatisfactory miracles. We have various places named after
him, but it was the French who chiefly kept up his name, and gave it the
feminine Germaine, which was borne by that lady of the family of Foix,
who became the second wife of Fernando the Catholic by the name of
Germana. Jermyn has at times been used in England, and became a
surname.[86]
-----
Footnote 86:
Cave; Butler; _Revue des deux Mondes_; Le Beau, _Bas Empire_; Liddell
and Scott; Lower; _Les Vies des Saints_.
SECTION XIX.—_Town and Country._
Urbanus is one who dwells in _urbs_ (a city), a person whose courtesy
and statesmanship are assumed, as is shown by the words civil, from
_civis_ (a city), and polite, politic, polish, from the Greek πὸλις of
the same meaning; and thus Urbane conveys something of grace and
affability in contrast to rustic rudeness.
Urbanus is greeted by St. Paul; and another Urbanus was an early pope,
from whom it travelled into other tongues as Urbano, Urbani, and Urban.
┌──────────┬──────────┬──────────┬──────────┬──────────┬──────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ Roman. │ Russian. │ Slovak. │Hungarian.│
│Urban │Urbain │Urbano │Urvan │Verban │Orban │
│ │ │ │ │Banej │ │
└──────────┴──────────┴──────────┴──────────┴──────────┴──────────┘
In opposition to this word comes that for the rustic, _Pagus_,
signifying the country; the word that in Italian becomes _paese_, in
Spanish _pais_, in French _pays_. The Gospel was first preached in the
busy haunts of men, so that the earlier Christians were towns-folk, and
the rustics long continued heathen; whence Paganus, once simply a
countryman, became an idolater, a Pagan, and poetized into Paynim, was
absolutely bestowed upon the Turks and Saracens in the middle ages. In
the mean time, however, the rustic had come to be called _paesano_,
_pays_, _paysan_, and _peasant_, independently of his religion; and
Spain, in addition to her _payo_ (the countryman), had _paisano_ (the
lover of his country); and either in the sense of habitation or
patriotism, Pagano was erected into a Christian name in Italy, and Payen
in France; whence England took Payne or Pain, still one of the most
frequent surnames.
The two Latin words, _per_ (through) and _ager_ (a field), were the
source of _peregrinus_ (a traveller or wanderer), also the inhabitant of
the country as opposed to the Roman colonist. The same word in time came
to mean both a stranger, and above all, one on a journey to a holy
place, when such pilgrimages had become special acts of devotion, and
were growing into living allegories of the Christian life. This became a
Christian name in Italy, because a hermit, said to have been a prince of
Irish blood, settled himself in a lonely hut on one of the Apennines,
near Modena, and was known there as _il pellegrin_, as the Latin word
had become softened. He died in 643, and was canonized as St.
Peregrinus, or San Pellegrino; became one of the patrons of Modena and
Lucca, and had all the neighbouring spur of the Apennines called after
him. Pellegrino Pelligrini is a name that we find occurring in Italian
history; and when a son was born at Wesel, to Sir Richard Bertie and his
wife, the Duchess of Suffolk, while they were fleeing from Queen Mary’s
persecution, they named him Peregrine, “for that he was given by the
Lord to his pious parents in a strange land for the consolation of their
exile,” as says his baptismal register, and Peregrine in consequence
came into favour in the Bertie family; but in an old register the names
Philgram, Pilgerlam, and Pilggerlam, occur about 1603.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ Italian. │ German. │
│Peregrine │Pérégrin │Pellegrino │Piligrim │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
To these may perhaps be added the Italian Marino and Marina, given
perhaps casually to sea-side dwellers; and their Greek equivalents,
Pelagios and Pelagia, both of which are still used by the modern Greeks.
Pelagius was used by the Irish, or more properly Scottish, Morgan, as a
translation of his own name, and thus became tainted with the connection
of the Pelagian heresy; but it did not become extinct; and Pelayo was
the Spanish prince who first began the brave resistance that rendered
the mountains of the Asturias a nucleus for the new kingdom of Spain.
Some see in his name a sign that the Arian opinions of the Visigoths had
some hereditary influence, at least, in nomenclature; and, indeed, Ario
occurs long after as a Christian name; others consider Pelago’s
classical name to be a sign that the old Celto-Roman blood was coming to
the surface above the Gothic.
Switzerland likewise has this name cut down to Pelei, or Poli.[87]
-----
Footnote 87:
Butler; Michaelis.
SECTION XX.—_Flower Names._
Flower names seem to have been entirely unknown to the ancient Romans,
but the Latin language, in the mouths of more poetical races, has given
several graceful floral names, though none perhaps are quite free from
the imputation of being originally something far less elegant.
Thus, _oliva_ (the olive), the sign of peace and joy, is closely
connected with the Italian Oliviero; but it is much to be suspected that
it would never have blossomed into use, but for the Teutonic Olaf
(forefather’s relic). Oliviero, or Ulivieri, the paladin of Charlemagne,
may be considered as almost certainly a transmogrified Anlaf, or Olaf
(ancestor’s relic); and perhaps it is for this reason that his name is
one of the most frequently in use among all those of the circle of
paladins. He was a favourite hero of Pulci, and seems to have so nearly
approached Orlando in fame, as at least to be worthy of figuring in the
proverb of giving a Rowland for an Oliver. The middle ages made great
use of his name in France and England. Olier, as it was called at home
by the Breton knights, whom the French called Olivier, was the name of
the favourite brother of Du Guesclin, as well as of the terrible
Constable de Clisson. Oliver was frequent with English knights, and of
high and chivalrous repute, until the eminence of the Protector rendered
‘old Noll’ a word of hate and would-be scorn to the Cavaliers—an
association which it has never entirely overcome. The feminine was
probably first invented in Italy, but the Italian literature that flowed
in on us in the Tudor reigns brought it to us, and we were wise enough
to naturalize Olivia as Olive, a form that still survives in some parts
of the country.
Whether it is true that the “rose by any other name would smell as
sweet,” never appears to have been tried, for all countries seem to
express both the flower and its blushing tint by the same sound; and
even the Syriac name for the oleander (the rose-laurel), “the blossoms
red and bright” of the Lake of Tiberias, is _rodyon_.
The Greeks had their Rhoda, but the Romans never attained such a flight
of poetry as a floral name, and the rose-wreath would hardly deserve to
be relegated to a Latin root, were it not that the branches spread so
widely, that it is more convenient to start from this common stem, to
which all are bound by mutual resemblance; besides which, both the
saints of this name were of Romance nations. Still, I believe, that
though _their_ names were meant for roses when given to them, that the
first use of _hrôs_ among the Teutons was a meaning sometimes fame,
sometimes a horse—not the flower.
Rohais, or Roesia, most probably the French and Latin of _hrôs_ (fame),
or else from _hros_ (horse), is the first form in which the simple word
appears in England. Rohais, wife of Gilbert de Gaunt, died in 1156;
Roese de Lucy was wife of Fulbert de Dover, in the time of Henry II.;
Roesia was found at the same time among the De Bohuns and De Veres; and
some of these old Norman families must have carried it to Ireland, where
Rose is one of the most common of the peasant names. Rosel and Rosette
both occur at Cambrai between 900 and 1200.
During the twelfth century, probably among the Normans of Sicily, lived
Rosalia, “the darling of each heart and eye,” who, in her youth,
dedicated herself to a hermit life in a mountain grotto, and won a
saintly reputation for her name, which is frequent in her island, as is
Rosalie in France, and at the German town of Duderstadt, where it is
vilely tortured into Sahlke.
St. Dominic arranged a series of devotions, consisting of the
meditations, while rehearsing the recurring _aves_ and _paters_ marked
by the larger and smaller nuts, or berries, on a string. These, which we
call beads from _beden_ (to pray), formed the _rosarium_, or rose
garden, meaning originally the delights of devotion. This _rosarium_ has
a day to itself in the Roman calendar, and possibly may have named the
Transatlantic saint, Rosa di Lima, the whole of which appellation is
borne by Peruvian señoras, and practically called Rosita.
Rosa is found in all kinds of ornamental forms in different countries,
and the contractions, or diminutives, of one become the names of
another. Thus Rosalia, herself, probably sprang from the endearment
Rosel, which together with Rosi is common in Switzerland and the Tyrol;
the German diminutive Roschen is met again in the Italian Rosina, French
Rosine, English Rosanne; the Rasine, or Rasche, of Lithuania; and
Rosetta, the true Italian diminutive, is followed by the French Rosette.
These may be considered as the true and natural forms of Rose. Others
were added by fancy and romance after the Teuton signification of fame
had been forgotten, and the Latin one of the flower adopted.
Of these, are Rosaura, Rosaclara; in English, Roseclear, Rosalba (a
white rose), Rosabella, or Rosabel, all arrant fancy names.
Rosamond has a far more ancient history, but the rose connection must be
entirely renounced for her. The first Hrosmond (famous protection, or
horse protection) was the fierce chieftainess of the Gepidæ, who was
compelled by her Lombard husband to drink to his health in a ghastly
goblet formed of the skull of her slaughtered father, and who avenged
this crowning insult by a midnight murder.
Even from the fifth century, the period of this tragedy, hers has
remained a favourite name among the peasantry of the Jura, the land of
the Gepidæ, but it does not appear how it came from them to the Norman
Cliffords, by whom it was bestowed upon Fair Rosamond, whose fate has
been so strangely altered by ballad lore, and still more strangely by
Cervantes, who makes his Persiles and Sigismunda encounter her in the
Arctic regions, undergoing a dreary penance among the wehr wolves. Her
name, in its supposed interpretation, gave rise to the Latin epigram,
_Rosa mundi, sed non Rosa munda_ (the rose of the world, but not a pure
rose). The sound of the word, and the popular interest of the ballad,
have continued her name in England.
Hroswith, the poetical Frank nun, is certainly famous strength, or
famous height, though when softened into Roswitha, she has been taken
for a white rose, or a sweet rose.
Rosalind makes her first appearance in _As You Like It_, whether
invented by Shakespeare cannot be guessed. If the word be really old,
the first syllable is certainly _hrôs_, the last is our English _lithe_,
the German _lind_, the Northern _lindre_, the term that has caused the
Germans to call the snake the _lindwurm_, or supple worm. The Visigoths
considered this litheness as beauty, and thus the word survives in
Spanish as _lindo_, _linda_, meaning, indeed, a fair woman, but a soft
effeminate man. Yet, the _linda_, meaning fair in Spanish, was reason
enough in the sixteenth century for attaching it to many a name by way
of ornament, and it is to be apprehended that thus it was that Rosalind
came by her name, and possibly Rosaline, whom Romeo deserted for the
sake of Juliet. However she began, she has ever since been one of the
English roses.
Rosilde, or Roshilda, a German form, is in like manner either really the
fame-battle, or else merely _ilda_ tacked by way of ornament to the end
of the rose.
Violante is a name occurring in the South of France and the North of
Italy and Spain. Whence it originally came is almost impossible to
discover. It may very probably be a corruption of some old Latin name
such as Valentinus, or, which would be a prettier derivation, it may be
from the golden violet, the prize of the troubadours in the courts of
love.
The name of the flower is universal; it is _viola_, in Latin, _vas_ in
Sanscrit; and in Greek anciently Γιον, but afterwards ἴον, whence later
Greeks supposed it to have been named from having formed a garland round
the head of Ion, the father of the Ionians.
That _V_ is easily changed to _Y_, was plain in the treatment received
by Violante, who was left to that dignified sound only in Spain; but in
France was called Yolande, or for affection, Yolette; and in the
confusion between _y_ and _j_, figures in our own English histories in
the queer-looking form of Joletta. The Scots, with much better taste,
imported Yolette as Violet, learning it probably through the connections
of the Archers of the Royal Guard, or it may be through Queen Mary’s
friends, as Violet Forbes appears in 1571, and I have not found an
earlier instance. At any rate, the Scottish love of floral names took
hold of it, and the Violets have flourished there ever since. Fialka is
both the flower and a family name in Bohemia; as is Veigel in the
Viennese dialect. Eva Maria Veigel was the young _danseuse_, called by
Maria Theresa, la Violetta, under which designation she came to England,
and finally became the excellent wife of Garrick. Whether Viola has ever
been a real Italian name I cannot learn, or whether it is only part of
the stage property endeared to us by Shakespeare. The masculine Yoland
was common at Cambrai in the thirteenth century; Yolante was there used
down to the sixteenth.
Viridis (green, or flourishing) was not uncommon among Italian ladies in
the fourteenth century, probably in allusion to some romance.
It is much to be feared that the lily, is as little traceable as the
rose. There was a Liliola Gonzaga in Italy in 1340, but she was probably
a softened Ziliola, or Cecilia. Lilias Ruthven, who occurs in Scotland,
in 1557, was probably called from the old romantic poem of _Roswal and
Lillian_, which for many years was a great favourite in Scotland. The
Lillian of this ballad is Queen of Naples, and thus the name appears
clearly traceable to the Cecilias of modern Italy, though it is now
usually given in the _sense_ of Lily; the English using Lillian; the
Scots, Lillias. Indeed, it is quite possible that these, like Lilla, may
sometimes have risen out of contractions of Elizabeth. Leila is a
Moorish name, and Lelia is only the feminine of Lælius. On the whole, it
may be said that only the Hebrew and Slavonic tongues present us with
names _really_ taken from individual flowers.[88]
-----
Footnote 88:
Michaelis; Munch; Pott; Roscoe, _Boiardo_; Anderson, _Genealogies_;
Douglas, _Peerage of Scotland_; Ellis, _Specimens of Early English
Poetry_; Butler, _Cervantes_; Sismondi.
SECTION XXI.—_Roman Catholic Names._
The two names that follow are as thorough evidences of the teachings of
the Roman Church as are the epithets of the Blessed Virgin, before
mentioned, and can, therefore, only be classed together, though it is
rather hard upon good Latin to be saddled with them, compounded as they
are of Latin and Greek.
The Latin _verus_ (true), and the Greek εἰκών (an image), were strangely
jumbled together by the popular tongue in the name of a crucifix at
Lucca, which was called the _Veraiconica_, or Veronica; and was that
Holy Face of Lucca by which William Rufus, having probably heard of it
from the Lombard Lanfranc, his tutor, was wont to swear. Another
Veronica is the same countenance upon a piece of linen, shown at St.
Peter’s. Superstition, forgetting the meaning of the name, called the
relic St. Veronica’s handkerchief, accounted for it by inventing a woman
who had lent our Blessed Saviour a handkerchief to wipe His Face during
the passage of the _Via dolorosa_, and had found the likeness imprinted
upon it.
In an old English poem on the life of Pilate, written before 1305, it
appears that the Emperor of Rome learnt that a woman at Jerusalem named
‘Veronike’ possessed this handkerchief, which could heal him of his
sickness. He sent for her, and
“Anon tho the ymage iseth, he was whole, anon,
He honoured wel Veronike, heo ne moste fram him gon;
The ymage he athuld that hit ne com nevereft out of Rome,
In Seint Peteres Church it is.”
Thence Veronica became a patron saint; and in the fifteenth century a
real monastic Saint Veronica lived near Milan.
Véronique is rather a favourite name among French peasant women, and
Vreneli in Suabia. Pott and Michaelis suggest that Veronica may be the
Latin form of Berenice, or Pherenike (victory-bringer); but the history
of the relic is too clear to admit of this idea. The flower, Veronica,
appears to have won its name from its exquisite blue reflecting a true
image of the heavens; and the Scots, who have a peculiar turn for floral
names, thus seem to have obtained it.
In 1802 an inscription, with the first and last letters destroyed, was
found in the catacombs standing thus, _lumena pax tecum fi_. A priest
suggested that _Fi_ should be put at the beginning of the sentence
instead of the end, and by this remarkable trick, produced _Filumena_.
There was a real Greek name Philomena, which had fallen into disuse, and
of course was derived from Love, but to please the ears of the Italians,
the barbarous Latin Filumen was invented.
Thereupon a devout artisan, a priest, and a nun, were all severally
favoured by visions of a virgin martyr, who told them the story of
Diocletian’s love for her, of her refusal, and subsequent martyrdom; and
explained that, having once been called Lumena, she was baptized
Filumena, which she explained as daughter of light! Some, human remains
near the stone being dignified as relics of St. Filomena, she was
presented to Mugnano; and, on the way, not only worked many miracles on
her adorers, but actually repaired her own skeleton, and made her hair
grow. So many wonders are said to have been worked by this phantom
saint, the mere produce of a blundered inscription, that a book, printed
at Paris in the year 1847, calls her “_La Thaumaturge du 19me Siècle_”
and she is by far the most fashionable patroness in the Romish Church.
Filomena abounds in Rome, encouraged by the example of a little
Filomena, whose mosquito net was every night removed by the saint, who
herself kept off the gnats. She is making her way in Spain; and it will
not be the fault of the author of _La Thaumaturge_ if Philomene is not
common in France. The likeness to Philomela farther inspired Longfellow
with the fancy of writing a poem on Florence Nightingale, as St.
Philomena, whence it is possible that the antiquaries of New Zealand, in
the twenty-ninth century, will imagine St. Philomena, or Philomela, to
be the heroine of the Crimean war.[89]
-----
Footnote 89:
Butler; _Philological Society_; Merriman, _Church in Spain_; _La
Thaumaturge du 19me Siècle_.
CHAPTER VII.
NAMES FROM HOLY DAYS.
SECTION I.
The great festivals of religion have supplied names which are here
classed together for convenience of arrangement, though they are of all
languages. Most, indeed, are taken from the tongue that first proclaimed
the glory of the days in question; but in several instances they have
been translated into the vernacular of the country celebrating them.
Perhaps the use of most of these as Christian names arose from the habit
of calling children after the patron of their birthday, and when this
fell upon a holiday that was not a saint’s day, transferring the title
of the day to the child. Indeed, among the French peasantry, Marcel and
Marcelle are given to persons born in March, Jules and Julie to July
children, and Auguste and Augustine to August children.
SECTION II.—_Christmas._
The birthday of our Lord bears in general its Latin title of _Dies
Natalis_; the latter word from _nascor_ (to be born). The _g_, which old
Latin places at the commencement of the verb and its participle,
_gnatus_, shows its connection with the Greek γίγνομαι (to come into
existence), with γένεσις (origin), and the Anglo-Saxon _beginning_.
This word Natalis has furnished the title of the feast to all the
Romance portion of Europe, and to Wales. There all call it the Natal
day; _Nadolig_ in Welsh. France has cut the word down into Noël, a word
that at Angers was sung fifteen times at the conclusion of lauds, during
the eight days before the feast, and which thus passed even into an
English carol, still sung in Cornwall, where the popular tongue has
turned the chorus into
“Now well! now well! now well!”
This cry of Noël became a mere burst of joy; and in Monstrelet’s time
was shouted quite independently of Christmas. Noel is a Christian name
in France; Natale, in Italy; Natal, in the Peninsula. Indeed, the
Portuguese called Port Natal by that title in honour of the time of its
discovery, but the Spanish Natal must be distinguished from Natividad,
which belongs to the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, a feast established
by Pope Sergius in 688, on the 8th of September.
That same 8th of September was chosen by the Greek Church as the
festival day of St. Natalia, the devoted wife who attended her husband,
St. Adrian, in his martyrdom, with heroism like that of Gertrude von der
Wart. He is the same Adrian whose relics filled the Netherlands, and who
named so many Dutchmen; but while the West was devoted to the husband
and neglected the wife, the East celebrated the wife and forgot the
husband. Natalia is one of the favourite Greek Christian names;
Lithuania calls her Nastusche and Naste; Russia, Natalija, Nataschenka,
and Natascha; and France has learned the word as Natalie from her
Russian visitors. Natalie, however, occurs at Cambrai as early as 1212.
Our own name for the feast agrees with one German provincial term
Christfest. Christmas now and then occurs in old registers as a
Christian name, as at Froxfield, Hants, in 1574, and is also used as a
surname; but Noel is more usual for Christmas-born children.
The Eastern Church did not originally observe the Nativity at all,
contenting itself with the day when the great birth was manifested to
the Gentiles, and for this reason there is no genuine Greek name for
Christmas-day, and Natalia, though now used as a Greek woman’s name, is
of Latin origin.
The Slavonic nations have translated Christmas into Bozieni, and their
Christmas children, among the Slovak part of the race, are the boys,
Bozo, Bozko, Bozicko; the girls, Bozena.[90]
-----
Footnote 90:
_Church Festivals and their Household Words (Christian Remembrancer)_;
Michaelis; Butler; Jameson; Grimm.
SECTION III.—_The Epiphany._
The twelfth day after Christmas was the great day with the Eastern
Church, by whom it was called Θεοφανεία, from Θεός and φαίνω (to make
known, _i.e._, God’s manifestation), or Ἐπιφάνεια (forth showing).
The ancient Greek Church celebrated on the 6th of January the birth of
Christ, His manifestation to the Gentiles, and the baptism in the
Jordan. Their titles, Theophania and Epiphania, were adopted by the
Latins, and when the Latin feast of the Nativity was accepted by the
Greek Church, _this_ latter was frequently called Epiphania, while the
true manifestation-day was called by a name meaning the lights, from the
multitude of candles in the churches in honour of the Light of the World
and the Light of Baptism.
But in the West, it was the visit of the Magi that gave the strongest
impress to the festival. Early did tradition fix their number at three,
probably in allusion to the three races of man descended from the sons
of Noah, and soon they were said to be descendants of the Mesopotamian
prophet Balaam, from whom they derived the expectation of the Star of
Jacob, and they were promoted to be kings of Tarsus, Saba, and Nubia,
also to have been baptized by St. Thomas, and afterwards martyred. Their
corpses were supposed to be at that store-house of relics,
Constantinople, whence the Empress Helena caused them to be transported
to Milan by an Italian, from whom a noble family at Florence obtained
the surname of Epiphania. Frederick Barbarossa carried them to Cologne.
By the eleventh century, these three kings had received names, for they
are found written over against their figures in a painting of that date,
and occur in the breviary of Mersburg. Though their original donor is
unknown, their Oriental sound makes it probable that he was a
pilgrim-gatherer of Eastern legends. Gaspar, Melchior, and Balthasar,
are not according to European fancy, and are not easy to explain. The
first may either be the Persian, _gendshber_ (treasure master), or else
be taken from the red or green stone called _yashpah_ in the East,
ἵασπις in Greek, _jasper_ in Latin. This was the only one of these names
ever used in England, where it was once common. Gasparde is the French
feminine; in English the masculine is Jasper. It is extremely common in
Germany; and has suffered the penalty of popularity, for Black Kaspar is
a name of the devil, and Kaspar is a Jack Pudding.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ Spanish. │ Italian. │
│Jasper │Gaspard │Gaspar │Gaspare │
│ │ │ │Gaspardo │
│ │ │ │Casparo │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ German. │ Bavarian. │ Illyrian. │ Lett. │
│Kaspar │Kaspe │Gaso │Kaspers │
│ ——————— │Kasperl │ ——————— │Jespers │
│ Frisjan. │Gaspe │ Lusatian. │ │
│Jaspar │Gappe │Kaspor │ │
│ │Kapp │Kapo │ │
│ │Kass │ │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
Melchior is evidently the universal Eastern Malek, or Melchi (a king);
but he is in much less favour than his companion; though sometimes found
in Italy as Melchiorre, as well as in Germany and Switzerland in his
proper form, and in Esthonia contracted to Malk.
Balthasar may be an imitation of Daniel’s Chaldean name of Belteshazzar
(Bel’s prince). Some make it the old Persian Beltshazzar (war council,
_or_ prince of splendour). It is not unlike the Slavonic Beli-tzar, or
White-prince, called at Constantinople Belisarius; but indeed it is
probably a fancy name invented at a period when bad Latin and rude
Teutonic were being mixed up to make modern languages, and the Lingua
Franca of the East was ringing in the ears of pilgrims. However
invented, Balthasar flourished much in Italy, and in the Slavonic
countries, and very nearly came to the crown in Spain.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ Italian. │ Spanish. │ Portuguese. │ Polish. │
│Baldassare │Baltasar │Bathasar │Baltasar │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Slovac. │ Bavarian. │ Swiss. │ Illyrian. │
│Boltazar │Hanser │Balz │Baltazar │
│ │Hansel │Balzel │Balta │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Lusatian. │ Lett. │ Hungarian. │ │
│Bal │Balsys │Boldisar │ │
│Balk │ │ │ │
│Baltyn │ │ │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
Some of the Italians devoutly believed that Gaspardo, Melchiorre, and
Baldassare, were the three sons of St. Beffana, as they had come to call
Epiphania; but, in general, Beffana had not nearly so agreeable an
association.
In Italy the Epiphany was, and still is, the day for the presentation of
Christmas gifts; and it is likely that the pleasant fiction that la
Beffana brought the presents, turned, as in other cases, such as that of
St. Nicholas, into the notion that she was a being who went about by
night, and must therefore be uncanny. Besides, when the carnival was
over, there was a sudden immolation of the remaining weeks of the
Epiphany; and whether from thus personifying the season, or from
whatever other cause, a figure was suspended outside the doors of houses
at the beginning of Lent, and called la Beffana. It is now a frightful
black doll, with an orange at her feet, and seven skewers thrust through
her, one of which is pulled out at the end of each week in Lent; at
least, this is the case in Apulia, where she is considered as a token
that those who exhibit her, mean to observe a rigorous fast.
Some parts of Italy account for the gibbeting of the unfortunate
Beffana, by saying she was the daughter of Herod, _i.e._ Herodias; and
Berni (as quoted by Grimm) says in his rhymes:
“Il di Befania, vo porla per Befana alla finestra,
Perchè qualcun le dia d’una ballestra.”
At Florence, however, the story was told in an entirely different way.
There it is said that Beffana was the Christian name of a damsel of the
Epifania family before-mentioned: that she offended the fairies, and was
by them tempted to eat a sausage in Lent, for which transgression she
was sawn asunder in the piazza, and has ever since been hung in effigy
at the end of the carnival, as a warning to all beholders.
In fact, Beffana is the Italian bugbear of naughty children; and it is
no wonder that this strange embodiment of the gift-bringing day should
not be followed as a Christian name, though the masculine form,
Epiphanius, once belonged to a Father, born near Mount Olympus, in whose
honour is named Capa Pifani, a headland on that coast, and from whom
Epifanio sometimes is found at Rome.
The other form of the name of the day, Theophania, has been much more in
favour; indeed, in the days of Christine de Pisane, the feast-day was
called la Tiphaïne.
Theophano was a name in common use among the Byzantine ladies, and we
hear of many princesses so called—one of whom married the German
Emperor, Otho II., in 962, and was then called Théophania. Probably she
made the name known in Western Europe, but it is curious that its chief
home in the form of Tiphaïne, was in Armorica, whence, as the grumbling
rhyme of the Englishman, after the Conquest, declared,
“William de Coningsby,
Came out of Brittany,
With his wife Tiffany,
And his maid Manfas,
And his dog Hardigras.”
Tiffany took up her abode in England, and left her progeny. The name
occurs in an old Devon register, within the last two hundred years, but
seems now extinct.
The high-spirited wife of Bertrand du Guesclin, was either Theophanie,
or Epiphanie Ragueuel, but was commonly called Tiphaïne la Fée, on
account of the mysterious wisdom by which she was able to predict to her
husband his lucky and unlucky days—only he never studied her tablets
till the disaster had happened. Could she have first acquired her
curious title through some report of her namesake, the Fairy Beffana? In
a Cornish register I find Epiphany in 1672; Tiffany in 1682.
In an old German dictionary, the feast Theophania is translated
“Giperahta naht” (the brightened night), a curious accordance with its
Greek title. Indeed, before the relic-worship of the Three Kings of
Cologne had stifled the recollection of the real signification of the
day of the Manifestation, the festival was commonly termed Perchten tac,
Perchten naht (bright day, or bright night). Then went on in Germany
much what had befallen Beffana in Italy. By the analogy of saints' days,
Perahta, or Bertha, was erected into an individual character, called in
an Alsatian poem, the mild Berchte; in whose honour all the young
farming men in the Salzburg mountains go dancing about, ringing cattle
bells, and blowing whistles all night. Sometimes she is a gentle white
lady, who steals softly to neglected cradles, and rocks them in the
absence of careless nurses; but she is also the terror of naughty
children, who are threatened with Frau Precht with the long nose; and
she is likewise the avenger of the idle spinners, working woe to those
who have not spun off their hank on the last day of the year. Can this
have anything to do with distaff day—the English name for the 7th of
January, when work was resumed after the holidays? Herrings and
oat-bread are put outside the door for her on her festival—a token of
its Christian origin; but there is something of heathenism connected
with her, for if the bread and fish are not duly put out for her,
terrible vengeance is inflicted, with a plough-share, or an iron chain.
That Frau Bertha is an impersonation of the Epiphany there seems little
doubt, but it appears that there was an original mythical Bertha, who
absorbed the brightened night, or if the bright night gave a new title
to the old mythical Holda, Holla, Hulla, Huldr (the faithful, or the
muffled), a white spinning lady, who is making her feather-bed when it
snows. She, too, brings presents at the year’s end; rewards good
spinners, punishes idle ones, has a long nose, wears a blue gown and
white veil, and drives through the fields in a car with golden wheels.
Scandinavia calls her Hulla, or Huldr the propitious; Northern Germany,
Holda, probably by adaptation to _hold_ (mild). Franconia and Thuringia
recognized both Holda and Berchta; in Alsatia, Swabia, Switzerland,
Bavaria, and Austria, Berchta alone prevails.
Some have even tried to identify Holda with Huldah, the prophetess, in
the Old Testament, but this is manifestly a blunder. And, on the other
hand, Bertha is supposed to be a name of the goddess Freya, the wife of
Odin; but it appears that though Huldr may possibly have been originally
a beneficent form of this goddess, yet that there is no evidence of
Bertha’s prevailing in heathen times, and therefore the most probable
conclusion is that she is really the impersonation of the Epiphany, with
the attributes of Holda.
Tradition made her into an ancestress, and she must have absorbed some
of the legends of the swan maidens, for she is goose-footed in some of
her legends; and she is sometimes, as in Franconia and Swabia, called
Hildaberta or Bildaberta, either from the Valkyr, or as a union of both
Hilda and Bertha. The goose-foot has been almost softened away by the
time she appears as _Berthe aux grands pieds_ (wife of Pepin, and mother
of Charlemagne); and the connection with the distaff is again traceable
in the story of Charlemagne’s sister Bertha, mother of Orlando, who,
when cast off on account of her marriage, and left a widow, maintained
herself by spinning, till her son, in his parti-coloured raiment, won
his uncle’s notice by his bold demeanour.
Proverbs of a golden age when Bertha spun, are current both in France
and Italy, and in Switzerland they are connected with the real Queen
Bertha.
Be it observed that Bertha is altogether a Frank notion, not prevailing
among the Saxons, either English or Continental, nor among the Northern
races. It is therefore quite a mistake to use Bertha, as is often done,
as a name for an English lady, before the Conquest. One only historical
person so called was Bertha, daughter of Chilperic, King of Paris, and
wife of Ethelbert, of Kent, the same who smoothed the way for St.
Augustine’s mission. She was probably called after the imaginary
spinning ancestress, the visitor of Christmas night, but though bright
was a common Saxon commencement or conclusion, we had no more Berthas
till the Norman conquest brought an influx of Frank names.
The name was, indeed, very common in France and Germany; and in Dante’s
time it was so frequent at Florence, that he places Monna Berta with Ser
Martino, as the chief of the gossips. Since those days it has died away,
but has been revived of late years in the taste for old names; and
perhaps, likewise, because Southey mentioned it as one of the most
euphonious of female appellations. One of the early German princesses,
called Bertha, marrying a Greek emperor, was translated into Eudoxia,
little thinking that she ought to have been Theophano.[91]
-----
Footnote 91:
_Church Festivals and Household Words_; Maury-Essaisin; _Les Légendes
Picuses du Moyen Age_; _Die Stern du Weisen_; Routh; _Reliquia Sacra_;
Grimm; Brand; Stanhope, _Belisarius_.
SECTION IV.—_Easter Names._
The next day of the Christian year that has given a name is that which
we emphatically call Good Friday, but which the Eastern Church knows by
the title that it bears in the New Testament, the Day of Preparation,
Παρασκευή (Paraskewe), from πάρα (beyond), and σκεύη (gear or
implements). Thence, a daughter born on that holy day, was christened
among the Russians Paraskeva; and the name that has been corrupted by
the French into Prascovie, and which is called for short Pascha, is very
frequent in the great empire, and belonged to the brave maiden,
Paraskeva Loupouloff, whose devotion to her parents suggested Madame
Cottin’s tale of _Elizabeth, or the Exiles of Siberia_, where the
adventures, as well as the name, are deprived of their national
individuality in the fashion of the last century.
The Passover was known from the first to the Israelites as Pasach, or
Pesach, a word exactly rendered by our Passover, and which has furnished
the Jews with a name not occurring in the Scripture—Pesachiah, the
Passover of God.
The Greek translators represented the word by Πάσχα. It is Pascha
likewise in Latin; whence all modern languages have at least taken some
of their terms for the great feast of the Resurrection that finally
crowned and explained the Jewish Passover.
Italy inherits Pasqua; Spain, Pascua; Portugal, Pascoa, terms that these
two nations pass on to other festal Sundays. Illyria has Paska; Wales,
Pasg; Denmark, Paaske; France, Pâques; and we ourselves once used
Pasque, as is shown by the name of the anemone or pasque flower.
About 844, Radbert, Abbot of Corbie, put forth a book upon the holy
Eucharist, in honour of which he was surnamed Paschasius; and, perhaps,
this suggested the use of words thence derived for children born at that
season.
Cambrai has Pasqua, Pasquina, Pasquette, from 1400 to 1500. Pasquale,
Paschino, Paschina, Pasquier, Pascal, all flourished in Italy and
France; and in Spain a Franciscan monk, named Pascual, was canonized.
Pascoe was married in St. Columb Major, in 1452; Paschal is there the
feminine; and many other instances can be easily found to the further
honour of the name. There lived, however, a cobbler at Rome, the butt of
his friends, who gave his name of Paschino to a statue of an ancient
gladiator that had been newly disinterred, and set up in front of the
Orsini palace, exciting the waggery of the idle Romans by his likeness
to the cobbler. Paschino, the gladiator, proved a convenient block for
posting of lampoons and satires, insomuch that the generic term at Rome
for such squibs became paschinado, whence our English word pasquinade.
I have seen Easter as a Christian name upon a tombstone in Ripon
Cathedral, bearing the date 1813; but as I have also seen it in a Prayer
Book belonging to a woman who calls herself Esther, it is possible that
this may be a blunder of the same kind.
There was, however, soon after the Reformation, an inclination in
England to name children after the vernacular titles of holy days. In
1675, Passion occurs at Bovey Tracey, in Devon; another in 1712, at
Hemiock; and Pentecost is far from uncommon in old registers. At Madron,
in Cornwall, in 1632, appear the masculine, Pentecost, and feminine,
Pentecoste; and in Essex, an aunt and niece appear, both called by this
singular festal name, in honour of Whit Sunday. In 1643, I find it again
at St. Columb Major. It means, of course, fifty, and is Greek.
Easter is called Λάμπα (the bright day) in Greek, because of the
lighting of candles that takes place at midnight in every church. Can it
be from this that the Eastern saint of the 10th of February, who
suffered at Antioch in Pisidia, was called Charalampios, Χαραλάμπιος, a
name which is still used in the Ionian Islands, and is imitated in
Russia as Kharalampia, or Kharalamm. Its component parts are καρα (joy),
and a derivative from λαμπάς (a torch); and we might explain it either
glad-light, or the joy of Easter.[92]
-----
Footnote 92:
Kitto, _Bible Cyclopædia_; _Church Festivals and their Household
Words_; Grimm, _Acta Sanctorum_; Pott; Michaelis.
SECTION V.—_Sunday Names._
Sabbath (rest), in Hebrew, distinguished the seventh day, set apart from
the service of the world in memory, first, of the cessation of the work
of creation, and next, of the repose of the Israelites after their
labours in Egypt.
While the Sabbath was still the sacred day, it does not appear to have
suggested any historical name, except that of the father of Joses
Barsabas, whose father must have been Sabas. In 532, however, was born
in Cappadocia, Sabas, who became one of the most distinguished
patriarchs of the monks in Palestine; and in 372, one of the first
converts to Christianity among the Goths, then stationed in Wallachia,
who had taken the name of Sabas, was martyred by being thrown into the
river Musæus, now Mussovi. The locality attached the Slavonians to his
name, and Sava is still common among them, as is Ssava in Russia.
Whether Sabea or Sabra, the king of Egypt’s daughter, whom St. George
saved from the dragon, was named with any view to St. Sabas, cannot be
guessed. I have seen the name in an old English register, no doubt in
honour of the exploit of our patron saint.
The day of rest gave place to the day of Resurrection, the Lord’s day,
as we still emphatically call it, after the example of the Apostles.
St. John called it Κυριακή ἡμέρα (the Lord’s day), and in this he has
been followed by the entire Greek Church, with whom Sundays are still
Kyriakoi.
It seems to have been the translators of the Septuagint that first gave
its highest sense to Κύριος (Kyrios), a lord or master, from the verb
κυρέω (kyreo), to find, obtain, or possess.
St. Kyriakos, or, as Rome spelt him, Cyriacus, was martyred under
Diocletian, had his relics dug up afterwards, and his arm given to the
abbey of Altdorff, in Alsace. From him came the Roman Ciriaco and the
French Cyriac, all of which may mean either “the Lord’s,” or “the Sunday
child.”
At the same time a little Kyriakos of Iconium, a child of three years
old, fell, with his mother, Julitta, into the hands of the persecutors
of Seleucia. The prefect tried to save the child, but he answered all
the promises and threats alike with “I am a Christian,” till, in a rage,
the magistrate dashed his head on the steps of the tribunal, and his
mother, in her tortures, thanked Heaven for her child’s glorious
martyrdom. Their touching story made a deep impression, perhaps the more
from the wide dispersion of their supposed relics, which were said to
have been brought from Antioch by St. Amator, to Auxerre, about the year
400, and thence were dispersed through many French towns, and villages,
in which he was called St. Quiric or St. Cyr.
The ancient British Church became acquainted with the mother and child
through the Gallic. Welsh hagiology owns them as “Gwyl Gwric ac Elidan;”
and Cwrig has been continued as a name in Wales, whilst, on the other
hand, the child is equally honoured in his native East—by Russia,
Armenia, Abyssinia, and even the Nestorian Christians. He is probably
the source of the Illyrian names Cirjar and Cirko.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ Portuguese. │ Spanish. │
│Cyril │Cyrille │Cyrillo │Cirilo │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Italian. │ German. │ Russian. │ Illyrian. │
│Cirillo │Cyrill │Keereel │Cirilo │
│ │ │ │Ciril │
│ │ │ │Ciro │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
Kyrillos (Κύριλλος) fell to the lot of two great doctors of the
Church—patriarchs, the one of Alexandria, the other of Jerusalem; also
to two martyrs, one a young boy, and thus it became widely known. The
Welsh had it as Girioel, which really is nearer the pronunciation than
our own Cyril, with a soft _C_. It is a name known everywhere, but more
in favour in the East than the West, and of honourable memory to us for
the sake of Kyrillos Lucar, the Byzantine patriarch, the correspondent
of Laud, and afterwards a martyr. Latterly fashion has somewhat revived
it in England; and the feminine, Cyrilla, is known in Germany.
Probably, however, this is only the diminutive of kyrios (a master), and
did not begin with a religious import.
The Latin equivalent for the Greek, Kyriake, was Dies Emera Dominica.
The immediate derivation of this word is in some doubt. It certainly is
from Dominus; but there is some question whether this word be from
_domo_ (to rule), a congener of the Greek δαμάω, and of our own _tame_;
or if it be from _domus_ (a house), a word apparently direct from the
Greek δόμος, from δέμω (to build); another branch from that same root,
meaning to rule or govern.
Dominicus, the adjective formed from this word, is found in the French
term for the Lord’s prayer, _l'Oraison Dominicale_, and it likewise
named the Lord’s Day, Dies Dominica; Domenica, in Italy; Domingo, in
Spain; Dimanche, in France. The first saint, who was probably so called
from being born on a Sunday, was San Dominico of the Cuirass, a recluse
of the Italian Alps, whose mortification consisted in wearing an iron
cuirass, which he never took off except to scourge himself. He died in
1024; and a still sterner disciplinarian afterwards bore the same name,
that Dominico whom the pope beheld in a vision upbearing the Church as a
pillar, and who did his utmost to extirpate the Albigenses; whose name
is connected with the foundation of the Inquisition, and whose
brotherhood spread wherever Rome’s dominion was owned. He is saint for
namesakes out of Romanist lands, but in these it occurs, and has an
Italian feminine, Domenica; for short, Menica. Perhaps this likewise
accounts for the Spanish Mendez and Mencia. This last may, however, be
from Monica, the mother of St. Augustine, whose name has never been
accounted for. It may be from some unknown language; but is sometimes
supposed to be from _moneo_, to advise. Monique is rather a favourite
with French peasants, and Moncha was Irish, but it has not been as
common as it deserves.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ Irish. │ French. │ Italian. │ Spanish. │
│Domnech │Dominique │Domenico │Domingo │
│Dominic │ │Domenichino │Mendez │
│ │ │Menico │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Portuguese. │ Slavonic. │ Hungarian. │ Servian. │
│Domingos │Dominik │Domokos │Dominic │
│ │Domogoj │ │Menz │
│ │Dinko │ │Menzel │
│ │Dunko │ │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
The Slavonians have, however, a name for their Sunday in their own
tongue—Nedele; and have formed from it the Nedelco of the Bulgarians;
the Nedeljko, Nedan, Nedo, and the feminine, Nedelijka and Neda, of the
Illyrians.
I am aware of no other names from the days of the week, except the
‘Thursday October Christian’ of Pitcairn’s Island, who was probably so
called in recollection of the Man Friday.
All Saints' Day has furnished Spain with Santos; and France, or rather
San Domingo, with Toussaint, unless this last be a corruption, or,
perhaps, a pious adaptation, of Thorstein—Thor’s stone, turned into All
Saints.[93]
-----
Footnote 93:
Grimm; _Church Festivals and Household Words_; Butler; Rees, _Welsh
Saints_; Facciolati; Michaelis.
PART V.
CHAPTER I.
SECTION I.—_The Keltic Race._
We now pass to a class of names whose associations belong almost
entirely to the modern world, yet whose history is far more obscure than
that of those on which we have previously dwelt.
From the Hebrew, the European family have derived their religion; from
the Greek, their ideas; from the Roman, their laws; from the Teuton,
their blood and their energy; but from the Kelt they have taken little
but their fanciful romance. In only one country has the Kelt been
dominant, and then with a Latinized speech, and a Teutonic name,
testifying to the large modifications that he must have undergone.
Among the rugged moors and cliffs which fence Western Europe from the
Atlantic waves, he did indeed preserve his freedom, but without
amalgamation with other nations; and in lands where he fell under
subjection, he was so lost among the conquerors as to be untraceable in
language or feature, and with the exception of the Gaul, has bequeathed
nothing of his character to the fused race upon his soil.
We trace the Hebrew nation with certainty from its majestic source; the
Greek shines on us in a dazzling sunrise of brilliant myth; the Roman,
in a grave, stern dawn of characteristic legend; but of the earlier
progress of the wild, impulsive Kelt we have but the faintest
indications.
Much as he loved his forefathers, keen as was his delight in celebrating
the glories of his race, oral tradition contented him, and very strong
was the pressure from the neighbouring nations before his bards recorded
anything in writing, even the long genealogies hitherto preserved in
each man’s accumulated names. The beauty of their legends did indeed
recommend them to the general store-house of European fancy, but though
the spirit may be Keltic, the body through which it comes is almost
always Teutonic.
SECTION II.—_The Keltic Languages._
The Keltic nations used languages which showed that they came from the
Indo-European root, and which are still spoken in the provinces where
they remain. They have no really ancient literature, and were left at
the mercy of wild tongues, so that their losses have been very great,
and the divergence of dialects considerable.
The great and distinguishing feature of the entire class is their
peculiar inflections, which, among other puzzling features, insert an
aspirate after the primary consonant, so as entirely to change its
sound, as for instance in an oblique case, _mor_, great, would become
_mhor_, and be pronounced _vor_, to the eternal confusion of people of
other nations, who, however the vowel or the end of a word might alter,
always trusted to know it by the main syllable. A large number of
guttural sounds distinguished these languages, and some of these were
annihilated by the ensuing aspiration; but when spelling began, the
corpses of the two internecine letters were still left in the middle of
the word, to cumber the writer and puzzle the reader, so that the very
enunciation of a written sentence requires a knowledge of grammar.
The vowels likewise sometimes change in the body of the word when it
becomes plural, and the identification of plurals and of cases with
their parent word is so difficult that few persons ever succeed in the
study of Keltic, except those who have learnt it from their mothers or
nurses, and even they are not always agreed how to write it
grammatically.
The Keltic splits into two chief branches, so different that Cæsar
himself remarked that the Gauls and Cimbrians did not use the same
language. For the sake of convenience these two branches are called by
philologists the Gaelic and the Cymric. The first is the stock which has
since divided into the Gaelic of the Highlands, the Irish of Ireland,
and the Manx of the little intermediate isle. In fact they are nearly
one; old Gaelic and old Irish are extremely alike when they can be found
written, and though they have since diverged, the general rules continue
to be the same; and some of the chief differences may be owing to the
fact, that while the Highlanders have adopted the Roman alphabet, the
native Irish still adhere to the Anglo-Saxon.
The Cymric is still spoken in Wales and Brittany, and only died out a
century ago in Cornwall. Welsh and Breton agree in so many points that
the natives of either country are said to be able to understand one
another, though they would be entirely unintelligible to an Irishman or
Highlander. Indeed it may be doubted whether Greek and Latin are not
more nearly akin than the two shoots of the Keltic tree. One great
difference is that the _p_ of the Kymric always becomes _k_ or _c_ hard
in the Gadhaelic: thus _plant_ or children in Wales, are the well-known
Gaelic _clan_; _Paisg_, Easter, is _Cisg_; _pen_, a head, is _caen_; and
the Cornish word _Pentyr_, the head of the land, or promontory, is the
same as the Scottish _Cantyre_.[94]
The Gauls had been completely Romanized in the South before they heard
of Christianity. They gave up Greek and Roman idols rather than Druidism
when they listened to the Gospel. It is thought that the first seeds
were sown by St. Paul, and that afterwards the Eastern Church at
Ephesus, under St. John, had much communication with them. Britain
probably owed her first gleams of light to the imprisonment of
Caractacus and his family at Rome; but however this might be, Gaul
furnished hosts of martyrs in the persecution, and Britain did her part
in testifying to the truth. Many districts long remained unconverted,
however, in both countries. St. Martin is said to have completed the
conversion of Gaul in the end of the third century, and in Wales St.
Germain still found a host to baptize in the fifth century. Indeed, the
predominance of heathen remains over Christian, have made antiquaries
very doubtful whether Britain could have been by any means universally
converted at the time of the fall of the Roman empire. It had, however,
sent forth one great missionary, namely, St. Patrick, from the northern
province of Valentia. He found a feeble Church in Ireland, but so
enlarged its borders and won all hearts, that from his time that island
was Christian in name, and filled with such clusters of hermitages and
convents as to win its title of the Isle of Saints.
This Keltic Church, with its eastern traditions, was the special
missionary Church of these little heeded times. From Ireland, St.
Columba went forth to Iona, whence he and his disciples gradually
converted the Picts; and though St. Gregory’s mission laid the
foundations of the polity of the Anglo-Saxon Church in Britain, there
were the Scottish Aidan, the Welsh Chad, and Gallic Birinus doing the
work quietly, in which the Roman monks had been less successful. From
Ireland again, St. Columbanus, St. Gall, and many others set forth to
complete the work of conversion in France and Switzerland, and many
churches and convents regard as their founders and patrons, obscure
Irish hermits forgotten in their own country. These have been the chief
diffusers of Keltic names, being called after some hereditary native
word, which their saintliness was to raise to high honour.[95]
-----
Footnote 94:
Max Müller; _Encyclopædia Britannica_; Villemarqué, _Legoindec’s
Dictionary_; Hanmer, _Chronicle_; Clark, _Student’s Handbook of Comp.
Grammar_; Prichard, _Celtic Nations_.
Footnote 95:
Knight, _Pictorial History_; Mazzaroth; Knight, _Celt, Roman, and
Saxon_; Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_; Jones, _Welsh Sketches_; _Irish
Poems_; Montalembert.
SECTION III.—_Keltic Nomenclature._
The Kelts were highly poetical and romantic in their nomenclature. In
general their names were descriptive; many referred to complexion, and
many more described either masculine courage or feminine grace and
sweetness. But, unfortunately, the language is so uncertain, and its
commentators are so much at war, that in dealing with these, after the
well-criticized ancient tongues, is like passing from firm ground to a
quaking bog, and in many cases there is but a choice of conjectures to
deal with.
The names to be examined are of various kinds. First, the historical
ones that have come through Latin writers, terribly disguised, but the
owners of them certain to have existed. These are usually more Cymric
than Gaelic, and Welsh and Breton writers find explanations for them. A
few truly mythological ones will be considered with these, and placed
according to the order—if order it can be called—assigned to their
supposed owners in the pedigree of Brut, in which England used to
believe on the word of Geoffrey of Monmouth, and the Welsh on that of
their native chronicle of Brut. Then follow a most controverted
collection, chiefly of the two Gaelic nations. They were the property of
a set of heroes called the Feen, who are the great ancestry of the
chiefs of the Scottish race in both islands, and who are said to have
performed fabulous exploits at some distant period, which gains some
sort of date from the poem representing Ossian, the last survivor of the
band, as extremely miserable under the teaching of St. Patrick. The fact
was probably that the floating myths of the Gael attached themselves to
some real adventurous band, and the date is no more to be depended on
than those of Geoffrey of Monmouth; but it gives a point by which to
arrange the names still in great part surviving both in Ireland and
Scotland, though often confused with those imported from other
languages.
After this follows the cycle of names made popular by the romances of
King Arthur’s court, which naturally find their place at the time of the
fall of the Roman power in England. These, as far as they can be
understood or interpreted at all, are Cymric, and some have become
tolerably well known throughout Europe.
The different classes connected with one or other of these will nearly
dispose of all the Keltic names worth notice. The remaining will chiefly
belong to the saints, in which Wales, Brittany, and Ireland were
particularly prolific. The odd thing is that all the Welsh saints were
in some way or other of royal birth, so that the royalty of Wales must
have been peculiarly pious. Brittany, likewise, had sundry hermits; and
Ireland deserved its title of the Isle of Saints, though, as will be
seen, some of them were of a strangely Irish order, and regarded as
strong cursing powers.
The Gaelic race had the remarkable custom of calling their children the
servant, the disciple, or the votaress of the patron saint, and it is
not till recent times that the prefixes Giolla, Maol, and Cailleach have
been entirely dropped, and their traces are often remaining in
appellations in Ireland and Scotland.
The name was entirely personal, not hereditary; but the pride of
ancestry caused the father’s, grandfather’s, forefather’s names, to the
remotest generation, to be heaped upon one head, connected in Welsh by
_Mab_, or, as it was contracted, _Ap_.
The Welsh, about the fifteenth century, found these pedigree names
unmanageable in contact with ordinary society, and contented themselves
each with one ancestral surname for good. Some incorporated their Ap, as
Pryce, Ap Rhys, Pugh, or Ap Hugh; some, in English fashion, adding the
possessive _s_ to the end of the father’s name, like the hosts of
Joneses and Williamses; others took some favourite name from the roll of
ancestry, or called themselves after their estates.
In Gaelic the word Mac, the son, or O, or _ua_, the grandson, connected
the person with the ancestor whose name was chosen.
The Keltic taste in names was of the grand order, generally in many
syllables, and lofty in sense and sound, much in the style of the Red
Indian. Thus we find Brithomar, the great Briton; Bathanat, son of the
boar; Louarn, the fox; Carvilius, friend of power, among the Kymric
nations of England and the Continent: and in less complimentary style,
Mandubrath, man of black treason. This man of black treason was, in
Britain, Avarddwy Bras, also called one of the three disgraceful men of
Britain. It is said that Caswallon had murdered Avarddwy’s father, and
afterwards set out on what the _Triads_ call one of the three unwise
armaments, which weakened the force of the country. The cause is
romantically described by the _Triads_ to have been, that his lady-love,
Flur, had been carried away by a Prince of Gascony to be presented to
Julius Cæsar; moreover, the _Mabinogion_ says, he and his two friends
went as far as Rome to recover her, disguised as shoemakers, whence they
are called the three bold shoemakers of the Isle of Britain. The aid
that he gave the Gauls does, in fact, seem to have attracted the notice
of Cæsar, and the black treason was Avarddwy’s invitation to the Romans.
He was the father of Aregwydd Voeddog, whose second name, derived from
victory, was certainly the same as Boadicea, though her deed identifies
her with Cartismandua. Caswallon, or Cassivellaunus, as the Romans
called him, is sometimes explained as Cas-gwall-lawn, chief of great
hatred, sometimes as lord of the Cassi. The Gaels have many grand men’s
names, but, perhaps, have used the most poetry in those of their women.
Feithfailge, honeysuckle ringlets; Lassairfhina or Lassarina, flame or
blush of the wine; Lassair, or flame, the same in effect as the Italian
Fiamma; Alma, all good, a real old Erse name, before the babes of
September 1854, were called Alma, after the Crimean river, which
probably bore a Keltic name; Bebhirn, or, as Macpherson writes it,
Vevina, the sweet woman; Essa, the nurse; Gelges, white swan; Luanmaisi,
moon fairness; Ligach, pearly.
Yet thirst had her namesake, Ita; Diédrè was fear; Dorvenn, sullen;
Uailsi, pride; Unchi, contention.
All of these, and many besides, have entirely fallen into desuetude, and
all the Keltic countries have a practice of adopting names from their
neighbours, supposed to answer to their own, but often without the
slightest affinity thereto.
Thus Anmcha, courageous, is supposed to be translated by Ambrose;
Aneslis is rendered by Stanislaus; Fachtna, is Festus; Baothgalach, or
rashly courageous, Boethius.
Corruptions must be permitted to our English tongues and throats, which
break down at a guttural, so it is no wonder that Dorchaidha, or
patronymic O'Dorchaidhe, should be sometimes turned into D'Arcy,
sometimes D'Orsay, and sometimes into Darkey, which really translates
the word; and sometimes Darcy; but it is rather hard when we have to
read Archibald for Gillespie, and Edward for Diarmaid.[96]
-----
Footnote 96:
Villemarqué; O'Donovan; _Highland Society’s Gaelic Dictionary_.
CHAPTER II.
ANCIENT KELTIC NAMES.
SECTION I.—_Welsh Mythic Names._
Welsh myths we say advisedly, for whether these were really Druidical
myths or not, they have become so much disguised by Welsh bards, down to
Christian times, that there is no knowing what was the original
framework. Our concern is with the names connected with these
traditions.
The primary personages of semi-divine rank in these traditions are Hu
Gadarn, or the Mighty, the sun god, and his wife Ceridwen. It is
believed that the two sacred islands of Iona and Mona were both
originally Ynysgwaw Hu, the island of the worship of Hu. Others,
however, say, that Iona was only I-thon, or isle of the waves.
The word Hu is not explained; but it has passed into a name in Wales and
Brittany. Old French has the name inflected as Hue, Hues, Huon, and the
feminine Huette; and the true Anglicized Welsh form is Hu or Hew, though
it is now universally confounded with the Teutonic Hugh, from _hugur_,
thought, with which it may be cognate, and the Welsh patronymic Ap Hu is
always spelt Pugh.
The _Triads_ speak of Aed Mawr, or Aedd, as father of Pridain, but he
may have been either a title of Hu, or else the god himself. Aodh is, in
fact, in sound and sense, closely related to the Greek αίθω (aitho), and
our heat is of the same kin.
Dr. Meyer thinks this Aed Mawr of the _Triads_ was the forefather from
whom the Ædui mentioned by Cæsar were called, and further derives from
him Cæer Aeddon, or Dun Aeddon, Dun Edin, or Edinburgh. Yet, on the
other hand, it is a part of our English faith that Auld Reekie is our
Northumbrian Edwin’s burgh.
Aed, Aeddon, Aodh, Aedhan, were far more popular names than those
derived from Hu. Aeddan is lamented by Aneurin as a British warrior
slain among the victims of Henghist’s treachery; and two Aoidhs reigned,
the one in Connaught, the other in Scotland, in 570; and to the latter
of these, called by Scottish historians Aidan, or Edan, they ascribe the
foundation of their capital; but it was at that time in the possession
of the Angles, and if called after any Aodh, it must have been after an
earlier one. The Irish Aodh is said to have been about to expel the
bards, but to have been prevented by the intercession of St. Columb.
At one time Ireland was afflicted with thirteen contemporary Aodhs; and
at least two so called reigned in Scotland—Aodhfin, or the white, the
Ethfine of historians, and Aoidh, or Eth, the swift-footed. So common
was the name among the Irish that one hundred Aodhs and one hundred
Aidans or Oédans were killed in the battle of Maghrath. The MacAodhas of
Ireland were once many in number; and became MacHugh or Magee; in
Scotland, Mackay; or were sometimes translated into Hughson or Hewson.
But the most interesting person so called is known to us as Aidan. He
visited Wales and Scotland, became a monk of Iona, and then went forth
as a missionary to the North of England. He was the friend of the
admirable Oswald, free of hand, king of Deira, who used to interpret his
Keltic speech to the Angle population; and his gentle teaching won to
the Church multitudes whom the harshness of former missionaries had
repelled. He is reckoned as first bishop of Lindisfarn, and has left his
name to sundry churches of St. Aidan. Aoidhne, or Eithne, was the Irish
feminine once distinguished, but now disused.
Aidan is still a female name among some Welsh families.
Another Irish St. Aeddan, who was bishop of Ferns about the year 632,
has a most curious variety of namesakes—some from his baptismal name,
others from his pet appellation Móedóg, that is M'Óedóg, namely Ma
Otdóg, my little Aodh. This strange custom of prefixing the possessive
pronoun, first person singular, to the proper name of a saint was very
general. Maodhòg, as it has since become, is still common in Wexford,
where the Irish language has disappeared. It is pronounced and written
Mogne, and is perpetuated in honour of the Saint of Ferns. Madog, or
Madawc, was the usual form in Wales, where it has always been in great
favour. Madawc, prince of Powysland, who died in 1158, in great favour
with Henry II. The Latin translation of Aidan, Aideus, or Aidanus, has
adhered to him in Basse Bretagne, but has there been cut down into Dé,
St. Dé being the appellation of a village there, the church of which is
dedicated to Mogne, is by Irish Protestants often Anglicized as Aidan,
by the Roman Catholics as Moses.
The leek is said to have been used by the Welsh in the worship of
Ceridwen, the wife of Hu. Afterwards a story rose that, in one of
Cadwallawn’s battles, his Welshmen marked themselves with leeks from a
garden hard by, and the story was later transferred to the Welsh troops
of the Black Prince in France.
Ced, or Cyridwen, shows no namesakes; but _buadh_, or _budd_, victory,
furnished for her the epithet of Buddug, or Buddud; and, perhaps, she is
the Boundonica mentioned by Dion Cassius as a Keltic goddess. Probably
it was either as a victorious omen, or else in honour of her, that the
name of Buddug was given to that fierce chieftainess of the Iceni, whose
savage vengeance for her wrongs has won for her a very disproportionate
fame, as much changed as her name, when we call it Bonduca, or, more
usually, Boadicea. It has not met with much repetition, yet we have
heard of a family so patriotic as to contain both Caractacus and
Boadicea. Buadhach was, however, long a man’s name in Ireland, and
Budhic was one of the early Armorican princes.
Gwion, an unlucky dwarf, destroyed by Ceridwen, seems to have left his
name behind him, whether it be as M. Pitre Chevalier explains it,
_esprit_, sense, or be connected with the Welsh _gwyth_, and Cornish
_gwg_, anger.
Aneurin mentions a knight named Gwiawn as having been slain in the
battle of Cattraeth; and Gwion is a knight of Arthur’s court, figuring
as Sir Guy among the knights of the Round Table, and furnishing Spenser
with his Sir Guyon, the hero of the second ‘Book of Courtesie’ in his
_Faerie Queen_.
Guy has since been a favourite name, but it has become so entangled with
the Latin Vitus that it is almost impossible to distinguish the Keltic
from the Roman name. It appears to have prevailed in France very early
as Guy, Guies, Guyon, in the feminine Guiette; and besides the Sicilian
infant martyr, Vitus, obtained two patrons, St. Guy, the Poor Man of
Anderlecht, a pilgrim to Jerusalem, who died in 1014; and the Italian,
St. Guido, abbot of Pomposa, in Ferrara, who died in 1042. Both lived
long after their name had become so popular, that it could not have
depended upon them. Queen Matilda, in her Bayeux tapestry, labels as
Wido, the Count Guy of Ponthieu, who captured Harold on his ill-starred
expedition to Normandy, and thus she evidently does not consider him as
Vitus.
Guy and Guido were both fairly frequent with us, until ‘Gunpowder
Treason’ gave a sinister association to the sound of Guido Fawkes, and
the perpetual celebrations of the 5th of November, with the burning of
Guy Fawkes in effigy, have given a meaning to the term of Guy, that will
probably continue long after the last tar-barrel has flamed and the last
cracker exploded over his doom.
Guido and Guidone were the proper Italian forms, much used in the whole
Peninsula, and appearing in Ariosto’s poem in the person of Guidon
Selvaggio, a rustic, uncivilized knight. From the sound it was long
imagined that the names came either from _guide_ or from _guidon_, a
banner or ensign; but there can be no doubt that either the Keltic Gwion
or the Latin Vitus was their true origin.
SECTION II.—_Lear and his Daughters._
Geoffrey of Monmouth made the eleventh of his kings, descended from
Brute, to be called Leir, and live at Leircester, or Leicester, on the
river Sore, somewhere about the time of the prophet Elisha.
He is one of the earliest authorities for the story of Lear and the
ungrateful daughters, whom he calls Gonorilla and Regan. He gives the
name of Cordeilla to the reserved but faithful daughter who could not
pay lip service, but redeemed her father’s kingdom when he was exiled
and misused by her flattering sisters. It was a very remarkable
conception of character, even thus barely narrated, without the lovely
endowments with which we have since learnt to invest the good daughter.
The sequel in Geoffrey’s chronicle related, that after his kingdom was
restored, old Leir died in peace at Leicester, and was buried by
Cordeilla “in a certain vault which she ordered to be made for him under
the river Sore, at Leicester, and which had been built originally under
the ground to the honour of the god Janus; and here all the workmen of
the city, upon the anniversary solemnity of that festival, used to begin
their yearly labours.”
He further narrates that Cordeilla was dethroned by her nephews, and
committed suicide in despair. To this story adhered both the old
ballad-monger and Spenser, in the history studied by Sir Guyon; but
Shakespeare loved his sweet Cordelia too well to stain her with
self-murder, and, though omitting all allusion to Christianity, made her
in all her ways and actions a true Christian, and never perhaps showed
more consummate art than in producing so perfect an effect with a person
so chary of her words.
Whence did Geoffrey get the story which has produced such fruits?
Lear (_gen._), Lir, is the sea. He is also a mythological personage, a
god in the elder Irish belief, and father of Mănănnán, the Erse Neptune.
Afterwards, later ballads humanized Lear, and made him the father of
Mănănnán, one of the Tuath De Danan, or early conquerors of Ireland, and
Lord of the Isle of Man, which is said to be called after him. There is
a tradition in Londonderry that his spirit lives in an enchanted castle
in the waves of Magilligan, and that his magic ship appears every
seventh year. Moreover, the daughters of Mănănnán, granddaughters of
Lear, were called Ainè and Aoiffè, and had a desperate quarrel about
their husbands' excellence in hunting.
Wales, on its side, shows in the Isle of Anglesea a cromlech, called the
tomb of Bronwen, daughter of King Llyr or Leirus. The tomb was opened in
1813, and an ancient urn, once probably containing ashes, was found
there. It seems that a somewhat more substantial Llyr lived about the
time of the Roman conquest, and was the father of Bronwen, who married
the king of Ireland, was ill-treated by him, and received a box on the
ear, which was one of the three fatal insults of the Isle of Britain.
This lady is very probably the Bronwen of the cromlech; but the
conjecture of the Rev. Edward Davies is, that in the story of King Lear,
we may have the remains of an ancient myth.
It is certainly remarkable that the notion of Lyr, in connection with
turbulent daughters or granddaughters, should be common to both Britain
and Ireland. Mr. Davies explains Cordelia to have been originally
Creirdyddlydd, the token of the overflowing, also called Creirwy, or the
token of the egg. _Creir_ is a token, the sacred article on which a man
makes oath, whence it came to mean either a relic or a jewel.
Creirdyddlydd might thus be the jewel of the sea, or the token of the
flood. At any rate, Creirdyddlydd or Creirwy is a creation of ancient
Welsh poetry, once mythical, the daughter of the sea, Llyr or Llud, on
which Geoffrey seized for his history. Bronwen, or white bosom, is
either another daughter of Lyr, or else Creirdyddlydd under another
name, and is supposed to have been the British Proserpine. Both Bronwen
and Creirwy are called Gwrvorwyn, man-maid, or virago, and it does not
seem impossible that here we see the origin of Cordelia, Regan, and
Goneril, as they have been adapted to English pronunciation, the token
of the overflowing, the fair bosom, and the virago. Surely these are the
daughters of the ocean, rebellious and peaceful. Dynwen, too, is the
white wave, the patroness of lovers; and as we shall find by-and-by wave
names are remarkably common among the Welsh.
Lear is also called Llwyd, the grey, or the extended, a fitting title
for the sea, and which has passed on to form Lloyd, so common as a Welsh
Christian and surname, and adopted in England as Floyd.
Creirdyddlydd has due justice done her in the _Mabinogion_, where we
further learn that she remains with her father till the day of doom, and
that in the mean time two kings, Gwyn ab Nudd and Gwythir mab Graidiawn,
have a battle for her hand on every May-day.
Cordula is set down in Welsh and German calendars on the 22nd of October
as one of the 11,000 virgins, her feast following that of St. Ursula. It
may be remembered that St. Ursula was said to be Cornish; and that her
only recorded companion should bear a Cymric name, is in favour of some
shade of foundation for her story. Kordula is in consequence a German
name. Kordula was a princess of Lingen in 1473; and Michel and Kordel
are two children in German household tradition so constantly falling
into mishaps as to have become a proverb for folly.
The Germans fancy Cordula is a diminutive of the Latin _cor_, a heart;
others have wildly made it the feminine of _Cordeleo_, lion heart, and
it has been confused with Delia, the epithet of Diana, from Delos, her
birthplace; but Creirdyddlydd is certainly its origin, and remembering
that in Welsh _d_ is softened and aspirated by being doubled, is not far
from it in sound. Cordelia is hereditary in some Irish families; but is
chiefly used for love of Shakespeare’s heroine of filial love.
Bronwen makes her appearance again in the romance of _Sir Tristram_,
under the name of Brengwain, the maid of Yseulte. When the Lady Yseulte
was sent from her home in Ireland, under the escort of Tristram, to be
married to King Mark, of Cornwall, her mother entrusted a love potion to
Brengwain to be given on the wedding night.
Unfortunately, a tempest arose on the voyage, and, in the consequent
exhaustion, “Swete Ysonde, the fre, asked Brengwain a drink.” And
Brengwain, bringing the magic cup by mistake, caused the fatal passion
between Yseulte and the knight.
Even the “hound that was there biside, yclept Hodain,” who licked up the
drops that were spilt of the philtre, became attached to the knight and
lady with the same magic love.
Bronwen or Brengwain has since been in use as a Welsh female Christian
name.
The names of the granddaughters of the Irish King Lear were Aine and
Aoidheal, a spark, and their dispute was whose husband was the best
hunter. Aine means joy or praise, and also fasting. Friday is
Diah-Aoine, or fasting day in Irish. Aine, the daughter of Eogah-hal,
was looked on as queen of the fairies of South Munster, and her abode
was said to be Cnoc Aine or Knockany, the Hill of Aine, in county
Limerick; Aoibhinn was queen of the fairies in Thomond or North Munster;
Una, of those in Ormond.
Aine continued to be a favourite name in Ireland for many centuries; but
in later times it has become the practice to Anglicize it as Anna and
Hannah, and possibly Anastasia, though this may have come more directly
from the Greek. In 705 reigned a Scottish king called Ainbhceallach the
Good. He is turned by different authors into Arinchellar, Armkelleth,
Amberkelletus, etc., and his right one is either joyful war, or agile
war, or if with the _b_, ferocious war. He was too good for his savage
people, and was dethroned at the end of a year, and is usually mentioned
by the few historians, who name him, as Amberkelleth.
It is evident then that Aine had come to Scotland with other Gaelic
names, and it is probable that this is the word that had come forth as
Anaple or Annabell in Scotland long before the period of devotion to St.
Anne. In 1158 Annabel Fitz Duncan, daughter to Duncan, Earl of Moray,
carried the name into the Lucie family; Annabella of Strathern appears
in 1244; Annaple Drummond was wife to King Robert III. of Scotland,
about 1390; and thenceforth Anaple has been somewhat common in Scotland,
while Anabla and Anabella are equally frequent in Ireland, and Annabella
is occasionally used in England as Anna made a little finer.
Aoiffe was more generally used than Aine, but most likely is the origin
of the Effie of Scotland, now always used as short for Euphemia, though
the Highland version of this name is now Aoirig, or Oighrigh. In other
places Aoiffe seems to have been turned into Affrica. In the beginning
of the twelfth century ‘Affrica,’ daughter of Fergus of Galway, married
‘Olaus’ the Swarthy, King of Man, and her daughter ‘Effrica’ married
Somerled, Thane of Argyle and Lord of the Isles, by whose genealogists
she seems to have been translated into Rachel. Africa is still used as a
female name in the Isle of Man and in Ireland. Aoiffe was the wife of
Cuchullin in the Ossianic poetry, and Evir Allin and Evir Coma, properly
Aoibhir Aluin and Aoibhir Caomha, the pleasantly excellent and
pleasantly amiable, both appear there.
The recognized equivalent for Aoiffe was, however, Eva, beginning almost
from the first Christian times, so that, until I found Aoiffe in such
unquestionably heathen company as Lear and Mănănnán, I had made up my
mind that she was the Gadhaelic pronunciation of our first mother.
Eva is found in the oldest documents extant in Scotland, and high in
their genealogies: Eva O'Dwhine carried the blood of Diarmaid to the
Anglo-Norman Campbells; Eva of Menteith married one of the first Earls
of Lennox; and Alan, the first High Steward of Scotland, married Eve of
Tippermuir, and made her the ancestress of the Stuarts; about the same
time that the Irish Aoiffe or Eva, for she at least is known to have
borne both names, was being wedded to stout Earl Strongbow.
Aevin, or Evin, is occasionally found in the house of Kennedy, but
Eveleen is by far the most common form of both names in Ireland, and has
held its ground unchanged. Eibhlin in Irish.
To our surprise, however, Aveline or Eveline make their appearance among
the Normans long before the marriage of the Earl of Pembroke. Aveline
was the name of the sister of Gunnar, the great-grandmother of William
the Conqueror; and Aveline or Eveline was so favourite a Norman name
that it well suits the Lady of the Garde Douloureuse in the _Betrothed_.
Avelina de Longo-Campo, as the name is Latinized in old chronicles,
married the last Earl of Lancaster, and was the mother of that heiress
Avelina or Eveline, who, though short-lived and childless herself,
carried to her husband, Edmund Crouchback, and the sons of his
subsequent marriage, the great county of Lancaster, which made the power
of the Red Rose formidable.
Eveline has never been frequent, but was never entirely forgotten in
England, (for instance, an Eveline Elstove was baptized in 1539,) and
was revived as an ornamental name by Miss Burney’s _Evelina_. At present
it is one of those most in vogue, but it ought not to be spelt with a
_y_, unless it be intended to imitate the surname Evelyn, the old French
form of the Latin _avellana_, a hazel. It was well that the tree-loving
author of the _Sylva_ should bear such a surname, and from him and his
family, men have frequently been christened by it; but ladies do not
follow the old Eveline of song and romance unless they use the true
feminine termination.
It is curious that several Keltic names should have come to us with the
Normans. They may either have been of the set interchanged with the
Northmen at some pre-historical time, or old Keltic ones picked up from
the Gallic inhabitants of Neustria, or from the Bretons on the border.
In the present case, the latter supposition is the most likely, as the
Scandinavians do not seem to have used Eveline. It may of course be
after all a diminutive of Eve, but the alternate use of the initial _A_
and _E_ seems to contradict this, and identify it with Aoiffe, daughter
of the Irish King Lear.
SECTION III.—_Bri._
The root _brig_, meaning force or strength, is found in many branches of
the Indo-European tongues. It is considered to be akin to the Sanscrit
_virja_, strength, and is found in the Greek verb βρίθω (_britho_), to
be heavy, or to outweigh, and the adjective βριαρός (_briaros_), strong.
And thus it named the hundred-handed Titan, whom gods called Briareus,
and men Ægeon, and who, in the Titanic revolution, was disposed of
either in the Ægean Sea, or under Mount Ætna. Briennios, the surname of
some of the eastern emperors, must have come from this root.
In the Keltic tongues it again appears in Irish as _bri_ or _brigh_,
force or valour, and Bryn, height, answering to the Roman _virtus_ (a
near connection, as we shall presently see), and the old French word
_brie_, peculiarly expressive of the gay, light Gallic courage, was a
now forgotten legacy from the ancient population. Thence came Brenhin,
Bren, or Bran, or, as the Romans made it, Brennus, a king or chief—well
known for the forays on Italy, and capture of Rome.
Another Brennus was the leader of a division of the great host of Gauls,
that, about B.C. 279, came out of Pannonia, and made a backward rush
towards the East. One of their bands settled in Asia Minor, and were the
parents of the Galatians; but Brennus was less successful. He marched
upon Delphi, promising his followers the plunder of the Temple; but was
totally defeated by the Delphians; and finding his army destroyed, and
himself severely wounded, put an end to his own life.
Next time Bran comes to light, it is altogether in Welsh setting. The
_Triads_ and the prolific _Genealogy of Welsh Saints_, are the
authorities for the existence of a prince of that name. Bran the
Blessed, the son of Llyr Lledaith, and father of Caradwg, is, we are
told, one of the three blessed princes of Britain, having brought home
the faith of Christ from Rome, where he had been seven years as a
hostage for his son Caradwg, whom the Romans put in prison after being
betrayed through the enticement, deceit, and plotting of Cartismandua,
or by her Welsh name, Avegwydo Foeddog, the daughter of Avarwy, who
betrayed Caswallon. Her act is called by the _Triads_ one of the three
secret treasons of Britain.
Now Caradwg is, without a doubt, the Caractacus of Roman history, and
the captivity of his family exactly coincides with the time of St.
Paul’s first journey to Rome. Moreover, as has been already shown under
the head of Aristobulus, there is great reason to consider that
Aristobulus, the friend of St. Paul, was the same as the Arwystli, whom
the _Triads_ commemorate as among their first missionaries. A farm-house
in Glamorganshire, called Trevran, house of Bran, is pointed out as the
place where Bran used to reside, and it is near Llanilid, which is
considered as the oldest church in Britain.
Such is the British account of the father of Caradwg. The Roman account
is, that Cunobelinus was king of the Silures, and husband of
Cartismandua, queen of the Brigantes, and was a prosperous and powerful
prince in league with the Romans.
Cunobelinus is in like manner a title, though not of man. Cûn is, as
will be shown in due time, a chief or lord. Bel or Belin was the Keltic
god of light and of war, in whose honour British coins were struck in
the heathen days of Bran, whose own name the Romans thought they were
reading on his coins. Beli also meant war, and more than one king was
called from him.
Bran the Blessed may thus be our old friend Cymbeline, a name repeated
in Cornwall, but from literature, not tradition. Cartismandua, or
Aregwydd, is the wicked queen, and Caradwg one of the sons.
As to Imogen, the real charm of the play, no British lady either
accounts for or explains her name; but in German genealogies we fall
upon Imagina of Limburg, in 1400; and there are various other instances
of the like, so that Shakespeare may be supposed to have heard of one of
them, and adopted her as the heroine of the old story of the deserted
and betrayed wife, which he so strangely placed at the court of the last
independent British prince. Or Imogen may be a Shakespearian version of
Ygnoge, daughter of Pandrasus, emperor of Greece, and wife of Brutus,
according to Geoffrey of Monmouth. In Anne of Brittany’s funeral
oration, in 1514, her birth was deduced from this last.
Caradwg’s own proper name comes from the same root as the Greek χάρις,
grace, and the Latin _carus_, dear. It means beloved, and has the Breton
form Keridak. Caer Caradoc, in Shropshire, retains the name of his camp.
He had a worthy namesake in Caradawc Vreichfras, or strong armed, called
the pillar of the Kymry, and one of the three battle knights of Britain.
Vreichfras means the strong arm, but the French trouveurs rendered it
Brise-bras, the wasted arm; and told of an enchanter who fixed a serpent
on the knight’s arm, from whose torture nothing could relieve him but
that she whom he loved best should undergo it in his stead. His faithful
wife offered herself; the serpent was just about to seize on her, when
her brother smote off its head with his sword; but her husband thus
never recovered the strength of his arm! Others, however, read
Vreich-fras as _Fer-a-bras_, iron arm; and thus, perhaps, from some
Breton romance, was one of the Hauteville brothers called William
Ferabras. Hence, again, did the French and Italian romancers name their
fierce Moorish champion Ferraù, or Ferragus, the same who lost his
helmet, and possessed the healing salve, valued by Don Quixote as the
balsam of Fierabras!
Caradwg’s wife, Tegan Euvron, or golden beauty, was mentioned by the
_Triads_ as one of the three fair ladies and chaste damsels of Arthur’s
court, possessing three precious things, of which she alone was
worthy,—the mantle, the goblet, and the knife. Later romance and ballad
have expanded these into the story of the three tests of the faithful
wife; and Sir Caradoc and his lady remain among the prime worthies of
the Round Table.
In the twelfth century a saint named Caradwg retired from the world in
disgust at the violence shown to him by his master, Rhys, prince of
South Wales, on learning the loss of two greyhounds that had been in
Caradwg’s charge. He lived in various hermitages in Wales and left a
well in the parish of Haroldstone, called by his name. Moreover, soon
after his death, he was said to have suddenly closed his hand, in
frustration of the designs of the historian, William of Malmsbury, who
wanted to cut off his little finger for a relic. Our insular saints were
decidedly of Shakespeare’s opinion, and had no desire to have their
‘bones moved’ or be made relics of.
Caradwg, Caradoc, and Keriadek continue to be used in Wales, Scotland,
and Brittany.
_Cara_, friend, was sometimes prefixed to a saint’s name by the
Christian Gael, as Cara Michil, friend of St. Michael, as the name of
his devout client, and thus arose such surnames as Carmichael.
This pursuit of Cymbeline and his family has carried us far from Bran
the Blessed. Under this, his proper name, he stands forth in old Welsh,
romance as the original importer of the Sanc-greal. One very old and
wild version says that King Bran brought from Ireland a magic vessel,
given him by a great black man in Ireland, which healed wounds and
raised the dead.
In the twelfth century the Sanc-greal had assumed its Christian
character, and Bran the Blessed, as the first Christian prince of
Britain, was said to have received it from St. Joseph of Arimathea, and
guarded it to the end of his life. No wonder, therefore, that Brittany
loved and honoured his name.
Bran was a Pictish prince, killed in 839, in battle with the Danes, and
it is highly probable that St. Birinus, the Keltic apostle of Wessex,
was another form of Bran.
Brian has been from very old times a favourite Christian name in both
Brittany and Ireland, the first no doubt from the Christian honours of
the blessed Bran, the second from the source whence he was named.
The great glory of Brian in Ireland was in the renowned Brian Boromhe,
King of Leinster, or of the tribute, so called from the tribute, once
shaken off by Ulster, but which he re-imposed. He defeated the Danes in
twenty-five battles, and finally was slain in the great battle of
Clontarf, on the Good Friday of 1014. Around that battle has centered a
wonderful amount of fine legendary poetry on both sides.
Brian, or Bryan, is a very frequent Christian name, but according to the
usual lot of its congeners, has an equivalent, _i. e._ Bernard, chiefly
in Ulster, with which it has not the most distant connection.
Brien was always a favourite in Brittany, and is very common as a
surname with the peasantry there. The Bretons, who joined in the Norman
conquest, imported it to England. Two landholders, so called, are
recorded in Domesday Book; and during the first century of Norman rule
it was far more common than at present, when it is considered as almost
exclusively Irish. Some of our older etymologists have been beguiled
into deriving it from the French _bruyant_, noisy.
The feminine Brennone is given in German dictionaries, but it, as well
as Brennus, are there derived from old German, and explained as
protection, which is clearly a mistake.
Brieuc was a Breton saint; Breasal was once common in Ireland, and
survives in a few families, but is generally turned into Basil, and
sometimes to Brazil, in which shape the Manxmen frequently bore it.
_Brîgh_ or strength, is the most satisfactory explanation of Brighid,
the daughter of the fire-god, and the goddess of wisdom and song, skill
and poetry.
Cormac, king and bishop of Cashel, explains the word as a ‘fiery dart;’
but this looks like one of the many late and untrustworthy
interpretations of Keltic names.
Brighid was always a favourite female name in Ireland, and has become
one of the very few Keltic ones of European popularity. This was owing
to a maiden who was brought up by a bard, and afterwards became a pupil
of St. Patrick; and from a solitary recluse at Kildare, rose to be the
head of five hundred nuns, and was consulted by the synod of bishops.
She died in 510, and after her death, a copy of the Gospels was found in
her cell, too beautiful to have been written by mortal hand, “with
mystical pictures in the margent, whose colours and workmanship were, at
first blush, dark and unpleasant, but in the view marvellously lively
and artificiall.”
It was long kept at Kildare, and a little hand-bell, such as was much
used by the Irish missionaries, and which had belonged to her, and was,
therefore, called Clogg Brighde, or Bridget’s Bell, was exhibited to the
devout, in both England and Ireland, until it was suppressed by a
prohibition from Henry V., perhaps, because it tended to keep up a
national spirit.
She was one of the patron saints of Ireland, and was regarded with such
devotion, both there and in Scotland, that children were baptized as her
servants, Maol Brighde, Giollabrid; and to the present day, hers is the
favourite name in Ireland.
St. Bride’s churches are common, both in England and Scotland, and the
village of Llanaffraid, in Wales, records her in her Welsh form of
Ffraid. Bridewell was once the palace of St. Bride, and after its
conversion into a prison, spread its sinister name to other like
buildings. The Portuguese believe themselves to possess the head of St.
Bridget at Lisbon, and have accordingly more than one Doña Brites among
their historical ladies.
Sweden has also a St. Bridget, or rather Brigitta; but her name is in
her own tongue Bergljot, shortened to Berglit, and then confounded with
the Irish Bridget. It unfortunately means mountain-fright, or guardian
defect, though German antiquaries have twisted both Bridgets into
_Beraht Gifu_, bright gift. Be that as it may, the Swedish Brigitta was
a lady of very high birth, who, in her widowhood, founded an order of
Brigittin nuns, somewhere about 1363, made a pilgrimage to Rome, and was
greatly revered for her sanctity. She named the very large class of
Norwegian, German, and Swedish Bridgets or Berets, who are almost as
numerous as the Irish.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ Irish. │ Scotch. │ French. │
│Bridget │Brighid │ Bride │Brigitta │
│Bride │Biddy │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Italian. │ Portuguese. │ Swedish. │ German. │
│Brigida │Brites │Brigitta │Brigitta │
│Brigita │ │Brita │ —————————— │
│ │ │Begga │ Esth. │
│ │ │Bergliot │Pirrit │
│ │ │Beret │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Lusatian. │ Lettish. │ Lith. │ Lapp. │
│Brischia │Britte │Berge │Pirket │
│Brischa │Birte │Berzske │Pikka │
│ │Pirre │ │Pikke │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
SECTION IV.—_Fear, Gwr, Vir._
The free days of the Kelt were fast ending. He fell before Roman
discipline, though not without a worthy struggle.
In Cisalpine Gaul, Marcellus and Scipio themselves found Britomartus, or
Viridomarus, king of the Boii, so worthy an antagonist that Marcellus,
having slain him in single fight, dedicated his _spolia opima_ in the
temple of Jupiter Feretrius. In Spain, a Lusitanian hunter or shepherd,
named Viriathus, carried on a guerilla warfare with the Roman legions
for fourteen years. In Gaul, Cæsar mentions Virdumarus among his allies
the Æduans, and says that their chief magistrate was termed
_vergobretus_, and among his enemies, the Unelli and Arverni, he records
Viridovix, Vergosillanus, and Vercingetorix.
The last chieftain was one of the most gallant men who struggled in vain
against the eagles.
However, our concern is chiefly with his name. In fact, these _Virs_ of
Cæsar might have been placed in our preceding division, for they are
from the same root, _bri_, or force, and still more resemble the
Sanscrit _virja_, as well as the Latin _virtus_ and _vir_. Exactly
answering to _vir_, though coming in an independent stream from the same
source, the Gaelic man is _fear_, plural _fir_; the Cymric is _gwr_,
gen. _gyr_, plural _wyr_. Again, valour or virtue is in Welsh _gwyrth_,
and _gwr_ is the adjective for excelling.
Thus there can be no reasonable doubt, that the _ver_ or _vir_ of the
Latin version of these Keltic heroes was a rendering of the _fear_ of
the Gael, or of the _gwr_ of the Cymry, both not infrequent
commencements; and the double name of the hero of Cisalpine Gaul,
Viridomarus, or Britomartus, brings us back to the original root. It may
be that Britomartus referred to his great strength.
Vergobretus, the magistrate of the Ædui, is explained either as
_Fear-co-breith_, man who judges, or _War-cy-fraith_, man placed over
the laws; or, taking _gwr_ as excelling, and _brawd_, as justice, he
would be excelling in justice.
Viriathus must be referred to _fear_, man, and, perhaps, to _aodh_,
fire.
Vercingetorix himself may be translated into _Fear-cuin-cedo-righ_, man
who is chief of a hundred heads; and his cousin, Vergosillanus, is the
man either of the banner or the spear, according as _sillanus_ is
referred to _saighean_, a banner, or to _saelan_, a spear.
Here, then, are the tokens of kindred between the Gauls of the continent
and the Gael of our islands, for _Fear_, the frequent commencement in
both Ireland and Scotland, is assuredly the word that Cæsar rendered by
_Vir_, more correctly both in sense and sound than he knew.
Fearghus, man-deed, from _gus_, a deed, is the rendering of one of the
most national of Gaelic names, though Macpherson makes it Fearguth, man
of the word.
Bold genealogists place Feargus at the head of the line of Scottish
kings, and make him contemporary with Alexander the Great. Another
Fergus was son of Finn, and considered as even a greater bard than his
nephew, Oisean. Poems said to be by him are still extant, in one of
which he describes his rescue of his brother, Oisean, who had been
beguiled into a fairy cave, and there imprisoned, till he discovered
himself to his brother by cutting splinters from his spear, and letting
them float down the stream that flowed out of the place of his
captivity.
Fearghus, the son of Erc, a Dalriad prince, was, in 493, blessed by St.
Patrick, and led the great migration of Scots to Albin, together with
his brothers Loarn and Aonnghus, who each named their own district,
while he reigned over the whole region of the Scots,—that around Argyle;
whither he had transported the stone of dominion, that sooner or later
brought conquest to the race who possessed it. From these Fearghus or
Farghy in Ireland, Fergus in Scotland, and the feminine Fergusiana still
continue in use.
Fearachar is another Scottish form. Ferquard is given as prince of the
Scots in Ireland, at some incalculable time; and Fearchur or Ferchar was
the king of the Scots just after St. Columbus' death. He is Latinized as
Ferquardus; and this was the name of an Earl of Ross in 1231; and as
Farquhar has continued in favour in the Highlands. Feardorcha is the
blind man. Fardorougha is an incorrect modernism, and Ferdinand and
Frederick the supposed equivalent.
_Gwr_, or _Wr_, is the Cymric form of the same word, and the parallel to
Fergus among the Picts was Wrguist, or Urguist, a prince who lived about
800, and whose daughter was called after him, married the Scottish Eacha
or Fergusiana, and thus led to the union of the two races under her
descendant, Kenneth MacAlpin.
Gwrtigearn, excelling king, is a Silurian prince of doubtful fame.
Through Latinism we know him as Vortigern. It would seem that when the
usurpation of Maximus had involved the Roman empire in confusion, and
left Britain without any legions to defend it against the robber nations
round, that he made some attempt at a partial revival of national
spirit; but, failing this, entered into a treaty with the Anglo-Saxon
invaders, and was thought to have betrayed the cause of his country.
What these doings were is another matter. We all know the romantic
history of Vortigern’s letter to Henghist and Horsa; of his visit to the
Saxon camp; of Rowena and her cup; of the Isle of Thanet marked out by
strips of cow-hide; and of the treachery of the Saxons at Stonehenge.
There is nothing morally impossible in the story as it was dished up for
modern history, and it used to satisfy our ancestors before they had
found out that a small king on the Welsh border could hardly have dealt
with Thanet, and, moreover, that the Teutonic immigration had been going
on for many years past on the eastern coast.
As to the cow-hide and the massacre, they are said to be old Thuringian
traditions; and the Welsh seem to have either invented or preserved the
story of the fascinations of Rowena. At any rate, they named her; for,
alas for Saxon Rowena, there is nothing Teutonic in the word, and the
Kymric form _Rhonwen_, white skirt, betrays its origin. Rhonwen, or
Bradwen, is the name by which she is called in the _Gododin_, a poem
ascribed to the bard Aneurin, and, perhaps, containing some germs of
truth, though its connection with the Stonehenge massacre is hotly
disputed.
CHAPTER III.
GAELIC NAMES.
SECTION I.—_Scottish Colonists._
The strange and wild beliefs that prevailed regarding the original
settlement of ancient Ireland, have left strong traces on the names
still borne by the population, both there and in Scotland.
We need not go back quite to Adam’s great-grandson, and the wicked race
that sprang from him, and all perished, except one giant, who took up
his abode in a cave, and there lived till he was baptized by St.
Patrick; nor to Fintan, who was changed into a salmon during the time
that the flood prevailed, and afterwards gave rise to the proverb, “I
could tell you many things were I as old as Fintan.” A bard, so called,
was said to have existed, and a poem is attributed to him, which gives a
very queer account of the first settlers, though he does not there claim
quite such a startling experience.
Fomorians, Fir Bolg, men dwelling in caves, or, more probably, ravaging
men, and Tuath De Danan, _i.e._ chiefs, priests, and bards, are all
conducted in turn to Erin by tradition and poetry; but none equal in
fame or interest the tribe called Milesian, from whom the purest Irish
blood is supposed to descend.
The favourite legends start this famous colony from the East, where
Phenius, the head of the family, was supposed to have taught the
Phœnicians letters, and left them his name! His son, Niul, not to be
behindhand with him, named the Nile, having been sent on an embassy to
Egypt, where he married Pharaoh’s daughter! Whether her name was Scota
or not, authorities are not agreed; but all declare that it was her
father who was drowned in the Red Sea, and that a subsequent dispute
with the Egyptians caused either Niul or his son to migrate to Spain.
It is this Niul, or Niale, to whom the whole legion of Niales are to be
referred. The name, from _niadh_, means a champion, and was probably
carried backwards to the ancestor from the various Neills, who thought
they might as well claim the Nile as their namesake.
Neill of the Nine Hostages, was one of the greatest of the ancient
heroes; he was the last but one of the pagan kings of Ireland, and
himself most unconsciously imported the seed of the Gospel, for it was
his men who, in a piratical descent on the Roman colony of Valentia,
carried off the boy who, in after days, was to become the Apostle of
Ireland,—one of the many slaves by whom the Gospel has been extended.
Neill of the Nine Hostages was killed by an assassin about the year 405;
but his family, the Hy Neill, or children of Neill, became one of the
leading septs in the North of Ireland. Of them the story is told, that
on going to settle on the Ulster coast, one of them resolved to take
seisin of the new country by touching the shore before any one else, and
finding his boat outstripped, he tore out his dagger, cut off his right
hand at the wist, and threw it on the beach, so that his fingers were
the first laid on the domain. Such, at least, is the tale that accounts
for the O'Neill’s war-cry, _Lamhdearg Aboo_ (Red hand set on), and for
the red hand on the shield of the O'Neills and of Ulster, afterwards
given by James I. to the knights baronets, whom he created as
‘undertakers’ of the new colony of English, which he wished to found in
Ulster.
Ireland thus frequently used Neill, or Niall, and Scotland Niel, as it
is there spelt, but it is far more surprising to meet with it among the
Scandinavian races. It is evidence that there must have been some
considerable intercourse between Ireland and the North before the days
of the piracies of the historical ages. The old Irish legends constantly
speak of Norway as Lochlinn, or the land of lakes, and show visits
taking place between the inhabitants; and there are names to be found in
both countries, borrowed from one another, too far back to be ascribed
to the Norse invasions.
In the _Landnama Bok_, the Domesday Book of Iceland, no less than three
Njals appear, and the Njalssaga, the history of the noble-spirited yet
peaceful Icelander, who, even in the tenth century, had never shed
blood, and preferred rather to die with his sons than to live to avenge
them, is one of the finest histories that have come down to us from any
age. Njal’s likeness to the contraction Nils, has caused many to suppose
that it also is a form of Nicolas, but the existence of Nial both in
Ireland and Iceland before the conversion of either country contradicts
this. Nielsen is a frequent Northern patronymic, and our renowned name
of Nelson probably came to us through Danish settlers.
The Northmen apparently took their Njal to France with them, and it
there was called Nesle or Nêle. Chroniclers Latinized it as Nigellus,
supposing it to mean black; and in Domesday book, twelve landholders
called Nigellus appear, both before and after the Conquest, so that they
may be supposed to be Danish Niels, left undisturbed in their
possessions.
Nigel de Albini, brother to him who married the widow of Henry I., must
have been a genuine Norman Niel; and through the numerous Anglo-Norman
nobles who were adopted into the Scottish peerage, this form was adopted
in addition to the old Gaelic Nial, or as a translation of it, for the
young brother of Robert Bruce is called by both names, Nigel and Nial.
At present this Latinized Normanism of the old Keltic word is considered
as peculiarly Scottish, chiefly because it has been kept up in that form
in old Scotch families.
Fergus, Loarn, and Aonghus are said to have been the three brothers who
led the migration from Erin to Caledonia, and transferred the name of
Scotland from one isle to the other in 503, and Loarn and Angus gave
their names to two districts in Scotland.
Anguss was indeed a popular name both in Scotland and Ireland. It comes
from the numeral _aon_, one; it also conveys the sense of pre-eminence,
means excellent strength, and it is generally pronounced Haoonish in
Gaelic. Irish genealogists make Aongus Turimheach king two hundred and
thirty-three years before the Christian era; and we are afterwards told
of another Aongas, king of Munster, who had a family of forty-eight sons
and daughters, of whom he gave half to St. Patrick to be monks and nuns.
In Hanmer’s _Chronicle_, King Arthur visits Ireland and converses with
King Anguish, which painful title is precisely that which Henry VIII.,
in his correspondence, gives his brother-in-law, the Earl of Angus.
Angus is specially at home in Scotland, but there it has been called
Hungus and Ungus, likewise Enos, and is now generally translated into
Æneas, the christened name of many a Scot who ought to be Angus; and the
Irish are too apt to change it in the same way.[97]
-----
Footnote 97:
Hanmer, _Chronicle_; _Ossianic Society’s Transactions_; Taylor, _Hist.
of Ireland_; Dasent, _Nialsaga_; _Highland Society’s Dictionary_;
Ellis, _Domesday Book_.
SECTION II.—_The Feen._
A remarkable cycle of traditions are cherished by the Gaelic race
regarding a band of heroes, whom they call the Fiann, or Fenians, and
whose exploits are to them what those of Jason, or Theseus, were to the
Greeks.
Scotland and Ireland claim them both alike, and point to places named
after them and their deeds; but the balance of probability is in favour
of Ireland, as their chief scene of adventure, although they may also
have spent some time in Morven, as their legends call the West of
Scotland, since the Gaelic race was resident in both countries, and kept
together in comparative union by its hatred to the Cymry in both. This
supposition is confirmed by the semblance of a date that is supplied
through the conversion of the last survivor of the band by St. Patrick,
which would place their era in the end of the fourth century, just when
the migrations of the Scots were taking place, supposing these to have
lasted from about A.D. 250 to 500. Still, the Fian may be only one of
the ancient imaginations of the Gael, and either never have had any
corporeal existence at all, or else, genuine ancient myths may have
fixed themselves upon some forefathers, who under their influence have
been magnified into heroic—not to say gigantic—proportions.
These tales, songs, and poems lived among the story-telling Highlanders
and Irish, unnoticed, until the eighteenth century, when the Scottish
author, James Macpherson, perceived that they contained a mine of wild
beauty and heroic deeds, and were, in fact, the genuine national poetry
of his race.
He put his fragments together into the books of an epic, and wrought up
the measured metre of the Gaelic into a sort of stilted English prose,
rhythmical, and not without a certain grandeur of cadence and
expression; moreover, he left out a good deal of savagery, triviality,
repetition, and absurdity; and produced an exceedingly striking book, by
expanding the really grand imagery of the ancient bards, and, perhaps,
unconsciously imparting Christian heroism to his characters.
There had been some unscrupulousness from the first. Either from
nationality or ignorance, Macpherson had entirely ignored the connection
with St. Patrick, and made his heroes altogether Scottish, though
passing into Ireland; and when a swarm of critics arose, some
questioning, some mocking, he did not make a candid statement of what
were his materials, but left the world to divide itself between the
beliefs that the whole was Ossian’s, or the whole Macpherson’s. Had he
been truthful, he would have gained high credit, both as poet and
antiquary; but he brought on himself the reputation of an impostor, his
literary talents have been forgotten, and the poems themselves are far
less regarded than they deserve.
Be the truth what it may, the names of the Fianna were in constant use
long before Macpherson was heard of.
In Ireland and West Scotland, the early poems represent Finn and his
friends performing high feats of prowess.
Finally, the Feen either invaded Ireland, or became obnoxious to the
natives, and were set upon at the battle of Garristown, or Gabhra,
pronounced Gavra, loud shouting. The last survivor of them was the poet
Oisean, or Ossian, as he is now called, who was said to have lived till
the coming of St. Patrick, and to have been taken into his monastery,
where old Irish poems show him in most piteous case, complaining much of
fasts, and of the “drowsy sound of a bell.”
SECTION III.—_Finn._
Leader of the Fianna, and bestowing on them their very title, stands the
great Fion, the grand centre of ancient Gaelic giant lore; his full
title being Fionn Mac Cumhail, pronounced Coul. Fingal, the name the
Scots have known him by ever since the time of Barbour, is really a
confusion of Faingall, the toilers of the Gaul.
There is no doubt of the meaning of _fion_. It is the same with the
Cymric Gwynn, or Wynn, and like them signifies white, fair, or clear, as
in the name of Lough Fyne.
One very remarkable feature in the history of Finn is that the same
meaning of white attaches to it in ancient or poetical Scandinavian,
though not in the other Teutonic languages; nor is the name found in any
Teuton nation but the northern ones, except that in the Saxon chronicle,
Finn is Odin’s fourth forefather, whereas he is his grandfather in the
_Edda_.
In the great Anglian poem of _Beowolf_, Finn is king of the Frisians,
but is conquered by the Danes, strangely enough, under Henghist; another
poem, called the _Battle of Finnsburh_, records the strife—Finn lost
half his kingdom, but the next year he killed Henghist; then being set
upon by the other Danes, lost his crown and life. It is likely that, old
as the poem is, it has been much altered, and that it really existed
before the Anglian colonization of our island; indeed, there is reason
to suppose that it was in memory of the burgh of this Frisian Finn, that
Finsbury manor in the city of London acquired its name.
Finn is a giant in Norway, compelled by the good Bishop Laurence to
erect the church at Lund, after which he was turned into stone by way of
payment, wife, child, and all, as may still be seen. Again in Denmark as
a trolld, he did the same service for Esbern Snare, building Kallundborg
church, on condition that if his name was not guessed by the time the
church was finished, his employer should become his property. As in the
German tale of _Rumpel Stitzchen_, the danger was averted by the victim,
just in time, overhearing this amiable lullaby in the hole of a rock—
“Be still, my babe, be still,
To-morrow comes thy father Finn,
Esbern’s heart and eyes for a toy thou shalt win.”
Next morning Esbern saluted Finn by his name, as he was bringing the
last half-pillar, whereupon he flew away, pillar and all, wherefore the
church only stands to this day on three pillars and a half!
Finn alone, and in combination, is rather a favourite in the North. The
_Landnama-bok_, which gives the Icelandic genealogies from the
settlements there in the ninth century down to the middle of the
thirteenth, has five men named Finnr, two, Finni, and three ladies
called Finna; and in the three countries in the, mainland it has been
equally common, even to comparatively recent times, when Finn Magnusson
was one of the chief authorities for Scandinavian antiquities. Among the
compounds of the name, the Swedes have Finngaard, which their
pronunciation contrives to make sound like Fingal, with what is called
the “thick _l_;” and in modern times it is so spelt in allusion to
Macpherson’s hero. The name Finnketyl, or Finnkjell, with the feminine
Finnkatla, is explained as the cauldron or vessel of some semi-divine
Finn. Kettles are rather common in the North, but almost always belong
to some divinity of high rank. Finn has his weapons, as Finnbogi, or
Finbo, a white bow; Finngeir, a white spear; his sport, as Finleik,
white game or reward; his forest, as Finnvidr, or white wood; as well as
his guardianship, as Finn-vardr, or white ward, all represented in
northern nomenclature, in a manner analogous to those of the national
deities.
All this makes it highly probable that Finn was an idea borrowed from
the Gael by the Norsemen, especially as the hammer of Thor is sometimes
to be heard in Scottish legend resounding in the hand of Finn. Fionn is
still a name in Ireland, but in English is translated into Albany; and
in Scotland Fionnlaoch, white soldier, has become Finlay.
There are many other Keltic names connected with Finn in the sense of
white, such as Finghin, or the fair offspring, which became Finian or
Fineen; and as such was the name of two saints, one a friend of St.
Patrick, and that teacher of St. Columb, who, when Columb had written
out the Psalms from a book lent by him, claimed the copy on the plea
that it was the offspring of his manuscript. Nevertheless, St. Columb
took care that St. Finan should be duly revered in Scotland, where he
has various churches, and one royal namesake, for probably he was the
real original of the Finnan, whose reign is placed B.C. 134. Another St.
Finghin is patron of Ulster, and left his name to be a favourite in the
families of M'Carthy, O'Sullivan, and O'Driscoll, until Finghin M'Carthy
Anglicized himself as Florence, in which he has ever since been imitated
by his countrymen, though the change did not bring him much good
fortune, as his enemies represented that his alias showed sinister
intentions; and for other more definite misdeeds, he was thirty-six
years imprisoned in the Tower of London. It was a mistake in Lady Morgan
to make Florence M'Carthy a woman, for Florence and Flory in Ireland
were always men. We do find a Florence mentioned as contemporary with
St. Patrick; but this is doubtless meant as a translation of Finghin.
The ladies, however, have not been behindhand in spoiling their
derivative from Fionn. Fionn-ghuala, or white shoulder, was a
tough-looking name enough, though no one need complain of it as
Finnuala, as it actually is spoken, still less as Fenella. Early Keltic
maidens used it frequently, and it is found in all manner of shapes in
genealogies. In the clouds at the opening of Scottish history, we find
Fynbella, or Finella, recorded as the cruel Lady of Fettercairn, who, in
994, killed King Kenneth III.
Another Fynbella was Lady of the Mearns in 1174; Finvola is found in the
M'Leod pedigree twice in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The
Macdonnells called her Finwald in 1497. Finvola and Finola thickly stud
the Irish pedigrees; and it was perfectly correct in Scott to make
Fenella the name of the little wild dumb sprite, whom he placed in the
Isle of Man as a daughter of the house of Christian. In almost all its
original homes, however, Fenella has been discarded, having been ousted
by its supposed equivalent, Penelope (a weaver), and only in a few Irish
families is it still retained, and then in the form of Nuala. In
Scotland it has turned into the well-known Flora or Florie.
The other feminine forms of Finn have entirely passed away. They were
Finbil and Finscoth, white blossom and white flower, answering to the
Blanche-fleur of Romance, which it is possible was really meant as a
translation; Findelvh, fair countenance; Finnabhor, of the fair eyelids;
Finni, the fair; and Findath, fair colour.
SECTION IV.—_Cu, Cun, Gal._
We have treated the name of Fionn alone, because that is, comparatively,
plain sailing, while the second syllable of the name by which we call
him is beset with interminable perplexities.
If he was only Fingal, it would be easy enough to translate him by
‘white courage;’ but unluckily we know that this was a Lowland
contraction, used indeed in Barbour’s _Bruce_, in the fourteenth
century, but not the original form. He was Finn Mac Cumhail; or,
according to Hector Boece, in 1526, Finn, _filius Cœli_, Finn, the son
of Heaven; thus making him—as every mythic worthy from Hercules to
Arthur has been made—an astronomical parable.
In the first place, it may be observed that Cumhail is in pronunciation
nothing but Coul, or Coyl. That murderous letter _h_ has destroyed the
_m_, and itself into the bargain, and their only use is to testify to
what the etymology of the word has been.
Here we unite with the other branch of the language in a most curious
manner, for Col, Coel, or Coll, was a highly mythic personage in Kymric
legend, connected with the original population of Britain.
He is one of the three great swineherds of Britain, in the _Triads_, the
other two being Pwll and Tristram; also, he is one of those who
conferred benefits upon Britain, and appears in company with Hu Gadarn.
The title of the swineherd is accounted for in the Welsh tale of a sow
called Henwen, the old lady, who was placed under his charge, and came
swimming straight for Britain, with Coll holding by her bristles,
wherever she swam. There were predictions that Britain would suffer harm
from her progeny, and Arthur therefore collected his forces to oppose
her landing; but at Aber Tarrogi she came to the shore, and at
Wheatfield in Gwent she laid three grains of wheat and three bees,
whence corn and honey are the great pride of the district. At Dyved she
produced a barleycorn and a pig, to the subsequent benefit of Dyved beer
and bacon. She favoured Lleyn with rye, but on Snowdon she bestowed the
wolf and the eagle, and on Mona a kitten.
Without going back, like Mr. Davies, to make the sow either into the
ark, or a Phœnician ship, it is worth observing that there are traces in
Ireland of some pig myth. There is a famous poem called _The Hunting of
the Pig_, resulting in its being slain at Muckamore; and _muc_, a pig,
and _torc_, a boar, are constantly found in old names of places, as if
the swine cult had been of a higher kind than that at present received
by the species.
Not wholly substantial is the next British Coel-ap-Cyllin, who with Bran
the Blessed, and his own son Lleurig, makes up a triad of promoters of
Christianity in Britain.
We are scarcely sure of more than his existence; not quite that he left
his name to Colchester, and far less that he is the father of the
Empress Helena, the mother of Constantine.
Col or Gall was the name of a companion of St. Columbanus, and, like
him, one of the great missionary saints of Ireland, who finished the
imperfect work of conversion of the Kelts, scattered in the borders of
France, Germany, and Switzerland. His name of St. Gall is still attached
to the great monastery near the Lake of Constance.
The prefix _cu_ is, in its primary meaning, a dog, and is thus declined:
_cu_ (nom.), _con_ (gen.), _coin_ (dat.); thus showing its kindred with
the Sanscrit _çvan_, Greek κυων (cyon), and Latin _canis_, the _chien_
of France, and _cane_ of Italy; _hund_ and _hound_ elsewhere. Only the
land of the magnificent wolf-hound would have made his designation
(elsewhere a term of scorn) into the title of the brave warrior, and
thence into that of a chieftain. And so again it is the Kelts of Britain
that transmuted the mungoose and snake of the Indian legend into the
faithful dog and wild wolf of Bedgelert, the grave of the hound. Caleb,
and an occasional Danish Hund, have alone elsewhere endured the name of
the most faithful of animals; but in Gaelic it is a most favourite
prefix. By the author of the _Annals of Ulster_, it is literally
translated _Canis_, making us wonder whether, in the Scala family, Cane,
so famous in Dante’s time, could have been a rendering of some ancient
Celtic Cu.
Conn, when standing alone, as in the case of Conn of the Hundred
Battles, means wisdom.
Several of the most distinguished Fenians have this prefix, and have
handed it on to a great number of successors. Conghal would seem to have
been the proper name of Finn’s father; and, in Macpherson’s poem, a
Congal reigns over Ulster, as many a Congal assuredly did both before
and after his time.
Connal, or Connel, a name sometimes said to mean friendship, is given to
one of the Ossianic heroes, who makes a great figure in Macpherson’s
epic, and is said to have named Tirconnel. The name continued in great
favour, and the popular tales of the Highlands describe a certain
ingenious Conall, whose adventures are a most curious mixture of those
of Ulysses and Sindbad the Sailor, and are related in the same way as
those of the Three Calenders and other worthies in the _Arabian Nights_.
History says that Congal Claen, king of Ulster, slew Suibne, king of
Ireland, but was then attacked and defeated by Domnall II., Suibne’s
successor; that he then fled to Donald-brec, or the Freckled, king of
the Scots, and brought him to Ireland to be defeated at Magrath, in 637.
An Irish saint, called Congal, founded the Great Abbey of Ben-chor, in
Ulster, answering to Ban-chor, in Wales, and thus formed the nursery of
the great missions of the Irish Church in the sixth century.
Conan of small renown, as Macpherson calls him, was an unfortunate
Fenian, who always served as the butt of the rest, and is called in
other legends Conan Maol, the bald. He is in character a good deal like
the Sir Kay of Arthur’s court. The M'Connans now have borrowed the
English names of Kenyon and Canning. His name comes to light in the
Cymric branch, in the person of the British Conan, or Kynan Meriadech,
who is said to have led a migration of Britons to Armorica, and to be
the patriarch of the Dukes of Brittany. Of him is told the pretty tale
of the spotless ermine, that took refuge under his shield, and was
spared by him, its skin thenceforth forming the cognizance of Brittany,
with the motto, _Malò mori quàm fœdari_.
He is also said to have been the intended husband of St. Ursula; and, at
any rate, suggested the name of many a Conan among the Breton princes,
until the father of the unfortunate Constance, a name very possibly
given as a supposed feminine to Conan, since Constantine has devoured
all manner of varieties of _cu_ and _con_, and thus occasions the
numerous occurrences of this imperial designation as labels to the grim
portraits in the hall at Holyrood, who, after all, look more like Roman
Constantines than Caledonian Congals, Conaires, or Conchobars.
Connchobhar is also translated as Cornelius and Charles. Here _conn_
means strength, and _cobhair_, aid, or if the spelling ought to be
Conchobhar, it would be wolf-dog aid, and it is a word as variously
rendered by those who wish to retain its native form as by those who try
to change it into an ordinary name. Macpherson calls it Conachar, and
thence we have the assumed name of the unfortunate young chieftain whom
Sir Walter Scott placed in the deadly fight between Clan Chattan and
Clan Kay, to exemplify the struggle between constitutional timidity and
fear of shame. Conchabhar, who reigned in Scotland in 847, and Cunechat
or Conquhare, who was Maormar of Angus in the tenth century, are both
forms of Connchobhar, which in the North-East of Ireland is vulgarly
called Crogher and Crohoore. The last is said to be the best
representation of the spoken word; but Connor is the usual version, and
much the most euphonious to English ears; but then it is said also to
represent Connaire, one endowed with strength, _aire_ being a word added
to form an adjective, and Conmor, also in use in the days of the
Fenians. Indeed, Ireland had many royal Connors, one dignified as the
Great; but Conchobar. Conmor, and Connaire, are all confused in them.
Constantine is used in the Maguire family as a rendering of Cú Connacht,
the hound of Connaught; Munster’s hound is Cú Mumhan; Cashel’s, Cú
Chaisil. The river Shannon has Cú Sionnan; the mountain has Cú-sleibhe;
and, strangest of all, there is Cugan-mathair, hound without a mother.
Cú-Mhidhe, hound of Meath, is simply pronounced Cooey; but in the O'Kane
family has been turned into Quentin, and it may be concluded that a
similar process in Scotland changed the hound of Meath into the Latin
fifth, and accounts for the various Quentins.
Meath Cuchullin is the name of the hero with which Macpherson’s epic
opens: “Cuchullin sat by Tara’s wall, by the tree of the rustling leaf.”
His name is explained in the note, to mean, the voice of Ullin or
Ulster; Gath Ullin, voice of Ulster; but Ullin does not mean Ulster at
all. It was not the hero’s original name; but when young he killed a
wolf-hound belonging to Culain, the smith of Ulster. He answered the
owner’s complaints by saying, “I will be your hound,” and thus obtained
the nickname of Cú Culain, Culain’s dog. Cuchullin was a great hero, and
a Gaelic proverb, “as strong as Cuchullin,” is still in use. To
Cuchullin belongs the Keltic version of the story of the single combat
between the unknown father and son, only recognized too late by the
tokens left with the mother. In Persia and Ireland the son is killed; in
Greece, the father; in Germany alone the conclusion is happy!
As to the MacCuinns, they have dignified themselves as MacQueen in
Scotland, while their cousins in Ireland from O'Cuinn have become Quin.
SECTION V.—_Diarmaid and Graine._
Of all the heroes of the Feen, Diarmaid, whose name means free man, was
one of the most distinguished, and though not brought in by Macpherson,
his legend bears the same sort of relation to the main cycle, as does
the story of Orlando to the Court of Charlemagne, or that of Lancelot to
the Round Table.
Grainne was the daughter of Cormac MacArt, king of the fifth part of
Ulster, who built at Tara for her the Grianan of one pillar, or royal
palace. She was a lady of extremely quick wit, and gained the heart of
Fionn by her answers to a series of questions, which tradition still
preserves.
Fionn met with the usual fate of uncles in romance, for his nephew,
Diarmaid, fell in love with her too, and was the more irresistible, as
he had a beauty spot, which made every woman who saw it fall in love
with him. The young pair fled away together, and there is an extremely
long poem on their adventures and mutual affection, but fate at length
overtook Diarmaid. A great hunting took place, at which all the Feen
were present; in the course of which they came on the track of a
venomous boar, whose back was sixteen feet long, and soon after they
found some shavings of wood made by Diarmaid in cutting out dishes with
his knife. Having thus discovered his retreat, Fionn summoned his rival,
and commanded him to join in the hunt, in hopes that he would thus meet
his death; but Diarmaid killed the animal without receiving damage.
Fionn then remembered that Diarmaid, like Achilles and Siegfried, had a
fatal spot in his foot, and desired him to measure the boar by pacing it
against the hair. One of the bristles went into the fatal spot, and
Diarmaid fell dying; he asked for some water, and Fionn was bringing him
some from the stream between his hands, when he thought on Grainne, and
let it run through. Diarmaid died, and his corpse was brought home to
his wife, whose lamentation is given as a separate poem. Diarmaid was
also called Doun, the brown, and the clan descended from him were the
O'Duine. The heiress of this line, Aoiffe or Eva, married Gillaspick
Campbell, of an Anglo-Norman family, and Campbell has ever since been
the Lowland surname of the great clan; but in the North they are still
the sons of Diarmid; and their crest, the boar’s head, is in memory of
the fatal hunting.
Diarmaid continued in use both in Scotland and Ireland; and in
historical times it was Diarmaid, king of Leinster, who acted the part
of Paris, and ruined his country by the abduction of Dervorgil of Meath;
and then, when forced by the superior king to give up the lady, revenged
himself by calling in Earl Strongbow and the English.
Diarmid, or, as it is commonly called, Dermot or Darby, is still common
among the Irish. Where the saying about Darby and Joan arose, I cannot
discover. Darby is the form of Diarmid in Limerick and Tipperary;
Jeremiah, strange to say, is used for it in Cork and Kerry. Napoleon, in
his enthusiasm for the Ossianic poems of Macpherson, named two of his
heroes therefrom, but Diarmaid Murat died in childhood.
Grainne’s name has been equally popular with that of her lover. Ancient
Irish ladies constantly use it; the most celebrated being Grainne
O'Maille, a notable sailor chieftainess of the south-western coast,
whence she once sallied forth to pay a friendly visit to Queen
Elizabeth; and when the two high-spirited women were together, the
semi-barbarian was more than a match for the civilized queen.
Graine was soon after translated into Grace; indeed, the piratess was
also called Grace O'Malley; and ever since, Grace has been a favourite
national name in Scotland and Ireland, wherever Graine has been used; it
has been accepted for its English meaning and pleasant sound, and is now
very frequent.
SECTION VI.—_Cormac._
Cormac is a name that makes a great figure in the Ossianic poems, and
perhaps the son of _Corb_, _i. e._, a chariot, that is, a charioteer.
Cormac, king of Ulster, was the young ward of Cuchullin; and another
Cormac, called Cairbar, or the strong, was the father of a lady called
Morna, or more properly, Muirne, who when one lover returned from
battle, announcing that he had slain his rival, demanded his sword
stained with the blood, and then took revenge by plunging it into his
breast, and finally killed herself with it. A still more misty Cormac
figures in ancient pedigrees, as having been choked by the bone of an
enchanted salmon; and Cormac Cas is a more remote ancestor of the
O'Briens than the great Brien Boromhe himself.
Another Cormac is named in Irish calendars, as an abbot of eminent
sanctity in the days of St. Columba. He is further thought to have
visited Iona, and at home enjoys the credit of having endowed the sept
of the Hy Muireadach with “prosperity of cattle, the gift of eloquence,
success in fosterage, the gift of good counsel, and the headship of
peace and protection.” His name has since been common in Ireland.
Cormac used to be barbarously spelt Cormick and Cormuck, and the
MacCarthy family have substituted Charles for it. There is a long
Icelandic poem on a hero named Kormak, who, though his parents and
brothers have Norse names, evidently had Milesian blood as well as name,
for he is described as having dark eyes and hair, with a fair skin. He
was an admirable warrior and poet, but was the victim of hopeless love
for a lady named Steingerda.
Cairbre, strong man, is likewise one of the Ossianic names, as well as a
soubriquet of Cormac. Cairbre again is reckoned as the first of the
Milesians to settle in Ulster; and another Cairbre, son of Niall of the
Nine Hostages, bequeathed his name to the district now called Carbury.
Cairbre appears as the Irish sovereign who was the greatest foe of the
Fenians, and commanded at the battle of Gabhra, in which their force was
broken; and the son of Oisean, the grandson of Fionn, the beloved Osgar,
was treacherously slain, by a thrust in the side, by Cairbre himself.
The tears shed by the great Fionn were for his grandson Osgar, and for
his faithful dog Bran; and a great quantity of poetry has clustered
round the death of this young hero. Oscar Bernadotte, another of
Napoleon’s Ossianic godsons, recently sat upon the Swedish throne,
though amongst us, this, like others of the Fenian names, has descended
to dogs. It is explained as the bounding warrior, and the MacOscars, in
Ireland, have been turned into Cosgrove and Costello.
The like fate has befallen the object of Osgar’s love, Malvina, as
Macpherson calls her. The name is a mere invention of his own, formed
perhaps from Maol, a handmaid. It has been adopted by French women to
such an extent, that Malvine is one of the regular Parisienne’s names,
and it has further travelled to Germany. Thus Osgar and Malvina, though
with few namesakes in their own country, are the only Fenians who have
been commemorated in continental nomenclature.
Múirne means affection, and when Anglicized as Morna, is considered as a
Highland name.
SECTION VII.—_Cath._
Universal among the Kelts is Cath or Cad, a battle or defence, such a
prefix that is sure to flourish in every war-like nation.
Cathuil, a derivative of Cath, is a great chieftain attended by three
hundred followers; and Cathal, as the name became, continued in use
among the O'Connors, who translate it as Charles. The favourite hero
there was Cathal Crobhdearg, red-handed, who fought hard against the
English invaders; and, therefore, was described by them as a
blood-thirsty ruffian, and by native historians as pious and amiable,
probably being both characters in turn. His name was probably the parent
of the Scottish surname, Cadell; but a Welsh saint, named Cadell, a
battle-defence or shield, lived in the twelfth century. He had been a
fierce warrior, and a great enemy to the English; but during his
recovery from some severe wounds, he repented, went to the Holy Land as
a penitent, and finally became a monk, and the patron of many a Cadell
besides.
Cathbarr means tumult of battle. Cathbarr was so renowned a chief, that
to strike his shield with a spear was the summons to his clan to arm.
The Welsh made great use of the same prefix. Cadwallon, apparently from
_cadw_, to defend, has always been common among them. Cadwallon was the
brother of the Madoc of Southey, and a much earlier Cadwallon was the
father of Cadwaladyr, or battle-arranger, regarded by the two parties
much as Cathal was; for by the Saxons, Ceadwalla, as they call him, the
slayer of the good Edwin and Oswald, is regarded with unmixed horror,
while his own Cymric countrymen revere him as a glorious patriotic
prince, second only to Arthur, and worthy of saintly honours; indeed he
was canonized by Pope Sergius in 688, and is surnamed the Blessed.
Cadwaldr in Breton, and Cadwalladyr in Welsh, continue to the present
day. Cadwallader is also used in the Highlands, though, perhaps, this
may be a blunder for some Gaelic Cath.
Saints of this name were numerous. Among them was Cedd, as his adopted
people called him, the Good Bishop, whose Keltic ecclesiastical habits
were so distasteful to the fiery Wilfred of York, and who finally is
revered at Lichfield as “good St. Chad,” a form in which his appellation
lingered among the midland peasantry. The grandfather of Cadwalladyr was
Cadvan, whose Latin epitaph calls him “Catamarus, _rex sapientissimus_,”
and whose name means battlehorn. Another Caduan, or Cadvan, was a hermit
who migrated from Brittany to live on the coast of Caernarvonshire, on
the isle called Bardsey by the English, and Ynis Eolli, Isle of the
Current, by the Welsh. It was reputed a place of so much sanctity, that
it was called the Rome of Britain; and so many saints were buried there,
that it was a saying of the bards—
“Twenty thousand saints of yore,
Came to lie on Bardsey’s shore.”
Cattwg, or Cadoc, was of princely blood, founded a monastery, and
trained the veritable bard, Taliessin.
The Greek Adelphios was translated by the Welsh into Cadffrawd. Sir
Cados is one of gentle Enid’s enemies, in the French romance of her
constancy; but Cado, her son, in Welsh pedigree, swells the roll of
saints. Cadfar, or stout in battle, is almost certainly one of the
Armorican contributions to the Paladins of Charlemagne, in the shape of
Sir Gadifer, the Don Gayferos of Spanish ballad and of _Don Quixote_.
SECTION VIII.—_Fiachra_.
Fiachra, or Fiaghra, is, as the Fiach is in Irish, a raven. Fiachere
MacFhinn is a son of Fingal, who does his part among the traditions of
the Fenians; and another Fiachra was the father of the last pagan king
of Ireland, who, as Erse lore relates, reigned over Erin, Albin, and
Britain, and as far as the mountains of the Alps. He succeeded his uncle
Niall of the Nine Hostages, in 405, and went to the Alps to revenge his
death. Being still a pagan, he demolished a tower of sods and stones
sixty feet high, in which lived a saint, eleven feet from the light, and
was accordingly cursed by the saint, and killed by a flash of lightning;
but his servants put a lighted sponge in his mouth to imitate his
breath, by way of concealing his death for some time.
Fiachra was the name of a hermit who left home to seek for solitude in
France, and lived at Brenil, about two leagues from Meaux. He
particularly applied himself to the cultivation of his little garden,
and has ever since been considered as the patron of gardeners; and his
austerity was such, that no woman was allowed to come within his
precincts. He died about 670, and his relics began to obtain a
miraculous reputation, which increased so much, that, though little
known in his own country, France is full of churches dedicated to him.
Anne of Austria was particularly devoted to him; she thought the
recovery of her husband, and the birth of the great Louis XIV. himself,
were due to his intercessions; and she made a pilgrimage to his shrine,
remembering so well his objections to womankind, that she never
attempted to cross his threshold, but knelt before the door.
It does not appear, however, that the name of Fiacre was adopted by any
one in deference to this devotion, except, perhaps, the Fiak of
Brittany. All it did was to pass to the first hackney-coaches of Paris,
which, from being used as a commodious mode of going on pilgrimage to
the shrine of St. Fiacre, received the appellation they have had ever
since. It is a whimsical concatenation that has named the _fiacres_ of
Paris after the misty raven of the race of Fingal.
Rín means a seal or sea-calf in Gaelic. Ronan is the derivative. He is a
hero whose death is lamented in the Ossianic poetry, and his name was
afterwards borne by a large number of Irish and Scottish saints, from
whom came Ronan in Scotland, Ronayne in Ireland, once with the feminine
Ronat.[98]
-----
Footnote 98:
O'Donovan; Macpherson; Maitland, _History of Scotland_; Cosmo Innes;
_Saturday Review_; Butler.
SECTION IX.—_Names of Complexion._
Names of complexion were very frequent among the various branches of
Kelts, often as mere affixed soubriquets, but growing from thence into
absolute individual names. _Dhu_ and _ciar_, the black; _dorchaid_, the
dark; _dearg_ and _ruadh_, red; _don_, brown; _boid_, yellow; _finn_,
white; _odhar_, pale; _flann_ and _corcair_, ruddy; _lachtna_ and
_uaithne_, green; _glas_, which is blue in Wales, green in Ireland, and
grey in the Highlands; _gorm_, blue; _liath_, grey; _riabhach_, greyish,
have all furnished their share of names and epithets.
Dougall and Dugald have been from time immemorial Highland names, and,
together with Donald, serve as the national nickname of the Gael among
the Lowlanders. Dowal is used in Ireland. Donald is the Anglicism of
Donghal, brown stranger, an early Scottish and Irish name, and likewise
of Domhnall, which is probably really the same, though the Irish
glossographers translated it a proud chieftain, and now have turned it
into Donat and Daniel, or Dan.
Donald is reckoned as the first Christian king of Scotland.
To Beath, life, may be referred Betha, an old hereditary English name,
and the Latinism of Bega or Begga, for a saint, called otherwise Hien or
Hayne. She was of Irish birth; but about 620, was imported by some of
the Keltic missionaries of the North of England, and St. Aidan
consecrated her at Whitby as the first nun in Northumbria. Leaving St.
Hilda to govern there in her stead, she founded the abbey, known by her
English name of St. Bees, and at present serving as a university. A
French St. Begga, whose mother was Northumbrian, was wife to a man whose
strange destiny was to be, first, Maire du Palais, then, Bishop of Metz,
and lastly to be killed in the chace. After his death, she founded a
monastery, which is considered by some to have been the germ of the
admirable institution of _béguines_, who did the work of sisters of
charity in the Netherlands long before the French order was established
by St. Vincent de Paul. Some, however, deduce them from a priest at
Liege, called Lambert le _bégue_, or the stammerer. Begga was probably
imported by the Danes to Scandinavia, where it is still in use, though
there it may be a contraction for either Bergljot or Brigitta. The
Venerable Bede himself, the father of English history, called Beda in
Latin, is referred to the Welsh Bedaws, another form of the word _life_;
but it has been more usual to explain his name by reference to the
Teuton verbs, meaning to bid or to pray. However, that several Keltic
forms did prevail is certain, especially among the churchmen of the
northern counties.
Macduff no doubt was so called from Dubhoda, Maormar of Fife. Another
Duff had exchanged the Gaelic Maormar for the English Earl, in 1115, and
Dubican was Maormar of Angus, in 939.
Among ladies the Irish had Dubhdeasa, dark beauty, Dubhchoblaith
(pronounced Duvcovla), or black victory, and Dubhessa, or black nurse.
Duvessa O'Farrell died in 1301; and this same appellation Spenser must
afterwards have heard in Ireland, when, struck, no doubt, by the _du_ at
the commencement sounding like _two_, as did the other Irish name Una
resemble _one_, he called his emblem of falsehood, or perhaps of the
Church of Rome, the false Duessa, while he gave the title of Una to his
lovely personation of the one truth, the one true undivided Church, the
guide of the Red Cross Knight. Irish antiquaries assure us that Una
means dearth or famine; but it hardly suits this etymology. Una is queen
of the fairies in the county of Ormond, in which character she appears
in one version of the story of the soldier billeted on a miser. The man
was amazed at his hospitable reception and entertainment, as he thought,
by the avaricious squire in question, until morning disclosed that the
fairy queen Una had raised the mansion and provided the supper, but from
the prime cow in the miser’s herd.
Una has continued in use among the Irish peasantry, though much
corrupted, being often pronounced Oonagh, and Anglicized as Winny, the
contraction of Winifred, the English version of the Welsh Gwenfrewi.
The female Christian name of Douglas, which belonged to one of the
unfortunate wives of Queen Elizabeth’s Earl of Leicester, was either a
free version of one of those varieties of ‘dark ladyes,’ or else was one
of the first specimens of a surname converted into a Christian name,
perhaps in compliment to Lady Margaret Douglas, the niece of Henry VIII.
and mother of Lord Darnley. Douglas was, without doubt, a territorial
designation from the dark vale and stream of Douglas; but the heralds
and genealogists of the gallant lineage of the bleeding heart made out
an ancestor, ‘Sholto Dhu Glas’ (see the dark grey man), and then Sholto
was adopted as a name in the Douglas family, and crept from thence to
others. I have found no instance of it before the seventeenth century in
looking through the peerage of Scotland, and the probable derivation of
the word would be _sioltaich_, a sower.
Duncan was either Donnachu, brown chief, or Donngal, brown stranger,
both which names were rife among the Scots, and Duncan has so continued
ever since. Duncan and Donald both occur as Keltic slaves in Iceland, in
the Saga of Burnt Njal; and, perhaps, not only the Irish, but even the
saintly Scottish David, may have been at first an Anglicized Domnhall.
Don stands alone as a name in Hanmer’s list of Finn’s warriors; Donnan
was an Irish name, and Donchada became Donoghoe, sometimes even now
baptismal, but best known as the O'Donoghoe, the great visionary
horseman of Killarney.
The word is really the same as our _dun_, though that has now come to
express a misty dark grey, while _don_ evidently means brown-haired, as
in the feminine Duinsech. Don, as it stands at the end of the name of
‘The O'Connor,’ simply shows that he is the head of the brown branch of
that sept, which anciently split into brown and red—O'Connor Don and
O'Connor Roe, like the black and red Douglases of Scotland.
Roe is the Anglicism for _ruadh_, the colour that goes by the same title
in all our cognate tongues, from the Greek ροδος to the Gadhaelic
_ruadh_, and Cymric _rud_, _rhud_. It plays the chief part in
nomenclature in Ireland and Scotland, where the true undiluted Gaels are
divided between the black and the red.
The Irish Ruadri, Ruadhan, Ruadhaic, the Scottish Ruaridh, and Welsh
Rhydderch, have all alike disguised themselves as Roderick, which is in
each case supposed to be the full name of those who in ordinary parlance
call themselves Rory or Roy.
In Welsh myths we meet with Rhwddlwan Gawr, the red bony giant, and in
Merddhyn’s time we come upon Rhydderch Hoel, or the liberal, the
champion of the Christian faith, who was the friend of St. Columba,
restored St. Kentigern to Glasgow, and was promised by the former that
he should never fall into the hands of his enemies, but should die with
his head on his pillow—a promise that a Saxon long after would have
scorned. He was a discourager of Druidism, and is reviled by Merlin. His
name may come from _rhydez_, the exalted.
Several less shadowy kings reigned in Wales, the most distinguished of
whom united all the three principalities till the year 877, and was
called Rydderch Mawr, or, as it is barbarously called in our histories,
Roderick Maur; much resembling what has been done with Roderick Dhu.
Dearbhforgail, or Derforgal, is translated by the Four Masters, ‘purely
fair daughter;’ but later critics make it ‘the true oath,’ from
_dearbh_, an oath, and _fior-glan_, true.
Dearbhforghal was a very tough name for the genealogists, and they had a
good deal of it, for it was very fashionable in the twelfth century both
in Scotland and Ireland, and was turned into Dervorgilla and Dornadilla
by the much tormented chroniclers.
Lachtnan, from the Erse _lachtna_, green, is less easily accountable,
unless it meant fresh and flourishing. It is now turned, in Ireland,
into Loughnan, and more often into Lucius. The Scottish name so like in
sound Lachlan or Loughlan, is however more probably from _laochail_,
warlike.
_Glas_, grey, blue, or green, changes its meaning wherever it goes; but
Glasan, in Irish, is its only Christian name, though it was a great
epithet in all its countries, and has resulted in many a surname of
Glass, besides the Highland Maglashan.
Cearan, or Ceirin, from _ciar_, black, was the name of one of the twelve
Irish bishops whom St. Patrick consecrated. He betook himself to
solitude in a place surrounded with bogs in Ireland, called from him
Saiger, or Sier Kieran; but a tribe of disciples followed him, and a
monastery arose; so, in search of loneliness, he fled to Cornwall, where
he lived in a cell, and taught the inhabitants so much, that they
ascribed to him even their knowledge of mining; and the 5th of March,
his day, was considered as the tinners' holiday, in honour of their
patron saint. His name, however, following the rule of the Cymric _p_
for a Gaelic _k_, has turned into Pirin, or Perran, and is, in this
form, not yet lost among the Cornish miners. His cell had a church built
over it, called St. Pierans in Sabulo, or in the sand, and now
Peranzabuloe. And in the sand it is, for it was absolutely choked by
drifting sands, and abandoned in favour of a new one. In 1835 it was
disinterred, and found to be a very curious specimen of ancient
architecture. Another Ceiran was the patron of the Scots who first came
from Ireland; and left his name to many a Kilkeran on the west coast. He
is sometimes called St. Queran.
Cear is the soubriquet of Caoinnach I. of Scotland, who was killed in
621, after a reign of three months. The meaning of the epithet is
questioned in his case, some calling it _ciar_, black; others, _cearr_,
left-handed. The king himself rejoices in many varieties of
name,—Caoinnach, in Irish, Coinadh; then, again, Conchad, Connadh,
Kinat, and Cinead; till, finally, it has settled into the national
Scottish Christian name of Kenneth in the Lowlands, Caioneach, in the
Gaelic, denoting a fair and comely, or mild-tempered or peaceable man.
Caoin and Caomh are closely related, and both mean kind or fair.
Caoimghin was that Irish saint who is commonly known as Kevin, and owns
one of the seven churches of Glendalough, as well as the cave, whence a
very modern legend, versified by Moore, shows him rejecting Kathleen’s
visit by hurling her into the lake.[99]
-----
Footnote 99:
O'Donovan; Macpherson; Maitland, _History of Scotland_; Cosmo Innes;
_Scottish Surnames_; _Saturday Review_; Butler; _Highland Society’s
Dictionary_; Pugh; Crofton Croker; _Irish Legends_; Chalmers; Hayes,
_Irish Ballads_.
SECTION X.—_Feidlim, &c._
Feidlim was a very early Irish name, meaning the ever good, and Feidhlim
Reachtmar, or the lawgiver, gained himself high reputation early in the
second century, from which time Feidlim flourished in Ireland as Felimy
or Felim, until a fashion arose of spelling it like a Greek word,
Phelim, and then one Sir Phelim O'Neill, who was deeply implicated in
the great Popish massacre of 1641, changed his name to Felix. He was
seized by the English army and condemned, but was offered his life by
Cromwell if he would inculpate King Charles, and on his gallant refusal,
was executed. His new name caused the Irish poet M’Gee to exclaim—
“Why when that hero age you deify,
Why do you pass _infelix Felix_ by?”
A later Phelim O'Neill, in the last century, who made the same change,
and called himself Felix Neele, was indignantly addressed in a Latin
epigram:—-
“Poor paltry skulker from thy noble race,
_Infelix Felix_, blush for thy disgrace.”
Felim once had a feminine Fedlimi, now either forgotten or transmuted
into Felicia.
Tadhg is translated a poet, and was always a favourite in Ireland, where
it has degenerated into Teague, Teige, or Thady, and then has been
translated into Timothy, Thaddeus, Theodore, Theodosius, according to
the fancy of the owner, though Tim is perhaps the most usual.
Mathew is in like manner the Anglicism of Mathghamhain, pronounced
Mahoone, or Mahon, and meaning a bear.
Here again we meet with that universal Amal, as in the Roman Æmilii and
Teutonic Amaler, and probably like them originally meaning work, though
the direct meaning of _Amuil_ in Gaelic is now, a hindrance, possibly as
increasing labour. Amalgaid was a good deal in use in the elder times.
The seven sons of Amalgith are said by Nennius to have been baptized by
St. Patrick, and the race formed a sept called the Ui Amalghaid, who
left their designation to the barony of Tir Awlay, in Ireland; while
their Scottish cousins became the memorable clan Macaulay, the sons of
labour. Awlay is the genuine Anglicism, not entirely disused in
Scotland; but in Ireland, intercourse with the Danish conquerors led to
the substitution of Amlaidh, as the Erse spelt the Danish Anlaff,
ancestor’s relic, the same name as Olaf, and now this is likewise called
Auley.[100]
-----
Footnote 100:
O'Donovan; Macpherson; Nennius; Munch; _Highland Society’s
Dictionary_.
SECTION XI.—_Names of Majesty._
Foremost among these names of greatness must stand _tighearn_, a king, a
word of most ancient lineage, recurring in the Greek _tyrannos_.
Tighearnach was an Irish saint, who flourished at the end of the fifth
century, and whose dish is still preserved at Rappa Castle, in Tirawley,
by the name of Mior Tigearnan, or the dish of St. Tiernan. Tigearnach
became common among Irish princes, and even appears in English history,
when Tigearnach O'Rourke was robbed of his wife. It was long in dying
out among the Erse population, and remains as a surname in the form of
Tiernay.
Tigern was also used by the Cymry. Vortigern, as has already been shown,
was Gwrthigern, the excelling king, and his far braver and better son
was Kentigern, head chief; whence he is sometimes called Categern, in
modern Welsh, Cyndeyrn.
Kentigern in the North, Cyndeyrn in Wales, was the name of an early
Pictish saint, who recalled his countrymen from Pelagianism, and is
regarded as the apostle and patron of Glasgow. Persecution obliged him
to take refuge in Wales, where he founded the church of Llandwy, being
guided, as saith the legend, to the spot by a milk-white boar, which ran
before him, and on arriving at the spot began to stamp and root up the
ground with his tusks. Returning to Glasgow, the saint thence sent
missionaries to Iceland, who no doubt were the teachers of the few
inhabitants whose descendants were long after found there by the Norse
settlers, and called by them _Papa_, from the title of their priests, a
title still lingering in many a bay and islet of the Hebrides, attesting
that there the Culdee clergy had been owned as the fathers of their
flocks. After a custom that does not seem to have been uncommon among
the Keltic saints, Kentigern used every night to sing through the whole
Book of Psalms, standing up to his neck in water. He obtained for
himself the epithet, Mwyngu, or Munghu, the amiable, by which he is best
known in his own city, and which has named both it and a large number of
the inhabitants and of his other countrymen, one of whom, namely, Mungo
Park, has made it memorable.
Wales had a feminine St. Kentigern, perhaps named after him; perhaps
derived from the Irish Caintigern, or fair lady.
Cean, head, the first syllable of the saint’s name, is found in all the
Keltic tongues, forming many geographical terms, generally in the form
of _can_ or _ken_.
Either this or _cian_, vast, was the Irish name Cian or Kean, hereditary
in the O'Hara family, but often supposed to be short for Cornelius. So
common was it once that fifty Cians were killed in the battle of Magh
Rath.
Tuathal, lordly, turned into Toole and O'Toole, are his descendants, and
the feminine, Tuathflaith, is entirely lost. The ladies had several of
these majestic names; Uallach, the proud; So-Domina, good lady, which
must have had a Latin origin; Dunflaith, lady of the fort; besides Mor,
which the Scots are pleased to translate by Sarah, and the Irish by Mary
and Martha, though it really means a large woman. Morrigu had been the
goddess of battle among the Tuath de Danan.
Martha, Maud, and Mabel, are employed to distinguish Meadhbh, Meave, or
Mab, one of the very oldest and most famous of Irish names. It would be
most satisfactory to take it from _meadhail_, joy; but this is far from
certain, and it may come from an old comparative of _mor_, great. But
Mirth is analogous with the meaning of Ainè, the other fairy queen; and
_mear_, or merry, has furnished another Irish name, namely, the
masculine Meaghar or Meara. Meadhbh was the daughter of Eochaid
Freidhleach, king of Erin, as it is said, A.M. 3922, and was so
brilliant a heroine of Irish romance, that Congal Claen bids the men of
Connaught, her husband’s kingdom, to “Remember Meave in the battle.”
Afterwards, like other favourite Irish heroines, she became queen of the
fairies; and some of the Irish settlers must have carried tidings of her
to England, when Shakespeare, Drayton, and Ben Jonson made Queen Mab our
own peculiar possession, if knowing how to make the best use of her
establishes a claim. Meave, or Mab, has not entirely lost ground among
the Irish peasantry, though generally it has an equivalent.
Toirdelvach, tall as a tower, or, more properly, tower-like, must have
been taken from those riddles of Ireland, the mysterious towers,
scattered throughout the island, and generally supposed to have been
erected in the earliest period of Christian art, if art it may be
called.
Toirdelvach was king of Connaught at the time that Dermot M'Morough
carried off Devorgoil, and as supreme king of Ireland he punished the
offender; nor was it till after his death that the invitation to Earl
Strongbow was given. In English history, he is usually called Turlough,
the later form of the name, which is still in some use, though more
often turned into Terence, which has been oddly borrowed from the Latin
dramatist to translate the tall Irishman.
_Sealbh_, cattle or possessions (for in Gaelic they are the same; just
like _pecus_ and _pecunia_, _vieh_ and _fee_, cattel and chattels), is
the origin of Sealbhach, pronounced Selvach, owned by two kings of the
Scots, and of the feminine Sealbhflaith, lady of possessions, now become
Sally.[101]
-----
Footnote 101:
Diefenbach; O'Donovan; Davies; Jones, _Welsh Sketches_; Rees, _Welsh
Saints_.
SECTION XII.—_Devotional Names._
The early Gadhaelic Christians were too reverent to call themselves by
the same name as the objects of their devotion, whether Divine or human.
They were the servants, or at most the friends, of those to whom they
thus looked up. They used in this manner the prefixes, _Ceile_, the
companion or vassal; _Cear_, the friend; _Cailleach_, the handmaid; and
far more frequently _Giolla_ and _Maol_.
Giolla is the very same word as the Scottish vernacular _gillie_, a
servant; and in Ireland, the _giolla eachaid_, or horse servant,
resulted in the term gallowglass, which is so constantly used in English
narratives of Irish wars.
The primary meaning of Maol, or Mael, is bald; thus it came to mean one
who has received the tonsure, or a student of theology, and was given in
the sense of a disciple.
Cealleach originally meant a devotee, one living in a cell, and was once
perhaps a Druidess, but she afterwards was a female disciple, or nun,
and finally in Scotland has become only an old woman.
It will be endless work to go through all the list of servants and
disciples, and yet some of these present some of the most whimsical
facts in the history of names.
Gilla is sometimes used alone, and not only in the two Gaelic languages,
for we have it Latinized as Gildas, the doleful Welsh historian who
rates all the contemporary princes so soundly. Culdee, the term for the
first missionaries of Scotland, is also explained as Giolla De. This was
in use, with Cealleach De, the handmaid of God, but are both now
extinct; but not so either the servant or disciple of JESUS. Giolla Iosa
was used in both countries, but sank in Scotland into the homely surname
of Gillies, whilst in Ireland it was wildly transformed, in the person
of the primate of Armagh, at the time of the conquest, into the Greek
Gelasius, laughter; a curious specimen of the consequences of supposing
that Greek must be better than their natural tongue. Maol Ioso grew into
the Scottish Christian name of Malise, by which we know the Earl of
Strathern at the battle of the Standard, and again, the bearer of the
Fiery Cross in the _Lady of the Lake_. Nor has it ever become disused in
the Highlands. Giolla Christ was a Christian name in many Scottish
families of the old Keltic blood. In 1174, one Gilchrist was Earl of
Angus, and another, Earl of Mar; it has not, even to the present day,
fallen into disuse at baptism, and is a not uncommon surname. This may
perhaps have been the origin of some of the Christians, and others may
once have been Cealleach Christ.
The Archangel St. Michael was the subject of much devotion: Cara Michael
has now become Carmichael; but Gilliemichael was more common, and turned
into Gilmichal. The influence of the great Keltic mission at Lindisfarn,
on the North of England, is visible as late as the Norman Conquest; for
Domesday Book shows four northern proprietors, called respectively,
Ghilemicel, Ghilander, Ghillepetair, and Ghilebrid.
Votaries of the Twelve Apostles are not, however, very common. Ireland
shows Ceile Petair, and also, Mail Eoin; but what is remarkable, it has
no servant, male or female, to the Blessed Virgin. In Scotland only was
there Gilmory and Gilmour; both masculine, and now surnames. Maolmhuire
was the daughter of King Kenneth M'Alpin of Scotland, and marrying into
Ireland, was the mother of many kings.
Some persons were servants of all the saints, collectively; as
Giolla-na-naomh, very frequent in Irish genealogies. In the Highlands it
becomes Gille-ne-ohm, and thence has occasioned the modern surnames
Niven and Macniven. They are, probably, all connected with the Welsh
_nen_, sky.
This word, in Cymric, leads us to the name of Ninius, prince of
Cumberland, who there established Christianity, and of Nennius the
British historian; though these are too much disguised by the Latin to
be easily recognized. St. Ninidh, the pious, was one of the Twelve
Apostles of Ireland, and left a hand bell, which is still preserved in
the county of Fermanagh. Another bell, kept as a tenure of land, is
still extant in Galloway, and is said to have belonged to St. Ninian,
who is called by the Irish, Ringan, a prince of Cumbrian birth, who
became a monk, in 412 built the first stone church between the Forth and
Clyde, earned the title of Apostle of the Picts, and died in 432;
leaving Ninian and Ringan both to be Christian names in Scotland.
The great object of Keltic veneration was, however, St. Patrick. Nobody
ventured to be Patrick alone, but many were Giolla Phadraig, or Mael
Phadraig, and the descendants were Mag Giolla Phadraig, whence arises
the surname Fitzpatrick, translating the Mac, and omitting the Gillie.
Others, again, were Killpatrick; but it is not easy to tell whether this
Kil is the contraction of Gillie, or territorial, from the Cell or
Church of St. Patrick. The first syllable of Cospatric, or Gospatrick,
the Christian name of the Earls of Northumberland in the tenth and
eleventh centuries, is less easily explained; but I believe (on Mr.
Lower’s authority) it is the Gossoon, the boy of St. Patrick.
St. Patrick’s pupil, Bridget, had her votaries in large numbers, Giolla
Brighde, Gilbrid, Maelbridh, all now lost but for the occasional
surnames of Macbride and Kilbride, which last is sometimes the Church of
Bride. Possibly, too, the Scottish Gilbert may have been taken up as an
equivalent to Gilbrid.
The great St. Columba, who established the centre of his civilizing and
Christianizing efforts at Iona, had many a grateful disciple, as
Gillecolumb, or Maelcolum. The latter form rose to the throne of
Scotland in 936, when the father, who had thus dedicated his son to the
missionary saint, retired into a convent. The second Malcolm was the
persecutor of Lady Macbeth’s family, the third was Duncan’s grandson, he
of the Great Head, who, by the help of his sweet wife, St. Margaret, was
the first to lift Scotland out of her barbarism, and begin that
assimilation with the English which was in full progress at the time of
the death of his great grandson, Malcolm the Maiden, and perhaps was the
reason why no more kings were called by this Keltic name, so puzzling to
Latinizers, that in utter oblivion of St. Columb, they call it
Milcolumbus. However, the people of Scotland have kept it up, and in
1385, Sir Malcolm Drummond received 400 francs from France, and is
designated in the conveyance as Matorme Dromod! Callum is considered in
the Highlands as the form of Malcolm, and Cailein of Colin. Probably
Kilian, one of the Keltic missionary saints, popular in Germany, is
another pronunciation of the word.
Secundinus was another pupil of St. Patrick, whom the Irish first made
into Seachnall, and then termed their children Mael-seachlain, as his
pupils. The great Irish king, Malachy with the collar of gold, was thus
rendered to suit the weak Saxon capacity.
Cailleach-Coeimlighin and Gilla Coeimghin are the votaries of St. Kevin,
a very unpromising object of hero-worship, if we were to believe the
legend with which Moore and other moderns have quite gratuitously
favoured Glendalough. Cœimghin itself means fair offspring.
Giolla Cheallaigh was common in honour of Ceallach, a very local saint,
of royal birth, who was educated by St. Kieran. On his father’s death,
he was about to ascend the throne, when his tutor interfered, probably
considering this an infraction of his vows, and on his persisting, laid
him under a curse, after the usual fashion of Irish saints. He lost his
kingdom, and became a bishop, but resigned his see for fear of his
enemies, and retired to a hermitage on Lough Con, where, however, he was
murdered by four ecclesiastical students, whose names all began with
Maol. His corpse was hidden in a tree, where for once it did not show
the incorruptibility supposed to be the property of sanctity. The
murderers were all put to death on an eminence, called from them
Ardna-maol, or hill of the shavelings, and his admirers have resulted in
the surname O'Killy-kelly, or, for short, Kelly.
Scotland had several instances of bishop’s servant, Gillaspick in
Scotland, or in Northern Ireland, Giolla Easbuig, the Keltic form of
_episcopus_. Gillaspich Campbell, already Scotticized enough to have
been christened by this Gaelic term, married Aioffe O'Duinne, the
daughter of the line of Diarmid; and thenceforth Gillaspick, or
Gillespie, was the hereditary Christian name in the family, till, in the
twelfth century, his fourth descendant called himself Archibald, and
thenceforth the heads of the house of Campbell have been Archibald to
the Lowlands, to their own clan, Gillespik. It is a curious fact that
Gillespie Grumach and his son, the two Covenanting Argyles, should thus
have proclaimed themselves ‘Bishop’s gillies.’ Gillespie has become a
frequent surname in Scotland.
Maelgwn, or Maelgwas, was his successor in Powys and Gwynned, and is
desperately abused by the indignant Gildas for all manner of crimes;
while even Taliessin, who praises his beauty, rebukes his
licentiousness. Three centuries later, a bard alleges that he hid
himself in a wood, waylaid and carried off the wife of King Arthur. In
the twelfth century, Caradoc, abbot of Llancarven, adds that Arthur
besieged him in his castle, and had challenged him to single combat,
when the sage Gildas and the abbot of Glastonbury interposed, and
obtained the lady’s restoration. Walter of Oxford adds that this Maelgwn
reigned after King Arthur, and finally died of terror in a convent,
having seen the Yellow Spectre, namely the plague, through the chinks of
the church door. Dr. Owen Pugh further tells us, that Jack-in-the-Green,
on May-day, was once a pageant representing Melva, or Melvas, king of
the country now called Somersetshire, disguised in green boughs, as he
lay in ambush to steal King Arthur’s wife as she went out hunting.
Maél-was, a servant boy, was translated into old Romance French as the
former, by the word Ancel, or Ancelot, otherwise L'Ancelot; Villemarqué
quotes a mention of the ‘_fable Ancelot et Tristan_,’ from the romance
of Ogier, to show that in earlier days Mael, or Ancelot, was mentioned
without the article, which has since become incorporated with it, so
that Lancelot has grown to be the accepted name, and so universally
supposed to mean a lance, that the Welsh themselves, re-importing his
history, called him Palladr, a shivered lance. Ancelot and Ancelin were
certainly early chivalrous names, the latter perhaps confused with the
Ansir or Æsir of the Teutons. Ancilée and Anselote are feminine names in
the register of Cambrai, of the dates of 1169 and 1304; and as there
most of the feminines are changed from those of men, it is evident that
Ancil and Anselot must once have existed there, either named from the
hero of romance, or translated from some Walloon Mael; and thence no
doubt the Asselin, Ascelin of our old Norman barons, and the Atscelina
Fossard, mentioned in a curious old tract on female names, as having
lived in the North of England. It is curious that even romance does not
profess that Launcelot was the true name of the knight, thus formed from
the Cambrian chieftain, though Galahad is there said to have been his
proper name, afterwards given to his worthier son. Launcelot was
bestowed on him by Vivian, the Lady of the Lake, who stole him in
infancy from his father, King Ban, and brought him up under her crystal
waves, till he was eighteen, when, as Sir Lancelot du Lac, he appeared
at King Arthur’s court, and became the principal figure there, foremost
in every feat of chivalry, the flower of knighthood; but in the noble
severity of the English romance, he was withheld from counsels of
perfection, by his guilty love for Gwenever, and lying spell-bound in a
dull trance when the holy vision of the Sanc-greal past by. Finally, he
broke with King Arthur, and opened the way to Mordred’s fatal rebellion
by his defection, too late repenting, and after Arthur’s fall becoming a
hermit and a penitent.
His story was told with deep warning in England, but in Italy it was
‘Lancilotto’ that Francesca di Rimini looked back to as the tale that
had been the spark to awaken fatal passion.
He has ever since been regarded as the type of penitence for misdirected
love and chivalrous prowess, and in consequence Lancelot, and its
contraction Lance, have never been entirely out of use in England,
though not universal.
CHAPTER IV.
NAMES OF CYMRIC ROMANCE.
SECTION I.—_The Round Table._
It is a very remarkable fact, that the grand cycle of our national
romance and poetry, has been made to centre round the hero of a people
whom we have subdued, and were holding in our power with difficulty, at
the very time that minstrels were singing the adventures of the leader
who had for the longest time kept our forces in check.
Many a patriot has fought as boldly as Arthur, many a nation has held
out as bravely as the remains of the Britons; but as the “battle is not
to the strong,” so renown is not to the most able; and it was to a very
peculiar concatenation of circumstances that the Britons owed it that
their struggles in Somerset, Cornwall, and Strathclyde should have been
magnified into victories over Rome and half Europe, and themselves
metamorphosed from wild Cymry, with a little Roman polish and
discipline, into ideal models of chivalry.
That they did fight there can be no doubt. If the dismal groans of the
Britons were ever sent at all, it was but a small number who groaned. As
to the Anglo-Saxons, they had been coming even before the Romans, and
Carausius and his fleet held them in check for awhile; but there can be
no doubt that they came in much greater numbers, and with more intent to
settle, than in former times, in the decay of the empire. Moreover, the
resistance evidently became more resolute and valid, as the tide flowed
westward over the diagonally arranged strata of the island; the alluvial
lands to the east have no traditions of battles, but at the chalk downs,
the rounded hills have names and dim legends of fights and of camps, and
cities begin to claim to be the scene of Arthur’s court.
Westward again, with the sandstone hill and smiling valley, the tales
multiply spots where the court was held in perplexing multitude; river
upon river puts forth its old Keltic name of Cam, the crooked, and calls
itself the place of the last decisive fight. And when the moorland and
mountain are actually reached, and the heather stretches wide over the
granite moor, with the igneous peak of stone crowning the lofty crag,
there the Briton is still free, and points to his rocky summits as his
hero’s home.
To those fastnesses were the Cymry finally limited, if they would enjoy
their native government; and though many remained as serfs, and some as
clergy, in the open country, the national spirit was confined to those
who dwelt in the strongholds of the West. There did their bards sing and
tell tales, and compose _Triads_ on the past glories of their race, with
a natural tendency to magnify the exploits of their most able defender.
At the same time, the Armoricans on the other side of the water, some of
whom had, probably, according to their tradition, migrated from Britain,
told their own legends, and sung their songs on the chief who had
maintained the cause of their countrymen.
When the Normans settled in Neustria, their lively fancy caught up all
that was imaginative among those around them. It is from their arrival
that the first dawn of French literature dates, and it seems to have
been they who first listened to the Breton lays, and brought them
forward in the French tongue. At the central court of France, the Norman
trouvère met the Provençal troubadour, and their repertory of tales was
exchanged, the one giving his native Norse myths, tinctured with Keltic
heroic tales, the other the Greco-Roman and Arabic stories that had
travelled to him. And there, both sets of stories were steeped in that
mysterious atmosphere of chivalry, which could dream of no court that
was not based on the model of feudal France, no warrior without a horse
and an esquire, a cone-shaped helmet, and kite-shaped shield.
That true knights were all equal, was a maxim held, though hardly
carried out, in the eleventh century, and the floating notion of a
table, where all were on an equality, was ready to fix itself on the
golden age of chivalry. And when the Normans themselves became the
owners of Britain, and brought with them a fair sprinkling of Bretons,
no wonder they decided that the heroes, who, at least, were not Saxon,
should be their own property. Siegfried and Brynhild had fallen into
oblivion, and the British chiefs did veritably flourish on their native
soil. Geoffrey of Monmouth pretended to hunt up their history in Wales
and Brittany; Marie of France more faithfully reproduced her native lays
in Norman-French; and as fresh tales were discovered or invented,
metrical romances spread them far and wide, and began all to place their
scene at the court of Arthur. Most noted among these, was the story of
the San-grail, the cup of healing and lance of wounding, that may have
been a shadow of a mighty truth, but which became myth in many
countries, until, in the hands of the Cymry, they assumed to be the
veritable original Cup of Blessing of the Last Supper, and the lance of
the soldier at the Cross.
A relic-adoring age willingly believed, that to find these treasures was
the great task of the knights it had invented. Thenceforth, English
imagination beheld the glorious past as a feudal court, where all the
good Knights of the Round Table, now an order of chivalry, had bound
themselves to seek the holy relics, that could only be revealed to the
perfectly pure and worthy. Mallory’s beautiful book preserves the main
line of the allegory, though it is full of episodes, and it is the
veritable prose epic of the Round Table.
France and Lombardy likewise believed in the Round Table, but not with
the same national faith. As was natural, their poems centered about the
great Frank emperor, and what they wrote or told of the British knights
rather dealt in the less creditable adventures of individuals, than in
the ennobling religious drift of the main story.
However, it is these Round Table names that are the most widely known
and used of all the Keltic nomenclature, with a reputation almost
entirely romantic, and very seldom saintly. Among the Arthurian names
there is not one that is Teutonic; all are either genuine Cymric, or
else such modifications of Latin nomina as citizenship was sure to leave
to the Britons.
SECTION II.—_Arthur._
No Keltic name approaches in renown to that of the central figure of the
Round Table; yet, in the very dazzle of his brightness, his person has
been so much lost, that, as the author of _Welsh Sketches_ observes,
“Whereas Peter Schlemihl lost his shadow, Arthur has lost his
substance.”
To begin with his name. He may have been a Romanized Briton named from
Arctus, “Arthur’s slow wain rolling his course round the pole,” and
Arcturus, the bear’s-tail, far behind him in Boötes; and Arth, perhaps
from them, does indeed mean a bear in British.
Ard, the consonant softening into _th_ in composition, means high or
noble, in all the Keltic tongues but Welsh, and had been a name from
time immemorial in Ireland, as Scott knew when he made the Bertram
family tree bear fruit of Arths in fabulous ages. Art, a Milesian, is
said to have lived B.C. 233; Art MacCormac appears in the Ossianic
legends, “Art Oge MacMorne kept Dundorme;” according to Hanmer’s
catalogue of Finn MacCoul’s comrades, Art and Arth recur for ever in
Erse Highland pedigree; and in the end of the fourteenth century, Art
MacMorough was the great hero of Ireland, who slew Roger Mortimer, and
sorely puzzled Richard II., reigned in Leinster for forty years, and
cost the English treasury twelve million marcs; so that when he died,
“Since Brien’s death in Erin
Such a mourning had not been.”
Arthmael, bear’s servant or worshipper, was a Welsh prince, but here, as
in Ireland, all the Arths are now merged in Arthur.
Ardghal, or Ardal, of high valour, is an Erse name, and was long used,
though it has now been suppressed by the supposed Anglicism Arnold,
eagle-power. It explains the name of Arthgallo, who, in Geoffrey of
Monmouth’s legendary history, is the persecuting brother, whom Elidure’s
untiring love and generosity finally won from his cruel courses to
justice and mercy. _Artegal and Elidure_ was one of the best
ante-Shakesperian dramas; and Artegal was selected by Spenser as one of
the best and noblest of his knights-errant, representing Arthur Lord
Grey.
Ardrigh was an Erse term for the supreme monarch over their five lesser
realms, and is still applied by the native Irish to the king of
France,—much as the Greeks were wont to style the Persian monarch the
Great King. This most probably accounts for the term Arviragus, which we
picked up by the Romans, and applied to that son of Cymbeline who was
really the brave Caradwg. Ardheer is another form of this same title of
the highest chief, and the later critics tell us to consider this as the
origin of our hero.
He is not, indeed, mentioned by Gildas, unless he be the “dragon of the
island;” but his omission from that letter is only to his credit, and
the individuality of Arthur stands on the testimony of Welsh bards up to
his own date, and of universal tradition.
Arthur, or Arthwys, seems to have been the son of Uthyr, and Emrys, whom
he succeeded, bearing the title of Pendragon in his own tongue, and of
Imperator in Latin, which was the language of politics to the Britons. A
Silurian like Caradwg, his spirit was the same, and his hereditary
possessions would seem to have been on the Welsh border, with Caerleon
on Uske for their capital; but he was born at Tintagel in Cornwall, and
he was prompt in flying to the aid of the British cause in all quarters.
The West Saxons were his chief enemies, and his battles, twelve in
number, are almost all in the kingdom of Wessex; but he must also have
been acknowledged by the northern Britons of the old province of
Valentia, and have ruled over “fair Strathclyde and Reged wide” from his
fortress at Carlisle. After a brave reign of forty years, he at length
perished through the treachery of his nephew; but whether his last fatal
battle was fought in Strathclyde, Cornwall, or in Somerset, it seems
impossible to determine.
The Cymry mourned passionately. The Welsh bards made _Triads_, and the
Armoricans sang songs.
Nennius mentions Arthur in the sixth century.
In 720, a person called Eremita Britannus, or the British hermit, is
said to have written about King Arthur; the Welsh _Mabinogion_, or
children’s tales, were all centering on him; and when, in the early part
of the twelfth century, Geoffrey of Monmouth brought out his chronicle,
it was translated all over Europe, even into Greek, and furnished
myriads of romances, metrical and otherwise.
The outline of the Arthur of romance scarcely needs to be here traced;
the prince, brought up in concealment, establishing his claim by pulling
the sword out of the stone whence no one else could detach it; the
Christian warrior, conquering all around, and extending his victories to
Rome; the band of Knights; the vow and quest of the Holy Grail that
breaks the earthly league; the fall and defection of the two most
accomplished knights through unhallowed love, the death of one, and the
rebellion of the other, the lover of Arthur’s own faithless wife,—all
opening the way to the fatal treason of the nephew; and the last battle,
when the wounded king causes his sword to be thrown into the river, as a
signal to the fairies, who bear him away to their hidden isle. All this
is our own peculiar insular heritage of romance, ennobled as it has been
by old Mallory’s prose in the fifteenth century, and in the nineteenth
by Tennyson’s poetry, the best of all the interpretations of the import
of Arthur himself.
As to his name, it was not very common even in Wales. It only came forth
as a matter of romance, and was given occasionally either from fancy or
policy.
Constance of Brittany gave her little son this popular name, perhaps in
the hope that in time British Arthur would be restored to England, and
thenceforth Arzur, as the Bretons call it, was occasionally used in the
duchy.
An old prophecy of Merlin was said to have declared that Richmond should
come from Brittany to conquer England, and this prediction caused Henry
V. to refuse all requests to allow Arthur, Comte de Richemont, son of
the Duke of Brittany, to be ransomed when taken prisoner at Agincourt.
His name of Arthur no doubt added to the danger, and Henry’s keen
eyesight might have likewise detected in him the military skill which
made him so formidable an enemy to the English on his own soil, not
theirs.
When Richmond really came out of Brittany and conquered England, he
named his first son Arthur, but that son never wore the British crown,
nor did the infant Arthur of Scotland, so named by James V., survive to
be known in history. Arthur, however, had become an occasional name; but
it was reserved for the great Arthur Wellesley, whose name had perhaps
more to do with the old Art of Erse times than with the king of the
Round Table, to make it, as it is at present, one of the most
universally popular of English names. Even the French use it, for its
sound, it may be presumed, rather than for its recent distinction, and
they have ceased to spell it in the old form, Artus, and adopted our
own. The Italians know, but do not use, Arturo; however, the name
changes so little that Madame Schopenhauer’s husband was justified in
choosing it for his son as a useful name for a merchant, because it does
not alter in being translated.
The English feminine Arthurine is occasionally used.
SECTION III.—_Gwenever._
The staunchest supporters of Arthur’s existence give him three wives.
One of them was she who was stolen by Maelwas, the origin of Lancelot,
and she it is who is the dame of romance.
Gwen, the commencement of her name, is used in Welsh, in the double
sense of the colour, white, and of a woman, perhaps for the same reason
that ‘the fair’ so often stands for a lady in poetry. The word is
closely related to the _finn_ and _ban_, both meaning white in the other
branch of the Keltic tongue, and, save for the fulness of interest
belonging to both, all might have been treated of together. Gwen, the
feminine of Gwyn, white, becomes _wen_ in composition, and as such we
have already met it at the end of words.
Gwendolen is made by the Brut, and by Geoffrey of Monmouth, the daughter
of Corineus, Duke of Cornwall, and wife of Locrine, son of the original
Brutus. He deserted her for the sake of Estrild, a fair German captive,
and she made war upon him, in the course of which he was killed, and
Estrild and her daughter Sabrina, or Avern, made prisoners; whereupon,
the jealous and revengeful queen caused both to be drowned in the river,
thenceforth called Sabrina or Severn; in Welsh, Hafreu, where we may
hope that the damsel became the lovely nymph who “listened and saved”
the lady from Comus and his crew. Estrild is Essylt (or Iseulte) in the
Welsh which Geoffrey copied.
The Welsh saints give us St. Gwendolen or Gwen as the mother of Caradog
Vreichfras, the excellent Sir Cradocke of the Round Table. In the
_Triads_ and the _Mabinogion_, Gwendolen is a beauty of Arthur’s court,
and in the bardic enumeration of the thirteen wonders of Britain appears
the gold chess-board of Gwendolen, on which, when the silver men were
placed, they would play of themselves. Gwendolen, Gwen, and Gwyn have
never been disused in Wales. The first was the daughter of the last
native prince, and her name is increasingly in favour with the lovers of
archaisms.
Gwenhwyfar is the swelling white wave; but the ocean names of the
Britons are worth noting, when we remember that they also had Llyr, with
Bronwen and Creirdydlydd, all certainly mythical.
Without consigning Queen Gwenhwyfar to the regions of Regan, it is
likely that hers was a hereditary name descended from some part of the
ancient faith. A Welsh couplet describes her as—
“Gwenhwyfar, daughter of Gogyrfan the Great,
Bad when little, worse when great.”
And the various early tales in the _Mabinogion_, as well as the metrical
romances, always give the same character of the beautiful queen of light
conduct. In the _Morte d'Arthur_, guilty love for her paralyzes
Lancelot’s eyes when the San-grail passes before him, the same passion
drives him to his rebellion, and finally the repentant queen takes
refuge in the convent at Ambresbury, where Tennyson has described the
parting between her and Arthur in the most noble and beautiful of all
his poetry.
Guenever was her full English name, contracted into Ganivre, or Ganore,
a form that occurs in old Welsh registers. Jennifer, as they have it in
Cornwall, is still frequent there; but nowhere else in our island has
the name been followed. Scotland has a tradition of her crimes that
calls her Queen Wanders, or Vanora, and Boece actually imprisons her in
the great old fort on Barra Hill, in Perthshire; but abroad she met with
more favour, as Génièvre in France, and in Italy as Ginevra, or Zinevra.
Observing that the French call Gwenhwyfar, Génièvre, we can hardly doubt
that either this, or Gwenfrewi, holy calm or fair peace, must have been
the origin of their own Généviève, though the German etymologists try to
construe her as _gan_, magic, _vaips_, a crown. But Généviève was a
Gaul, born at Nanterre in 422, and could hardly have borne anything but
either a Keltic or a Roman name; and the whole family of Gwens were, as
has been shown, dear to the Cymric race, whose religion was the same in
Gaul and Britain. A shepherd-maid, like Joan of Arc, Généviève
anticipated her deeds of patriotism, though she wore no armour and
carried no sword. When Paris was besieged by the Franks, she, unarmed,
and strong only in her pious confidence, walked forth as the escort of
the citizens in search of provisions, and when the city was taken, her
heroic holiness so impressed the heathen Franks, Hlodwig and Hilderik,
that her entreaties in behalf of their prisoners were always granted.
When she died, in her 90th year, she was erected into the primary patron
saint of Paris, and has so continued ever since, leaving Généviève in
high esteem among Parisiennes of all degrees down from Anne Généviève de
Bourbon, the sister of Condé. The numerous contractions testify to the
popularity of the gentle patriot. Some of the German forms may, however,
be ascribed to the apocryphal Saint Genovefa, of Brabant, to whom has
attached the story, of suspicious universality, of the wife who was
driven by malicious accusations to the woods, there to give birth to an
infant, and to be nourished by a white doe until the final discovery of
her innocence. From whatever cause the name is widely used on the
Continent.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ Breton. │ Italian. │
│Winifred │Généviève │Jenovefa │Genoveffa │
│Jennifer │Javotte │Fa-ik │ │
│ │Genevion │ │ │
│ │Vevette │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ German. │ Russian. │ Illyrian. │ │
│Genovefa │Zenevieva │Genovefa │ │
│Vevay │ │Genovefica │ │
│Vefele │ │Veva │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
Gwenfrewi was the Welsh nun whose head was cut off by a furious prince
called Caradoc, because she refused his addresses; whereupon, in the
usual fashion of Welsh saints, she caused a well to spring up on the
spot of her martyrdom. But unlike other such wells, it is intermitting,
and sufficiently impregnated with mineral substances to support its high
character to miraculous powers, and, in addition, the stones are marked
with red veins, which represent the blood of St. Wenefred, as our
Anglo-Saxon tongues have long since made her. Such undoubted wonders
made Winifred a most flourishing name in Wales, and it is occasionally
found in England, though usually through a Welsh connection, and so
spelt as to confuse it with the true Saxon masculine Winfrith, or friend
of peace. The Irish take Winny as the equivalent of Una.
In Breton, Guennolé, also called Wingallok, in Cornish, Gunwallo, was a
celebrated saint, and was the counsellor who saved King Gradlon in the
inundation. Guennola is the feminine, and is used, very correctly, to
translate the French Candide, as is Guennéan, the white spirit, for
angel, both the being and the name.
Dwynwen, or the white wave, was invoked as the patroness of lovers, and
became a Welsh name. It is just possible that an echo of this, on the
other side of the water, may be Damhnait, or Devnet, Latinized as
Dymphna, or Dympna, though the more obvious likeness in sound is
_damhna_, a reason. An Irish princess, so called, was obliged, about the
year 600, to fly from the persecutions of her father, protected by a
priest, a jester, and his wife, until near Antwerp her father overtook
her and cut off her head. Hanmer adds, “the Irish in the county of Lowth
do honour her; belike her father dwelt there:” and Dympna, or Demmy, is
not wholly extinct as a name.
This same _wen_, the poetical form of a woman, or fair one, enters into
the composition of two other saintly Keltic names. The first, St.
Mawdwen, or Modwen, was one of St. Patrick’s Irish nuns; and another
later Modwen, also Irish, came to England in 840, educated Edith,
daughter of King Ethelwolf, and founded an abbey at Polsworth. She was
rather a favourite saint; her name is traceable in various places; and
Modwenna continued in Cornwall. Perhaps it comes from _modh_, manners.
Cainwen is said to be Cain, the virgin. The first half means splendid or
beautiful things or jewels, and is connected with the Latin Candalus.
The Welsh declare that she was of princely birth; but being determined
to live a holy life, she travelled on foot beyond the Severn, and there
found a solitary place where no one had ever lived, because it was
infested with snakes and vipers, which she forthwith, by her prayers,
turned to stone, and they may still be picked up in a petrified state in
the fields. Keynsham, in Somersetshire, is, in fact, famous for
ammonites, which thus have given rise to another legend like those of
St. Cuthbert and St. Hilda. Camden himself saw one of these stones, and
was somewhat perplexed thereby.
She afterwards repaired to St. Michael’s Mount, in Cornwall, where she
met her nephew, St. Cadoc, and there her name became attached to a well,
in the parish of St. Neots, arched over by four trees—oak, ash, elm, and
withy, all apparently growing from one root. The water was further
supposed to endow whichever of a married pair first tasted it with the
mastery for life. No one can forget that best of all Southey’s humorous
ballads, where the Cornishman confesses,—
“I hastened, as soon as the wedding was done,
And left my wife in the porch;
But, i' faith, she had been wiser than I,
For she took a bottle to church.”
Cornishmen, apparently, never forgave St. Keyne for the properties of
her well; for Carew, in his _Survey of Cornwall_, terms her “no over
holy saint;” and Norden thus vituperates her: “this Kayne is sayde to be
a woman saynte, of whom it (the well) taketh name; but it better
resembleth Kayne, the devil, who had the shape of a man, the name of an
apostle, and the qualitie of a traitor.” Gwenllian, white linen, is
still sometimes used.
Gwyn also signifies blessed or happy, and this _gwynnedd_ is an epithet
of some of the favourite kings. Gwynaeth, a state of bliss, is a female
name still in use, and often written Gyneth, though it gets translated
into Venetia, and, in the latter form, named the lady whom Sir Kenelm
Digby rendered famous.
SECTION IV.—_Gwalchmai, Sir Gawain, and Sir Owen._
No knight is more distinguished, either in the _Triads_ or in romance,
than Gwalchmai, perhaps from Gwalch, a hawk, and maedd, a blow.
In Welsh pedigrees, he is Arthur’s nephew, son of his sister Ernnos and
of Llew, king of Lothian and Orkney. He probably had a real existence,
for the _Triads_ celebrate him as one of the three golden-tongued
knights of Britain, one of the three learned ones of Britain, and one of
the three most courteous men towards strangers. In a Welsh poem, he is
represented as using his courteous tongue in behalf of his friend
Trystan; and in the _Mabinogion_, in the ‘Lady of the Fountain,’ he
takes such a prominent part, that the French romance is called that of
Sir Yvaine and Sir Gawaine. Walganus and Walwyn had Latinized the Hawk
of Battle, and have caused it to be confounded with the Teutonic
Walwine, slaughter-lover; but the Gwalchmai of Wales can be identified
with the Gawain, or Wawyn, of romance by his friendship with Trystan,
his relationship to Arthur, and his title in the romances of the _Flower
of Courtesy_.
It was Sir Gawaine who in the ballad boldly adventured himself to wed
the “Loathly Lady,” and was rewarded by breaking the spell, and
discovering her loveliness. Gawaine was the hero of the great battle
with the giant Rhyence, and, though unsuccessful, was one of the
foremost in the quest of the San-grail, until warned by a dream how the
enterprise was to result. Finally, Sir Gawaine took his uncle’s side
first in the war with Lancelot, then with Mordred, and died of the
renewal of a wound received in battle with the former, writing on his
death-bed a letter that brought Lancelot to repentance.
His name, whether as Walwyn, Gawain, or Gavin, was popular in England
and Scotland in the middle ages; and in the last-mentioned shape named
the high-spirited bishop of Dunkeld, the one son of old Bell the Cat,
who could “pen a line,” and who did so to such good purpose when “he
gave rude Scotland Virgil’s page.” Nor is Gavin by any means extinct in
Scotland.
Sir Gawain is coupled in English romance with his intimate friend, Sir
Ywaine, as in French with Sir Yvaine; and in the Welsh story, in the
_Mabinogion_, he is Sir Owain. He there sets forth from court in search
of adventures, and falls in with a knight in black armour, whom he
conquers, and thereupon is conducted to a castle, where he becomes
guardian of an enchanted fountain, and husband of a lady in yellow
satin, with long yellow hair, and a hundred maids always embroidering
satin. Of course, when Sir Gawain came in quest of him, and he was
allowed to go back to King Arthur’s court, he forgot the whole affair,
until at the end of three years, he was recalled by his lady’s
confidential handmaid, Luned, and proceeded to atone for his
unfaithfulness by another severe course of adventures, during which he
delivered a black lion from a serpent, thus binding the faithful beast
to his service for ever, and after a due slaughter of giants, rejoined
his wife, and lived happy ever after. The French of the thirteenth
century knew him as Sir Yueins, le Chevalier du Lion; and even the
Scandinavians had his story in their _Ivent Saga_. In the _Morte
d'Arthur_, he is Sir Gareth, and brother to Gawain; but he must have
been his cousin, as he was the son of Urien, and of Arthur’s sister,
Morgwen. In the _Morte d'Arthur_, Luned is Linet, and in the French
romances she is Lunette. Her name seems to be derivable from _llun_, a
shape or form, and if so, would mean the shapely; but the hagiologists
identify it with that Elined, the daughter of Brychan, who suffered
martyrdom on the hill of Penginger, and was canonized as St. Almedha, a
name still to be seen on the sign of an inn at Knaresborough.
Owain, Oen in Brittany, continued popular in Wales, though, perhaps,
rather more usual at a late than an early period. The notable Owen
Glendower, as Shakespeare has taught us to call him, was really Owain ap
Gruffydd of Glendfrdwy, his estate in Merionethshire, where he kept a
grand household.
It was he who made Owen the most common of Welsh names, in honour of the
last Welshman who lived and died free of the English yoke.
Owain is so like the word _oen_ that in Welsh stands for a sheep or
lamb, that it is generally so translated; but it is most likely that
this is a case of an adaptation of a derivative from an obsolete word to
a familiar one, and that Owen ought to be carried much further back to
the same source as the Erse Eoghan, which comes from _êoghunn_, youth,
from _og_, young, and is translated, young warrior. It has the feminine
Eoghania, of course turned into Eugenia.
There were many Eoghans in Ireland. One of them, a king of Connaught,
when dying of his wounds, commanded himself to be buried upright, with
his red javelin in his hand, and his face turned towards Ulster, as
though still fighting with his foes. As long as he thus remained,
Connaught prevailed and Ulster lost; but the Ultonians discovered the
spell, and re-buried him in an opposite direction, thereby changing the
tide of success.
Eoghan, in Scotland, is pronounced Yō-hăn, and indiscriminately
translated by Evan, Ewan, and Hugh. Several of the early kings, who are
all numbered together in Scotland as Eugenius, were properly Eoghan, and
Evan or Ewan is certainly the right Anglicism, though Hugh is made to do
duty for these as well as for Aodh.
The same Eoghan seems in ăanother form to have supplied the Welsh Evan,
or Evan _may_ be intended for John. A certain Evan of Wales, claiming
the blood of the Welsh princes, who became a mercenary under Charles V.
of France, made a bold descent upon Guernsey, and was killed at the
siege of Mortain-sur-mer, by what Froissart calls a short Spanish
dagger, but his illuminator has made to look much more like a very large
arrow. Welsh history takes no cognizance of him, but he is thought to be
traceable in the national songs as Jevan Dovy.
Another translation of Owain is “apt to serve.” A British prince of
Strathcluyd was called Uen or Hoen.[102]
-----
Footnote 102:
_Mabinogion_; _Morte d'Arthur_; _Tracts on Antiquities of the Northern
Counties_, by R. D. D.; Cambro-Briton; Jones, _Welsh Sketches_;
Chalmers; Percy, _Relics_; Rees, _Welsh Saints_; O'Donovan; Hy
Fiachrach; Owen Pugh; _Highland Society’s Dictionary_.
SECTION V.—_Trystan and Ysolt._
The episode of _Trystan_ is one of the most celebrated incidents of
Arthur’s court, and has not failed to be treated by Davies as a
magnificent emblematic myth.
The _Triads_ begin by declaring that the three mighty swineherds of the
Isle of Britain were Pryderi, Coll, and Trystan.
Another adds,—
The third swineherd was Trystan, son of Tallwch, who kept the swine of
March, the son of Meirchion, while the swineherd was conveying a message
to Essylt, to appoint an assignation with her.
Again, he is one of the three heralds of Britain, also one of the three
diademed chiefs, also one of the three knights who had the conducting of
mysteries.
Besides, the three unchaste matrons of Britain are Penarwen, Bun, and
Esyllt Fingwen.
And the tale told by the Cymric race in Cambria and Armorica has
resounded throughout southern Europe. There the mighty swineherd is the
son of Roland and Blanchefleur, sister of Mark, king of Cornwall. Almost
at the moment of his birth, she hears the tidings of his father’s death,
and expires from the shock, calling her babe Tristan, or the sad. He
grows up to be an accomplished knight, and after various adventures, is
sent by his uncle, King Mark, to Ireland, to bring home the promised
bride Ysolt the fair.
The mother of Ysolt gives her maid, Brengwain, a magic draught, which
was to be administered to the pair on their bridal day, to secure their
mutual affection. A storm rises on the voyage, and, intending to refresh
her lady and the knight after his exertions and her alarm, Brengwain, in
her confusion, gives them the fatal draught, and their passion for one
another became the theme of the storytellers who preferred guilty love
to high aspirations. Tristrem was married to another Ysolt called of the
white hands, or of Brittany; he was dangerously wounded, and lay sick in
her castle in Brittany. Nothing could cure him but the presence of Ysolt
of Cornwall, and to her he sent his squire, with his ring, entreating,
like the father of Theseus, that if she came to him the sails of the
ship might be white, if she refused, the squire should hoist a black
sail.
She came, but the wife, Ysolt of the white hands, falsely told the sick
man that the sails were black; he sank back in despair and died, and
Ysolt died of grief beside him.
Such is the story told by Thomas of Ercildoune, in the thirteenth
century, as well as by hosts of romances.
Trust was really a Cymric name, and was called among the Picts Drust, or
Drest. There is a Trust or Drust, MacTallaghi among the Pictish kings,
who possibly may be the origin of Tristan, since many of the legends are
common to Strath Clyde, Wales, and Cornwall. The Pictish Pendragon, who
was elected at the time the Romans quitted Britain, was called by his
countrymen Drust of the Hundred Battles, and many of his successors bore
the same name, which means din, tumult, or loud noise, and thus may
poetically be translated as a proclaimer or herald. Trwst ap Taran
(tumult the son of thunder) was the poetical name of another of the
line. The influence of Latin upon Welsh, however, made _trist_ really
mean sad, so that it was there accepted as suited to the melancholy
circumstance of the hero’s birth; and Tristram, or sad face, became
identified with the notion of sorrow; so that the child of St. Louis,
born while his father was in captivity on the Nile, and his mother in
danger at Damietta, was named Jean Tristan. Never would the cheerful
Greeks have accepted such a name as Tristrem, Tristan, Tristano; but in
Europe it regularly entered the ranks of the names of sorrow, and it
was, no doubt, in allusion to it that Don Quixote accepted the
soubriquet of the Knight of the Rueful Countenance. The earliest form of
the name was Adsalutta, a Keltic goddess, whose name occurs in two
inscriptions, one at Laybach and the other at Ratschöck in Istria. It is
identified by the learned with Esyltt, and connected with _Suraya_, the
Sungod of the Vedas.
Esyltt was the French Yseulte, or Ysoude, the Italian Isolta, and
English Ysolte, Isolda, or Izolta, and in all these shapes was frequent
in the families of the middle ages; recurring again and again in
registers, down to the seventeenth century: indeed, within the last
fifty years a person was alive who bore this romantic name in the form
of Izod.
Tallwch is the torrent, and seems to have been translated into Roland,
from the sound of rolling, when the Armorican bards laid claim to the
great Paladin of Charlemagne’s court, on the score of his having been
Warden of the Marches of Brittany, and wanted to make out that Roland
was a name of their own. They had thus caused Rowland to be considered
as a regular Cymric name.
King Mark himself was most probably a compromise between the Roman
_Marcus_ and the native _march_, which belongs to all the Kelts—nay,
Pausanias tells us, meant a horse, in the dialect of the tribe who tried
to take Delphi. Its fellow, _mar_, passed into Teutonic; named
Marshalls, as Marskalk, or horse servant; and lives among us as our
_mare_, in the feminine. Indeed, Marcus may itself be another instance
of the Keltic element in Latin.
Marchell was the daughter of Tewdrig, king of North Wales, and, in 382,
married Brychan, son of Cormac Mac Cairbre, one of the kings of Ireland.
Her name was, no doubt, a mixture of the Keltic March and the Latin
Marcella; and it was she who must have rendered the name of Marcella so
common in Ireland.
The more common Gadhaelic word is, however, _each_, first cousin to
_equus_, _aspa_, and many another word for the gallant animal.
Each was the saint who spent his life in Boyne Water, and was said to
have uttered the curse that caused the battle of Magh Rath, a libel
disproved by his previous death.
Each, in combination, has formed sundry names,—Eachmarchach, a sort of
reduplication; Eachmilidh, horse-warrior; Eachaid, horseman, the most
famous of them belonging to many kings, and rendered into
Latin—Eochodius, or Equitius, the last not so incorrect. Auhy, or Atty,
were the usual ways of rendering it; but these have been confounded with
Arthur, and the name is lost.
Several other Eochaids were kings of Scotland, but they are grievously
confused by Latinity, and, with the owners of the following name, turned
into Eugenius; Eochaidbuidhe, or the fair-haired, appearing as Eugenius
Flavus; and Eochoid Rinne Mhail as Eugenius Crooked Nose!
Another Eochaid has, by the capricious fancy of Scotland, been
transmitted to us as Achaius. He is said to have been an ally of
Charlemagne, and begun the custom of lending auxiliaries to the French,
numerous Scotsmen coming to honour and dignity for their assistance in
their conquest of Saxony. Achaius is also said to have married the
sister of the king of the Picts, and formed an alliance with him against
the Anglo-Saxons. While marching against the English forces, the cross
of St. Andrew suddenly appeared in the sky giving assurance of victory,
and, in consequence, was adopted as the ensign of the Picts, and
afterwards of the Scots.
The “double tressure, flory and counterflory,” that surrounds the field
where “the ruddy lion ramps in gold,” is also said to have been “first
by Achaius worn,” though he was probably innocent of all armorial
bearings, as he died in 819.
Eachan is the most usual form of the Highland name, and has for many
years been, by general consent, converted into Hector.
The feminine Eacha is an old Irish name.[103]
-----
Footnote 103:
Chalmers; Villemarque; _Mabinogion_; O'Donovan; Pugh; Pitre;
Chevalier; Sir W. Scott, Ed. of _Sir Trestram_.
SECTION VI.—_Hoel and Ryence._
The romances of Arthur give him, among his many nephews, one named Hoel,
Duke of Brittany, whose niece Helena was seized upon by the horrible
giant Ritho, and devoured upon the top of Tombelaine.
This Hoel does not seem to have been a real character. His name Higuel,
the lordly or conspicuous, was a common one in Wales and Brittany; and a
prince so called seems really to have fled to Arthur for aid against the
Franks, and to have returned with a fresh colony of Britons, by whose
aid he became king of Armorica.
He reigned for thirty years, and died in 545, Other Hoels reigned after
him, the third of whom is said to have been killed at Roncevalles.
In Wales, Hywel continued in favour, and Hywel-Dha, or the Good, who
reigned in the tenth century, is famous for having gone to Rome to study
law, by which he so profited as afterwards to draw up the famous code
that has thrown so much light on the manners of the Cambrian
mountaineers, the order of precedence in the king’s household, and even
the price of animals. He signs King Athelstan’s charter as
Hoel-Subregulus, or under king.
Hywel was a name in frequent use among the Welsh princes, and ‘highborn
Hoel’s harp’ was frequently sounded, for various bards were so called.
Another Hoel was that unfortunate relative of Owen Glendower whom he was
said to have killed and hidden in the blasted tree.
The giant Ritho is evidently a relation of Rhitta Gawr, who, in the
Welsh stories, interfered to put a stop to a furious battle between two
kings named Nynniaw and Peibiaw, who had quarrelled about the moon and
stars. Rhitta Gawr defeated them both, and cut off their beards, and
afterwards the beards of seventy-eight more kings who collected to
avenge them. Of these eighty beards he made a mantle that reached from
his head to his heels, for he was the largest man in Britain, and wore
it as a warning to all to maintain law and order.
The romances of Arthur turned Rhitta Gawr into a fierce monarch called
Rhyence, king of North Wales, an aggressor instead of a defender of
justice, who, however, had his scarlet mantle purfled with the moderate
number of eleven royal beards, and politely demanded that of King Arthur
to complete the trimming, with what consequences no one acquainted with
King Arthur can doubt.
Whence come the names of Ryence and Rhittar? They connect themselves
closely with the universal words for ruler, the Gadhaelic _righ_, Teuton
_rik_, Latin _rex_, and the _rajah_ of India. _Rhys_ is, in Welsh, a
rushing man or warrior, and most likely comes from the same source; and
Rhesus, the chieftain, slain by Ulysses and Diomed, on the night of his
arrival before Troy, probably was called from some extinct word of the
same origin.
At any rate Rhys has ever since been a Welsh name, sometimes spelt in
English according to its pronunciation as Reece, and sometimes as Rice.
It has furnished the surnames of Rice, Rees.
In Brittany we meet a saint called by the diminutive of Rhys, Riok, or
Rieuk. His legend begins with one of the allegories that arose from the
prophecy, that the weaned child should put his hand on the cockatrice’s
den, for when he was almost an infant he was employed by the holy knight
Derrien, to lead away in a scarf a terrible basilisk, whom the saint had
tamed by making the sign of the cross over him. His parents were
heathens, but were convinced by this miracle; and he became, in after
years, a great saint, living for forty-one years on a rock on the
sea-coast, eating nothing but herbs and little fish, and wearing a plain
garment which when it wore out was supplied by a certain ruddy moss
growing all over his body. His name has continued in use in
Brittany.[104]
-----
Footnote 104:
_Mabinogion_; Pitre Chevalier, _Bretagne_; Mallory, _Morte d'Arthur_;
Jones, _Welsh Sketches_.
SECTION VII.—_Percival._
No name has had more derivations suggested for it than this. The Norman
family so called came from Perche-val, the valley of the Perche; but as
to the knight of romance, he was at first supposed to be Perce-val,
pierce the valley, on the principle on which Percy was hatched out of
Pierce-eye, and the story invented of the Piercie who thrust his spear
with the keys dangling on it into the eye of Malcolm Ceanômor at Alnwick
Castle. The romance of Perceforest was even named on the principle that
it was as suitable to pierce the forest as the valley. Mr. Keightley
derives the name from the Arabic _Parse_, or _Parschfal_, poor dummling,
who appears to have been the hero of an Eastern tale of a wonderful cup,
whence arose the mysterious allegory of the Holy Greal. A Provençal
Troubadour, named Kyot, or Guiot, professes to have found at Toledo a
book written in heathen characters by a magician, Saracen on the
father’s side, but descended by his mother from Solomon. His book is
lost, but two founded on it survive,—the German romance of Parzifal, by
Wolfram von Eschenbach, and the Norman French, Sir Perceval, of Walter
Mapes, Archdeacon of Oxford under Henry II.
Equally old, however, is a Welsh legend of Peredur, who is perhaps
Pair-kedor, the warrior of the cauldron; Pair-cyfaill would then be
champion of the cauldron, or bowl; Peredur was certainly a historical
person, and may perhaps be the same as Perceval. Chrétien de Troyes has
a long poem on the story of Perceval, and his adventures are almost
identical with those of the Peredur of the _Mabinogion_.
The story of the orphan, stirred up to chivalry by the sight of the
knight whom he took for an angel, the same as that of Mervyn les Breiz,
here appears, and Perceval or Peredur shows some kindred with the
dummling of Persia by his ignorance and dulness till he comes to the
castle, where he sees the wounded king, the bleeding lance, and the
Greal or bowl of pure gold, that are the great features in his history.
Probably, the magic bowl was an Indo-European idea, but there seems to
have been Druidic traditions about a magic bowl, which Bran the Blessed
obtained from a great black man in Ireland, and which cured mortal
wounds and raised the dead. It was one of the thirteen wonders of the
Isle of Britain, and disappeared with Merddin in his glass vessel.
However, in the twelfth century, the ideas of this vessel had assumed a
Christian form. It was the bowl used at the institution of the Holy
Eucharist, and the lance was that of Longinus the centurion, brought to
Bran by Joseph of Arimathea, and thenceforth its quest became the emblem
of the Christian search for holiness through the world, only gratified
by gleams here, but with full fruition hereafter. Perceval, once the
companion and guard of the sacred Grail, gradually descended from his
high estate, and became only a knight of the Round Table, high and pure
of faith and spotless of life, but only on the same terms as the rest,
and though not failing in the quest, still inferior to Galahad.
It is curious that his other name, Peredur, has by the sound been turned
into Peter. One Robert de Barron tells, that from Bran, the Grail
descended to Alan, and thence to Petrus his nephew; and a story of the
Breton peasantry still gives the adventures of Perronik, like the
original Peredur, an idiot at first, but sent to the Castle of Caerglas
to fetch a diamond lance and golden cup, which would raise the dead by a
touch.
The later French romances spoilt the nobleness and purity of Perceval’s
character, but he is always one of the best of the knights, and succeeds
in finding the Sanc-greal. But Galahad, the pure and virgin knight, son
of Lancelot, and predestined to occupy the Siége Perilous at the Round
Table, resist all temptation, conquer all peril, and finally obtain full
fruition of the Greal, then, at his own desire, pass out of the world of
sin and care, has, in England, taken the place once the right of Peredur
or Perceval, though Wagner’s splendid ‘Parcifal’ has restored to him the
chief place. I suspect him, as before said, to have been the separate
produce of the story of Cattwg, first warrior, and afterwards hermit and
saint, and that Galahad may have been an epithet from his starry purity.
In the _Mabinogion_, Perceval has a ladye love, whom, however, he only
loves with distant chivalrous devotion, and who answers to his sister,
who in Mallory’s beautiful story gave the blood from her own veins to
heal a lady who could only be cured with the life-blood of a pure
virgin.
In the _Mabinogion_ her name is Angharad Law-eurag, or with the hand of
gold, and Angharad, or the free from shame, the undisgraced (from
_angharz_), was continued in Wales, but it is now generally considered
as the equivalent of Anne, and thus accounts for Anna being universally
called in romance the sister of Arthur, and mother of the traitor nephew
Medrawd.
The Welsh Angharawd, probably the source of Ankaret, which occurs in the
family of Le Strange in 1344, is generally supposed to mean an
anchorite; but as it has no parallel on the Continent, it is much more
likely to be the Welsh Angharad. Annan was, however, a separate name—for
the three sprightly ladies of Britain are Annan, Angharad, and Perwyr.
Myfanwy is one of the unaccountable feminine Welsh names, not yet
extinct among families of strong national feeling, though in general
Fanny has been substituted for it. It may possibly be Mabanwy, child of
the water, or else it may be My-manwy, my fine (or rare one).
The three primary bards of Britain were Plenydd, Alawn, and Gwron, whom
Mr. Davies explains as light, harmony, and virtue. Plenydd, it is
thought, is related to Belenus; and Alawn is erected by ardent Cymrians
into the mythic Greek Olen, who is said to have been the first writer of
hymns in hexameter, and whom the Delphic poetess, Boeo, calls a
Hyperborean; this name is said to mean the flute-player. At any rate, I
have found Alwn Aulerv in Welsh genealogies as brother of Bran the
Blessed, and this must be the real origin of the Breton Alan. Elian and
Hilarius were both used as its Latinisms.[105]
It is first found in early Breton history, then it came to England with
Alan Fergéant, Count of Brittany, the companion of William the
Conqueror, and first holder of the earldom of Richmond, in Yorkshire;
and, indeed, one Alan, partly Breton, partly Norman, seems to have taken
up his abode in our island before the Conquest, and four besides the
count came after it. In the time of Henry I., one of these gentlemen, or
his son, held Oswestry; and as these were the times when Anglo-Norman
barons were fast flowing into Scotland, his son Walter married a lady,
whom Douglas’s _Peerage of Scotland_ calls Eschina, the heiress of Molla
and Huntlaw, in Roxburghshire; and their son, another Alan, secured
another heiress, Eva, the daughter of the Lord of Tippermuir; and,
becoming high steward of Scotland, was both the progenitor of the race
of Stuart, and the original of the hosts of Alans and Allens, who have
ever since filled Scotland. That country has taken much more kindly to
this Breton name than has England, in spite of Allen-a-dale, and of a
few families where Allen has been kept up; but as a surname, spelt
various ways, it is still common.
Like _mare_ in Latin, and _meer_ in Teuton, the Gaelic _muir_, Welsh
_môr_, and Breton _mor_, are close kindred, and watery names derived
from them abound.
King Arthur’s sister, Morgana, or Morgaine, Morgue la Fée, or La Fata
Morgana, as she is variously termed in different tongues, was Morgan
Maritime—the derivative from sea. From her, or from some lingering old
Keltic notion in ancient Italy, the Sicilian fisherman connects the
towers and palaces painted on the surface of the Mediterranean with La
Fata Morgana, the lady of the sea.
Morgwn was the native name of the heresiarch, who called himself by the
Greek equivalent Pelagius, and thus named the Pelagian heresy. Some
writers say that sundry heretic names lingered about the Spanish
Visigoths after their union with the Church, and instance both Ario, a
distinguished author, and Pelayo, the Asturian Robert Bruce, as
instances of names so borne. However this may be, Morgan has continued,
even to the present day, to be very common in Wales.
Morvryn may be sea-king. “Morolt with the iron mace,” as romance calls
him, the brother of Yseulte, who was killed by Sir Trystan, is called
Morogh by his own countrymen in Ireland. It is the contraction of
Muireadhach, or sea protector, a favourite Irish name, though, after
degenerating into Morogh, it was usually rendered into Morgan, and so
continues in modern Ireland. It is perhaps the same with Meriadek, or
Meiriadwg, the title of Conan, the chieftain who is said to have
colonized Brittany, and also with the Welsh Meredith, both as a
Christian and a surname. In Ireland, the sons of Morogh became
O'Muireadaig, and then contracted into Murray. Muredach is said to have
reigned over the Scots from 733 to 736, and is transformed into Murdach,
Murochat, Muirtec, Mordacus. It must have become mixed with
Muircheartach, from _ceart_ (a right), which has produced Moriertagh,
Murtagh, or Morty, as a Christian name in Ireland; but it is now made
into Mortimer. It is Murdoch in Scotland, once very common, and not yet
extinct, and the North, adopting it with other Keltic names, calls it
Kjartan.
Muirgis, once common in Ireland, is rendered by Maurice, or Morris, and
Murchada has become Murphy.
And there is a name, still very common in the North of England, that I
cannot help connecting with some of these, namely Marmaduke, which
appeared among the chivalry of England about the thirteenth century, and
has never become extinct. It is most likely a corruption of one or other
of the _sea_ names, in fact, it is not far from Muireadach; or it may be
the offspring of the Scottish title, Maormar, from _maor_, a steward or
officer, and _mor_, great, thus meaning the great officer of the crown,
the term which prevailed before the Saxon Thegn or Danish Earl displaced
it.[106]
-----
Footnote 105:
Villemarqué; Cambro-Britain; _Mabinogion_; Mallory, _Morte d'Arthur_.
Footnote 106:
Villemarque; Davies; Ellis; Cambro-Briton; Geoffrey of Monmouth;
O'Donovan; Chalmers; Munch.
SECTION VIII.—_Llew._
We find Llew, lion, naming Lleurwg ab Coel ab Cyllyn, also called
Llewfer Mawr, the great light, and correctly translated by the Latin
Lucius, the king who is said to have sent messengers to Rome to bring
home Christianity, though some think Lucius a mere figment of Roman
writers accepted by the bards.
Llew is the name given in Welsh genealogies to the king of the Orkneys,
who married King Arthur’s sister, and was the father of Gwalchmai.
Llewel, lion-like, formed Llewelyn, which is not very early in Wales,
unless the Sir Lionel of romance be intended to represent it. A Welsh
Llewelyn seems to have come over to Ireland with Richard Strongbow, and
his descendants, after passing through the stage of MacUighilins, are
now the Quillinans.
The English have broken it down into Leoline. Llewelyn the Great of
Wales was a contemporary of King John, and from this time the name has
been much in use, partly from affection to the last native prince,
Llewelyn ap Gruffyd, who perished at Piercefield. It is now usually
Anglicized as Lewis for a Christian, Lewin for a family, name.
The old records of Brittany give a most graceful story of the saint who
made Hervé a favourite in the duchy.
Hyvernion, a British bard, was warned by an angel in a dream to come to
Armorica in quest of his wife. Near the fountain of Rivannon, he met a
beautiful maiden drawing water, who, when he accosted her, sang “Though
I am but a poor flower by the wayside, men call me the little queen of
the fountain.” Perceiving that she was the damsel of his vision, he
married her, and they had one child, who was born blind, and was named
by his parents in their sorrow, _Houerf_, or bitter. His worm-eaten
oaken cradle is still shown in the parish of Treflaouenan, as a relic,
for the blind child became both monk and poet, and according to his
maxim, ‘It is better to instruct a child than to gather wealth for him,’
he composed numerous simple and religious poems, which have been sung by
the Breton peasantry through the twelve hundred years that have passed
since the death of the blind bard; one of them, on the duties of a
Christian child, is exceedingly beautiful. Arianwen, Silver woman, was
another Welsh saint, whose name has continued in use.
Houerv, or Hervé, is not accepted in the _Roman Calendar_, but he was
enthusiastically beloved in the country for which he had “made ballads,”
and Hervé has been the name of peer and peasant there ever since his
time. Hervé came over to us among the many adventurers who “came out of
Brittany.” Two landowners so called are mentioned in Domesday Book, and
the widely-spread surname of Harvey can hardly be taken from anything
else, though some derive it from Heriwig, army war, a Teutonic word.
Here let us mention a Breton name, Tanneguy. There was a saint so called
who founded an abbey at Finisterre, and who is claimed as a relation by
the family of Du Chastel. It is curious to find Sir Tanneguy Du Chastel
figuring among the heroes of Froissart, and making his old Christian
name renowned.
But the local saints of the Kelts are far past enumeration, such as St.
Monacella, or Melangell, whose Welsh name perhaps means honey-coloured
or yellow. She was a little nun, who saved a hare hunted by Brocmael,
prince of Powys, and is buried at Pennant Melangle. Also there was St.
Sativola, or Sidwell, as she is called at Exeter, whose head was cut off
by a mower with a scythe, and who had a well marking the spot, till the
railway made away with it; but at least she appears in her own church,
with her head in one hand and a scythe in the other, and she has a
window in the cathedral. Once she had namesakes, but they are all gone
now.
Einion is said to signify an anvil, in Welsh, though the word most like
it in Dr. Owen Pugh’s dictionary is _einioes_, life. St. Einion was one
of the early saints of the Cymry, after whom is named a spring at
Llanvareth in Radnorshire. Another Einion was grandson of Howell Dha.
The name is sometimes rendered by Æneas.
PART VI.
TEUTONIC NAMES.
CHAPTER I.
THE TEUTON RACE.
SECTION I.—_Ground occupied by the Teutons._
The great mass of modern European nomenclature springs from the class of
languages which it is convenient collectively to call Teutonic.
Nothing shows the identity of the entire Teutonic race more than the
resemblance of the names in each of the branches. Many are found in each
of the stems—Gothic, Scandinavian, and High and Low German—the same in
sense, and with mere dialectic changes in sound, proving themselves to
have sprung from a name, or from words, current in the original tribe
before the various families parted from it. Others are found in some
branches and not in others; but there are comparatively very few
belonging to a single tongue, and the analyzation of one into its
component words is never safe till the same name has been sought for in
the cognate languages. All the more popular of these personal names have
gone on a little in the rear of the spoken language of the country,
undergoing changes, though somewhat more slowly. Then, perhaps, some
famous character has, as it were, crystallized his name for ever in the
form in which he bore it, and it has been so continued, ever after, in
his own country, as well as imitated by others, who often have adopted
it in addition to their own original national form of the very same.
The Teutonic names were almost all compounds of two words. Sometimes a
single word was used, but this was comparatively rare. For the most
part, families were distinguished by each person bearing the same first
syllable, with other words added to it to mark the individual, much in
the same way as we have seen was the custom of the Greeks. Some
families, like the royal line of Wessex, would alternate between Æthel
and Ead; others between Os and Sieg and the like. The original compounds
forming names were expressive and well chosen; but it seems as if when
once certain words had come into use as component parts of names, they
were apt to be put together without much heed to their appropriateness
or signification, sometimes with rather droll results. Their names were
individual, but every man was also called the son, every woman the
daughter, of the father; a custom that has not passed away from some
parts of Norway, the Hebrides, or even the remoter parts of Lancashire,
where, practically, the people use no surnames. A family was further
collectively spoken of by the ancestor’s or father’s name, with the
addition of _ing_, the derivative or patronymic; as, in France, the sons
of Meervig were the Meerwingen; the sons of Karl, the Karlingen; not
Merovingians and Carlovingians, as Latinization has barbarously made
them. Remarkable features, or distinguished actions, often attached
soubriquets to individuals, and these passed on, marking off families in
the genealogical songs of the Scallds; and from these derivations, as
well as from the fertile source of territorial terms, have most of our
modern surnames arisen.
The words whence names were compounded were usually the names of deities
and those of animals, together with epithets, or terms of office,
generally conveying good auguries. They were usually connected with some
great hero belonging to the various cycles of myth, in which the Teuton
imagination revelled, and which, for the most part, under Christian
influence, descended from the divine to the heroic, and then to the
fairy tale.
These Teutonic centres of legend may be considered as threefold. There
is the great Scandinavian mythological system, as elaborate and as
poetical as that of the Greeks, and which belonged in part, at least, to
the Goths, Franks, and Saxons, though their early conversion deprived it
of five hundred years of development; and Louis le Debonnaire
unfortunately destroyed the poetry that would have shown us what it had
been among them.
Next, there is the cycle of Romance, represented in Scandinavia by the
latter part of the elder Edda and by the Volsunga Saga, in Denmark by
the Vilkina Saga, and in the centre of Europe by the Nibelungenlied,
where old myths have become heroic tales that have hung themselves round
the names of Attila the Hun and Theodoric of Verona, who in Germany is
the centre of a great number of ancient legends, once doubtless of
deified ancestors.
Thirdly, we have the grand poetical world, in which Charlemagne has been
adopted as the sovereign, and Roland as the hero—the world of French
romance, Spanish ballad, and Italian poetry, which is to continental
chivalry what the Round Table is to our own.
CHAPTER II.
NAMES FROM TEUTON MYTHOLOGY.
SECTION I.—_Guth._
It is hard to class this first class of names under those of mythology,
for they bear in them our own honoured word for the Deity; and though
some arose when the race were worshippers of false divinities, yet under
the same head are included many given in a Christian spirit.
Some philologists tell us, though they are not unanimous in the
explanation, that this name is from the same source as the Sanscrit
_Svadáta_, self-given or uncreate, and as the Zend _Quadata_, Persian
_Khoda_, and our own Teuton term for Deity—the Northern _Gud_ and Gothic
_Guth_, whence the High German _Cot_ and low German _God_. Others
explain it as the creating or all-pervading. Others, again, derive it
from _od_, possession, and in early Christian times there was a
distinction between _God_ (mas.) and the neuter _god_, an idol. It is
equally doubtful whether this divine word be the origin of the
adjective, _guth_, _gut_, _cuot_, _gode_. Whether they are only cognate,
or whether they are absolutely alien, and the adjective be related to
the Greek ἀγαθός—wherever they come from, the names derived from either
God or good are so much alike, as to be inextricably mixed, so that they
must be treated of together.
The North is the great region of these names; but they are not very easy
to distinguish from the very large class beginning with _gund_, war, as
in pronunciation, and latterly in spelling, the distinctive letters, _n_
and _u_, get confounded or dropped.
It is probable, however, that among those from _Gud_ we may place
_Gudhr_, which was owned by one of the Valkyrier, the battle maids of
northern belief, and must, with her, have meant the brave, or the
goddess; Guda was known in Scandinavia; and Germany used the name, till
it was translated into Bona or Bonne, and thus passed away.
In the northern version of the _Nibelungen_, the second heroine is
Gudruna. The last syllable means wisdom, or counsel; it is the same as
_rune_, the old northern writing, and alludes to the wisdom that Odin
won at so dear a rate. Gudruna may then be translated divine wisdom, a
name well suited to the inspired priestesses, so highly regarded by the
Teutons. It was very common in the North; eighteen ladies so called
appear in the Icelandic _Landnama_; and it was so universal there, that
Johann and Gudruna there stand for man and woman, like our _N._ or _M._
In Norway, likewise, Gudruna is common; and, near Trondjem, is
contracted into Guru; about Bergen, into Gern or Gero. High German
tongues rendered it Kutrun.
The _Landnama-bok_, which gives all the pedigrees of the free
inhabitants of Iceland for about four hundred years, namely, from the
migration to the twelfth century, gives us Gudbrand, divine staff, now
commonly called Gulbrand; Gudbiorg, divine protection; Gudiskalkr, God’s
servant, or scholar, which is the very same as Godeskalk, the name
assumed by the first Christian prince of the Wends of Mecklenburg, who
was martyred by his heathen subjects, and thus rendered Gottschalk a
German Christian name; in Illyrian, Gocalak; and known even in Italy as
Godiscalco, just like Gildas or Theodoulos. Gudleif is feminine,
Gudleifr masculine, for a divine relic; and this last coming to England
with the Danes, turned into a surname as Gulleiv, then shortened into
Gulley, and lengthened into Gulliver—a veritable though quaint surname
for the Lemuel Gulliver whom Swift conducts through Laputa and
Brobdignag, with coolness worthy of northern forefathers.
Gudleik, divine service, is, perhaps, repeated by our St. Guthlac; but
both these may come from _gund_. Gudmund contracts into Gulmund, divine
protection. Five ladies called Gudny appear, which latter termination is
a common feminine form, and comes from the same word as our _new_. If an
adjective, it would mean young and pretty; if a noun, it stands for the
new moon, a very graceful name for a woman. Guni is the contraction used
in the North.
Gudfinn and Gudfinna must be reminiscences of Finn, whom we shall often
meet in the North. Gudrid and Gudridur mean the divine shock or passion,
from the word _hrid_ or _hrith_, one that is constantly to be met with
as a termination in northern names, and which has sometimes been taken
for the same as _frid_, with the aspirate instead of the _f_. Guri is
the contraction.
Gudveig’s latter syllable would naturally connect itself with the _wig_,
war, that is found in all the Gothic tongues; but Professor Munch
translates it as liquid—divine liquor—the same meaning as Gudlaug and
the masculine Gudlaugr; _laug_, from _la_, liquor, or the sea. Divine
sea, would be a noble meaning for the Gulla or Gollaa to which Gudlaug
is commonly reduced in Norway.
Gudvar is divine prudence or caution, the last part being our word
_ware_; in fact, every combination of the more dignified words was used
with this prefix in the North, and it was probably the Danes who
introduced this commencement into England, for we do not find such in
pedigrees before the great irruption in Ethelred I.’s time.
In spite of the romantic story of Earl Godwine’s rise into honour from
acting as a guide to a Danish chief, it is certain that he was of an
honourable family, of Danish connection, and thus he probably obtained
his name, which would mean God’s beloved, and thus translate Theophilos.
Few are recorded in history as bearing the same; but there must have
been some to transmit the frequent surname of Godwin and Goodwin, the
latter connected to our minds with the Goodwin Sands, which were really
once the estate of the ambitious earl. Godin is the remains of the same
in French. It is found at Cambrai, in 1065, belonging to the “Echanson
d'Ostrevant.” The old French word _godeau_ meant a cup, and, as Godin
soon became a surname of a family which carried a cup in their arms,
there might have been a double allusion to the office of the ancestor
and to the sound of the name. Godine and Godinette were also in use
there, but were considered as feminines to Goderic—a very old word,
which, strange to say, was, at Cambrai, equivalent to _fainéant_, or
‘ne’er do weel,’ it must be supposed in allusion to some particularly
discreditable Goderic, as everywhere else it signifies divine ruler. Our
own St. Goderic was an Anglo-Saxon abbot, and the name, which means
divine rule, grew so common among the English, that the Norman nobles
called Henry I. and his Queen, Godric and Godiva, in derision of the
lady’s English blood. Goderic does, indeed, swarm in Domesday Book, and
has left the surname Goodrich.
“The woman of a thousand summers back,
Godiva, wife to that grim Earl who ruled
At Coventry,”
really existed, and was probably Godgifu, the gift of God, like
Dorothea, as _ive_ or _eva_ was the Norman rendering of _gifu_. Her
namesakes are in multitudes in Domesday, and, in 1070, one lived in
Terouenne, a pious lady, tormented, and at last murdered, by her
husband, on which account she was canonized as St. Godeleva.
The High Germans, however, made far more use of this commencement, and
won for it the chief honour. The elder forms are according to the harsh
old German sounds—_Cotahelm_, divine helmet, _Cotahramn_, divine raven,
_Cotalint_, divine serpent! But the more universal spelling prevailed,
as Frankish or Allemannic saints came into honour. Gotthard, bishop of
Hildesheim, was one of these. His name, which may be rendered divine
resolution, or, perhaps, firm through God, was also borne by Godard,
abbot of Rouen, and has adhered to the great mountain-pass of the Alps,
as well as to families of Godard in France, Goddard in England. In
Germany it is still used as a Christian name; and in Lithuania is
Gattinsch, Gedderts, or Kodders.
Gottfrid, divine peace, was abbot of St. Quentin early in the eleventh
century, and named two godsons, the canonized bishop of Amiens, and the
far more famous Gottfried of Lorraine, who might well, as leader of the
crusading camp, bequeath his name to all the nations whose
representatives fought under him, and thus we find it everywhere. In
Florence it has become Giotto, to distinguish the artist who gave us
Dante’s face; in Germany, cut down into Goetz, it distinguished the
terrible, though simple-hearted, champion with the iron hand, then,
falling into a surname, belonged to Göthe. We received our Godfrey from
the conqueror of Jerusalem, but previously the Gottfried had been taken
up by the French, and was much used by the Angevin counts in the
Gallicized form of Geoffroi. In alternation with Foulques, the name
continued among the Angevins till they came to the English throne; and
then Jaffrez, as the Bretons called the young husband of their duchess
Constance, was excited to rebellion by the Provençals as Jaffré.
Geoffrey spread among the English, and the Latinizers made it into
Galdfridus, which misled Camden into translating it into Glad-peace.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ Breton. │ French. │ Italian. │
│Godfrey │Jaffrez │Godefroi │Goffredo │
│Geoffrey │ │Godafrey │Godofredo │
│Jeffrey │ │Geoffroi │Giotto │
│Jeff │ │Jeoffroi │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Spanish. │ German. │ Polish. │ Lusatian. │
│Godofredo │Gottfried │Godfrid │Frido │
│Gofredo │Götz │ —————— │Fridko │
│ │Gödel │ Dutch. │ │
│ │ │Govert │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
Besides these, Germany has Godegisel, divine pledge; Godebert and
Godeberta, divine brightness; and Gottwald, divine power: repeated in
Provence by Jaubert.
Germany also has a Gottleip, the same with the old Anglo-Saxon Guthlaf,
meaning the leavings of God, or remains of Divinity, but which has been
made in modern German into Gottlieb, or love, and contracted in Lower
Lusatia into Lipo; in Dantzic, into Lipp. There are several of these
modern devotional German names, such as Gottlob, the very same in
meaning as belonged to the Speaker of the Rump, Praise God Barebones,
but has been continued as Lopo, or Lopko, in Lusatia. In fact, the
Moravians use these appellations, and thus we have the modern coinage of
Gottgetreu, Gotthilf, and Gotthilfe, and even of Gottsei-mit-dir, much
like the Diotisalvi of Italy, and not without parallel among the early
Christians.
The Spanish Goths left behind them Guzman, once either divine might
(_magen_), or Man of God. Guzman el Bueno was an admirable early
Spaniard, who beheld his own son beheaded rather than surrender the town
committed to his keeping. It became a surname, and it may be remembered
how Queen Elizabeth played with that of Philip II.’s envoy, when she
declared that if the king of Spain had sent her a gooseman, she had sent
him a man-goose.
Another old form taken by this word was Geata, or Gautr. It was used as
an epithet of Odin, and has been explained by some to mean the keeper,
and be derived from _geata_, to keep; but it is far more likely that it
is only another pronunciation of the same term for the All-pervader or
Creator.
Gautr is sometimes a forefather, sometimes a son of Odin; and there is a
supposed name-father, Gaut, for the Goths of Sweden, whether they are
the same as the Goths of Italy and Spain or not.
In this form, Gaut had its own brood of derivatives, chiefly in Sweden,
but with a few straying into Germany; such as Gosswin, divine friend,
and Gossbert, in Provençal Joubert, Gossfried, which may be the right
source of Geoffrey.
The most noted of all is, however, Gotzstaf, or Gozstaf, meaning either
the divine staff, or the staff of the Goths. Twice has it been endeared
to the Swedes; first by Gustaf Vasa, the brave man who delivered the
country from the bondage of the union of Calmar, and whose adventures in
Dalecarlia, like those of Bruce in Scotland, were more endearing than
even his success. Him the country calls affectionately “_Gamle Kong
Gosta_” and no less was its love and pride in his noble descendant,
Gustaf Adolf, “the Lion of the North, the bulwark of the Protestant
faith,” who casts the only gleam of brightness over the dull waste of
the Thirty Years' War. Thus it is no wonder that so many bear his name,
Gustav, Gosta, Gjosta, that it is considered in the North as the
national nickname of a Swede; and it has the feminine Gustava.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ Italian. │ Swedish. │
│Gustavus │Gustave │Gustavo │Gozstav │
│ │ │ │Gustav │
│ │ │ │Gosta │
│ │ │ │Gjosta │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ German. │ Lett. │ Esthonian. │ │
│Gustaf │Gustavs │Kustav │ │
│ │Gusts │Kustas │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
SECTION II.—_The Aasir._
Tacitus tells us that the supreme god of the Germans was called Esus or
Hesus, and though some have thought he meant the Keltic Hu, it is far
more likely that he had heard the word _As_ or _Æs_, the favourite
Teutonic term for their divinities.
The word is known in all the Teutonic languages: it is _As_, _Aasir_ in
the North, _Os_, _Es_ in Anglo-Saxon, and _Anseis_ or _Ensi_ in Gothic
and High German. Jornandes tells us that the Goths called their deified
ancestors _anses_, but it is only in the North that the literature of
the Pantheon of the race was so developed that we can follow it out.
The Aasir are in northern myth a family like the Olympian gods of
Greece; they inhabit Valhalla, and there receive the spirits of the
worthy dead, to feast and hunt with them till the general battle and
final ruin of all things, when a new and perfect world shall arise.
Blended with this notion there is a grand allegory of the contention
between the seasons. The Aasir, or summer gods, are always struggling
with the Hrimthusir, or frost powers, and winning the victory over them.
And further, the tradition of a migration from the warmer East, and of
the battles with the northern aborigines, is mixed up in the legends,
and the Aasir are a band of heroic settlers from Asgard or Asia, who fix
themselves in Europe, and become the ancestors of all the various races
of Teutons.
So speak the _Edda_ and the various sagas of the North; and though the
poetry and legends of the other nations have not come down to us, their
use of the names formed from _as_, _os_, _ans_, testifies to their
regard for the term as conveying the idea of deity.
To begin with the North, where the pronunciation is the purest, the word
in the singular is _aas_, in the plural, _aasir_ or _æsir_, and the
older form of these names began with the _aa_, though usually spelt with
a single _a_ in Norsk and Icelandic, with an _e_ in Danish. And let it
be remembered throughout, that the Northern _aa_ is pronounced like our
_o_.
The Low Germans change the _aas_ into _os_, and in this way most of the
Anglo-Saxon and continental German names commence.
_Ans_, the High German and Gothic form, occurs in the Frank, Lombardic,
and Gothic names. Asgaut or, as the Saxons call it, Osgod, and Asgrim,
are both reduplications of divinity.
Asa appears in the _Landnama-bok_, and Aasir, the collective term for
the gods, is used in Norway as a name corrupted into Asser, or Ozer. It
is probably the same with Esa, the ancestor of the Bernician kings, who
may have used ‘Os’ in compliment to him. Aasketyl is the divine kettle
or cauldron, probably connected with creation. It was usually called in
the North Askjell, and has the feminine Askatla. Oscetyl, as the
Anglo-Saxons spelt it, was used by them in Danish times, when a
so-called marauder terribly tormented them; but Frank pronunciation so
affected the Normans, that they brought in the name as Ansketil; and a
person so called was settled at Winchester in 1148.
Aasbjorn, divine bear, is a queer compound, and so is Aasolfr, or divine
wolf; but as will be shown when we come to the beasts themselves, a
certain divinity did hedge about these formidable animals in the days of
name-coining in the North. The first Asolfr with whom I have met was a
Christian, who, with twelve companions, was wrecked upon the shores of
Iceland in the interval between its settlement and conversion. They
erected buildings, resolutely refused all commerce with the heathen, and
lived solely on the produce of their fishing. A church has since been
built where they settled. The name has fallen into Asulf in the North,
and was paralleled by Osulf in England. As to the divine bear, he had a
wider fame, for Asbiorn came among the Northmen to Neustria, and was
there Frenchified. An Osborn was the seneschal who was murdered in the
sleeping chamber of William in the stormy days of the minority of the
future conqueror; and his son, William Fitzosborn, was the chief friend
and confidant of the stern victor of Hastings. Osborn figures in
Domesday, and has now become a common English surname, which used to be
translated house-born, before comparison with the other tongues had
shown the true relations of the word. Asbera is the northern feminine.
Esbern Snare, or the swift, the Danish noble, whose heart and eyes were
to have furnished Finn’s child with amusement, was really a powerful
earl at the end of the twelfth century, and his still more celebrated
twin brother, Bishop Absalom, was a great statesman and warrior, and
prompted Saxo Grammaticus to write his chronicle of Norway. Bishop
Absalom is believed to have, like his brother, received at baptism one
of the derivatives from the old gods of Denmark, namely, Aslak, the
divine sport or reward, a name which in Denmark and Sweden is always
called Axel, in which shape it belonged to Oxenstjerna, the beloved
minister of Gustavus Adolphus, and has ever since been a favourite
national name. Aslak is in the North pronounced Atlak, and sometimes
taken for the original Atli in the Volsunga Saga; but this is far more
probably the Tartar Attalik. We had a Bernician Aslak of the like
meaning. Never were there a more noted pair of twins than these
brothers, of the _bear_ and the _sport_. Well might their birth be first
announced to their absent father, on his return to the isle of Soro, by
twin church steeples, built by the mother to greet his eyes over the
sea. His name, Askar, or Ansgjerr, divine spear, was so common that
sixteen appear in the Iceland roll, and the word Osgar gets confused
with the Keltic Oscar, son of Ossian; nay, it may perhaps have been his
proper name. A Frank Ansgar, born in Picardy about the year 800, was the
apostle of Denmark, and afterwards bishop of Hamburgh and Bremen; he was
canonized as Anscharius, and is popularly called in his bishopric St.
Scharies, by which title the collegiate church of Bremen is called. It
is curious to find the Ansbrando of ancient Lombardy reflected by the
Asbrandr, divine sword, of Iceland. Lombardy had likewise Anshelm, the
divine helmet, softened down into Anselmo or Antelmo, the name of that
mild-natured Lombardic Archbishop of ours, whose constancy cost him so
dear in his contention with the furious Rufus and politic Beauclerc.
That firmness, however, together with his deep theological writings, won
him the honours of sanctity, though it is only on the Continent that his
name took root: England had no national love for her Anselm; and he
chiefly appears in Italy, France, and Germany, where he has been cut
short as Anso, endeared as Ensilo, has a feminine Ansa, and is called by
the Jews Anschel.
Of other terms which, like _helm_, give the idea of protection, there
are many; the feminine Asbjorg or Asburg, divine fort, is reflected by
the Anglo-Saxon Asburgha. Asgardr, divine guard, may be most probably an
allusion to the abode of the gods, Asgard, the abode to which the
rainbow-arch Bifrost was the access, trod, according to the grand death
song of Eirikr Blodaxe, by the spirits of the courageous dead on their
way to feast in the hall of Odin. As men’s names appear the Norwegian
Asgard, and Ansgard, a Winchester householder in Stephen’s time; but the
Northern feminine Asgerdur is the divine maiden, in honour of the
goddess Gerda. Asmundr is the northern form of a favourite name, giving
the idea of protecting with the hand. It is called Ansmunt in old
German, Osmund in Anglo-Saxon and Norman-French, and in this form was
most popular, at first perhaps, from Osmond de Centeville, the brave
Norman, who fled from Laon with the young Richard Sans Peur, but
afterwards for the sake of a Norman Osmond, who was canonized as Bishop
of Salisbury, whence this form in England and Osmont in France have
continued. Aasvalldr, divine power, was in Germany Ansvalt, and has
modernized as Asvald; but the Anglo-Saxon Oswald was the glory of the
name in the Northumbrian monarch, “free of hand,” as even his Welsh foes
called him, who has left Oswald to be an English name. Asvor and Asvora
express divine prudence.
“Aslaug, dottur Sigurdur Fafnisbana,” is recorded in the _Landnama-bok_
in sober earnest as having married Ragnar Lodbrog.
Divine legacy, or relic, appears in Asleif, the English Oslaf. The
northern Aasny, with Ashildur, has always been a favourite. Osthryth,
divine threatener, came out of the house of Bernicia into Mercia, where
she was murdered by the Danes, and revered as St. Osyth with a priory in
her honour.
Thoroughly English are likewise Osmod, divine mood or wrath; Osfrith,
divine peace; Osred, divine council; Osgifu, divine gift; Oswine, divine
friend, the third of the admirable but short-lived kings of Bernicia;
Oswiu, who overthrew him, was probably named from a word meaning sacred,
of which more in its place. Osbeorht we share with Germany, which calls
it Osbert, and has the feminine Osberta. In fact, most of these names
were in use there, beginning with _os_ or _ans_, according to the
dialect in which they were used. Ansgisel was one of the Frankish forms,
that section of the race always making much use of _gisel_, a
pledge.[107]
-----
Footnote 107:
Grimm; Turner; Munch; Lappenberg; Mallet; _Landnama-bok_; _Domesday_;
Michaelis; Hermann Luning, _Edda_; _Hist. of Scandinavia_; Marryat,
_Jutland_.
SECTION III.—_Odin, or Grîmr._
The head of the Aasir was Odin, as we have learned to call him from the
North, which worshipped him long after we had forgotten our Wuotan,
except in the title of his day of the week. There are various opinions
as to the meaning of his name, some making it come from the word for
rage in the North, _odhr_; in A. S., _wod_; and still _wuth_ in German;
and the adjective _wud_ in Scottish. It thus may allude to Odin being
the god of storm and tempest. Others take the name from O. G., _watan_,
N., _vatha_, to pervade, the title of the Divinity, as being _through_
all things. This is, in fact, the same as God.
However this may be, Odin, in the higher myths, is the All-father,
standing at the head of Asgard, as Zeus does of Olympus. He governs all
things, and knows all things. He obtained this mighty influence, says
the _Edda_, by hanging for nine nights on the world-tree, Yggdrasil,
without food or drink, transfixed with a spear, as a self-sacrifice.
Then he looked down into the depth, and sank from the tree into it; but
in the abyss beneath he drank the costly poet-mead, and learnt powerful
songs, obtaining the Runes, the beginning of wisdom, by which he could
compel to his will all nature: wind, sea, and fire, hate and love!
Coupled with this entirely divine Odin, there was the abiding notion of
ancestry beginning with a god; and no one, of any nobility, was content
without having Odin for his forefather. Even when Christianity dethroned
Odin from his place in Heaven, he was still retained as a heroic
ancestor; and somewhat grotesquely, the old chroniclers, after carrying
up their kings to him, brought him down from Noah, and he became reduced
to be the leader of the great migration from Asia, while the gods were
made his human sons.
We do not find Odin itself forming part of any personal name; it seems
to have been avoided as Zeus was in Greece, and, to a greater degree,
Jupiter in Rome. But he had no less than forty-nine epithets, all of
which are rehearsed in the prose _Edda_, and his votaries were called by
one or other of these.
Finn has been spoken of already as one of these; also Gautr, as one of
the forms of divinity. Grîmr is another, coming from the old Norse word
_grîma_, a mask or helmet. Odin was called Grimr, meaning the concealed,
or possibly the helmeted; and the names beginning with Grim may
generally be referred to the hidden god.
Grîmhild, or in High German, Krimhild, was originally one of the
Valkyrier, or choosers of the slain, who was so called, as being endowed
with a helmet of terror. Hidden battle-maid, or helmeted battle-maid,
would be her fittest translation. In the northern version of the
_Nibelungenlied_, Grimhild is the witch-mother of Sigurd’s wife, Gudrun,
and performs a part like that of the Oda, or Uta, in the German and
Danish versions, in which the heroine herself is called Kriemhild, or
Chriemhild, and does her fatal part in wreaking revenge for the murder
of her husband. Grimhhildur was somewhat used in the North, but nothing
was so fashionable as Grim, who occurs twenty-nine times in the
_Landnama-bok_, and with equal frequency in Domesday; besides that one
of these Danish settlers left his name to Grimsby, in Lincolnshire.
Grim has, of course, his kettle, in the North, Grimketyl, or Grimkjell;
in Domesday, Grimchel; an allusion, probably, to creation, quaint as is
the sound to our ears. Grimperaht, or helmeted splendour, first was
turned into Grimbert, then into the common German surname of Grimmert.
Grimar in the North was Grimheri in Germany. Grim was in greater favour
as a prefix in the High German dialects than in the North, and chiefly
in the Frankish regions.
Grimbald, helmeted prince, was a monk of St. Omer, transplanted by King
Alfred to Oxford, in the hope of promoting learning, and he thus became
a Saxon saint. Grimvald, helmeted ruler, was a _maire du palais_ in the
Faineant times of the Franks; and in Spanish balled el Conde Grimaltos,
a knight at the court of Charlemagne, was slandered and driven away with
his wife to the mountains, where the lady gives birth to a son, who was
baptized Montesinos, from the place of his birth, and educated in all
chivalry till he was old enough to go to Charlemagne’s court, refute the
slander by the ordeal of battle, and restore his family to favour.
Grimaldo was a name borne by the Lombard kings, and left remains in the
great Grimaldi family of Genoa.
Most of our English Grims were importations, and there are few of them,
though we have Grimulf in Domesday, probably a Dane.
SECTION IV.—_Frey._
Every false religion preserves in some form or other the perception of a
Divine Trinity, and the Teutonic Triad consisted of Odin, Frey, and
Thor, whose images always occupied the place of honour in the temples,
and who owned the three midmost days of the week.
The history of the word _freyr_ is very curious. The root is found in
_pri_, Skt., to love or rejoice, the Zend _frî_, the Greek φίλος. To be
glad was also to be free; so _freon_ or _frigon_ means to free and to
love, and thence _free_ in all its forms (N. _fri_; Goth, _frige_; H. G.
_frei_; L. G. _freoh_). Thus, again, the Germans came by _froh_, and we
by _fresh_. _Fro_ was both glad and dear; and as in Gothic _frowida_ was
joy, so is _freude_ in modern German; and we exult in _frolics_ and
_freaks_. He who loved was known by the present participle, _frigonds_,
the _friend_ of modern English, the same in all our Teutonic tongues;
and as the effect of love is peace, the term was _fred_ or _fried_, our
Saxon _frith_, which we have lost in the French-Latin word. To be free
was to be noble, so the free noble was _Frauja_, the name by which
Ulfilas always translates Κύριος, in the New Testament, by a beautiful
analogy, showing, indeed, that our Lord is our Friend and our Redeemer,
loving us, and setting us free.
_Frauja_, or free, was the lord and master, so his wife was likewise
_frea_, both the beloved and the free woman; the northern _frue_, German
_frau_, and Dutch _vrowe_, all, as _donna_ had done in Italy, becoming
the generic term for woman.
Out of all the derivatives of this fertile and beautiful term, there
were large contributions to mythology, and a great number of names.
Freyr, lord, lover, was once a god of very high rank, lord of sun and
moon, hermaphrodite, and regulating the seasons, blessing marriage, and
guarding purity: and this was probably a universal idea brought from
Asia.
As old notions formed into mythic tales, and the gods grew human, the
wife of Odin was invented, and what could she be but the _frau_, the
lady of Asgard, Frigga? Again, Freyr was brought down from his
mysterious vagueness, and turned into a nephew of Odin, with the moon to
take care of, and, moreover, was disintegrated into a brother and
sister, called Freyr and Freya.
The sixth day of the week had probably originally belonged to Freyr, but
Frigga got possession of it; and, in right of her presiding over love
and marriage, she was considered to be Venus; and in France and Italy
her day is still Vendredi and Venerdì, while we have it as Friday, the
Germans as Freitag, the North as Fredag.
Freya is also a goddess of love, and drives over every battle-field with
her car drawn by cats (once, perhaps, panthers, like those of Bacchus,
whom her brother is thought to resemble), and chooses half the slain,
whom she marshals to their seats at the banquet of Valhalla. Her
husband, Othur or Odhr, curiously repeats Odin’s name, as she does
Frigga’s. She weeps continually drops of gold when he is absent, and the
metal is poetically called Freya’s tears.
Her brother, Freyr, was always a chaste, dignified, beneficent
personage, a sort of severe Bacchus, or grave Apollo. In the great final
battle, he is to be destroyed by Surti. He is the tutelary god of
Sweden, as was Odin of the Saxons.
There are hosts of names connected with these deities, or the words
sprung from their source. _Frith_ in Saxon, _frey_ or _freya_ in the
North, _fried_ in German, falling in France into _froi_, was a favourite
termination generally masculine, and so probably in honour of Freyr; and
though it is safe to translate it peace, it probably also meant freedom.
Old Spanish has Froila, or Fruela, among the kings of the Asturias, and
this may be translated lord, and compared with the Freavine, or Frowin,
free darling, now become Frewen. Franta, too, was a king of the Spanish
Suevi.
Fritigern, king of the Visigoths, who first fixed himself on the Danube,
bore the name afterwards Frideger (spear of peace), in Germany, a
compound much resembling that borne by that Jezebel of the Meerwings,
Fredegunt, or Frédégonde, as she is called by French historians.
Freygerdur of the North, as found in the _Landnama-bok_, serving four
men and two women, is there explained either as freedom-preserver, or
peace-keeper.
But what is to be said of Fridthjof, or Frithjof, the renowned hero of
the Frithjofsaga, being no better than peace-thief? Northern pirates
thought no scorn of being thieves, and we shall fall on plenty more of
them; but the compound is certainly startling.
Fridulf, or Fridolf, peace wolf, is nearly as bad; but it seems to have
contracted into Friedel in Germany, and expanded into Fridolin, probably
in imitation of Fedlim, or some such Erse name, since the saint thus
recorded in the calendar is one of the many Scottish missionaries of the
fifth century, who preached to the Burgundians. He is the titular patron
of the Swiss canton of Glarus, whose shield bears his figure in the
Benedictine dress he never wore. Thence Schiller took the name of the
youth in his ballad on the strange adventure of Isabel de la Paz of
Portugal, which is best known through Retzch’s illustrations. The German
Friedel must be short for this, as Frider is for Fridheri,
peace-warrior. In fact, Germany is the great land of this commencement,
and has fostered the best known of the whole. There was indeed a
Fridrikr in the _Landnama-bok_, and a Fredreg, or Frederic, in Domesday,
but these would have been forgotten but for an old Frisian bishop,
Freodhoric, who, in the time of Louis le Debonnaire, had been murdered
while praying in his chapel, and being canonized, was a patron saint of
the Swabian house. Friedrich with the red beard, or Barbarossa, a
Ghibelline hero, caused Federigo to be popular among that party in
Italy; and when his Neapolitan grandson’s claims to the kingdom of the
Two Sicilies had been transmitted, through Manfred’s daughter, to the
Aragonese monarchs, Fadrique became usual in Spain. Friedrich had grown
national in Germany, and not a king of Prussia till the present has
reigned without being so called, in compliment to their hero, who, while
the soldiers called him Old Fritz, thought it graceful to write himself
Frédéric, having with his French tastes, taken a dislike to the sound of
his own name, even in the softened spelling of his adopted language. It
was from the father of this monarch that the son of George II. was
called Frederick, a name we have twice had next in succession to the
crown. The Danes obtained the name from their German connections, and
make it alternate on the throne with Christiern. The feminine is a late
invention in Germany, very common there but barely recognized elsewhere.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ Breton. │ Spanish. │
│Frederick │Frédéric │Fêidrik │Fadrique │
│Fred │Ferry │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Portuguese. │ Italian. │ German. │ Dutch. │
│ │ │ │ │
│Frederico │Federigo │Fridrich │Frederik │
│Federico │ │Fritz │Freerik │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Frisian. │ Swedish. │ Danish. │ Swiss. │
│Frerk │Fredrik │Frederik │Fredli │
│Frek │ │ │Fridli │
│Friko │ │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Russian. │ Polish. │ Slovak. │ Bohemia. │
│Fridrich │Fryderyk │Friderik │Bedrich │
│ │Fryc │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Lusatian. │ Lettish. │ Lithuanian. │ Finn. │
│Fidrich │Sprizzis │Prydas │Rietu │
│Bedrich │Prizzis │Prydikis │Wettrikki │
│ ———————— │Wrizzis │Priczus │Wetu │
│ Hungarian. │Wridriks │ ———————— │Wetukka │
│Fridrik │Pridriks │ Greek. │ │
│ │ │Φρεσδερικος │ │
├───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┤
│ FEMININE. │
├───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┤
│ English. │ French. │ Portuguese │ Italian. │
│Frederica │Frédérigue │Frederica │Federica │
│Freddie │ │ │Feriga │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ German. │ Swiss. │ Polish. │ Bohemian. │
│Fridrike │Fredrika │Frydryka │Bedriska │
│Fritze │ ———————— │ │ │
│Fritzinn │ Greek. │ │ │
│Rike │Φρεδερική │ │ │
│Rikchen │ │ │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
Probably this popular Frederick has devoured all the other forms with
the same commencement; for after the middle ages had fairly begun, we
hardly ever hear of the German Fridrad, Fridrada, Fridhelm, Fridrun,
Fridbald, Fridbert, Fridburg, Fridgard, Fridilind. Fridmund, peace
protection, Fridwald, peace-power, has been preserved in Friesland as
Fredewolt, Fredo, or Freddo. Fridleifr in the North has fallen into
Friedlieb in Germany: it is the same as the Frithlaf whom our Saxon
chroniclers bestowed on Wuotan by way of ancestor.
Our own Saxon saint, Frithswith, strong in peace, was the daughter of
the Lord of Oxford, in the eighth century. She lived in a little cell at
Thornbury, had various legendary adventures, which may be seen portrayed
in a modern window of the cathedral at Oxford, and became the saintly
patroness of the University and Cathedral, where, by the name of St.
Fridiswid, she reigned over Alma Mater, till Wolsey laid hold of the
church and its chapter for his own splendid foundation of Christchurch.
Frethesantha Paynell was wife of Geoffrey Lutterell, about the
fourteenth century; and Fridiswid is by no means uncommon in the old
genealogies of Essex and the northern counties. Alban Butler gives
Frewissa as the contraction; but in Ireland, according to Mr. Britton’s
capital story of _The Election_, it is Fiddy.
From _frei_, free, modern Germany has taken Freimund, by which they mean
Freemouth, though it ought to be free protection, Freimuth, free
courage, Freidank, free thought. But the older word for free plays a far
more important part in modern nomenclature, namely, _Frang_, the High
German form of free lord.
The nation called Cherusci by Tacitus denominated themselves Frangen
when they warred on northern Gaul, overspread it, and termed it for
themselves Frankreich. As their primary energy decayed their dominion
divided; Frankenland, under the Latinism of Franconia, became leagued
with the lands of the Swabians, Allemanni, and Saxons, and thus became
part of Deutschland and of the Holy Roman Empire, while Frankreich was
leavened by the Gallo-Romans, who worked up through their Frank lords,
and made their clipped Latin, or _Langue d’oui_[108] (the tongue of
aye), the national language, and yet called themselves _Les Français_,
and the country France. And as the most enthusiastic and versatile of
the European commonwealth, they so contrived to lead other nations, and
impress their fashions on them, that the Eastern races regarded all
Europeans as Franks, called their country Franghistan, and the patois
spoken by them in the Levant became Lingua Franca.
Franc, or Franco, was the archbishop of Rouen who made terms with Rollo;
but the name of real fame arose otherwise.
Long before the emperor Charles V. had pronounced French to be the
language for men, an Italian merchant of Assisi caused his son,
Giovanni, to be instructed in it as a preparation for commerce. The
boy’s proficiency caused him to be called ‘il Francesco,’ the Frenchman,
until the baptismal Giovanni was absolutely forgotten; and as Francesco
he lived his ascetic, enthusiastic life; as Franciscus was canonized;
and the mendicant order, humbly termed by him _fratres minores_, lesser
brethren, were known as Franciscans throughout the Western Church.
Many a little Italian of either sex was christened by his soubriquet,
and though one of the first feminines on record was the unhappy lady
whose fall and doom Dante made famous, yet the sweet renown of the
devout housewife, Santa Francesca di Roma, assisted its popularity;
there was a Françoise at Cambrai even in 1300, and Cecarella is the
peasant mother of a damsel in the Pentamerone.
San Francesco di Nola reformed the Franciscans into a new order, called
the Minimi, or least, as the former ones were the Minores. It is to him
that the spread of the name beyond the Alps is chiefly owing, for Louise
of Savoy was so devoted to him, that she made him sponsor and
name-father to her passionately loved son, and sewed his winding-sheet
with her own hands.
The name was not absolutely new to France, for that of the grandson of
the first Montfort, Duke of Brittany, had been Fransez, and so had been
that of the father of the Duchess Anne, who carried her old Keltic
inheritance to the crown of France; but it was her daughter’s husband,
François I., the godson of the saint of Nola, who was the representative
Frenchman, the type of showy and degenerate chivalry; and thus spread
François and Françoise universally among the French nobility, where they
held sway almost exclusively till the memories of the House of Valois
had become detestable; but by that time the populace were making great
use of it, and at the present time it is considered as so vulgar that a
French servant in England was scandalized that a child of the family
should be called Francis.
Franz von Sickingen is an instance that already Germany knew the name;
but it did not take root there at once. The grandchildren of François
I., intermarrying with the house of Lorraine, rendered his namesakes
plentiful, both in the blood-stained younger branch of Guise, and in the
dull direct stem, the continuation of the Karlingen, who at length, by
the marriage with Maria Theresa, were restored to the throne of
Charlemagne, in the person of him whom the classicalizing Germans termed
Franciskus I. This cumbrous form is still official, but Franz is the
real name in universal use in the German parts of the Austrian Empire,
though the Slavonic portions generally use the other end of the word, as
Zesk.
It was the same gay French monarch who sent us our forms of the name.
Mary Tudor, either in gratitude for his kindness, or in memory of her
brief queenship of France, christened her first child Frances—that Lady
Frances Brandon whose royal blood was so sore a misfortune to her
daughters, and who had numerous namesakes among the maidens of the Tudor
court; but they do not seem to have then made the distinction of letter
that now marks the feminine, and they used what is now the masculine
contraction. “Frank, Frank, how long is it since thou wast married to
Prannel?” was the rebuke of the Duke of Richmond to his Howard lady when
he was pleased to take down her inordinate pride, by reminding her of
her youthful elopement with a vintner.
The modern Fanny is apparently of the days of Anne, coming into notice
with the beautiful Lady Fanny Shirley, who made it a great favourite,
and almost a proverb for prettiness and simplicity, so that the wits of
George II.’s time called John, Lord Hervey, ‘Lord Fanny,’ for his
effeminacy. Fanny, like Frank, is often given at baptism instead of the
full word; and, by an odd caprice, it has lately been adopted in both
France and Germany instead of their national contractions.
The masculine came in at the same time, and burst into eminence in the
Elizabethan cluster of worthies—Drake, Walsingham, Bacon; but it did not
take a thorough hold of the nation, and was much left to the Roman
Catholics. It was not till Frank had been restricted to men that it took
hold of the popular mind, so as to become prevalent.
The original saint of Assisi made devout Spaniards use Francisco and
Francisca, before the fresh honour won for the first by two early
Jesuits—the Duke of Gandia, the friend and guide of Charles V., and
Xavier, the self-devoted apostle of the Indies. His surname has thrown
out another stock. It is in itself Moorish, coming from the Arabic
Ga’afar, splendid, the same as that of our old friend, the Giaffar of
the _Arabian Nights_, the Jaffier of old historians. Wherever Jesuits
have been, there it is; Savero in Italy, Xavier in France, Xaverie in
Wallachia, Xavery in Poland, Saverij in Illyria; Xaveria for the
feminine in Roman Catholic Germany, marking the course of the
counter-Reformation. Even Ireland deals in Saverius, or Savy, though
when English sailors meet a Spanish negro called Xaver, they call him
Shaver! Savary de Bohnn, whom Dugdale places under Henry I., was
probably a form of Sigeheri, or Saher, which may have been absorbed by
Xaver in Roman Catholic lands.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ Erse. │ Breton. │ French. │
│Francis │Fromsais │Franse │François │
│Frank │ │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Spanish. │ Portuguese. │ Italian. │ Wallachian. │
│Francisco │Francisco │Francesco │Francisk │
│Francilo │Francisquinho │Franco │ │
│ │ │Cecco │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ German. │ Dutch. │ Scotch. │ Swedish. │
│Franciskus │Frenz │Francie │Frans │
│Franz │ │ │ │
│Frank │ │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Polish. │ Bohemian. │ Slovak. │ Lettish. │
│Franciszek │Frantisek │Francisek │Spranzis │
│Franck │ │Franc │ │
│ │ │Franjo │ │
│ │ │Zesk │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Lithuanian. │ Finn. │ Hungarian. │ Greek. │
│Prancas │Ranssu │Ferencz │Φραγκίσκος │
│ │ │Ferko │ │
├───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┤
│ FEMININE. │
├───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┤
│ English. │ Breton. │ French. │Span. and Por. │
│Frances │Franseza │Françoise │Francisca │
│Fanny │Fantik │Francisque │ │
│ │ │Fanchette │ │
│ │ │Fanchon │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Italian. │ German. │ Dutch. │ Polish │
│Francesca │Franziske │Francyntje │Franciszka │
│Cecca │Franze │Francina │Franulka │
│Ceccina │Sprinzchen │Fransje │Franusia │
│Ceccarella │(Lower German.)│ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Bohemian. │ Slovak. │ Hungarian. │ Greek. │
│Frantiska │Franciska │Francziska │Φραγκίσκη[109] │
│ │Franika │ │ │
│ │Franja │ │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
Footnote 108:
‘We-we’ is the name now given by the South Sea Islanders to the
French.
Footnote 109:
Grimm; Munch; Munter; Michaelis; Alban Butler; Mrs. Rusk, _German
Empire_; Dugdale; Ellis, _Domesday_.
SECTION V.—_Thor._
The third in the Teutonic Triad is the mighty Thor, whose image stood on
the other side of that of Odin, in the northern temples, whose day
followed Odin’s, and who was the special deity of the Norsemen, as
Wuotan was of the Saxons, and Freyr of the Swedes.
The most awful phenomenon to which, in Northern Europe, human ears are
accustomed—the great electric sound from heaven, could not fail to be
connected with divinity, by nature, as well as by the lingering
reminiscence of the revelations, when it accompanied the Voice of the
Most High.
If the classic nations knew the mighty roll as the bolts of Zeus or
Jupiter, they called it βροντή (_brontè_) and _tonitru_, names
corresponding to those divinities wherewith the other Aryans connected
the sound—the Perun of the Slavonians, the Taran of the Cymry, the
Thunnr, Donnar, or Thor of the Teuton. The Indra of the Hindu, came from
_udra_ or _eidan_, water, as god of the waters of the sky, while the
Teutonic title was probably an imitation of the deep rolling sound, and
the god must have been called after it.
In the northern myths Thor is the eldest son of Odin, mightiest of all
the Aasir, partly in right of his belt of strength, which doubles his
force, and of the iron gauntlets which he wields whenever he throws his
mighty hammer—Mjolner, the crusher (from the word that named Milo, also
mills and meal)—which, like a boomerang, always returns to him when he
has hurled it. He has a palace called Thrudheim, or Thrudvangr, the
abode of courage, resting on five hundred and forty pillars, which seems
like a tradition of some many-columned Indian edifice. It was he who was
foremost in the fight with the powers of evil; he bound Lok, the
destroyer, and banished him to Utgard, where the famous visit was made
that so curiously reflects Indian and Persian myths, and has dwindled
into the tricks of our Giant-killer and the German _schneiderlein_. He
has more adventures than any other single deity in northern story, and
continues champion of the gods till the final consummation, when, after
having destroyed many of the enemies, he is finally stifled by the flood
of poison emitted by the Midgard snake.
Thord seems to have been a contraction of the old Low German Donarad,
which has vanished; but in fact Thor, though regnant in the North, was
not very popular elsewhere, and almost all the names he commences are
Scandinavian; though the old Spanish Goths had a king Thorismundo,
Thor’s protection, the same as our Norman Tormund. They had also an
Asturian bishop, Toribio, who long after was followed by a sainted
namesake in Spanish South America.
Every possible change that could be rung on Thor seems to have been in
use among the Northmen. The simplest masculine, Thordr, comes seventy
times in the _Landnama-bok_, Thorer forty-seven times, after the early
settler Thorer the silent, and the feminine Thora twenty-two, and she
still flourishes in Iceland and Norway.
Thor had his elf, Thoralfr, his household spirit Thordis, his bear and
his wolf. His bear, Thorbjorn, is fifty-one times in the Iceland roll,
and was not without a she-bear, Thorbera; and the ‘Torbern,’ in
Domesday, was doubtless the father of the family of Thorburn. Indeed,
though Thor’s hammer was not an artistic one, he has had other artist
namesakes by inheritance, namely, the Flemish Terburg, an offshoot from
the northern Thorbergr, with its feminine Thorbjorg, or Thorberga, and
the great Danish Thorwaldsen, the son of Thorvalldr, Thor’s power, or
maybe of thunder-welder, the Thorwald of Germany, and Thorold or Turold
of the Norman Conquest. Readers of Andersen may remember his story of
the boy-sculptor mortified by the consequential little girl declaring
that no one whose name ended in _sen_ was worth speaking to. Thorwald,
too, was one of the old Icelandic discoverers of America.
As to Thor’s wolf, Thorolf, it is contracted into Tolv in Norway, and
thus may be the origin of that curious Danish superstition that at
noon-day (twelve being _tolv_ in Danish) Kong Tolv, a terrific and
mysterious personage, drives by in his chariot, invisible except to
maidens inadvertently left in solitude, when they are borne off by him
to his domains for seven years, which pass like a single day.
Forty-two Thorarinns, as well as a Thorarna for a feminine, assisted to
people Iceland, and of course Thor’s sword, spear, and kettle were there
too; Thorbrandr six times over. The spear and kettle figure again in the
story of Croyland Abbey, as told by Ingulf. Turgar, the little child who
escaped the destruction, is no doubt Thorgeir, and it may be feared thus
betrays a Norman invention; but Turcetyl, the good man who re-built it,
was really Ethelstane’s chancellor, and no doubt took his name from some
of the invading Danes, who called the Thorketyl or Thorkjell of the
North, Thurkil or Trukill, of which we have some traces remaining in the
name Thurkell. Thorkatla was the Icelandic feminine.
It is an evidence how greatly our population was leavened by the Danes,
that though Thor names are very rare in Anglo-Saxon history, we have
many among our surnames, such as Thurlow from Thorleik, Thor’s sport,
Tunstall and Tunstan from Thurstan, the Danish Thorstein, the proper
form of Thor’s stone, who is thus the ‘stainless Tunstall,’ whose
‘banner white’ waved in Flodden Field, just as long before Tostain the
white had been the foremost knight at Hastings, and left his name to the
northern peasantry to be confounded with Toussaint, the popular reading
of All Saints' day, and thus to pass to the negro champion of Hayti,
Toussaint L'Ouverture.
Thorgils, Thor’s pledge, also runs into Thurkil or Trokil, and cuts down
to Troels; but coming to the Western Isles has there continued in the
form of Torquil, and has been mixed up with the idea of the Latin
_torques_, a neck chain. The Swedes call it Thyrgils, and the feminine
is Thorgisla. It is Torchil in Domesday.
White Thors were Thorfinn and Thorfinna; Thorvid, or Thor’s wood, is in
Denmark Truvid, Truid, Trudt, probably our Truefit. Besides these were
used—
Thorbert, Thor’s splendour (Torbertus in Domesday).
Thorgautr, Thor the good (or Goth).
Thorgerdur, Thor’s protection (thirty-seven in _Landnama-bok_).
Thorgestur, Thor’s guest.
Thorgrim, Thor the helmeted.
Thorgunna, Thor’s war.
Thorhildr, Thor’s battle-maid.
Thorleif, Thor’s relic.
Thormod, Thor’s mood.
Thorhalla, Thor’s stone.
Thorlaug, Thor’s liquor.[110]
-----
Footnote 110:
_Landnama-bok_; Thierry, _Conquête d'Angleterre_; Ellis, _Domesday_;
Munch; Mallet.
SECTION VI.—_Baldur and Hodur._
Most beautiful of all the gods was Baldur, the fair white god, mild,
beautiful, and eloquent,—beloved but fore-doomed to death. His story is
well known. His mother, Frigga, vainly took an oath of all created
things not to be the instrument of his fate,—she omitted the mistletoe;
and Lok, the destroyer, having, in the guise of a sympathetic old woman,
beguiled her into betraying her omission, placed a shaft of the magic
plant in the hands of the blind god, Hodr, when all the Aasir were in
sport directing their harmless weapons against the breast of their
favourite. Baldur was slain, and his beautiful wife, Nanna, died of
grief for his loss. Even then Hela would have relented, and have given
him back, provided every living thing would have wept for him; but one
stern giantess among the rocks refused her tears, and Baldur remains in
the realms of death, until after all his brethren shall have perished in
the last great conflict, when with them he shall be revivified in the
times of the restitution of all things, so remarkably promised in these
ancient myths.
As to the source of his name, authorities are not agreed. Baldr is a
prince in several Teutonic languages, and the royal family of the
Visigoths were the Balten. Balths, bald, bold, is also a word among
them; but Grimm deduces the god’s title from _bjel_, or _baltas_, the
word that is the first syllable of the Slavonic Belisarius, and thus
would make the Anglian Baldœg mean bright as day. It is the word that
lies at the root of _bellus_, pretty, whose derivations are now so
universal in Romanized Europe. Others turn the name over to the Bel, or
Beli, of the Kelts, or the Eastern Belus; but on the whole, the
derivation Baldr, a prince, is the least unsatisfactory.
The legend seems to have been unknown to the German races, or, at least,
no trace of it has been found, and the names that constantly occur
beginning and ending with _bald_ or _pald_, are supposed merely to mean
prince, and not to refer to the god. As an end it is more common than as
a beginning, and it is peculiar to the Anglian races, our own
Anglo-Saxons, the inhabitants of the Low Countries, and continental
Saxons. The names that have become universal all emanated from one or
other of these sources.
Baldric, or prince ruler, was Anglo-Saxon; but the Swedes learned it as
Balderik, the Poles as Balderyk, the French as Baudri. Baldred, an
English-named saint, was bishop of Glasgow; thence, too, the early
French took Baldramn, prince raven, which they made Baudrand, and
confused with Baldrand, prince of the house, also Baldemar, famous
prince, unless this is a confusion with Waldemar.
The most general of these was, however, Baldwine, princely friend, who
was very early a feudatory of the empire in Flanders, and the name
continued in his family, so as to take strong hold of the population,
and to spread into the adjoining lands. Baldwin was the father of
William the Conqueror’s Matilda, and the one Baldwinus before the
Conquest has very considerably multiplied after it, so that to us
Baldwin has all the associations of a Norman name. Its European
celebrity was owing to the two knights of Lorraine and Bourg, who
reigned successively at Jerusalem after the first Crusade, and left this
to be considered as the appropriate Christian name in their short-lived
dynasty; and again, it was borne by the unfortunate count who was thrust
into the old Byzantine throne only to be demolished by the Bulgarians,
or if indeed he ever returned, to be disowned as an impostor by his
daughter.
┌────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ German. │ Dutch. │ Italian. │
│Baldwin │Baudouin │Balduin │Boudewijn │Baldovino │
│ │Baudoin │ │ │Balduino │
└────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┘
The Germans have Baldo, the French Baud, both contractions from either
Baldwin or Balderich, and there are a good many surnames therefrom in
England, France, and Germany.
Examples of Baldegisel, prince pledge, Baldbrecht, Baldemund,
Baldeflede, Baldetrude, have also been found, but nowhere are any such
forms prevalent.
Baldur’s wife, Nanna, probably comes from _nanthjan_, in Gothic, to be
courageous. There are a few Frisians called Nanno, Nanne, Nonne; but it
is very probable that this old goddess may have contributed to furnish
some of the inherited names now all absorbed in Anne.
Baldur’s unfortunate murderer has, strange to say, many more namesakes.
He was Nanna’s brother, blind, and of amazing strength, and is supposed
to typify unheeding rashness and violence, in opposition to prudent
valour. His name is in Gothic Hathus, in old German Hadu, and in
Anglo-Saxon Headho, and is said to come from _headho_, an attack or
fight, so that the right way to translate it in the compounds would be
by fierce when it begins the name—war when it forms the conclusion.
It has a great many different forms. The old northern Hedinn is believed
to be one, belonging first to a semi-fabulous sea-king of the mythic
ages, who tried to elope with the Valkyr Hildur. From him the sea was
poetically called, in the strange affected versification of the North,
the road of Hedinn’s horses. There were eight Hedinns in the
_Landnama-bok_, and the word sometimes occurred at the end of the name,
as with Skarphedinn, the fierce but generous son of Njal, who dies
singing to the last in the flame, with his faithful axe driven deep into
the wall that the fire might not spoil its edge.
Tacitus mentions two chiefs whom he calls Catumer and Catualda, and who
are supposed to be by interpretation Hadumar, or fierce fame, and
Hadupald, or Haduwald, each of which would be fierce prince. Hadumar has
lingered in southern France, where it has become Azimar, or Adhémar, the
last, the well-known surname of the Grignan family. Hadubrand, fierce
sword, is one of the heroes of the most ancient existing poem in Low
German. Heddo is to be found as a name of some Frisians, contracted
either from this, or from Hadubert, or one of the other compounds. Even
ladies were named by this affix, as Haduburg, war protection; Hadulint,
war serpent; Haduwig, which the old German name-writer, Luther, makes
war refuge.
This last is the only usual form, owing to the saintly fame of a
daughter of the Markgraf of Meranie. While one daughter, Agnes, was the
victim of Philippe Auguste’s irregular marriage, the happier Haduwig
married a duke of Silesia, and shared his elevation to the throne of
Poland, where she evinced such piety as to be canonized; and the name
she left was borne by a Polish lady in the next century, who converted
her husband, the Duke of Lithuania. Thus doubly sainted, all eastern
Germany delighted in it, and the French sent it to us; they calling it
Hedvige; we took it as Hawoyse, and, descending into Avice, or Avis, it
was at one time very common here, and is to be found in almost every old
register.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ German. │ Polish. │
│Havoise │Hedvige │Hedwig │Jadviga │
│Hawoyse │ ————————— │Hedda │ │
│Havoisia │ Italian. │ │ │
│Avice │Edvige │ │ │
│Avicia │ │ │ │
│Avis │ │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Lusatian. │ Esth. │ Lett. │ Hungarian. │
│Hada │Eddo │Edde │Hedviga │
│ │Edo │ │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
The Spanish Goths, too, had their compounds of Hadu. The Lady Adosinda,
whom Southey has placed collecting the corpses of her family in the
ruins of the city destroyed by the Moors, is Haduswinth, or fierce
strength; and the Portuguese Affonso is from Hadufuns. This last
syllable, namely _funs_, means vehemence, and is, in fact, no other than
our own undignified _fuss_; Affonso, Afonso, thus mean fierce fuss,
though for more euphony, this lofty name of kings may be made into
warlike impetuosity.
SECTION VII.—_Tyr._
In Northern mythology Tyr is another son of Odin, and god of strength
and victory. When, in the great fight with the powers of evil, the
terrible Fenris, the wolf of the abyss, was to be bound with a fetter,
slender, but which no power could break, he was only induced to stand
still by Tyr’s volunteering to put his right hand into the monster’s
mouth, as a pledge of the good faith of Asgard. Finding himself chained,
the wolf at once closed his jaws, and bit off Tyr’s hand; nevertheless,
the Runic letter Λ (_thorn_, the sound of _dh_), which was left-handed,
like the god, and therefore his sign, was esteemed the mark of truth and
treaties.
Tyr has few namesakes. Tyre and Thyra, in the North, are the only direct
ones; but it sometimes finishes a word, as in the case of Angantyr,
favourite of Tyr, the warrior who obtained the terrible sword, Tyrfing,
forged by the dwarfs, which did, indeed, always give victory, but which
would never go back into its scabbard till it had been fed with, at
least, one human life. The _dio_, or _thius_, of the old Gothic and
German names thus arose, such as Alathius, the Latinized Halltyr, and
the like.
Niörd was god of the sea, almost equal in rank to Odin himself. He was a
very ancient deity, known to the German nations as Nairthus, and
probably, like Freyr, male and female. The goddess Nerthus, mentioned by
Tacitus, has been supposed by Grimm to mean Niörd; but Hermann Luning
makes it Törd, a wife of Odin, and one of the three titles of the earth:
at any rate, out of this mention has been made a goddess—Hertha, who has
not been without namesakes.
Many derivations have been suggested for his name. Finn Magnusson
thought it might be cognate with the Greek νηρὸς (neros), wet; Grimm,
that it might be connected with the _North_, though he declines to speak
positively; and Hermann Luning deduces it from _nairan_, to join,
because the sea joins the land together.
Niörd’s direct derivatives seem to be Nordhilda and Nordbert; the last
fashionable in Germany, from a youth of imperial family, who was, at the
end of the eleventh century, brought to serious thoughts by having his
horse struck by lightning under him, when, like St. Paul, he cried out
“What wouldst Thou have me to do?” He became a monk, and was afterwards
archbishop of Magdeburg, and founder of the Præmonstratensian Order; and
Norbert became known and used after he was canonized.
Niörd is used in the North; and thence too, perhaps, comes Norman, which
was in use, both in France and England, at the time of the Conquest. It
is puzzling to find in Domesday Book sixteen Normans possessing land in
England before the Conquest, and only eight after it—one of whom, Norman
d'Arcie, at least, was a Norman born. Afterwards, during the friendly
thirteenth century, English nobles carried Norman to Scotland, where it
was adopted in the Leslie family, and, like Nigel, became exclusively
Scottish. The Highlanders called it Tormaid, which is considered to be
really its Gaelic form, not an equivalent. The last Englishman I have
found so called was Norman de Verdun, under Edward I.
The story of Niörd’s marriage is one of the wildest tales of later Norse
mythology. Iduna, the wife of Bragi, god of poetry, kept the apples of
gold which renewed the youth of the gods. However, Loki, having fallen
into the clutches of the great frost giant, Thiassi, in the form of an
eagle, only effected his release by promising to bring Iduna and her
apples to Jotunheim. He beguiled her into a forest, under pretence that
he had found finer apples than her own, and there Thiassi flew away with
her. The gods began to grow old without their apples, and insisted that
Loki should bring her back. He arrayed himself as a falcon, and, flying
to Jotunheim, turned Iduna into a sparrow and flew home with her,
pursued by Thiassi. The Aasir, seeing her danger, lighted a fire with
chips on the walls of Asgard, which flamed up and singed Thiassi’s
wings, so that he fell down among them and was slain. Afterwards, his
daughter, Skadi, came to avenge his death, but was mollified by being
allowed to choose a husband from the Aasir, however was only allowed the
sight of the feet to select from; and thus, hoping she had taken Baldur,
she obtained Niörd. Thiassi’s eyes are said to have become stars; but,
as usual, the northern astronomy has been ruined by the classical, and
no one knows which they are.
Bragi was followed as an Icelandic name. Its etymology is uncertain;
some make it cognate with Brahma; others with _braga_, to shine; others
with _brain_. Braga was poetry, and thence, from the manner of recital,
noun, has formed the uncomplimentary verb, to _brag_, and the
_braggart_.
Iduna, or more properly, Idhuna, Ithuna, is a myth of spring reft away
by winter, who dies of the warmth of the flame of the summer gods. Her
name does not seem to have been adopted in the North; but it is almost
certainly the origin of Idonea, which is very common in old English
pedigrees. Idonea de Camville lived under Henry III.; Idonea de
Vetriponte, Vieuxpont, or Oldbridge, is cited in the curious tracts on
Northern curiosities, put forth some years back in Durham, which say the
name is very common; and though it might be the feminine of the Latin
_idoneus_ (fit), its absence in the Romance countries may be taken as an
indication that it was a mere classicalizing of the northern goddess of
the apples of youth.
The word itself is translated by Luning in the most satisfactory manner
as ‘she who works incessantly,’ and by Munch, as ‘she who renovates
incessantly.’ _Idja_ is to work, _unna_, love, so that others make her
one who loves work. The word _unna_, however, though derived from the
verb _an unna_, to love, has come to mean only a woman, and as such is
frequently used as a termination, as well as now and then standing alone
as a female name, Unna, of whom there are three in the _Landnama-bok_,
and several in the Saga of _Burnt Njal_.
Una is likewise used in both Ireland and the North; but in the former it
is said to mean famine; in the North it is most probably from that word
_vin_, _win_, or _wine_, a friend, which we shall often meet with again,
and which lies most likely at the root of _unna_.
The word _idja_, to work, the first syllable of Iduna’s name, formed
_deisi_, activity, and thence the person who ought to be active, the old
German _itis_, and Anglo-Saxon _ides_, a woman, in the North, _deis_ or
_dis_. The idea of the active sprite was divided between womankind and
certain household spirits, like the Roman genii, only feminine and
possibly another name for the Nornir, as each man had his own, and they
were sometimes visible as animals suiting with the character of their
protégés: powerful chiefs had bears or bulls, crafty ones foxes; and
even on the introduction of Christianity, faith in the Disir was not
abandoned, though there were no more sacrifices at their _Disir salen_,
or temples. Sometimes a family would have various _disir_ at war with
one another, some for the old faith, some for the new. While Iceland was
still in suspense between heathenism and Christianity, a young chieftain
one night heard three knocks at his door, and despite the warnings of a
seer, went forth to see the cause. He beheld nine women in black riding
from the North, and nine from the South, the _disir_ of his family, the
black for heathendom, the white for Christianity. The black ones,
knowing that they must vanish from the land, seized his life as their
last tribute, and wounded him so that he returned a dying man to tell
his tale. Probably these _disir_ are either the cause or the effect of
those strange phantoms which, whether of doves, dogs, heads, children,
or women, portend death in certain families. They may likewise account
for some of the family bearings in the form of animals.
Disa is a Norwegian and Icelandic name, now nearly disused: it is also a
very frequent termination, such as in Thordis, Alfdis, Freydis, &c., and
it may be most fitly translated as the sprite giving the idea of the
guardian protecting spirit that woman should be. In the German names it
appears as the termination _itis_ or _idis_, as Adelidis, one that
appears at first sight like a mere Latinism.[111]
-----
Footnote 111:
Grimm; Luning; Munter; Munch; Blackwell, Mallet; Ellis, _Domesday_;
Dugdale.
SECTION VIII.—_Heimdall._
The porter of Valhall is Heimdall, the son of nine sisters, who watches
at the further end of the rainbow-bridge Bifrost to guard the Æsir from
the giants. He sleeps more lightly than a bird, can see a hundred
leagues by day or night, and can hear the grass growing in the fields,
and the wool on the sheep’s backs. He bears in one hand a sword, in the
other a trumpet, the sound of which resounds throughout the universe.
When the powers of evil break loose, Heimdall will rouse the gods to
their last conflict by a blast of his trumpet, and in the struggle will
kill and be killed by Loki.
His name is explained by _heim_, home, and _dallr_, powerful. The latter
half is in Anglo-Saxon _deall_, in old High German _tello_, and in the
old Norse _dallr_, whence Dalla is found as a name in the
_Landnama-bok_.
_Heim_ is in Ulfilas both a field and a village, and the Anglo-Saxons
use the word _dhăm_ for an enclosure, and _hām_ for a village; _ham_ in
a similar manner, as is still shown in the diminutive, hamlet, for a
small village, as well as in the _ham_ that concludes many local names.
At the same time, the word, slightly altered, assumed that closer,
dearer, warmer sense which is expressed by the terms, _heim_, _hiemme_,
_hjem_, _hame_, and _home_, in all the faithful-hearted Teutonic race,
yet which is so little comprehended by our southern relatives, that they
absolutely have no power of expressing such an idea as “It’s hame, and
it’s hame, and it’s hame.”
Even in their heathenism “true to the kindred points of heaven and
home,” the guardian of the dwelling of the brave spirits of the dead was
made by the Northmen no grim Cerberus nor gloomy Charon, but the _Home_
ruler.
And though Heimdall nowhere occurs as a name, yet the old German
Heimirich is almost identical with it; though it should be observed that
_heim_ is a commencement peculiar to the Germans; we never find a name
with this first syllable originating either with the Northmen or the
English.
Where Heimirich first began does not appear, but it sprung into fame
with the Saxon emperor called the Fowler, and his descendant won the
honours of a saint, whence this became a special favourite in Germany,
where it was borne by six emperors, by princes innumerable, and by so
many others that the contraction Heintz had already passed to cats when
_Reinecke Fuchs_ was written.
It is from the endearment, Heinz, that, the handsome and unfortunate son
of Frederick II, who, after his brief royalty in Sardinia, spent the
rest of his life in a Genoese prison, was known to Italy as Enzio, and
to history as Enzius.
From the Kaisers, the third Capetian king of France was christened
Henri, a form always frequent there, though only four times on the
throne. Its popularity culminated during the religious wars, when Henri
de Valois, Henri de Bourbon, and Henri de Guise were fighting the war of
the three Henris; but in spite of the French love and pride in _le grand
monarque_, the growing devotion to St. Louis, from whom the Bourbon
rights to the throne were derived, set Henri aside from being the royal
name, until the birth of him whom legitimists still call Henri V.
There are but three instances of ‘Henricus,’ even after the Conquest, in
Domesday; and it must have been from the reigning French monarch that
William the Conqueror took Henry for his youngest son, from whom the
first Plantagenet King received and transmitted it to his ungracious
son, his feeble grandson, and through him to the elder House of
Lancaster, then to the younger, who for three generations wore it on the
throne, and for whose sake it was revived in the House of Tudor. Its
right native shape is Harry; the other form is only an imitation of
French spelling. It was ‘Harry of Winchester’ who cried out for help at
Evesham; Harry of Bolingbroke who rode triumphant into London, and who
died worn out in the Jerusalem chamber; Harry Hotspur whose spur was
cold at Shrewsbury; Harry of Monmouth who was Hal in his haunts at
Eastcheap, and jested with Fluellen on the eve of Agincourt; Harry of
Windsor who foretold the exaltation of Harry Tudor when “Richmond was a
little peevish boy,” and Harry VIII., or bluff King Hal, who lives in
the popular mind as an English Blue Beard; perhaps connected in some
cases with the popular soubriquet of the devil.
An early Swedish bishop bore the name, and so did a bishop of Iceland
before the twelfth century; but these must have been foreigners, for
there are no other instances in the North in early times, though the
general fusion of European names brought in Hendrik, to the loss of the
native Heidrick, just as Heinrich seems to have in Germany destroyed an
independent Haginrich.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ Spanish. │ Italian. │
│Henry │Henri │Enrique │Enrico │
│Harry │Henriot │ │Arrigo │
│Hal │ ———————— │ ———————— │Enzio │
│Halkin │ Breton. │ Portuguese. │Arriguccio │
│Hawkin │Hery │Enrique │Arrigozzo │
│ │ │ │Guccio │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ German. │ Dutch. │ Danish. │ Frisian. │
│Heimirich │Hendrik │Hendrik │Enrik │
│Heinrich │Hendricus │ ———————— │ ———————— │
│Hein │Heintje │ Swedish. │ Polish. │
│Heine │ │Henrik │Henryk │
│Heinz │ │ │ │
│Heinecke │ │ │ │
│Henke │ │ │ │
│Henning │ │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Bohemian. │ Lett. │ Lithuanian. │ │
│Jindrich │Indrikis │Endrikis │ │
│ │Indes │Endruttis │ │
│ │Induls │ │ │
├───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┤
│ FEMININE. │
├───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┤
│ English. │ French. │ Spanish. │ Swedish. │
│Henrietta │Henriette │Enriqueta │Henrika │
│Harriet │ ———————— │ ———————— │ ———————— │
│Harriot │ Italian. │ Portuguese. │ German. │
│Harty │Enrichetta │Henriqueta │Henriette │
│Hatty │ │ │Jette │
│Etta │ │ │ │
│Hetty │ │ │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
The founder of the Portuguese kingdom was a Henri from Burgundy; but the
name did not greatly flourish in the Peninsula till Enrique of
Trastamare climbed to the Castilian throne, and his namesakes,
alternating with Juan, threw out the old national Alfonso and Fernando.
On the whole this is one of the most universal of Teutonic names, and
one of the most English in use, although not Anglian in origin. The
feminine seems to have been invented in the sixteenth century, probably
in France, for Henriet Stuart appears in the House of Stuart d'Aubigné
in 1588, and there were some Henriettes to match the Henris at the court
of Catherine de Medicis. England received the name from the daughter of
Henri IV., Henriette Marie, whom the Prayer Book called Queen Mary,
though her godchildren were always Henrietta, so Latinized by their
pedigrees, though in real life they went by the queen’s French
appellation, as well as English lips could frame it, so that Hawyot was
formerly the universal pronunciation of Harriet, and is still
occasionally used.
Heimo, or Hamo, is another old German form, becoming in French Hamon,
Haymon, Aymon; and Amone in Italian. _Les Quatre Filz Aymon_ were
notable freebooters in Karling romance, and in Italy were _i Quattro
Figli d'Amone_. Early Norman times gave us Hamo, Hamelin, and Fitzaymon;
but except for an occasional Hamlyn in an old pedigree, they have
disappeared.
Germany had Heimrod, Heimbert, and Heimfred; but these are not easy to
disentangle from the derivatives of the word _hun_, which are much more
in use.[112]
-----
Footnote 112:
Michaelis; Pott; _Edda_.
SECTION IX.—_Will._
This section has thus been headed because the Will was one of the ideas
most strongly expressed in various forms in the religion of the
high-spirited North.
The word _to will_ is of all tongues; the Greek βουλή, Latin _velle_ or
_volo_, Gothic _viljan_, Keltic _iouli_, all show a common origin, and
every Teuton language has the derivatives of _will_, just as the Romance
have of _volo_.
But it is the Teuton who brings the Will into his mythology. When the
creation began, the cow Audumbla licked out of the stones a man named
Bur, who was the grandfather of the three primeval gods, Odin, Wili, and
Vê, the All-pervading, the Will, the Holy; and it was these who together
animated the first human pair. We hear no more of Vili or Hœmir, as he
is also called after he thus infused feeling and will into the first
man; but we meet the word _will_ again forming _valjan_, to choose,
_velja_ in the North.
Thence the home where Odin welcomed his brave descendants was Valhall,
the hall of the chosen; and the maidens who chose the happy who were
there to dwell, were the Valkyrier, or Walcyrge, the last syllable from
_kjöra_, or _curen_, to choose, the word whence an electoral prince is
called in German, Kürfurst. But the passport to the hall of the chosen
was a glorious death on the battle-field; and thus it was that _val_,
_vali_, _wali_, belonged to the carnage of the fight, since slaughter
did but seal the marks of the Valkyr upon the brave, whose spirits were
passing over the rainbow-arch, while the comets marked the course of the
chariot which glanced across the sky with weapons forged for their sport
in battle and chase.
So the Hall of the Chosen became the Hall of Carnage, the abode of the
slain; and it is remarkable that no Christian writer transfers the term
to Paradise, although the epithet Schildburg, the castle of shields, is
once applied to Heaven as the home of the victors. Indeed, Valhall was
not eternal; the warrior there admitted had yet to fight his last fight
by Odin’s side, perish with him and his sons, and share with them the
renovation of the universe. So deeply interwoven in the ideas of the
North was a violent death with the hope of bliss, that crags in Norway
affording scope for a desperate leap, were called the vestibule of
Valhall, and the preference for a death on the battle-field lingered
into Christian days, so that not only did fierce Earl Siward bemoan his
fate in dying of sickness, albeit he rose upon his feet to draw his last
breath, but even the Chevalier Bayard mourned angrily over the fever
that had nearly caused him to pass away like a sick girl in his bed.
Well then might the Valkyrier be the favoured messengers of Odin, sent
forth to select the champions who should become the guests of their
mighty forefather, himself called Valfreyr, or Slaughter Lord. They
hovered over the camp in armour with swan wings, marked those who were
to fall, and wove the web of slaughter ere the battle began. Their
number varies in different sagas, and so do their names, although Hildur
is always the chief. Their last appearance was when the islander of
Caithness beheld the twelve weaving their grisly web in a loom of
lances, the weights of men’s heads, on the eve of the Good Friday of the
battle of Clontarf, between King Sigtrygg and Brian Boromhe, singing the
weird song that Gray translated long before Teutonic antiquities were
revived:
“Horror covers all the heath,
Clouds of carnage blot the sun:
Sisters, weave the web of death;
Sisters, cease, the work is done.”
The work done, the web was torn in sunder, and divided between the
Valkyrier, who flew off, half to the North, half to the South, denoting
the rending of the ancient faith.
In fact, in later sagas, the _Valkyrier_ lose their wild mystery and
divinity, and fall into mere magic maidens, sometimes with extraordinary
strength, sometimes with swan wings, and, at the very last gasp of the
supernatural, with goose feet, which at their next step become merely
large feet. The mother of Charlemagne absolutely makes the transition
from Bertha the goose-footed, to Berthe _aux grands pieds_.
To this source probably may be referred Wala or wise woman, the inspired
priestess, also called in ancient German the Velleda. Cæsar tells us
that the matrons among the Germans cast lots, and prophesied the issue
of battle, and thus Wala may have been the wise or inspired woman. The
great prophetic song of the fate of the Aasir is _Voluspa_, either the
wise woman’s spae, or the inspired spae or prophecy; for _vola_ or
_volur_ means inspired in ancient German (no doubt from the _wala_ or
prophetess), and by a very small transition, mad. Probably the Kelts
borrowed it, for _fol_ was inspired or mad; and Folia of Ariminium is
mentioned by Horace as a magician. Our fool is thus traceable to _vola_,
inspired, but probably through the Keltic and French medium.
Vili, though his myths have been forgotten, still stands as a great
ancestor. From him in Germany, either directly or through a renewal of
him as a forefather, must have been named the great race of the
Billingen, the first dynasty of the continental Sachsen, who gave
emperors to Germany.
Billing is the son of Wili, or Will; and so again is, in the North,
Vilkin, the father of the famous smith Volundr, whose name is probably
from this original root, will or mind, though its immediate source is
thought to be _vel_, art or cunning, cognate with our own guile, and
probably the participle of a lost verb, to devise. Some connect it with
Vulcan, from the name and character of Volundr. He was the son of a sea
maiden, and of Vidja the Vilkin; and he and his two brothers each
married a Valkyr, who, at the end of a stated period, had to be absent
for nine years, giving to each husband magic gifts and precious stones
that dimmed when disaster was about to befall them. Volundr was the
fortunate brother of the three, and was the mighty smith to whom all
good weapons are ascribed. From him the early part of the Norse poem
ending with the slaying of Fafner is called the Volsunga Saga, as, from
his father, the Danish version is the Wilkina Saga; for the hero himself
is his descendant, a Wælsing, or Vilking, and fights with his redoubted
weapons. Weland again makes the impenetrable corslet of Beowulf, “the
twisted breastnet which protected his life against point and edge;” he
is the Wiolent, Velint, or Wieland of Germany, and Galando of Italy, the
Galant of France, who forged their Joyeuse, the sword of Charlemagne,
and Cortana, that of Ogier. A skilful Weland is mentioned in an old
Anglo-Saxon MS. found at Exeter, and in King Alfred’s translation of
Boëthius he renders the line,
“Ubi nunc fidelis ossa Fabricii jacent?”
(meaning, of course, an artificer, the sense of the name,) “Where are
now the bones of the wise Weland, the goldsmith who was most famed?” A
workman is still called in Iceland, _Völundrinjarn_, and a labyrinth is
_Volundrhus_. This famous armourer took possession of a Druidical
cromlech in the midst of the battle-grounds between the Danes and Saxons
on the Berkshire downs, and there drove his shadowy trade as Wayland
Smith, close to King Alfred’s own birthplace, Wantage. He was spared
from oblivion by being embalmed in _Kenilworth_, where the only blunder
is in making Lancelot Wayland the real name of the estimable mountebank,
who personated the mythical smith. Though Wieland is a German surname,
the coincidence of an English Wayland was too much for probability; and,
in fact, Scott does not seem to have known how very ancient Wayland
Smith had really been.
Names in Wal are chiefly Northern, those in Wil mostly Saxon. Ullr, or
Ull, another Northern form, has been much used in Iceland; and among the
Northern isles of Scotland, where it may be remembered that Ulla Troil
was the real name of Norna. Ullr was the stepson of Thor, son of Sif,
and renowned as a great bow-bearer.
Wil is almost always a commencement. The Frank queen Bilichilde was, of
course, Willihilda, resolute battle. Our earnest but turbulent Wilfrith,
the Yorkshire bishop, hardly deserved to be called resolute peace; but
as patron of Ripon, his name has continued in the North, Wilfroy being
very frequent in older registers in the neighbourhood of Ripon, though
of late fashion has adopted it in the form of Wilfred.
In the seventh century, we sent Germany two missionaries with this
prefix, Willibrord and Willihold; also Willibald, resolute prince, went
on pilgrimage with his father, St. Richard of Wessex, in 721, and
finished his career as bishop of Aichstadt, leaving his name to take
root in various forms.
┌────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────
│ English. │ French. │Portuguese. │ Dutch. │ Bavarian.
│Willibald │Guillibaud │Guilbaldo │Willebald │Willibald
│Wibald │ │Vilibaldo │ │Waldl
│ │ │ │ │Waltl
└────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────
Native to Germany is Williburg, which has a northern fac-simile
Vilbjorg, and Vilgerd, the same in meaning, resolute protection;
Willrich, resolute ruler; Willehad, resolute violence; Willeram,
resolute raven; Willihard, reduplicating firmness; Willigis, willing
pledge, or pledge of the will; Willimar, resolute fame, making our
surname Wilmer. Williheri, resolute warrior, is the source of the German
Willer, the English Weller, the French Villiers and Villars, which, with
their aristocratic sound, betray little of their kindred to Sam Weller.
Where the most popular of all the Wills was invented it is not easy to
discover, but Germany is its most likely region, since _helm_ is a
specially Germanic termination, and the Billings favoured the
commencement; besides which the pronunciation in that language leaves
the words their natural meanings, Will-helm, resolute helmet, or,
perhaps, helmet of resolution. The native northern name would be
Vilhjalm, but this is never used, it being only imported bodily as
Wilhelm into Denmark from Germany, just as our Ethelbert is superseded
by Albert.
The cause of its adoption in Normandy cannot have been one of the eight
saints in the Roman calendar who bear it; for not one is anterior to the
son of Rollo, the second Duke of Normandy, from whom William descended
to the Conqueror, and became one of the most national of English names.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ Welsh. │ Breton. │ French. │
│William │Guillim │Guillern │Guillaume │
│Will │ │Guillarn │Guillemot │
│Willie │ │ │ │
│Bill │ │ │ │
│Wilkin │ │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Old French. │ Spanish. │ Portuguese. │ Italian. │
│Willelme │Guillermo │Guilhermo │Guglielmo │
│Willeaulme │Guillen │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ German. │ Dutch. │ Swiss. │ Frisian. │
│Wilhelm │Willem │Wilhelm │Willo │
│Wilm │Wim │Wille │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Polish. │ Bohemian. │ Lett. │ Greek. │
│Vilhelm │Vilem │Willums │Goulielmos │
│ │ │Wille │Bilelmos │
├───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┤
│ FEMININE. │
├───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┤
│ English. │ French. │ Spanish. │ Italian. │
│Wilhelmina │Guillerume │Guillemma │Guglielma │
│Wilmett │Guillemette │ ————————— │ ————————— │
│Wilmot │Minette │ Portuguese. │ Swedish. │
│Mina │Mimi │Guilhermma │Vilhelmine │
│Minella │Guillette │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ German. │ Swiss. │ Lithuanian. │ Dutch. │
│Wilhelmine │Mimmoli │Myne │Willemyn │
│Helmine │Mimmeli │Mynette │Willempje │
│Mine │ ————————— │ │ │
│Minchen │ Polish. │ │ │
│Minna │Minka │ │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
Old Camden’s account of it is too quaint not to be here inserted:
“William, _gerne_. For sweeter sound drawn from Wilhelm, which is
interpreted by Luther much defence, or defence to many; as Wiliwald,
ruling many; Wildred, much reverent fear, or awful; Wilfred, much peace;
Wilibert, much brightness. So the French, that cannot pronounce _W_,
have turned it into Philli, as Philibert for Wilibert, much brightnesse.
Many names wherein we have Will seem translated from the Greek names
composed of πολύς; as Polydamas, Polybius, Polyxenes, &c. Helm yet
remained with us, and Villi, Willi, and Billi yet with the German for
many. Others term William willing defender, and so it answereth the
Roman Titus, if it come from _tuendo_, as some learned will have it. The
Italians that liked the name but could not pronounce the _W_, if we may
believe Gesner, turned it into Galeazzo, retaining the sense in part for
helm; but the Italians report that Galeazzo, the first viscount of
Millain, was so called for the many cocks that krew lustily at his
birth. This name hath been most common in England since William the
Conqueror, insomuch that on a festival day in the court of King Henry
II., when Sir William St. John and Sir William Fitzhamon, especial
officers, had commanded that none but the name of William should dine
with them in the great chamber, they were accompanied with one hundred
and twenty Williams, all knights, as Robert Montensis recordeth, anno
1173.”
Camden’s authority is not Martin Luther, but one Mr. Luther Dasipodius,
by whom he sets great store, and whose ‘German villi or billi, many,’
must have been the word now called _viel_. Verstegan’s history of
William is still droller, namely, that any German who killed a Roman
assumed the golden head-piece of the slain, and was thence called
Gildhelm, which would of course be inconsistent with the old German form
of Wilihelm. Be it observed that our _sur_name Wilmot descends from a
name to be found in German as Wilmod, resolute mood; but the feminine
Wilmett, which is to be found continually in old Devon and Cornwall
registers, is no doubt the same as the old French Guillemette, and it is
a pity it has been discarded for the cumbrous German Wilhelmina, or the
Williamina that is of no language at all.
Camden is probably right in taking Filiberto from Wiliberaht, or
Wilibert, resolute splendour, though Germans refer it to _viel_, the
same as our full, and the Greek _polys_. The founder of the name in the
sixth century was a Frank Willibert, who founded the abbey of Jumièges,
which the Normans first desolated and then restored, their Frenchified
tongues bringing the patron’s name to England as Fulbert, which is still
occasionally found in old families. The ninth grand master of St. John
meantime bore the French form, which historians wrote as Philibert; and
the old counts of Savoy alternated Filiberto with Amê, until they
blossomed out into double names, as Vittore Amadeo or Filiberto
Emanuele.
The _Val_ of choice, or slaughter, is not, Professor Munch tells us, to
be confounded with another _Val_, taken from the word _waleh_, or
_waalh_, a stranger, which, as has been already said, named Wales. Our
own Waltheof, being spelt in his native tongue Wealtheof, thus removes
himself and an Icelandic Valtheof from being slaughter-thieves to being
foreign-thieves; a change not much for the better. There were fierce
Danish ancestors, however, to account for this predatory appellation
lighting upon the earl, whom the Conqueror executed at Winchester, and
the English revered as a saint; then from him it descended to his
grandson, Waltheof de St. Lys, the stepson of St. David of Scotland,
companion of the excellent prince Henry, and, finally, abbot of Melross,
where he was canonized as St. Walthenius, or Walen, and thus accounts
for the surname of Wathen.
Walmer is, in old German, Walahmar, and thus shows itself to be foreign
fame; Walager is also foreign war, and became Valgeir in the North,
Gaucher in France; and thence, too, by corruption, Valgard, the evil
genius of the Njal Saga.
Walaraban, or Walram, seems appropriate as slaughter-raven, but is
uncertain. The French made it Gauteran; and in the form of Waleran it
was used in the House of Luxembourg, Counts of St. Pol; it is Galerano
in Italy.
Walabert, a monk who died at Luxen, in 625, is the same as the northern
Valbjart; and another Valbert, or Vaubert, as he is called in France,
had a daughter Valtrud, canonized as St. Vautrude, or Vaudru. From
Walamund, the French take Valmont; and Walarik, an Auvergne hermit, was
Latinized as Valaricus, and Frenchified into St. Valery, a territorial
surname.
The Gothic king Wallia is left in possession of the battle-field; and so
are the northern Valdis and Valbiorg, both thorough Valkyr names, not
yet disused. Valtrude, an early saint, must certainly be named from a
slaughter-maiden. So probably was Walburh, slaughter-pledge, one of the
English missionary ladies employed by St. Boniface in Mainz. She was a
very popular saint, and is called Valpurgis, Vaubone, Vaubourg. Her
English church is Wembury, in Devon. Part of her relics were translated
from Eichstadt to Furnes, near Ostend, in 1109, on the 1st of May, when
one of her festivals is kept. Then is supposed to follow the Valpurgis
Nacht, the Witches' Sabbath, on the Brocken. Surely this strange
connection with the saintly abbess must be due to some old observance in
honour of a Valkyr Valburg. Valasquita, an old name found among the
ladies of the Asturias, Navarre, and Biscay, was probably from this
source.[113]
-----
Footnote 113:
Junius; Grimm; Luning; Blackwell, Mallet; Lappenberg; Dasent; Munter;
Alban Butler; Camden; Verstegann; Pott; Köppen; Michaelis; Howitt,
_Literature of the North_.
SECTION X.—_Hilda._
Chief among the Valkyrier was Hildur, Hild, or Hiltia, who is never
wanting in any enumeration of these warlike spirits. The word, in its
original sense, means battle, and has thus attached itself to the
principal war-maiden; nay, it has passed from her to be a poetical term
for any maiden, and is one of the very commonest terminations to
feminine names throughout the Teutonic world, and is likewise often
found at the beginning of men’s names, predominating perhaps in Germany.
Alone, it was only used in the North and in England, where the Deiran
princess Hildur became the holy abbess Hilda of Whitby, succeeding St.
Begga, and leaving a reputation for sanctity enhanced, by the sight of
“The very form of Hilda fair
Hovering upon the sunny air;”
a vision which, though Clara de Clare could not see it, is to be beheld
under certain conditions of light, in the windows of Whitby church to
the present day; as well as the ammonites, believed, as usual, to have
been serpents turned to stone at the prayer of the saint. In honour of
her, Hilda is still used as a name about Whitby.
The mother of Rolf Gangr, progenitress of our royalty, who vainly
besought Harald Harfagre not to banish her sons from Norway, was named
Hildr; and the name still survives in Scandinavia and Iceland, where the
_Landnama-bok_ shows it to have been very plentiful, seventeen ladies
being recorded as bearing it. There, too, occurs Hildiridur, battle
hastener, a thorough Valkyr name, but not very suitable to Fouqué’s
sweet Lady Minnetröst, of the moonlight brown eyes.
Hildelildis, Battle Spirit, is an Anglo-Norman lady’s name.
The true Frank form of the aspirate was, however, exceedingly harsh,
amounting to the Greek χ, and therefore, usually set down in its
transitions through Latin and French as a _ch_. So we meet, among the
Meerwings, with Childebert, who by translation is Hildebert,
battle-splendour, and Childebrand, or battle-sword.
These two last names, in their Low German form of Hiltibrant and
Hiltibraht, occur again in the old poem, already referred to, of
_Hiltibrant and Hadubrant_, both meaning battle-swords, which goes
through a dispute about Hadubrand’s father, and, finally, leaves them in
the middle of a single combat.
Hildebrand is, as we know from old German and Danish poems, the
companion and friend of Dietrich of Bern. He had, like some hero in
every cycle of story, married and deserted a young wife; and after
assisting his master in many adventures, and much dragon killing, and
being the sole survivor of all Dietrich’s men in the great massacre of
the _Nibelung_, he encountered, without knowing him, his young son,
Alebrand. In a single combat, where both do their devoir, the old knight
is wounded, the younger overthrown. Then they discover each other, by
the tokens that Hildebrand had left with the mother, and
“Up rose the youthful Alebrand,
And into Bern they ride;
What bears he on his helmet?
A little cross of gold.
And what on his right hand bears he?
His dearest father old.”
So, recommended by fame, Hildebrand continued a knightly name in England
and Germany for many ages, and belonged to that battle-sword of the
Church, who, on his election to the papacy, was called Gregory VII.,
though we still continue to think of him as Pope Hildebrand; and the
eccentric Dr. Wolff tells us that one of the dreams of his youth was to
wear the tiara by the name of Hildebrand! In Italy, pronunciation turned
it into Aldobrando, then into Aldrovando, and then Latin made
Aldrovandus.
Hildegunnr, battle-maid of war, was another northern name, and is the
same as the German Hildegund, which was rather a favourite. It is
Aldegonde in the Cambrai register, and the territorial surname of St.
Aldegonde is memorable in the revolt of the Low Countries. Hildegard, in
honour of an abbess in the Palatinate, who died in 1004, is still a very
common name among German ladies, and going to Denmark, has been
corrupted into Ollegaard. It is exactly the same in meaning with the
northern Hildebjorg. So again are Hildewig and Hildegar, and among the
Gothic queens of Spain is found Hilduara, or battle prudence.
St. Hiltrude of Liessies, revered in Poitou and Hainault, unites two
Valkyr titles—Hildur and Thrudr; for Thrûdr is generally enumerated
among the Valkyr. The word once meant, in the North, fortitude, or
firmness, and is possibly connected with truth; but in all the Teuton
languages it signifies maiden, or virgin. Perhaps, in connection with
the Valkyrer, Hildur might have been the patroness of courage, and
Thrudr of fortitude; but, unfortunately, perhaps from the spells used by
the women in soothsaying before a battle, Thrudr sank down from its high
estate, and _drude_, or _drut_, means a witch, and in German, also, an
evil spirit. Thrudvangr, or Constancy’s abode, was one of the names of
Valhall. _Thrud_, _trud_, _tru_, is, in Scandinavia and Germany, as
favourite a feminine termination as Hilda, and, no doubt, with the same
meaning, though its owners would fain translate it by truth; but it
cannot be brought nearer than constancy, or fortitude. Sometimes it
stands alone. Drot, as it has become by pronunciation, figures in the
_Heimskringla_; and the Danes must have brought it to England, for in
Bishop-Middleham, in the county of Durham, we meet, in 1683, with Troth
Bradshau, who is again Trouth, or Troath, in the old spelling. Trott
also several times occurs; and we are thus led to the conclusion that
the dear old Dame Trot of the nursery bears the respected name of the
Valkyr of fortitude. _Truth_ is, perhaps, the same, originally coaxed by
Puritan invention.
Cyndrida, or Quendrida, as the histories call her, the wife of Offa, is
suspected by Mr. Kemble to have been mixed up with her namesake, Thrudr,
the Valkyr. She was said to be a Frankish princess, who came floating
over the waters, having been exposed in a boat for some unknown crime.
Her beauty fascinated Offa, king of Mercia; he married her, and she was
the only old English queen who caused her image to be stamped on her
coins. She treacherously murdered her son-in-law, and was put to death
by being thrown down a well. Some part of this is history; other parts
are thought to be taken from an Anglian myth of an elder fabulous Offa,
whose wife was almost certainly a Valkyr, and, on her marriage, lost her
supernatural strength. Cyne, or Cwen, a woman, only appears again with
Cwenburh, another Saxon queen, and may have been merely an affix.
Other German masculine forms are Hildeman, or Hilman; Hildemund, or
Hilmund; Hildewart—in Friesland, Hilwert; Hildefrid, or Hilfrid;
Hildebold; Hilding; Hildrad, the Hildert, or Hillert, of Friesland;
Hilram, the contraction of Hilda’s raven.
Gothic Spain coined, however, the most noted form of the name when
Hildefuns, or battle vehemence, came on the Latin lips of her people to
be Ildefonso, or Illefonso, as the great bishop of Toledo, of the
seventh century, was called. Then, shortening into Alfonso, and again
into Alonzo, the same came to the second gallant king of the Asturias,
husband of Pelayo’s daughter, and became the most national of all the
Peninsular names, belonging to eleven Castillian kings and nine
Aragonese, and to the present king of Spain; but never passing beyond
the Peninsula as a royal name, save to the Aragonese dynasty in Sicily
and Naples. In England we nearly had it, for one of the sons of Edward
I. and the Castillian Eleanor was so baptized; but his early death saved
our lips from the necessity of framing themselves to its southern flow.
Alphonse has been a favourite French name. The Portuguese Affonso,
though often used as its equivalent, is Hadufuns, very similar in
meaning, but rather meaning war vehemence than battle vehemence. The
feminine is the Spanish Alfonsina, and the French Alphonsine.[114]
┌────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┐
│ English. │ German. │ French. │ Spanish. │ Italian. │
│Alphonso │Alfons │Alphonse │Ildefonso │Alfonso │
│Alonzo │ │ │Alfonso │ │
│ │ │ │Alonso │ │
└────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┘
Footnote 114:
Grimm; Luning; Munter; Blackwell, Mallet; Munch; _Landnama-bok_;
White, _Walking Tour_; Roscoe, _Int. to Boiardo_; Thierry, _Récits des
Temps Merovingiens_; Weber and Jamieson, _Northern Romance_;
Michaelis; Pott; Surtees; Butler.
SECTION XI.—_Ve._
The third deity who, with Odin and Wili, gave life to man, was Ve, who
bestowed blood and colour.
Ve is thought to be connected with the Persian word _veh_, pure, and to
lie at the root of _veihan_, to consecrate, in Mæso-Gothic; _weihan_, in
German; whence Christmas is Weihnacht, holy night.
_Ve_ was the god in ancient German, _vear_ the plural for gods; but,
moreover, _ve_, as a plural, meant sacred regions, and these, among the
Teutons, were groves; _wih_, a grove in old German, a temple in old
Saxon. Thence the northern _vid_, German _wald_, English _wood_, all
passing from the sense of the consecrated forest to be merely the trees,
and, in our language, the actual timber of which they are composed.
Ve appears no more; but Vidar (Vithar), a son of Odin, explained by
Luning to signify the inexhaustible force of nature, is, in the final
conflict, to set his foot on the Fenris wolf, and rend him asunder, and
with Vali, the chosen, to pass unscathed through fire and flood, and
behold the renovation of all things.
Ve and Vid do their part in names. Vadi, Wade, or Wato, is a giant
ancestor in the Vilkinga Saga; and the father of Volundr is, in the
North, Vidja or Vudga; in Germany, Wittege or Wittich, a name mentioned
by Jornandes as Vidigoja. The son of Volundr also bears the same name,
Vedja or Wilken, and kills the giant Etgeir, called in the Danish
ballad, Langbeen Riser, or long-legged giant. The grave and the oven of
the giant are still shown in Zeeland.
It is the Vitiges whom the Byzantine writers mention among their Gothic
foes in Italy, and the Vitiza of the latter Visigoths in Spain, and may
fairly be rendered a dweller in a wood, though, in effect, it conveyed
the sense of consecration.
Thence, too, the Widukind, or Witukind, of Saxony, the fierce old
chieftain subdued by Charlemagne, whose name Scott gave to old
‘Witikind, the waster,’ but erroneously, for a Dane would have begun his
name with Ved. Before comparison had cleared up the history of names,
Witikind used, however, to be translated white child.
Germany has many of such grove names, the forest wolf and raven, as
Witolf and Witram; the forest prince, as Witrich, and his fame as
Witmar; also Witpald, Witperaht, and Witheri, the like of which last is
found in Domesday Book before the Conquest, as Wither, in company with
Witlac, Witgar, and Wit, and Witgils is high up in the Anglo-Saxon
genealogy.
It is tempting to refer such names as these to _wit_ and _wise_, both
from _vidjan_, to know, and to think of the _vedas_; but the wood and
its spirit of consecration is the real source of all these, as of
Vebiorn, Vebrandr, Vedis, Vedornn, Vegeir, Velaug, Vemundr, Vedny,
Vedhelm, Vedhild, Vestan, all names of the North. Verena, the gentle
mother of Sintram, may, perhaps, be meant for Vedrun, which would mean
sacred wisdom, or for Vedrid, sacred eagerness; just as Sigrid has
formed Siri and Serena.
The only cases where _wise_ or _vit_ has produced a name, were Vitgeir
of Iceland, who received that prefix for his magic powers, and Robert
d'Hauteville, surnamed Guiscard, wise heart, or wizard, the Norman
conqueror of Apulia, from whose soubriquet Guiscard was afterwards used
as a name in France, whence Sir Guiscard d'Angle appears in Froissart.
_Ve_, or _verr_, is common at the end of northern names, as in Raadve or
Randverr, and stood as _vih_ at the end of the old Frankish names, where
it is apt to get confused with _wig_, war. _Vid_, the forest or tree, is
a favourate Norsk termination, apt to be taken for _hvit_, white.[115]
-----
Footnote 115:
Blackwell; Grimm; Munch; _Domesday Book_; _Landnama-bok_; Le Beau;
Mariane; Weber and Jamieson, _Northern Romance_.
SECTION XII.—_Gerda._
Freyr’s beautiful wife, whose loveliness was reflected by land and sea,
was Gerda, a word coming from _gerdhi_ or _gerthi_, to gird round, and
thus denoting the enclosed cornfield, the emblem of peace and blessing.
And, on the other hand, _gerd_ was sometimes poetically used for the
entire girding or harness of a warrior prepared for battle, and in both
these senses, as well as of the dedication to the goddess, Gerdur was a
favourite feminine in the North; and Gerda has still continued in use in
Norway and Iceland, besides supplying a great many terminations, chiefly
to Germany, in Ermengard, Hildegard, &c.
Its original source is exceedingly old, and conveys the idea of turning
round, as in γῦρος (gyros), _curvus_, &c., and all their derivatives in
the classical languages.
In the northern tongues arose gjorde (Nor.), gyrden (A. S.), whence all
the varieties of girth and gird. Thence came the Danish Gyrthr, which,
when borne by the best and most faithful of the sons of Earl Godwin, was
rendered into modern English as Gurth, and thus was bestowed by Scott
upon the honest thrall of Cedric of Rotherwood. This name, then,
properly means the warrior girt for battle.
_Gard_ is part of a man’s name in the North; _e.g._, Gardar, who was the
Swede who first sailed round Iceland, came from Gardhar, house-warrior,
or perhaps patriot; Gardmund and Gardbrand, one the hand, another the
sword of the country, are also found; but, in general, this is a
termination, as with Finngard, Thorgard, Valgard.
Other names of men ending with _gerd_ are generally corruptions of words
from _geir_.[116]
SECTION XIII.—_Œgir._
When the Aasir took up their abode in Asgard, they there found the
Jotun, or giants, of whom the chief was Fornioti, a word meaning the
aged. He had three sons, Hler, Logi, and Kari, ruling sea, flame, and
wind. After a long contest they seem to have been promoted to the
privileges of Aasir, and remained allies, if not friends, till the
treason of Logi or Loki brought about the death of Baldur, after which
the destroyer Loki and his children, the Fenris wolf (the wolf of the
fen or abyss), Hel, or death, and the Midgard serpent, were bound till
the last outbreak shall take place.
Kari and Hler appear to have retained their privileges as gods or
demi-gods of wind and wave. Kari is called Fasolt in Germany, but his
name of Kaari or Kari has continued in use in Norway and Iceland, and
belonged to the generous avenger of Burnt Njal and his sons.
Hler is evidently the Keltic Lyr, but on his promotion to rank with the
Aasir, he took the northern name of Agir, Ygg, or Œgir. He was on very
friendly terms with the Aasir, gave them banquets, visited them at
Asgard, and heard Bragi tell stories of their deeds; but his usual
occupation was to raise his hoary head above the water when he meant
evil to vessels; and when he raised storms, his wife Ran (from _rœina_,
to spoil,) sat fishing for sailors, whose spirits she imprisoned like a
water Hela, so that drowned men were said to be gone to Ran, before Davy
Jones superseded her in nautical language. His daughter, Unna, was the
wave rising as in human shape. All these images evidently arose from the
wild, heaped, confused masses of waves in the North Sea, which, instead
of forming the even sweep of ridge and furrow of the Atlantic, are in
tumbling masses, suggesting the human form. Unna is said to come from
the same root as _unda_, the Latin wave; but the word also means love,
and thence a woman, and there is a curious similitude in it to Aine, the
granddaughter of Lyr, in Irish legend. In Germany, Œgir was Ecke, but
was reduced to fresh water and rivers.
The root of the name of Œgir is, in fact, _og_ or _uok_, the same as our
_awe_. Thence come many words, such as the Frank _ega_, cunning; the
Saxon _ege_, fear; also the verb _eggan_, to incite, still common in the
North; while we have _to egg on_.
It has been extremely fertile in names, in many different forms, the
simplest being the Frank Ega, a _maire du palais_. Our own two kings,
Ecgfrith and Ecgberht, are probably thus derived, though some explain
their first syllable by _edge_; but they are far more probably the same
with the _awe_ of the North. Egbert continues in Friesland as Ebbert.
_Aug_ is the oldest form in the North, as in Augmund, which, however,
was soon turned into Ogmund, Agmund, and Amund, a shape in which it is
common in the North, while in the Low Countries it gave the title of
Egmont to the victim of Alva. Ogwald has run something the same course
in the North, and become Avald; Œgunn and Œgulv are also there; and in
Germany Egiheri once existed, and gave us the surnames of Agar and
Eggar; Eggerich makes the Frisian Eggert, Iggerick, and Eggo.
The most famous German hero connected with the name is _der treue
Eckhardt_, who is well named awful firmness, warns travellers from the
tempting mountain of fatal delights, the Venusberg, once belonging to
Hela herself. Eckhard is chiefly Frisian in the present day, and there
it forms into Eggo, Ike, and Edzard.
It is identically the same name as Eginhard, the contemporary chronicler
of Charlemagne. The _n_ being used in declining the leading noun, is
retained in the pronunciation of the name. Friesland, however, separates
the two, and shortens Eginhard into Eino, Aynnert, Aynt.
Thus again is formed the original northern Aginhar, awful warrior, who
fell down into Agnar and Agne. Einar, of which there were twenty-two in
the _Landnama-bok_, looks very much like another contraction of Aginhar;
but analogy is against it; and Professor Munch decides that the first
syllable, both of Einar and Eindride, a rather popular old Norsk
feminine, is _ein_, one, in the sense of chief or superior; so that
Einar would be chief warrior, Eindride, Endride, or Indride, as it is
also used, superior rider.
The dative form of Ag is Agli, whence Egils, or Eigils, has come to be a
favourite northern name, and in this shape it is a very frequent prefix.
Egilona was the unfortunate wife of Rodrigo, the last of the Goths, and
afterwards of the Moorish prince, his conqueror, whom she forced to do
homage to the Cross, by having the door of her room opposite to it made
so low that he could not enter without stooping. Agilo was a Frank
nobleman, and in Domesday we fall upon an undoubted Agilward and
Egelmar, and on what are probably their contractions, Aylward and
Aylmer, afterwards Aymar; but both these are contractions of other
names, and cannot always be referred to the awful god of the sea.
Agilard, Agilulf, and Agilbert were Frank forms, the last Eilbert in
German; Egilhart is Eilert, or Eilo, in German; Eilert, Ayelt, or Ayldo,
in Frisian. And the Spanish Gothic Egica is another of the progeny of
the old sea giant. Oht is a word also meaning terror.[117]
-----
Footnote 116:
Luning; Munch; Grimm; Tooke; Liddell and Scott; _Landnama-bok_.
Footnote 117:
Grimm; Munch; Blackwell; Luning; Michaelis.
SECTION XIV.—_Ing—Seaxnot._
Leaving the comparatively clear and consistent regions of Scandinavian
mythology, we pass to the divinities and forefathers of whom we know far
less, those of our own Anglian ancestors; some accepted by them in
common with the High Germans, others exclusively their own, and some
apparently known to the North, though not admitted into the system of
the _Edda_.
The northern cosmogony tells us of the first man, Buri, whom the cow
Audumbla licked out of the stone, and whose grandson Odin was. It also
tells us of the primeval man and woman, Ask and Embla, whom Odin, Vili,
and Ve, animated.
On the other hand, Tacitus, writing of the ancient Germans, makes them
start from an earth-born god, Tuisco, whose son was Mannus; and again,
Mannus’s three sons were Ingus, Iscus, and Hermius, Ing, Esc, and Ed,
from whom descended the Ingævones, Iscævones, and Hermiones.
Tuisco is Tiu, or, more properly, the divine word in another form. He
represents the original stock of Teutonism, and also the human sense of
a divine origin, for Mannus, of course, is man.
Esk, or Ask, has scarcely formed any names, but Ing, or Yngve, was
looked on as the ancestor of the Swedish kings, who thence were called
the Ynglinga; and the history which rationalizes Odin is thence termed
the Ynglinga Saga, as it makes Yngve his son, and deduces the line from
him. Ing, the son of Tuisco, is, however, a far more universal
forefather, being almost without a doubt the name-father of that great
race that we have called Angeln, Anglo-Saxons, and English.
Seaxnot, or Sahsnot, was probably another name for Ing. The word means
stone comrade, and he was supposed to be the ancestor of the Sachsen, or
Saxons, but he has not numerous namesakes. In the East Saxon pedigree,
we find Seaxbeohrt and Seaxbald, and in the East Anglian Seaxburh or
Sexburga; and in Scandinavia Sakse remained as a name; and the historian
of the twelfth century, who enlightened us so much on Danish history, is
Latinized as Saxo Grammaticus.
Ing was a great deal more popular, though not among the Angles, either
insular or continental. The only trace of him in Germany is in the old
name of Hinkmar, or Hinko; and our Anglo-Saxon kings enumerated Ingvi,
Ingebrand, and Ingegeat as connecting links between themselves and
Wuotan. The Goths, Burgundians, and Vandals also claimed descent from
Ingvja, and their princes were called Ingvineones.
Ingve, or Ingvar, was a royal name in Scandinavia, and so travelled with
the sons of Rurik to Russia; where Igor, as he was there called, led an
army to strike terror into Constantinople, and the name has since become
confused with Egor, or George. Ingulf was the secretary of William the
Conqueror, and we would fain believe in the history of Croyland that
goes by his name. Ingebjorg found her way into an old Saga as a
demi-goddess directing wind and rain; but her historical interest is
connected with the unfortunate Danish princess, whom Philippe Auguste
married only to repudiate, and whom French historians translate into
Ingeberge, English ones into Ingoberga. Hers is the most common female
name in Norway.
The North has likewise Ingegerdur, Ingeleif, Ingemundr, Ingeridur,
Ingiallur, Ingvilldur, Ingjard, and Ingrim. Ingvilhild has become
Engelke, or Engel, and is, in fact, now merged in the idea of the Greek
Angel. The same fate has befallen other names in Germany and France,
where that best of all puns, as far as results were concerned, that of
St. Gregory between Angeli and Angli, has been constantly repeated in
nomenclature. The Eng, Ing, or Engel, named from a forgotten tradition
after Ing, was well pleased to be dedicated to an angel; Ingram, once
Ing’s raven, became Engelram, and thought he was of angelic purity, in
name if not in nature; and either he or Engelhard passed into France as
Enguerraud, the chief Christian name of the brave house whose proud
saying was—
“Je suis ni roi, ni comte aussi,
Je suis le Sire de Coucy;”
and the English called it Ingeltram, when Isabel, the daughter of Edward
III., made her love match with the brave Lord de Coucy, whose loyalty
was so sorely perplexed by his connection with her family.
Engelfrid, Engelschalk, Engelberga, and Engelbert, are probably
originally German angels in connection with peace, discipleship,
protection, and splendour; and Professor Munch thinks the northern
Ingobert an instinctive attempt to nationalize the last. On the other
hand, he leaves to Ing, Angilbald, Angiltrud, Angelrich; as, in fact,
may be always done with every name of the kind that can be traced to an
owner prior to the time when angels were popular ideas among our
northern ancestors.
Ingvar was a terrible name to our Saxon ancestors, when the Danish
viking, so called, carried terror to our coasts; but Ivar is not the
short for it, but is from _yr_; German, _eibe_; Dutch, _ibe_; English,
_yew_; and _har_, a warrior, so that Ivar is the Yew warrior, the
bow-bearer, or archer. He is Iver in Danish, and in Scotland and Ireland
MacIvor has been adopted as a rendering of one of the old hereditary
Keltic names. Ivbald and Ivbert have also been used and cut down to
Ibald and Ibert. Ireland had a St. Ivor, or Ivory, who was considered to
have prayed away from Fernegenall the _mures maiores qui vulgariter Rati
vocantur_ so completely that none survived; but whether he was named by
Dane or Kelt does not appear. At any rate, St. Ivory was deemed good to
invoke against rats.
It is probable that Ivhar is the real origin of Ives, the saint who
named the town in Huntingdonshire; but legend strangely makes him a
Persian bishop, who chose that locality for a hermitage, in the seventh
century, and whose body was discovered uncorrupt in the year 1001, thus
providing a patron for many an Ivar of Danish or Norman extraction, who
became Yvon, or Ivone, in France; and Ivo in the chroniclers. Ivo de
Taillebois is the villain of the story of _Hereward_ and his camp of
refuge; and the name is common with the Normans and Bretons, all the
more for the sake of St. Ivo de Chartres, who was imprisoned for his
resistance to the adultery of Philip I. and Bertrade of Anjou, and St.
Ives of Brittany, the good lawyer, called the advocate of the poor.
These Breton Ivons may, however, be from Sir Ywain, or Owen, the same as
Eoghan.[118]
-----
Footnote 118:
Grimm; Munch; Luning; Kemble; O'Donovan; Butler.
SECTION XV.—_Eormen._
The third son of Mannus was said to be Er, a word, perhaps, connected
with Tyr on one side, and Ares on the other; for Ertag is the Tuesday of
Southern Germany, and Eresburg, now Mersburg, was the centre of the
worship of the continental Saxons. The day was, however, also called, in
Bavaria and Austria, Ermintag, or Irminstag; and the deity worshipped at
Eresburg was Irman, or Ermin; and perhaps the word should be considered
as Er-man in conjunction. From him the Herminiones of Tacitus are said
to be descended, being chiefly the old Germans and the Franks.
At Eresburg, even up to the eighth century, there stood a great central
temple, containing a marble column on which stood an armed warrior,
holding, in one hand, a banner bearing a rose, in the other a balance.
The crest on the helmet was a cock, on the breastplate was a bear, on
the shield that hung from the shoulders was a lion in a field of
flowers. Around lived a college of priests, who exercised judgment and
made biennial offerings. Before going out to war, the host, in full
armour, galloped round the figure, brandishing their spears and praying
for victory. Lesser images were carried with the army, and, on its
return, captives and cowards were slain, as offerings to the great idol.
This temple was destroyed by Charlemagne, who buried the idol where
afterwards stood the abbey of Corbye. In his son’s reign it was dug up,
and carried off by the French as a trophy, when the Saxons rose to
rescue it and a battle took place, after which it was thrown into the
river Innen, but was fished out, exorcised, purified, and made to serve
as a candelabrum in the church of Hillesheim.
The battle was called Armansula, and the image Irmansul; whence many
have fancied that Irmansul was the chief German god.
_Sul_, or _saul_, is, however, a pillar; and it is a very curious fact
that two sacred columns were the penates of every Teuton’s hearth and
city. When a migration was decided on by the Scandinavians, a solemn
feast was held, the master of the house seated between his two _sulur_,
or columns, which he uprooted and carried with him, and, on his approach
to his intended home, he threw them overboard, and followed them with
his ship, landing wherever they were cast up. It was thus that the
situation of Reijkjavik, in Iceland, was determined. Such columns, down
to a very late period, stood at the gates of the elder towns in Germany,
and were called Ermensaulen, or, sometimes, one the Rolandsaul, the
other the Ermensaul.
Eormon, in the Anglian of Beowulf, means universal; _eormoncyn_, the
whole of mankind; in old Norse, _jormün_ is the world, and _Jormungandr_
is another name of the Midgard snake which encircles the world. Most
likely, the Irmansul thus signified the universal column, the pillar
adored by all men; just as the Anglo-Saxons called the great Roman road
Eormenstreot, or Ermingstreet, the public road. _Er_, then, would be the
divinity, _man_ the human word, and Erman would thus express something
revered by all; and thence, the name of the tribes of the Hermiones and
Hermunduri, both meaning all the people. Later, the word _jormün_, or
_eorman_, came to mean only very large; and, probably, the Saxons of
Thuringia had forgotten the original signification of their columns when
they gave the single one of Irmansul such an exclusive prominence. Some
have tried to explain one pillar as Heermansaul, pillar of the army man,
and the other as Raginholdsaul, pillar of firm judgment, as emblems of
military and civil power; but though this meaning may have later been
bestowed on them, the signification of Eormon is decidedly adverse to
this explanation, and it is safest to translate it, when it occurs in
names, as public, or general.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ Spanish. │ Italian. │
│Armyn │Armand │Armando │Arminio │
│Armine │ │ │Armanno │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ German. │ Swedish. │ Dutch. │ Swiss. │
│Hermann │Hermann │Hermanus │Herma │
│ │ │Herman │Hermeli │
│ │ │Manus │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Slovak. │ Lettish. │ Esth. │ Lithuanian. │
│Jerman │Ermannis │Herm │Ermas │
│ │ │ │Ermonas │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
When the Cheruschi, themselves Herminiones, broke the heart of Augustus
by cutting off the legions of Quinctilius Varus, their leader was
Arminius, probably Irman or Eorman, though after-generations explained
it as Heerman or Armyman. So that the hosts of Hermans, named when
national feeling was roused by French invasion, are in his honour;
previously, the Dutch Jacob Hermannsen had rendered himself into Latin
as Arminius. From Holland the Norfolk name of Armyn must have been
imported.
The Germans use, as the feminine, Hermine and Herminie, which properly
belong to the Latin Herminius; and the French have made their own form
of Armand into Armantine. A Burgundian hermit, Ermin, too, gave St. Ermo
to Italy, a name inextricably mixed with Elmo, the contraction of
Erasmus; it is the St. Erme of France.
Very early, so as to be almost mythical, was the Thuringian Irmanfrit,
or Irnvrit, who hardly conduced to ‘public peace’ by calling in the
Saxons; but Hermanfred continued in use in Germany, and was known to the
French as Hermanfroi.
The Burgundian version of the great world-girding snake was Ermelind, a
name that came to a saintly virgin of the sixth century from whom
Ermelinda flourished as an Italian name, being probably common to both
Lombards and Burgundians, as both Vandals.
But these Irmins are most frequent in ancient Spain. The Suevi had
Hermanrik, or Hermanarico, public ruler, and the Goths, Hermanegar and
Hermangildo; the last being the prince who is revered as having been
converted from Arianism by his orthodox Frank wife, and whose death, by
his father’s persecution, sealed the triumph of Catholicism in Spain.
Hermenburga was a princess, offered to, but refused by, a Frank king;
and Ermesinda, or, as Southey’s poem calls her, Hermesind, the daughter
of Pelayo, carried the blue blood of the Balten to the line of Alfonso.
Her name meant public dignity.
Parallel to these the Anglo-Saxons enumerate Eormenric, Eormenburh,
Eormenburg, Eormengyth, Eormengild; and after the Conquest there still
continue the forms of Eremburga, Ermentrude, and Ermengarde; the last by
far the most frequent, and not yet disused in Germany.
SECTION XVI.—_Erce._
The Anglo-Saxons were accustomed to perform an incantation to restore
the fruitfulness of their fields. It began by the cry _Erce_, _Erce_,
_Erce_, _Eordhan Môder_, as if it were not earth itself, but her mother
that was called upon.
The same word _erce_ is used for ark, chest, or ship, in the Anglo-Saxon
New Testament. And Erce does not seem to have been entirely forgotten;
for Erche, or Herkja, is a famous lady in old German hero songs.
From thence, too, may have sprung the Old German adjective _ërchan_,
meaning holy, genuine, or simple, which is thought to have named the
famous Hercynian forest of ancient Germany, which would thus be the
sacred wood.
The founder of the East Saxon kingdom in England is called both Escwine
and Ercenwine, the darling of Ese, or of Erce. In the Kentish genealogy
we find Eorconberht, sacred brightness, answering to the Lombardo-Italic
Erchimperto; and also Eorcongot, sacred divinity.
St. Eorconwald, holy power, was a bishop of London, about 678, and may
almost be reckoned as the second founder of St. Paul’s, where his shrine
was greatly revered; and about the same time Erkenoald was a _maire du
palais_ in France; and Erchenold, or Herchenhold, was an old German
name, meaning probably firm in truth.
In old knightly times, we find the German Erchanbald, meaning a sacred
prince, from which the French took many a Sire Archambault, and the
Italians Arcibaldo.
The Scots, by some strange fancy, adopted Archibald as the Lowland
equivalent of Gillespie, the bishop’s servant. So frequent was it in the
houses of Campbell and Douglas, that, with its contractions of Archie
and Baldie, it has become one of the most commonly used in Scotland,
recalling many a fierce worthy, from old Archibald Bell-the-Cat
downwards, and always translating the Gillespie of the Campbells to
Lowland ears.[119]
-----
Footnote 119:
Grimm, &c.
SECTION XVII.—_Amal._
Amal is a very remarkable word. We have had it in Greek, as Αἰμύλος; in
Latin, as Æmilius; in the Keltic as Amalgaidh; and in all it would seem
as if one notion could be detected—that of work. Even in Hebrew Amal
means to work; _aml_ is work in old Norse; and we have still our verb to
_moil_, taken therefrom. _Mahl_, be it remembered, is in German a time;
_mahl_, a stroke; _mahlen_, to paint or make strokes; and so in the
North, _maal_ is a measure, or an end, a goal. Probably there is a
notion of repetition of marks, stroke upon stroke, in all cases, and the
Sanscrit meaning of Amal, or spotless, without mark, is in favour of the
meaning.
It is safest, however, to translate the Teutonic Amal by work, the
thought most familiar to the sturdy northern nations who used it, and
loved work for its own sake.
In the Vilkina Saga, the mighty smith Velint’s first great trial of
skill was with Amilias, an armourer at the court of King Nielung. Velint
struck him with his sword Mimung; he said he felt as if a drop of water
had flowed down him. “Shake yourself,” said Velint, and the unfortunate
smith fell down cloven painlessly from head to heel, an example of
labour _versus_ skill.
Aumlung, the strong, is mentioned in the _Book of Heroes_, as feasting
at the Nibelung court; and it was at Duke Amelung’s court that,
according to the Danish ballad, old Sir Hildibrand had been staying for
twenty-two years, before, going back to Bern, he met his unknown son
Alebrand.
Amala was a favourite Lombardic commencement, and was likewise much in
favour with German ladies; it became first Amalie, and then, when Italy
and France had taken up the Latin Æmilia, this old Teutonic form was
mixed up with it; and Amelia in England, Amélie in France, are scarcely
considered to differ from it; and though historically Emily is the
descendant of the Æmilii, Amelia of the Amaler, yet both alike come from
the original Amal.
Amalaswinth, which would bear the translation, dignity of labour, though
probably it was only given in the sense of dignity of the Amaler, was
the unfortunate Lombardic queen, whom the Romans could not protect from
the treachery of her favourites. Amalasontha is what historians call
her; but on Burgundian lips it came to be Melisenda, Melicerte,
Melusine.
Melisenda is in Spanish ballad lore the wife of Don Gayferos, and, being
taken captive by the Moors, was the occasion of the feats that were
represented by the puppet show in which Don Quixote took an
unfortunately lively interest. Melisende again was the princess who
carried the uneasy crown of Jerusalem to the House of Anjou; and,
perhaps, from the Provençal connections of the English court, Lady
Melisent Stafford bore the name in the time of Henry II., whence
Melicent has become known in England, and never quite disused, though
often confounded with Melissa, a bee, and sometimes spelt Millicent.
Melusine was a nymph who became the wife of the Lord de Leezignan, or
Lusignan, on condition that he should never intrude upon her on a
Saturday; of course, after a long time, his curiosity was excited, and
stealing a glance at his lady in her solitude, he beheld her a serpent
from the waist downward! With a terrible shriek, she was lost to him for
ever; but she left three sons, all bearing some deformity, of whom
_Geoffroi au grand dent_ was the most remarkable.
Melusina continued in use in the south of France, Holland, and Germany,
and is occasionally used in England. We find Melicerte in old French
chronicles.
The very ancient queens of Navarre and the Asturias have a wonderful set
of aliases, and one, the oddest, is “Amelina, or Simena, or Ximena,” the
sister of Sancho I., of Navarre, who married Alfonso the Great. Could
the Spaniards, by any possibility, have contracted the soft _Amal_ into
the harsh guttural _Xi_, which sounds as if it came from a Moorish
throat. Yet, Goths as they were, they show no Amal, though their Ximen
and Ximena reach up to 700, and Ximena survived long as a name among
their ladies, and was the wife of the Cid, whence the French turned her
into Chimène. Emmeline, as it is now generally spelt, came from France
as Emeline, and is frequent in old ballad poetry, and in northern
registers, as Emyln. It is probably another form of this same Amaline,
or _lind_, Amal’s serpent.
The northern races have the one much reduced name of Malfrid, from
Amalafrida, of peace.
The ladies have certainly been the chief owners of Amal, as a
commencement; but it has had a brilliant part to play in the form of
Amalrich, Almerich, or Emmerich, on the German side; Almerigo in Spain;
Amalric, or Amaury, in France; Almerick in England. Amaury was an
Angevin king of Jerusalem; and our own Sir Almerick St. Lawrence was
brother-in-arms to Sir John de Courcy, and founded the House of Howth in
Ireland. The House of Lusignan, Melusina’s descendants, called it Aymar;
and in this form it came to England with Henry III.’s half-brother, whom
he promoted to the see of Winchester, but who episcopally called himself
Ethelmarus; though his nephew, Aymar de Valence, kept his proper name.
Emmery is a surviving English surname, and Merica occurs in old
Yorkshire genealogies.
But it is the Italian form, Amerigo, which was destined to the most
noted use,—when the adventurer, Amerigo Vespucci, gave his name to the
tract of land that Columbus saw for the first time in his company;
little knowing that it was no island, but a mighty continent, which
should hold fast that almost fortuitous title, whence thousands of
miles, and millions of men, bear the appellation of the forgotten
forefather of a tribe of the Goths—Amalrich, the work ruler; a curiously
appropriate title for the new world of labour and of progress, on the
other side the Atlantic.
Amalberge is an old Cambrai name; Malburg a Danish one; Amalgund,
Amalbert, Amalbertine, and Amalhild, have also been known. The French
Amelot must be the contraction of one of the masculine forms.[120]
-----
Footnote 120:
Grimm; Kemble; _Int. to Beowulf_; Weber; Dugdale.
SECTION XVIII.—_Forefathers._
The deification of forefathers, or the claim to divine origin, whichever
it might be, led to the employment, as a prefix, of the very word that
expressed them—that word which we use still at the beginning of
_ancestors_, and that the Germans call _ahnen_. In old German the
singular was _ano_, and it signified a remote forefather. The
_Rigsmaal_, an old Icelandic poem which explains the origin of the
various castes which the northern races acknowledged, represents
Heimdall, the porter of heaven, as wandering to the earth, and being
entertained by Ai and Edda, or great-grandfather and great-grandmother,
who lived in a lowly hut; then by Avi and Amma (Lat. Avus), or
grandfather and grandmother, who had a comfortable dwelling-house; and
lastly by Fadher and Modher, whose abode was a splendid mansion. The son
of Edda was Thrall; the son of Amma was Karl; the son of Modher was
Jarl; and from these descended the three castes of the North—the
thralls, or slaves; the churls, bondr, or farmers; and the jarls, or
nobles.
This is an absolute mythic allegory by way of explanation of existing
circumstances; but the names therewith connected mostly survived, though
they refer to these mere embodiments of abstract ideas.
_Ai_, or _ani_, enters into the composition of the Icelandic Anar,
ancestral warrior, and thus, no doubt, contributed to form our surname
of Anson, which, like almost all our great naval names, thus traces back
to some ancient viking, who has done us at least as much good as evil,
by leaving us his sons to keep all other invaders from our shores.
The old Saxon histories call some of these enemies by the name of
Anlaff, in particular the chief who visited King Æthelstan’s tent in a
minstrel’s disguise, and betrayed himself by burying the guerdon that he
was too proud to keep. The same persons whom England called Anlaff, and
Ireland Amlaidh, were, in the North, Alafr, or Olafr, according to the
custom of pronouncing the diphthong _a_ like an _o_, and then so
spelling it, _e.g._, Aasbiorn, Osbiorn. The latter syllable is _laf_ or
_leif_, from the verb _lev_, the Anglo-Saxon _leafan_, our own _leave_.
It is a word that never is used as a commencement, and but rarely stands
alone, though the North sometimes has a Leifr, and it is used in the
sense of what is remaining. Anlaff, or Olaf, is thus what is left of his
forefathers, his ancestor’s relic, and a very notable relic was the
gallant king Olaf Trygveson, the prime hero of the _Heimskringla_, whose
last battle is so nobly described there. Scarcely less noble is his
relative, Olaf the saint, the ally of England, who fought her battles
near London-bridge, and has left his name to the church of St. Olave,
near the site of the battle, though, unluckily, English tongues made him
St. Toly. St. Olaf was over-harsh in his endeavours to introduce
Christianity to his subjects, and perished in a war with the rebels,
assisted by Knut of Denmark and England; but his name continued
glorious, and another royal St. Olaf, in Sweden, assisted to make it one
of the most national of Scandinavian names, even to the present day.
Its Latinism is Oläus, and its contraction Ole, or, rather, this answers
to the very old Aale, which, in its turn, answers to the Analo, Anilo,
Anelo, of the old Germans.
_Leif_, or _laf_, we shall often meet as a termination, both in the
North and in Germany, where it generally becomes _leib_ or _lip_, and
then the modern Germans take it for _love_, and thus have changed the
old Gottleip into Gottleib. In the North it has scarcely fared better,
especially in the case of Thorleif, or Thor’s relic, who changed from
Tholleiv to Thoddeiv, or Tadeiv, on the one hand, and on the other, to
Tellev, which, thanks to some classically-disposed clergyman, has been
written Teleph, and referred to the Greek Telephus.
Of the other names connected with the _Rigsmaal_, we find Edda, the
great-grandmother, giving title to the ancient poem on cosmogony and
mythology that may be regarded as the parent of all the northern songs.
Thrall was likewise, in spite of its meaning, used as a name.
The next generation, Avi, Amma, and the son Karl, are the prominent
ones. The equivalent of Karl, Bondr, a farmer, is now and then a
northern name; but it is the great Frank Karling line whose names so
curiously answer to these.
Were they of the middle class of landholders, and were they proud of it,
and anxious to trace their connection back to the grandfather,
grandmother, and churl? Whether there were a Frank version of the
_Rigsmaal_ we do not know, but the leading name of the family was Karl,
the churl (of which more in its relation to the cycle of Romance), and
it is found in constant company with Amma, or Emma, and alternates with
one that almost certainly represented Avi, or grandfather.
Charles, Pepin l'Heristal, Charles Martel, Pepin le Bref, Charles the
Great, is the succession till the alternation was broken by the death of
Pepin, the eldest son of Charles the Great. Now this most undignified
Pepin is traced by the best authorities to be one of the many forms of
the primitive and universal _abba_, father, papa, and to answer to the
old German names of Bobo, Bobbo, and Poppo. And it is not, therefore,
probable that Pepin and Emma stood for the northern Avi and Amma, both
alike with the son Karl?
Amme, or Emma, no doubt formed by the first lispings of a child, is
_amme_, a nurse, in Germany, and _ama_, a housekeeper, in Spain. As a
name, it was at first exclusively Frank, and used by the Karling
daughters. The first Emma mentioned was the daughter of Charlemagne; and
the sister of Hugh Capet, who married Richard the Fearless, of Normandy,
was likewise so called. Her granddaughter was the wife, first of
Ethelred the Unready, then of Knut, and the supposed heroine of the
ordeal of the ploughshares. Emma was considered as so un-English that
her name was translated into Ælfgifu. However, we find ‘Emme’ among the
daughters of Dru de Baladon, who came over with the Conqueror, and thus
‘Emm’ and ‘Emr’ are by no means uncommon in the registers of Yorkshire
and Durham, even down to the seventeenth century. Then Prior, when
modernizing and sentimentalizing the beautiful ballad of the _Nut Browne
Maid_, supposed to be on the history of the shepherd Lord Clifford,
called it Henry and Emma, whence it became rather a favourite romantic
name of literature. Clergymen were apt to use it, in Latin registers, as
a translation of Amy, as well as of its own Em. It is also confounded
with Emily, and at the present day recurs extremely often in England,
while it is almost disused in France, its native home. The Welsh use it
as a translation of Ermin, probably a legacy of the Roman Herminii.
Emmott is another old name of northern England, probably amplified from
Em; but Emeline, as has been already said, is far more probably Amalina
than any relation to Emma.
Jarl, as might be expected, was a very favourite eponym; but not in the
same pronunciation; for it first became Irl, then Erl, in nomenclature.
Erling, a name much used by the Norsemen, and often corrupted into
Elling, is the son of the earl; and the Swedish once had a Jarlar, or
earl-warrior, who changed into Erlher, Erlo, Erlebald, Erlebrecht,
Erlhild.
CHAPTER III.
NAMES FROM OBJECTS CONNECTED WITH MYTHOLOGY.
SECTION I.—_Day._
The rich imagination of the North could not fail to preserve the Eastern
myths of natural appearances and animals with their myths, and these
ideas are as usual reflected in the names of the race.
In the _Edda_, Nôtt, or night, the dark, one of the Jotun, is the wife
of Dellingr, the brilliant and beautiful, one of the Æsir, and their son
is Dag or Day. Mother and son each have a chariot in which they career
round the sky, in pursuit of one another. The horse of Day is Shinfaxi,
of shining mane; the horse of Night is Hrimfaxi, rime or frost mane.
Day had many namesakes, though more often at the end than the beginning
of a word.
Dago, Tago, or Tajo, was a Gothic bishop of Zaragoza, whom King
Chindaswintha sent to Rome about 640, to bring home a copy of St.
Gregory’s _Comment on the Book of Job_, which had been dedicated to a
King of Spain, one of the Suevi, but had been lost in the irruption of
the Arian Goths. The Roman clergy had been equally careless. Pope
Theodorus could not lay his hands upon the manuscript; and the search
became so tedious, that finally Bishop Tajo betook himself to prayer,
and obtained a special vision of the holy Pope Gregory himself, who
directed him to the depository of the manuscript.
This same Dagr figures in the _Landnama-bok_; and the North has Dagfinn,
perhaps once an allusion to the resplendent glory of Odin, but usually
translated white as day. Dagulf, or Daulf, day-wolf, was no doubt in
allusion to the wolf Sköll, who hunts the sun daily round the sky, and
will eat her up at last; whence to this day a parhelion is called in
Sweden a sun-wolf, Sololf. Eclipses are caused when the wolf gains on
the sun, who has no namesakes in Teuton nomenclature, the few that sound
like it being from another source, namely, _Salv_ or _sölv_, anointing
or healing. The feminine _ny_, though meaning the new moon when standing
alone, is only the adjective new, and means fresh and fair, so that the
northern Dagny is, fair as day. The Norse ladies also have Dagheid or
Dageid, cheerful as day.
Dagobert, or bright as day, was that long-haired king who, next to
Clovis, impressed the French imagination. He was the employer of the
great goldsmith St. Eloi, and the throne or chair of King Dagobert,
ascribed to that great artificer, is still in existence. A successor in
the _fainéant_ times was canonized, and together the two Dagoberts,
making one, have become the theme first of heroic and then of burlesque
in France. It was Takaperaht in Old German; and there, too, Tagarat, or
Dagrad, is to be found; but in general, _dag_ or _tac_ comes at the end
of words.
Dagmar—the favourite queen of the Danes, whose only fault was lacing her
sleeves on a Sunday—is called only by her epithet, Danes' joy. Her true
name was Margaret of Bohemia, and the Danish princess Dagmar, who was
christened after her, was on her Russian marriage called Marie.[121]
-----
Footnote 121:
Blackwell, Mallet; Munch; Butler; Grimm; Thierry; Michaelis.
SECTION II.—_The Wolf._
It is for the place that he occupies in the Teutonic imagination, rather
than for his own merits, that the wolf stands foremost among the
creatures that have supplied Teutonic names.
He is also the most universal. Zeeb, Lycos, and Lupus, have been already
mentioned; and the midnight prowler, as the most terrible animal of
Europe, held his place in imaginations, whence the lion and tiger faded
for want of personal acquaintance. The French have no less than
forty-nine proverbs about wolves, many no doubt remains of the beast
epic.
Wolves called Geri and Freki sat on either side of Odin’s throne, and
devoured his share of the bears' flesh of Valhalla, a banquet he was too
ethereal to require. Wolves chase the sun and moon round their daily
courses; and a terrible wolf called Mangarmr, or moon-gorger, is to
devour the moon at the coming of the wolf-age, which, in the _Voluspa_,
shadows the last days of the world. Fenris, the wolf of the abyss, is
the son of Loki; and though bound by the Æsir at the cost of Tyr’s right
hand, will finally break loose, destroy Odin himself, and only be rent
asunder by Vidur in his resistless shoes.
Nevertheless, _ulf_, _vulf_, _wolf_ was highly popular as a name-root;
perhaps more common at the end than the beginning of a word, but often
standing alone. It was the diminutive Vulfila that was the right name of
that good bishop whose Mæso-Gothic version of the Gospels goes by his
Latinism of Ulphilas.
Ulf was twenty-three times in the _Landnama-bok_; and _ulf_ in every
possible form ravaged the coasts of Europe. _Wolf_ was again the
hereditary prefix in the House of Bavaria, where the dukes varied
between Wolf and Wolfart, till Wolfen became the designation of the
family, and a legend was invented to account for it. An ancestress had,
it was said, given birth to twelve infants all at once, and in the
spirit of the child who, being shown his twin brothers, asked “Which
shall we keep,” sent her maid to dispose of the eleven unnecessary ones
in the river. The father met her, and asked what she had in her apron.
“Only whelps,” she answered; but he was not to be thus put off, made an
inspection, saved the children’s lives, and called them the Wolfen, or
wolf-whelps! The _Book of Heroes_, however, makes the Wolfings descend
from the brave Sir Hildebrand, and be so called from a wolf on their
shield granted them by the Emperor Wolfdietrich, in remembrance of an
adventure of his own infancy, when he had been carried off by a she-wolf
to her den, and remained there unhurt—whence his name of Wolfdietrich.
The male line of the Wolfen, however, in time became extinct, and the
heiress married one of the Italian House of Este, which adopted the
German Wolf in the Italianized form of Guelfo, and constantly used it as
a name. Thence when the popes set up Otto d'Este, one of the Wolfen of
Bavaria, as anti-emperor in opposition to the House of Hohenstaufen, his
partisans were called Welfen; those of the Fredericks, Waiblingen, from
the Swabian castle of Waibling. The Italian cities rang with the fierce
cries of Guelfo and Zibelino, for the pope or the emperor, and Europe
learnt to identify the Guelph with the cause of the Church; the
Ghibelline with that of the State, when the origin of the words had long
been forgotten.
One of the Bavarian Wolfen d'Este became Duke of Brunswick Luneburg, and
from him descended the Hanoverian line of English sovereigns, who in the
time of Revolution thence were said to be properly sumamed Guelf, or
even Whelps, with about as much correctness as when Louis XVI. was
styled Louis Capet.
We had a wolf among our sovereigns in the days of the Heptarchy, in
Vulfhere, king of Mercia, the same as the northern Ulfar, and German
Wolfer, meaning wolf-warrior. Also Vulfhilda was a sainted abbess in
England, while Ulvhildur colonized Iceland. We had also Vulfred,
Vulfnoth, Vulfstein, better known as St. Wulstan, the admirable bishop
of Worcester. These English wolves of ours have a great inclination to
lapse into sheep’s clothing and become wool, in which form we use them
in the harmless surnames of Woolgar, Woolstone, Woolmer, Wolsey.
Ulfketill, or Ulfkjell, as odd a compound as can well be found, was one
of the pirates who invested England, but is a peaceable inhabitant in
Domesday, where Ulf swarms, as Ulfac, Ulfeg, Ulfert, Ulfener, Ulfric;
just as he does in the Iceland Domesday, as Ulfhedinn, Ulfherdur,
Ufliotr.
In Germany, Wolfgang, perhaps best rendered as Wolf-progress, was a
sainted bishop of Ratisbon, in the tenth century, whence this strange
name flourished, and, coming to Göthe, became prized by all his
admirers. There, too, is Wolfram, the wolf-raven, Wolfrad, and Wolfert.
Some have translated _ulf_, or _wolf_, at the end of a word by help; but
this is impossible, as though _hulf_ is help in German, the _f_ is the
property of that language alone.
A few of the Danes seem to have learnt to respect the qualities of the
magnificent Irish wolf-hound, whose qualities are highly praised in the
_Heimskringla_. Then they took to calling themselves Hunde; and a son of
Sigurd, Earl of Orkney, is called both Hvalp and Hund. The name of
Hundolf is, however, supposed to be either hardened from Hun, or else to
be from a word meaning booty or plunder, so as to mean the wolf of
plunder.[122]
-----
Footnote 122:
Grimm; Turner, _Anglo-Saxons_; Blackwell, Mallet; _Dictionnaire des
Proverbes Français_; Sismondi, _Republiques Italianes_; Anderson,
_Genealogies_; Lappenburn, _Anglo-Saxons_; Alban Butler; Marryat,
_Jutland_; Pott.
SECTION III.—_Eber, the Boar._
The boar, whom we found so popular in Roman nomenclature, is equally so
among the southern Teutons, among whom the tusky boar was one of the
prime beasts of chase. The Romans apparently viewed him and his titles
in their domestic aspect; but the Teutons honoured the fierce _Eber_ of
their forests as their highest and most dangerous prey, and gave him a
place among their mythology.
Freyr had a boar with golden bristles, called Gullenbörsti, and when the
corn waved in the wind, the saying was, “Freyr’s boar is passing by.”
Epurhelm, an old German name, was thus an appeal to the protection of
Freyr.
The boar Sehrimnar was likewise the future feast of the brave in
Valhall, daily hunted and eaten, and as often resuscitated for the next
day’s sport and banquet. Scandinavia lay too far north for his porcine
majesty; and the Norsemen had no personal acquaintance with him in their
daily life, whatever they might look forward to; and thus _Eber_, the
wild boar, does not figure in their nomenclature, and scarcely among our
own insular Saxons, though he is said to have ranged our forests.
But turning to the Goths, we fall at once upon Ebroinus, an evident
classicalism of Eberwine, not so much the boar’s friend, as Freyr’s
friend. Ebrimuth, another early Goth, is wild boar’s mood or wrath, and
in Visigothic Spain we find Eborico, namely, Eberik, boar ruler.
Frankland produced the formidable compound of boarwolf, Eberulf; but its
two owners grew up monastic saints in the sixth and seventh centuries,
and were honoured by the French as SS. Evrault, Evrols, Evrou, or
Evraud. The second of these saints was a native of Normandy, and is
patron of the abbey of Fontévraud, the burial-place of Henry II. and
Richard Cœur de Lion, and the noblest nunnery in France.
It is difficult, however, to distinguish between the forms of the French
Eberulf, and the German Eberhard, who was abbot of Einsiedlen in 934;
indeed, it is highly probable that the Norman St. Evrhault, though
derived from a saint Latinized as Eberulfus, and in German called Erulf,
was supposed to be the same as Eberhard, and that this accounts for the
English form of Everard, which sprung up from the four Evrards of the
Domesday roll after the Conquest. Eberhard hardly reaches the rank of
saint in the Roman calendar; but his exertions in a great famine that
ravaged Alsace, Burgundy, and Upper Germany, in 942, account for the
nationality of his name in all that region.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ Italian. │ Frisian. │ German. │
│Everard │Everardo │Evart │Eberhard │
│Ewart │Eberardo │Evert │Ebert │
│ │Ebbo │ │Ewart │
│ —————— │ ————— │ —————— │Eppo │
│ French. │ Dutch. │ Lett. │Ebbo │
│Evraud │ │ │Ebo │
│Ebles │Everhard │Ewarts │Ebilo │
│ │Evert │Ebbo │Ebin │
│ │ │ │Etto │
│ │ │ │Uffo │
│ │ │ │Uppo │
│ │ │ │Appo │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
The Germans likewise have a feminine from this ‘boarfirm’ word
Eberbardine, contracted into Ebertine, or Ebba, and in Frisian, Ebbe or
Jebbe. I am afraid these German forms do not certainly account for the
Saxon Ebba, or Æbbe, sister of St. Oswald, and foundress of the famous
priory of Coldingham. However, England had one St. Eberhilda, who was a
pupil of St. Wilfrid, and foundress of a monastery called Everidisham,
the locality of which cannot be discovered; but the abbess must have
left an impression on the ladies of the North, to judge by the frequency
of the occurrence of Everilda, which, with the contractions of Averilla
and Averil, is not yet extinct.
Offa, the Low German legendary hero—is very probably called by a
contraction of the wild boar. His name is repeated by the king of
Mercia, who seems to have borrowed somewhat of the legend in his story,
and Offa was not extinct even in Domesday.
Ebermund, a Neustrian Frank of Meerwing days, was founder of Fontenoy
Abbey, and was honoured as St. Evrémond, whence the territorial surname
familiar to readers of French memoirs.
St. Evre, who is frankly Latinized into Sanctus Aper, was the seventh
bishop of Toul, where the register of bishops presents a curious
succession of wild beasts, and some of the Ebbos and Affos of Germany
may be his rightful property, though they are now all turned over to the
charitable Eberhard of Einsiedlen. Eburbero, or Boar-bear, seems to have
been a German invention.
SECTION IV.—_The Bear._
The bear does not enter into the legends of the _Edda_, but he enjoyed
immense regard in the North, and was looked on as a sort of ancestor, to
whom, when he was killed, polite apologies were always made, and who is
still called by the pet name of the Wise Man, rather than by his own
proper term. Even in France he was mysteriously alluded to as le _vieux_
or le _grand père_; and probably the Swiss veneration for the bears of
Berne partly originated in the general devotion to the deliberate and
almost human-looking plantigrade.
The Anglo-Saxons made Beorn the great-grandson of Wuotan, and the
ancestor of the kings of Beornland; in Latin Bernicia, or Beornia,
afterwards the earldom that gave title to Richard, son of William I.
Legend again declared that the stout old Earl Siward Bìorn was actually
the offspring of a bear, and that the ears of his parent might have been
found concealed beneath his matted locks.
Norway and Iceland are, as in duty bound, the land of bears, but the
Pyrenees had their share likewise; and if the North has Bjornulf, the
same bear-wolf reigned over Gothic Spain in the form of Vernulfo; and in
the Asturias and Navarre, the bear’s mood was dreaded as Bermudo, or
Vermudo, and his protecting hand sought as Veremundo.
In the Pyrenees, too, flourished the bear-spear, the same with the
northern Bjorngjer, though southern tongues made Berenger and
Berengario, in which forms it was owned by many a mountain king of
Navarre and count of Roussillon, Barcelona, or Toulouse. There, too, it
formed the feminine Berenguela, and this, as princesses' names always
do, travelled farther; for Berenguela was queen of Castille, and mother
of St. Fernando; another Berenguela, or Berangère, as French tongues
called her, is familiar to us under that most incorrect historical title
of Berengaria, the bride of Richard Cœur de Lion. Another Berenguela,
who from Portugal married the king of Denmark, so misconducted herself
that Bjorngard or Berngard, the Danish version of her name, stands for
an abandoned woman.
Biorn of the fiery eyes was appropriately named by Fouqué; for the
_Landnama-bok_ shows forty-two Biorns, and the name is still common in
Norway and Iceland, where also are found still, as man’s names, Bersi
and Besse, also titles of the bear, and Bera by way of feminine.
Bjornhedinn is also northern, and there are numerous varieties of
compounds, one of them rather of late date being Bjornstern, bear-star,
probably in reference to the Pole-star. One of the present authors in
Norway bears the fierce name of Bjornsternja Bjornsen.
The most famous of all the bears is, however, of Frank growth. Some have
tried to resolve it into Bairn-heart, child-hearted; but though _barn_
is of most ancient lineage, found even in Ulfilas’s Gospels, all analogy
is against the interpretation; and there can be no doubt that when the
first historical Biornhard was named, his parents would much have
preferred his having the resolution of a bear rather than the heart of a
child.
That first was an uncle of Charlemagne, and from him it was that the
mountain, erst of Jupiter, was termed of Bernard, even before a second
Bernard, surnamed De Menthon, fled from his home for love of a monastic
life, and erected his noble hospice for the reception of travellers.
Then came further glory to the name through the Cistercian monk, whose
pure character was revered by all in the thirteenth century, until his
became a universal name throughout Europe; in Ireland absorbing the
native Brian. In Spain, too, Bernardo del Carpio is a great legendary
champion, nephew to king Alfonso II. of Leon, and who, in the battle of
Roncevalles, was said to have squeezed Roland the paladin to death in
his arms. Bernal Diaz is the simple-hearted chronicler of Cortes.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ Italian. │ Spanish. │
│Bernard │Bernard │Bernardo │Bernardo │
│Barnard │Bernadin │Bernadino │Bernal │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Portuguese. │ Wallachian │ German. │ Dutch. │
│Bernaldo │Bernardu │Bernhard │Bernhart │
│Bernadim │ │Berend │Barend │
│ │ │Benno │Barndt │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Frisian. │ Lusatian. │ Lettish. │ Esth. │
│Bernd │Bernat │Berents │Pero │
│ ———————— │ ———————— │Berns │Perent │
│ Slovak. │ Hungarian. │ │ │
│Bernardek │Bernät │ │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
It has the German feminine Bernhardine. The Irish Bryan adopts Bernard
as his English synonym.
Other less celebrated German forms are Bernwald; the French, Berault;
and Italian, Bernaldo. Berwart, abbot of Hildesheim; Bernclo, the
Bavarian bear’s claw; Berner, and many others where _bern_ or _pern_
ends the word.
Bahrend, Berndt, Behr, Behring, all are surnames from the bear in
Germany, and the last very appropriately named Behring’s Straits. It is
the same that came to England as Baring.[123]
-----
Footnote 123:
Munch; Lappenburg; Pott; Michaelis; Butler.
SECTION V.—_The Horse._
No sacred animal was in more request than the horse. The gods had their
wonderful horses. Sleipner (the Slider) was the eight-footed steed of
Odin; Gullfaxi, or gold mane, belonged to the giant Hrimgrim; and the
shining-maned and hoary-maned coursers of day and night have been
already mentioned.
The eastern origin of the Teutons was never more shown than by their
homage to horses. Beautiful and choice white steeds were reserved for
the gods, drawing the waggons that conveyed the images, when the army
went out to battle, or a colony migrated; and omens were derived from
their neighings when alive, and from their heads when killed in
sacrifice. Great sacrifices of horses were made on solemn occasions, and
feasts were made upon their flesh as a religious rite, so that the
abstaining from horse-flesh became absolutely a test of Christianity.
The horse was the national emblem of the Saxons; and Henghist and Horsa
are both old Teuton names for the animal, the first surviving in the
German _hengst_ and northern _hest_, the last in our ordinary word
_horse_: while the High German _hross_ has fallen into the modern
_ross_. White horses cut out in the chalky hill-sides of southern
England from time immemorial, attest the antiquity of the symbol still
claimed by the county of Kent, and by the Anglian-Continental kingdom of
Hanover.
In the old poem of _Beowulf_, however, Hengist is a Dane, invading and
oppressing Finn of Friesland, and afterwards slain. It is possible,
then, that Hengist may after all be a mere mythic name erected into an
ancestor by the Kentish monarchs. Some have tried to derive _hross_ from
_horen_, to hear or obey, in honour of the noble creature’s obedience;
but it is in fact only another form of the _ashva_ of India, to which
ἵππος, _equus_, and the Keltic _each_ have been traced; and it is
curious to find that Brittany preserves the word _ronse_, as does Spain
_ronzin_, the term that Don Quixote magnified into the magnificent
designation of Rosinante.
The nation that sat round their cauldrons and feasted solemnly on
horse-flesh might well call their sons Rossketyl, or Rosskjell. Three
are to be found in the _Landnama-bok_, and Roskil is not extinct in
Denmark. The agreeable title of Hrossbiorn, or horse-bear, is there to
be found likewise, and Saxo-Grammaticus dignifies as Rostiophus, a
gentleman who was properly called by the term of Hrossthiof, or
horse-thief.
Hrossbert formed into Rospert, Hroshelm into Roselm, Hrosmod into
Rosmund, Hrosswald, or horse-power, into Roswal, who was the hero of a
Scottish poem called _Roswal and Lilian_. He is the disinherited heir of
Naples; and, after a series of troubles, fights his way back to honour
and the hand of Lilian, the fair princess of Bealn.
The feminines Hrossmund, Hroswith, Hroshild, Hrosa, have by general
consent been changed from horses to roses, giving up the old idea of the
Valkyr on her tall shadowy horse, weaving her web of victory, and have
been treated of under the head of Latin flowers.
Hengst seems to have been used for the male, horse for the female; but
_jor_ in the North, _ehu_ in Old German, _ehvus_ in Gothic, meant both
horse and mare; and this _jor_, or sometimes only the _jo_, is not
uncommon in Norsk names, as Jogeir, Jofred, Jogrim, Jostein, or flower
of chivalry, Johar or Joar, horse warrior, Joketyll, or Jokell. The
women were, Jora, Jodis, Jofrid, Joreid, Jorunna, all, be it remembered,
being pronounced as with a _y_.
Afterwards Justin devoured Jostein, and George probably consumed some of
the others; indeed, some of the early specimens of Jordan among the
Normans, probably accommodated their names to the river in their
crusading fervour; but, _en revanche_, the great Gothic historian,
Jornandes, is supposed to have been so called by corruption from his
state name of Jordanes.
Jorund, which looks very like one of this race, is referable to another
source.
Probably in honour of Thor’s he-goats we find the goat figuring in
names, as Geitwald, Geithilt, and the wife of Robert Guiscard,
Sichelgaita.[124]
-----
Footnote 124:
Grimm; Munter; Munch; Dasent; Cambro-Briton; Blackwell, Mallet; Weber
and Jamieson, _Northern Romance_; Sturleson, _Heimskringla_; Kemble
_Beowulf_; Ellis, _Specimens of Early English Poetry_; Pott, _Personen
Namen_.
SECTION VI.—_The Eagle._
‘There is an eagle sitting on the ash Yggdrasil who knows many things.’
He is, in the North, _aar_, in Germany _ar_, in Scotland _erne_: though
we and the modern Germans use, in _eagle_ and _adler_, mere contractions
of the Latin _aquila_. Places named from the king of birds are found
wherever there are mountains.
His influence on nomenclature was exercised from the Dovrefeld and from
the Alps, for the eagle-names are chiefly either Scandinavian or High
German; we do not seem to have any native English ones.
The most noted of these southern ones are Arnwald, eagle power, and
Arnulf, or eagle-wolf, and it is very difficult to distinguish their
derivatives from one another. The saint of the Roman calendar was
certainly Arnulf, a prince of the long-haired line, who in 614 retired
into a convent at Metz, and became its bishop, when alive, and its
patron, when dead. Another previous Arnulf, after whom he was probably
christened, for their day is the same, was martyred by the heathen
Franks, about the time of the conversion of Clovis; and a subsequent one
was bishop of Soissons, under Pope Hildebrand. Arnoul was common as a
name among the Burgundian kings, and was known in Italy as Arnolfo; but
it has been swallowed up by Arnwald, or Arnvalldr, as he is in the
North, perhaps because this latter was made famous in Provence by
Arnaldo di Maraviglia, the troubadour; in Italy by the unfortunate
Arnoldo of Brescia, and later in Switzerland by the patriot Arnold von
Melchthal, and thus it has become popular enough to have the feminines
Arnolde and Arnoldine.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ Italian. │ Spanish. │
│Arnold │Arnaud │Arnoldo │Arnoldo │
│ │Arnaut │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ German. │ Dutch. │ North. │ │
│Arnold │Arnoldus │Arnvalld │ │
│Arno │Arnoud │Arnalldr │ │
│Ahrent │Arend │ │ │
│Ahrens │ │ │ │
│Arold │ │ │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
The Arnolds and Arnoldines keep their feast upon St. Arnulf’s day, thus
confessing that they have no patron of their own. Ernulf is an old form
found in Domesday Book, and not yet quite extinct.
The northern eagles are much confused by _arin_, a hearth, the same
which is found at the end of Thorarin. It contracts into _arn_ at the
beginning of a word, so that, except when we meet with it in full, as in
the case of the brave old sea-king, Arinbiorn, the hearth-bear, it is
difficult to tell to which to send the owner, to the _eyrie_ or the
_fire-side_. And further, _arn_ and _arin_ both contract
indiscriminately into _ar_ and _an_, so that the list of Northern names
is given rather in the dark. They are both masculine and feminine, for
Arna was both used standing alone and as a termination.
Arnridur or Arneidur, eagle haste, one of these eagle ladies, had a
curious history told in the _Landnama-bok_. She was the daughter of
Asbiorn, a jarl in the Hebrides, and was taken captive by Holmfast
Vedormson, who sold her to an Icelander named Ketell Thrymr. He was so
much smitten with her as to pay for her twice the sum demanded by old
Vedorm; but before the departure for Iceland, she found a quantity of
silver beneath the roots of a tree, sufficient for her ransom. Instead
of claiming it, her new master generously gave her the choice of
purchasing her freedom or remaining his wife; she chose the latter
alternative, and stands as honourable women do in the _Landnama-bok_, as
the mother of a house in Iceland.
Arnthor, and his feminine Arnthora, contract into Arnor and Arnora, and
this latter explains Annora, to be found in Norman pedigrees. Annora was
wife of Bernard de St. Valery; and was carried into the family of Braose
by king John’s victim, Maude de St. Valery, who called one of her
daughters Annora. It is also said that Anora is only the contraction of
Eleanora.
Ari was an adventurer who sailed to Greenland in fourteen days, fifteen
years before the preaching of Christianity in Iceland.
The other old Icelandic and Norsk forms are:—
Arnbiorg, eagle defence;
Arndis, eagle sprite;
Arnfinn, white eagle;
Arnfridur, eagle fair one;
Arngeir, eagle war;
Arngrimm, } or Angrim,
Arngrimur, } eagle mask;
Arnkatla, } eagle cauldron;
Arnkjell, }
Arnlaug, eagle liquor;
Arnleif, eagle relic;
Arnliotr, eagle wanderer;
Arnmodur } eagle wrath;
or Armodr,}}
Arnstein, eagle stone;
Arnthrudr, eagle maiden.
This Ari, be he eagle or hearth, seems to conduct us to the source of
the first syllable of Arabella. The first lady so called, whom I can
detect, was Arabella, the granddaughter of William the Lion, of
Scotland, who married Robert de Quinci. Another Arabella, with her
husband John de Montpynçon, held the manor of Magdalen Laver in the
thirty-ninth of Henry III., and thus it was evidently a Norman name. The
Normans made wild work with all that did not sound like French, and
their Latin secretaries made the matter worse, so that I am much tempted
to believe that both Arabella and that other perplexing name, Annabella,
may once have been Arnhilda, cut down into Arbell, or Anable, and then
amplified. “My Lady Arbell” was certainly what the lady was called, in
her own time, whose misfortunes are so well known to us, under the name
of Arabella Stuart, and from whom Arabella has been adopted in various
families, and is usually contracted by Belle. Some have made it
Arabella, or fair altar, others the diminutive of Arab, both equally
improbable.
The most common form of Arn at present used in Scandinavia is Arnvid,
the eagle of the wood, often contracted into Arve.
With much doubt I question whether the name of Ernest should not be
added to this catalogue. It is obvious to take its native German form,
Ernst, from _ernst_, earnest, grave, or serious, but this is quite
unlike the usual analogy of such names. Arnust was the older German form
of the name, and some even think that this was the proper name of
Ariovistus, the German chief who fought with Cæsar, though others
consider this to be Cæsar’s version of Heerfurst, or general, and others
think they detect the universal root _ar_, husbandry.
The more certain form of the name begins in Lombardy, where Ernesto,
lord of Este, was killed in battle by kinFg Astolfo, in 752. Is not
Ernesto just what Italy would make of Arnstein, after fancying that
Arnstino was a diminutive? Then, over the mountains, comes Arnust I.,
duke of Swabia, in right of his wife, in 1012, and Arnust the Strenuous,
Markgraff of Austria, from whom Ernst spread all over Germany,
especially after the Reformation, when Ernst, Duke of Brunswick, had
striven so hard to spread Lutheranism among his subjects that
Protestants called him the Confessor.
This is now one of the most national of German names, and it is working
its way into England, though not yet with a naturalized sound. Its
German feminine, Ernestine, is one of the many contracted by Stine and
Tine, or by Erna. Bohemian has Arnostinka.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ Italian. │ German. │
│Ernest │Erneste │Ernesto │Ernst │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Dutch. │ Bohemian. │ Lettish. │ Hungarian. │
│Ernestus │Arnost │Ernests │Erneszt │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
One or two instances of Hauk occur. Hauk Habrok was a noted pirate; and
there are two Haukrs in the _Landnama-bok_. The bird is now called _hog_
in Denmark, and most of our families named Hogg are supposed to rejoice
in Hawk as an ancestor.
As to Folco and his kin, though it is often attributed to the falcon, it
has, as we shall see, quite another source.[125]
-----
Footnote 125:
Grimm; Munch; Pott; Michaelis; Butler; _Landnama-bok_; Chalmers;
_Essex Pedigrees_; Dugdale; Anderson, _Genealogies_.
SECTION VII.—_The Raven._
Ferocious and predatory nations love and admire even the raven that
scents slaughter from afar, and is the comrade and emblem of the
battle-field. So as Oreb and Zeeb were among the Bedouin desolators of
Israel, Hraben and Ulf were among the wasters of Christendom.
Two ravens, Mind and Memory, go forth throughout the world, then
returning and perching on Odin’s shoulders, reveal to him all that
passes on the earth.
The raven seems to have been the special mark of Odin, and sometimes
used for Thor; for amulets have been found in Sweden and Denmark, where
a raven flies before the mounted figure of Odin, and again is seen in
company with the hammer of Thor. And who does not know the raven banner
of the sons of Ragnar, denoting probably their family _dis_, which
flapped its wings before victory and drooped them before defeat?
No wonder, then, that the raven has left traces in the nomenclature of
Teutonic Europe, though it is not always easy to distinguish its progeny
from those of _ragn_, judgment, and _rand_, a house.
The raven, in his harshest croak, entitled the Frank sovereign Chramne,
who is hard to recognize as the near kinsman of the sixteen Rafns of the
_Landnama-bok_, and Rabanus Maurus, the Latinism of the learned
archbishop of Mainz of the ninth century.
Hrafenhilldur, a suitable title for a Valkyr, and Hrafenkell also figure
in the _Landnama-bok_, and in Domesday stand Ravengar and Ravenswar,
showing the transition from the _gjer_, or spear, down to our word war.
Rafnulf is northern, but has been mixed up with the derivatives of
Randolf. Rambert, successor of St. Ansgar, in Holstein, was a bright
raven, Rampold a raven prince, and the Italian form Ramusio may be
another variety; but in general the raven comes at the end of words as
in Wolfram, Valdraban, Bertram, &c.
SECTION VIII.—_The Swan._
The swan might well figure prominently in the northern mythology,
familiar as she was, as the fair creature of the autumn, when huge
squadrons of the whistling swan fly southwards, athwart the darkened
heavens and pine forests, making the air resound with the solemn beat of
their heavy wings, and their deep peculiar cry.
Two swans, parents of all those who dwell on earth, had their home in
the holy spring of Urd, beneath the world-tree, Yggdrasil; and the power
and fierceness of these magnificent, pure, calm-looking birds connected
them with the Valkyrer, who were supposed to have swan wings, and to be
able to change themselves into swans. When the Valkyrier began to pass
into mere magic ladies, they preserved their power of changing into
swans, and by-and-by had swan garments, which they put off when they
wished to assume human shapes, and which were now and then captured by
some happy mortal, who thus won the owner for his bride. Swanhvit, or
Swan white, was thus the suitable name of one of the three Valkyrier who
married the sons of Vidja in the Vilkina Saga.
The swan transformations appear again in the beautiful tale, common to
all Teutonic countries, of the twelve princes transformed into swans,
and of the faithful sister who redeemed them by the nettle shirts that
she wove, ever in silence, through every vicissitude of life even to the
verge of death.
Svana is an Icelandic name, also Svanlaug, a swan ocean, which has
contracted to Svallaug. Svanhild was used both by Norway and Germany,
being Swanahilda in the latter, and Svanaburg and Swangarde were also
there; but it is strange that so pretty a word for a white-skinned
maiden should not have been more frequent. The Erse Gelges imitates the
sense, but we have no English swan ladies, for Swanhals was only the
epithet of the often commemorated lady, who is said to have discovered
the corpse of Harold of Hastings.
For the most part, the swans were left to womankind; but the Germans had
a Swanbrecht and Swanahold.
SECTION IX.—_The Serpent._
Either from terror, or from a shadowy remembrance of the original
temptation, the implanted enmity between the serpent and man has often
resulted in a species of worship.
The North believed in the Jörmungandr, or Midgardsorm, the serpent that
encircled the world and was one of the monstrous progeny of Loki.
And even till late in the seventh century the Lombards had a golden
image of an enormous viper to which they sacrificed, until St. Barbatus
recovered them from the heathenism into which they had relapsed.
One species of ship among the Northmen was called serpent. It was long
and low, with the gilded head of a dragon at the prow, a long tail
raised and curling over the stern, while with coloured shields ranged
along the sides, and thirty oars on either side propelling it, besides
the winged sails, it must have been more like a water-dragon than any
creature that has ploughed the waves since the Plesiosaurus, and this
probably accounts for the prevalence of the name of Orm among the
northern nations.
Twenty-two Ormrs appear in the _Landnama-bok_; Orm and Ormar (_Ger._
Wurmhar) are both in Domesday. Orm was the founder of the Scottish house
of Abernethy. Homer was considered, by the Danes of the middle ages, as
the translation into Latin of the name of Ormr.
Ormilda is likewise a northern name, and it is not quite impossible that
Ophelia may have been a translation of one of these serpent-names by the
Greek ὄφις (ophis); at any rate the fair Ophelia shows no precedents for
her name, and no other derivation for it occurs. The gentle maiden, with
her most touching fate, is altogether an invention of Shakespeare, for
though a woman appears in the old story of Amleth, she is of far other
mould, and Ophelia may have been merely devised by himself. If so it is
curious that he should have placed her in the chief land of serpentine
names. A few lovers of its sound have used it in England and America.
_Lind_ is another term for a serpent. The German dragons are always
called _lindwurmer_, and the word is, in fact, the same as that which we
still use as _lithe_, expressing supple grace; the adjective _linths_
becoming, on the one side _lind_, on the other _lithe_. The Spaniards
use _lindo_, _linda_, for pretty, with about the same difference of
sense, in the masculine or feminine, as we do when we speak of a pretty
woman, or a pretty man. Norse poetry considered it a compliment to
compare a gaily dressed lady to a glistening serpent, and thus the idea
seems to have passed from the reptile to the woman, so that, though the
German Lintrude is the only instance of a commencing _lind_, the word is
one of the most common of all terminations among German and Italian
names, and dropping its _d_, so as to become _linn_, was made to serve
as a favourite feminine diminutive, its relation to the Spanish _linda_,
fair, keeping up its reputation. Thus we have Rosalind, or Rosaline,
Ethelind, and many more of the same kind.[126]
-----
Footnote 126:
Munch; Mallet; Grimm; Chalmers; Laing.
SECTION X.—_Kettle._
Among mythological objects the kettle or cauldron can hardly be omitted;
certainly the very quaintest of human names, but perhaps referring
originally to the cauldron of creation, and afterwards to the
sacrificial cauldrons that boiled the flesh of the victims at the great
_blots_ or sacrifices.
In the North, the vessel is _ketil_; in old German, _chezil_; in
English, _cytel_; but the names from it seem to be almost entirely
northern, though the cauldron is certainly the _olla_, so common a
bearing in Spanish heraldry, and there at present regarded as the token
of a large following, beneficently fed, somewhat in the same spirit as
that in which the Janissaries used a camp kettle as their ensign.
Ketyl was the Norwegian conqueror of the Hebrides, and founder of the
line of Jarls, of the Western Isles; and the family of Ketyl was very
famous in Iceland, holding in honour an ancestor called Ketyl Hæng, from
_hæng_, a bull trout; because when his father asked what he had been
doing, he answered, “I am not going to make a long story of every fish I
see leap; but true it is, that I chopped a bull trout asunder in the
middle,” which trout turned out to be a great dragon.
Katla was Ketyl’s feminine, and not uncommon. The Eyrbiggia Saga tells
wonderful stories of a sorceress so called, who, when her son was in
danger from his enemies, made him appear first like a distaff, then like
a tame kid, and, lastly, like a hog, but all in vain, for her spells
were disconcerted by a rival sorceress, and she herself stoned to death.
Ketel does not often stand at the beginning of a word; but Ketelbiorn
and Ketelridur are both Iceland names, and both the masculine and
feminine are very common terminations; the masculine being, however,
generally contracted into Kjel, and then into _kill_ or _kel_.[127]
SECTION XI.—_Weapon Names._
Weapons were so nearly divine, so full of the warlike temper of their
owners, and so often endowed with powers of their own, that it seemed as
if they themselves were living agents in the deeds wrought with them.
The sword forged by supernatural smiths, the terrific helmet, the
heavenly shield, are dreams of every warlike nation, either endowing the
Deity with the symbols of protection or wrath or of might, or carrying
on the tradition of some weapon which, either its own intrinsic
superiority or the prowess of its owner, had made an object of
enthusiasm or of terror.
Some of these tales of magic weapons are perhaps, as Mr. Campbell
suggests, remnants of the days when the iron age was coming in, and the
mass of arms being of brass, one iron sword, “a sword of light,” as
Gaelic tales call it, would have given irresistible superiority to its
wielder, and even, perhaps, earned the worship that was paid by Attila’s
Huns to the naked sword.
It accords with this theory that Iron appears as a component part of
numerous names in Germany, and probably likewise in Scandinavia, though
there the similarity of the sound to _Iis_, ice, occasions a doubt
whether the word was intended for ice, or for iron. The North has,
indeed, the cold but not inappropriate Snæulf and Snæbiorn, Snæfrid,
snow peace, and even the uncomfortable Snælaug; and when their language
had dropped the form _eisarn_ for the metal, and called it _jern_, as we
do iron, they probably transferred to ice the meaning of the names that
once meant iron.
Isa is an old German feminine. Isambart, or iron splendour, is the best
known of all the varieties, having been used in France as Ysambar, and
travelled to England as the suitable baptismal name of the two
engineers, to whom so much of our ‘iron splendour’ is due. Its German
contractions are Isabert and Isbert.
┌────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Nor. Isgeir; Ger. Isegar, Isgar—Iron spear │
│ Nor. Isbrand; Ger. Isebrand—Iron sword │
│ Ger. Isebald; Fr. Isambaus—Iron prince │
│ Nor. Iarngard; Ger. Isengard—Iron defence │
│ Ger. Isenhard—Iron strong │
│ Nor. Isrid—Iron vehemence │
│ Nor. Isulf—Iron wolf │
│ Nor. Ising—Son of iron │
└────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Steel or Staale, likewise had one name from it in the North, and,
perhaps, likewise named even the historical Stilicho of barbarous birth,
but the sole hope of Rome in her final fall.
But the stone of the elder age was not forgotten; the stone that at all
times is the readiest weapon, and often the mark of the place honoured
by conflict. To say nothing of the Seax, whether stone or stone knife of
our ancestral Seaxnot, we find the North using the word Stein, both
alone and as a prefix and suffix; while in England, though it is not
very frequent, we have it in the honoured names of Athelstan and
Wulstan.
Norwegian
Stein, }
Sten (_Dan._), } stone.
Steinarna, stone eagle.
Steinbjorn, stone bear.
Steinfinn, white stone.
Steingrimm, stone helmet.
Steinhar, } stone warrior.
Steinar, }
Steinthor, } stone of Thor.
Steindor, }
Steinulf, stone wolf. Steinvar, stone prudence.
Another old word for stone is _hall_, much used in the North; and in a
few cases, such as that of the Scottish Halbert, or Hobbie, creeping to
our island with its Danish invaders; but except in this, and a few
surnames, unknown away from the North, save for the Hallar, or stone
warrior, of Germany.
The northern varieties, however, had much reputation in their own
country. Hallgerda is in the Njal Saga the haughty wife of Gunnar, of
Lithend, the dame whose virulence is the cause of all the vengeance and
counter-vengeance of the story.
Hallbiorg, stone protection.
Halldis, stone spirit.
Hallfrid, stone fair.
Hallgerd, stone fence.
Hallgeir, stone spear.
Hallgrim, }stone helmet.
Hallgrima,}
Hallkell, }stone kettle.
Halkatla, }
Hallmund, stone protection.
Hallthor, }
Haldor, }stone of Thor.
Haldora, }
Hallvard, }stone guard.
Halvor, }
_Grjot_, in German _gries_, is another word for a stone. It was not so
common as the others; but there was both a masculine and feminine
Grjotgard, who in Denmark were rendered, the one into Gregorius, the
other into Margarethe. The English lady, Græsia de Bruere (_temp._ Henry
III.), must have been named from _gries_, a stone.
So too was Gries-hilda—Stone battle maid. Griselda was the perfectly
patient wife whose tale was told by Boccaccio, and narrated by Petrarch
to Chaucer, who told it in his own way. The Scots seem to have been
peculiarly delighted with the lady Griselidis—and Grizell or Grisell
acquired fresh honour with Lady Grisell Baillie. Grizzie or Girzie are
the contractions, and there is a Grisley in the register of Madran,
Cornwall, dated 1662.
Though in general Borg, or Bjorg, is used to mean protection, yet
Bergstein is most probably a mountain stone, and it curiously answers to
two names of noted ecclesiastics from Somersetshire, whose first
syllable Dun is a hill; the same with our present word _down_, and the
_dunes_ on the other side of the Channel, where Dunkirk answers to our
Dunchurch. The word is probably the Keltic _don_, dark brown, grey, or
dun, used as the epithet of a hill, and lasting on like other Keltic
local titles in the _dunum_ of the Romans and the _dun_ of the Teutons.
The two Somerset Duns are the hill-wolf, Dunulf, who is said by one of
the traditions that ought to be true, to have been the swineherd whose
cakes King Alfred burnt, and to have been afterwards made by him bishop
of Winchester, which a Dunulf certainly was. The other was Dunstan, the
mighty ascetic Abbot of Glastonbury and Archbishop of Canterbury, whose
career, between wisdom and devotion, frenzy and sternness, is one of the
least explicable studies of history.
His place in the calendar has given this rugged mountain stone a few
namesakes.
There is a race of names, chiefly German, beginning with _hun_, that it
would seem natural to ascribe to the Huns of Attila; but the original
term for this race seems to have been in their own language Hiognu, and
was retained in the pronunciation by other nations before writing and
Latin had made the word Hun. In old Germanic poems, the Huns figure as
giants or Titans, so that some translate, _huni_, or _hiune_, as a
giant. The word _hun_, however, also means a stake, and it is most
according to the ordinary analogy of nomenclature to suppose the names
thus commencing were used in the sense of a stake, meaning either the
weapon or that the bearer was strong and straight as a stake or a
support, like the staff in Gustav.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ Italian. │ German. │
│Humfrey │Onfroi │Onufrio │Humfrid │
│Humphrey │ │Onofredo │ │
│Humps │ │ │ │
│Numps │ │ │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
The names of this commencement are Huno, Hunnerich, latterly lost in
Heinrich, Hunold, the French Hunaud, Hunibert, which was corrupted in
France into Humbert, and belonged to various counts of Savoy and
dauphins of Auvergne, Hunigar, in Hungeir and Hunifred, which the French
much affected in the form of Onfroi, which belonged to one of the
short-lived kings of Jerusalem, and was Latinized as Onuphrius. In the
form of Humfrey it was much used by the great house of Bohun; and
through his mother, their heiress, descended to the ill-fated son of
Henry IV., who has left it an open question whether dining with Duke
Humfrey alludes to the report that he was starved to death, or to the
Elizabethan habit for poor gentility to beguile the dinner-hour by a
promenade near the tomb of Duke Humfrey Stafford in old St. Paul’s. From
being a noble and knightly name, Humphrey, as we barbarously spell it,
came to be a peasant’s appellation, and now is almost disused.
The northern Hundolf, or Hunnolf, and Hungerdur, are in some doubt
between the dog and the stake.
The helmet is the most popular piece of armour in Germany. It comes from
the word meaning to cover, the very same that furnished _hol_, whole,
hale, and holy. To _heal_ a wound is to cover it, and health is
soundness. The Teutonic languages teem with derivatives from _hulyan_
and _helan_, of which all that shall be here mentioned are our own;
heel, the covered part of the foot, the hold of a ship, its hull, and
the provincial hulls (chaff), and hillier (a slater).
The Latin _galea_ was nearly related to the _helm_ of the German, and
may be from the same source. Indeed, it is, as has been said before,
doubtful whether Galeazzo Visconti was the offspring of a classical or
of a Gothic helmet. The only popular northern helmet is Hjalmar, the
helmed warrior, apparently in honour of one of the heroes of the Orvarod
Saga; but Germany has Helmar, Helmerich, in Friesland Elmark, the helmed
king, Helmund, or helmet protection, Helmbold, Helmut, Helmich, Helmtac;
besides numerous _helms_ at the end of words, of which Wilhelm is the
most notable.
The sword figures in northern and German nomenclature as Brand; but not
from the verb _to burn_, but from _brandr_, an elastic staff,
transferred to the blade of a sword. It would also mean the staff of a
bow, and a short straight stripe of colour, whence a cow so marked is
_brandet_ in the north, branded with us. The Brands are many, with
German and Frank commencements, such as Hildeprant, Liutprant, &c., but
seldom common; though Brand sometimes stands alone in the North, and
Brandolf, or sword wolf, is an old name. Perhaps the Zetland Brenda may
be the feminine.
Degen, a blade, is another sword name of rarer use, and exclusively
German. It also is compounded into Degenhard, then contracted into
Deinhard; but the primary meaning is the hero, as it comes from the same
word as _tugend_, virtue or valour.
Another very old term for a sword was _hjøru_, or _hiru_, in the North;
_hairu_, _heru_, in the Gothic; _heoru_, in Anglo-Saxon. Here we see
that the Heruli and Cheruschi, as the Romans called them, were both
sword men. Heoruvard, or Hereward the Saxon, was the sword guardian;
Heorugar answered to the northern Hjørgeir; there was a Gothic
Hairuwolf, or Heruwolf; in the North, Hiørulf, Hiørleif, and Hiørdis
also occur; but the syllable gets contracted into Her, and the names are
not easily distinguished from those beginning with _her_, a warrior.
Hjaraande is another northern form.
Boge, the bow, is sparsely found alone, and as Bauggisel in Iceland, and
now and then in Norway at the end of a name. Bogo was Old German, and
the surnames in Denmark Bugge, in England Bogue. But its English fame
rests upon a champion called Bogo, who was supposed by our ancestors to
have been Earl of Southampton at the time of the Norman Conquest; to
have fought a battle with the invaders at Cardiff, and to have left his
sword as a relic at Arundel Castle. Whether this ever occurred or not,
Boge was rendered by Norman tongues into Bevis, or Beavois, and was the
subject of an old metrical romance, where his great exploit is killing
the tremendous giant Ascapart, who had carried off his wife, the
converted Saracen princess Josyan. He lives to a good old age, sees his
twin sons kings, and dies happily on the same day as his wife and his
good horse Arundel, once doubtless Hirondelle, or the swallow.
His fame travelled to Italy, where Buovo d'Antona is accepted as one of
the heroes of romance, though he stands alone, not fitting into any of
the cycles. The etymologists of Elizabeth’s time were led by the form
Beavois, in which they spelt the word, to imagine that it was
Bellovisus, beautiful to behold. But if ‘Bevis of Hampton’ was anybody,
he was an Anglo-Danish ‘Bow,’ or Boge, a word which, like bay, bough,
and boughsome or buxom, comes from _bygan_, to bend.
The spear and the breastplate, Geir and Brune, will be mentioned in the
next chapter. The shield is now and then found in the North, as Skialde,
Skioldbjorn, Skiolulf, and Skioldvar, shield bear, wolf, and, more
appropriately, shield caution. The shield wolf is capable of being
contracted into Schelluf.
_Saro_, _saru_, _searu_, is the entire equipment or suit of armour;
Sørle is a Norwegian name for it, contracted into Solle; and among the
Normans was called Serlo, and considered to be the same with Saher.
If there were plenty of weapons, there was also balsam to heal their
wounds; that is, if the northern names beginning with _Sölv_ are rightly
referred to salve, the same word in the North as with us. The _v_ has
for the most part been left out by pronunciation, but the dotted _o_
remains to testify that Sölmund, or Saamund, has no connection with Sol,
the sun, as little as with Solomon, by which the Danish bishops rendered
it. Solveig, healing drink, is now Solva, and Sölvar is Sölvi.[128]
-----
Footnote 127:
Grimm; Munch; Dasent; _Int. to Nial Saga_; Weber and Jamieson; Spanish
Heraldry (_Quarterly Review_).
Footnote 128:
Munch; Michaelis; Ellis; Campbell; Montalembert.
SECTION XII.—_Thought._
Mind or thought amounts to a mythical character in northern fancy. The
word is _hugr_, the same with _hu_, still the Scandinavian word for
thought, as _heuge_ is in Holland, all coming from old verbs represented
by the Mæso-Gothic _gahugan_, and Anglo-Saxon _gehygan_.
The two ravens who sat on Odin’s shoulders, and revealed to him all that
passed in the world, were Huginn and Munninn, thought and memory; and
when Thor made his famous visit to Utgard, it was Hugi, or thought,
alone that was swift enough to outstrip him in the race. At Tours, the
Northern Lights are _le carrosse du roi Hugues_, perhaps originally from
some connection with speed of thought, though latterly mixed up with
Hugues Capet.
The name has been much used by all the Teutons, and it was not
inappropriately chosen by Fouqué, as that of the old knight in the
_Magic ring_, whose character he has sacrificed for the sake of making
him the representative parent of all the chivalry of Europe, except the
English, which he considers as independently typified by Richard Cœur de
Lion. This roving knight appears at home as Hugo; Hugur in the North;
Hugues, in France; Uguccione, in Italy; and even as Hygies, in Greece,
which last is, however, only a resemblance, not a translation.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ Scottish. │ Gaelic. │ French. │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│Hugh │Hugh │Uisdean. │Hugues │
│Hugo │Hughie │ │Hues │
│Hutchin │Hutcheon │ │Huon │
│ │ │ │Huet │
│ │ │ │Hugolin │
│ │ │ │Huguenin │
│ │ │ │Ugues │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Provençal. │ Italian. │ German. │ Norwegian. │
│Oc │Ugo │Hugo │Hugr │
│ │Ugolino │ │Hugi │
│ │Ugone │ │ │
│ │Ugotto │ │ │
│ │Uguccione │ │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
Part of the popularity of the name was, no doubt, owing to the Cymric
countries having adopted it as the nearest resemblance to the mighty Hu
Gadarn, from whom the national Hugh of Wales almost certainly sprung. A
Frank saint, Archbishop of Rouen, and one of the many canonized cousins
of Pepin, first made Hugo current among his own race; but the only
person who wore it on the throne was the Gallican Count of Paris, who
may have had it as a compromise between the Cymric Hu and Frank Hugr; at
any rate, it was long spelt without the _g_ in France, and declined as
Hues, Huon. The old Cambrai form was Huet, with the feminine Huette.
Hugo is very frequent in Domesday Book, and the name was much more
common in earlier times than at present. In Scotland and Ireland it has
been pressed into the service of Anglicizing the native Aodh, or fire;
but the Gaelic name Uisdean, pronounced something like ocean, is most
likely intended as a rendering of Hutcheon, the form in which the Scots
caught the Hugon of their Anglo-Norman neighbours, who revered the name
doubly for the sake of the good bishop of Lincoln, and for another St.
Hugh of Lincoln, _i.e._ the child murdered by the Jews, as in the
_Prioress’s Tale_ in Chaucer. St. Hugh of Lincoln is revered in the
north of Italy as well as at home; and Ugo is common there in all manner
of varieties, the most memorable, perhaps, being that of the terrible
Genoese, Ugolino de Gherardesca, whose fearful fate has been rendered
famous by Dante. In Dutch, it is Huig. Huig Groot was the home name of
the author whom the world hailed as Hugo Grotius, and the Walloons use
the contraction Hosch.
Hyge was the Low German form, and Hygelac is the sea-king of the Geats,
the friend and lord in the poem of _Beowulf_. The latter syllable _lac_
is the northern _leik_, and Gothic _laiks_, signifying both reward and
sport, the same word that in some parts of England has become _lake_,
meaning to play or to be idle, and in slang, to _lark_. It is rather a
favourite termination, but only a commencement in the Norse feminine
Leikny, fresh sport.
Hygelac is thus the sport of thought, or it may be, the reward of
thought. Hugoleik was thus not an inappropriate name for an old Frank
chronicler, who has had the misfortune to descend to the world by the
horrible Latinism of Chochilaicus. Hugleik was current in Norway, was
transformed by the Danes into Hauleik and Hovleik, and in Ireland seems
to have turned into Ulic, a favourite name, but latterly transmogrified
into Ulysses.
Hugibert, or bright mind, belonged to the bishop of Liege, to whom
attached the Teutonic story of the hunter’s conversion by the
cross-bearing stag, making him the patron of hunters, and his name very
popular in France, Flanders, northern Italy, and probably once in
England, since it has left us the two surnames of Hubbard and Hobart.
┌────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ Italian. │Portuguese. │ German. │
│Hubert │Hubert │Uberto │Huberto │Hucpraht │
│ │ │ │ │Hugibert │
│ │ │ │ │Hubert │
└────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┘
It used to be wrongly translated bright of hue.
Hugibald became the German Hugbold and the Italian Ubaldo, the prince of
thought; Hugihard, or firm in mind, is the French Huard.
CHAPTER IV.
HEROIC NAMES OF THE NIBELUNG.
SECTION I.—_The Nibelung._
As the Greeks believed in the exploits of semi-divine heroes, a sort of
borderers between Olympus and the human race, so the Teutonic race had
its grand universal legends of beings rising above human nature, and
often embodying beliefs that once had attached to the gods themselves.
The great Teutonic legend, holding the same place as the deeds of
Hercules, Theseus, and the Argonauts did in Greece, or those of Fionn
with the Gael, is the story of the _Nibelung_. How old it may be is past
computation, but it was apparently common to the whole Gothic race,
since names connected with it come from Spain, Lombardy, and France:
fragments of the story are traceable in England and the Faroe Islands,
and the whole is told at length in Germany, Norway, and Denmark. Each of
these three latter countries claim vehemently to have originated the
romance, but there is little doubt that it was one of the original
imaginations of the entire race, and that each division moulded the
framework their own way, though with a general likeness.
Names of historical personages, probably called from its heroes, have
led many to suppose it exaggerated history; but each attempt to fit it
on to a real person has resulted in confusion, and led to the perception
that the actors are really mythical, and the localities, which chiefly
lie in Burgundian Germany, were only connected with it by that general
law which always finds a home for every heroic adventure.
The tale is begun by the Norwegian Volsunga Saga, and, about half way
through, it is taken up by the Danish Vilkina and Niflung Saga, and by
the German Nibelungenlied, and it is finished by numerous Danish ballads
and German tales, songs, and poems, with the sort of inconsistencies
always to be found in popular versions of ancient myths, but with the
same main incidents.
Nifelheim, the supposed abode of these heroes, is interpreted to be
_nebelwelt_, the world of mist, or cloudland, and there can be little
doubt that the heroes said to be descended from the mythic Vili, Vidga,
and Velint, are, in fact, fallen deities. Germany, however, turned
Nifelheim into the Netherlands, and placed the realm of Brynhild in
Iceland, and the scene of Aldrian’s and Gunter’s court at Wurms, the
centre of the Burgundians.
It is highly probable that the story is another form of the original
myth, with the same idea, carried through, of the early death of the
glorious victor, and of the revenge for his death, but only through a
universal slaughter in which all perish. But the whole has become
humanized, and the actors are men and not deities; and thus the allegory
is far less traceable.
The story, as it begins in the Volsunga Saga, relates that there were
three brothers, Fafner, Reginn, and Audvar, or Ottur, whose name is from
the same source as _øg_, awe, so that he may be another form of Œgir.
Transforming himself into the beast that bears his name, for the
convenience of catching himself a fish dinner, Ottur was killed, in this
shape, by Loki. The father and the other brothers insisted that, by way
of compensation, in the Teutonic fashion, Loki should fill the dead
otter’s skin with treasure, which he accomplished, but laid the treasure
under the curse, that it should do no good to its owner. Accordingly,
the amount excited the avarice of Fafner, and after murdering his
father, he transformed himself into a dragon, and kept watch over the
treasure, to prevent Reginn from obtaining it.[129]
-----
Footnote 129:
Lettsom, _Niebelung_; Weber and Jamieson; Koepper; Howitt, _Northern
Romance_; Grimm, _Deutsche Heldensagen_.
SECTION II.—_Sigurd._
_Sig_, or _siga_, means, in all Teutonic tongues, conquest; and the
Victor seems to have been a very old epithet for the Divinity. St.
Augustin speaks of a Gothic exclamation _Sihora armen_, which he
translates as Κύριε ἐλεήσον, and the first word of which evidently
answers to Ceadmon’s epithets for the Almighty, _Sigorafrea_,
_Sigorugod_, _Sigoracyning_.
Odin was called Sigfadir, or conquering father, and this accounts for
the later notion that the adventurer was called Sigge, and assumed the
divine appellation of Odin.
Thence the victorious god, conquering the serpent, yet afterwards dying,
whether he were originally meant for Odin himself, or for another form
of Baldur, sank into a human serpent-slayer, bearing the name of
victory—Sigward, perhaps originally, but varied into Sigufrit,
Siegfried, and Sigurd.
The main points in Siegfried’s story are that he was the son of Siegmund
the Volsung, and of Queen Sigelind; born, according to the _Book of
Heroes_, under the same circumstances as Perdita, in the _Winter’s
Tale_; put, by way of cradle, into a drinking-glass, and accidentally
thrown into the river, where he was picked up by the smith Mimir, and
educated by him. In the _Book of Heroes_ he is so strong that he caught
the lions in the woods and hung them over his castle wall by their
tails. Reginn incited him to fight with and slay the dragon, Fafner, and
obtain the treasure, including the tarn-cap of invisibility. Also, on
roasting and eating the heart of Fafner, he became able to understand
the language of the birds. And by a bath in the blood he was made
invulnerable, except where a leaf had unfortunately adhered to his skin,
between his shoulders, and given him, like Achilles and Diarmaid, a
mortal spot. His first discovery from the song of a bird was that Reginn
meant to murder him at once; he therefore forestalled his intentions,
and took possession of the fatal gift, thus incurring the curse. The
_Book of Heroes_ calls him Siegfried the horny, and introduces him at
the court of the German favourite, Theodoric, and the _Nibelungenlied_
separates the dragon from the treasure, and omits most of the marvellous
in the obtaining it.
His next exploit was the rescue and awakening of Brynhild; but he fell
into a magic state of oblivion as to all that had passed with her, when
he presented himself at the court of Wurms, and became the husband of
Gudrun, or Chriemhild, as a recompense for having, by means of his
tarn-cap, enabled Gunnar to overcome the resistance of Brynhilda
herself, and obliged her to become his submissive bride. Revelations
made by the two ladies, when in a passion, led to vengeance being
treacherously wreaked upon Siegfried, who was pierced in his vulnerable
spot while he was lying down on his face to drink from a fountain during
a hunting party in the forest. The remainder of the history is the
vengeance taken for his death; and the North further holds that his
child, Aslaug, was left the sole survivor of the race, and finally
married Ragner Lodbrog, whence her descendants always trace their
pedigree from Sigurdr Fafner’s bane.
His namesakes are well-nigh innumerable. There are nineteen in the
_Landnama-bok_; and Sigurdr swarms in the earlier Scandinavian royal
lines, being, perhaps, most remarkable in the person of King Sigurd the
Crusader of Norway.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ German. │ Bavarian. │
│Sigefrid │Sigefroi │Sigefrid │Sigl │
│Siward │Siffroi │Siegfried │ ————————— │
│Seaward │ ————————— │Sigfrid │ Norwegian. │
│Seaforth │ Italian. │Seifrid │Sigvard │
│Seyferth │Sigefredo │Sikko │Sigurdhr │
│ │Siffredo │Sicco │Siurd │
│ │ │Sigo │Sjul │
│ │ │ ————————— │Syvert │
│ │ │ Polish. │Syver │
│ │ │Sygfryd │Siewers │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
At the instance of the king of Sweden, our Edred had sent a missionary
named Sigefried, who is esteemed the apostle of Sweden, and gave a
Christian sanction to the serpent-slayer’s name, whence it has continued
extremely common there. The stout old Danish Earl Siward, the conqueror
of Macbeth, the same who had the bear’s ears and would only die upon his
feet, is an English version of the northern Sigurdr, and bore the name
that is now Seaward. Indeed Sæward is found among the kings of Essex in
616, and, in fact, that line have so many prefixes of _Sige_, that it is
likely that they thought themselves connected with Fafner’s bane. There
is a Sigefugel, or Sigewolf, in their descent from Odin, who may be
another form of Sigurd. Germany has made the feminine Sigfrida.
Some have considered the story to be chiefly Burgundian; and Sigmund,
conquering protection, the name of Sigurdr’s father, was that of the
first Catholic king of Burgundy, who was canonized both for the recovery
of his kingdom from Arianism, and for the severity of his penance, after
having killed his son, Sigeric, on a false stepdame’s calumny. His
relics were carried to Prague in the fourteenth century, and the effect
of the translation appeared at once in the name of the Bohemian-born
Emperor Sigismund, from whom this became European, and formed the
feminine Sigismunda. Gismonda is thus an old Lombardic feminine.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ Italian. │ German. │
│Sigismund │Sigismond │Sigismondo │Sigmund │
│Sæmund │ ————————— │Sismondo │Sigismund │
│ │Portuguese. │ │ │
│ │Sigismundo │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Norwegian. │ Polish. │ Illyrian. │ Hungarian. │
│Sigmund │Zygmunt │Sisman │Zsigmond │
│Sæmund │ ———————— │ │Zsiga │
│ │ Bohemian. │ │ │
│ │Zikmund │ │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
Some have imagined that the curious correspondence of names, when
Sigebert, the Frank, married Brynhild, the Goth, is a sign that the
_Nibelung_ referred to the Austrasian court; but the Frank Sigebert
would have been a very poor serpent-slayer, and, no doubt, only bore the
name as a remembrance of him, as did our East Saxon monarch Sæbert, and
the Spanish bishop Siseberto. It has lasted on in Germany and Friesland,
to be called Sizo, Sitto, Sibert, and Sidde, and is the English surname
Sebright. Sigelind, conquering snake, now and then used by German
ladies, has the Eastern-looking abbreviation Zelinde.
Sigridur, or conquering impulse, was a favourite among northern ladies.
Sigrid the haughty of Sweden, was wooed by King Olaf Trygvesson, and had
accepted him; but on her refusal to be baptized, he struck her on the
face with his glove, and said, ‘Why should I have thee, an old faded
jade, and a heathen to boot.’ She remembered his discourtesy against
him, and stirred up the war, which ended in his fatal battle with Earl
Sigvalddr. Sigrid is Sired in Domesday; in the North, she is shortened
into Sîri, and then Latinized as Serena.
Sigvalldur, conquering power, curiously ran into Sjovald, from whence we
take our surname Shovel, one of the many by which our naval commanders
are traceable to the vikings.
Sigeheri, Sigehere, Sighar, conquering warrior, is what on Norman lips
was Sagar, and then Saher, the hereditary name of the De Quincys, and as
a surname spelt Sayers.[130]
The other forms are,
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ North. │
│ Sigbiorg } │
│ Siborg } Conquering protection Ger. Sigburg │
│ Siber } │
│ │
│ German. English. Frisian. Italian. │
│ Sigebald │ Sibbald │ Sibold │ Sibaldo } Conquering │
│ │ │ Sibel │ } prince │
│ │
│ North. Sigbiorn; Eng. Siborne—Conquering bear │
│ │
│ German. Frisian. Spanish. │
│ Sigbod │ Sibot │ Sisebuto } │
│ │ Sibo │ } Messenger of victory │
│ │ Sibbe │ } │
│ │
│ Nor. German. Frisian. │
│ Sigbrand │ Sigbrand │ Sibrant } │
│ │ │ Sibbern } Conquering sword │
│ │
│ Nor. Sigfus—Conquering impetuosity │
│ │
│ German. English. Frisian. French. │
│ Sighard │ Sigehard │ Siard │ Sicard } Conquering │
│ Siegert │ │ Siade │ } firmness │
│ │
│ Ger. Sighelm—Conquering helmet │
│ Nor. Sighvatr—Conquering swiftness │
│ Nor. Sigmar; Ger. Sigmar—Conquering greatness │
│ Nor. Signy—Conquering freshness │
│ Ger. Sigrad—Conquering advice │
│ Ger. Sigrich—Conquering ruler │
│ Sigtrud—Conquering maid │
│ Nor. Sigtrygge—Conquering security │
│ Nor. Sigulf, Siulf; Eng. Sigewolf—Conquering wolf │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Footnote 130:
_Nibelung_; Weber and Jamieson; Kemble, _Beowulf_; Michaelis; Pott;
Butler; _Heimskringla_.
SECTION III.—_Brynhild._
A thorough Valkyr was Brynhilda, the maiden whom Odin had touched with
his sleep-thorn, so that she lay in a deep slumber in the midst of a
circle of flame, through which Sigurd made his way, aroused her, and won
her for his own; but became utterly and magically oblivious of all that
had passed as soon as he had returned to common life. This is the
northern version, the evident origin of our fairy tale of the _Sleeping
Beauty_, pricked not by the thorn of Odin, but by the distaff, perhaps,
of one of the Nornir. The _Book of Heroes_ reduces the circle of flame
to a mere strong castle, with seven gates; and the _Nibelungenlied_ only
takes up the story at the time of Sigfried’s appearance at the court of
Burgundy, and courtship of Brynhild’s rival, Chriemhild.
Brynhild had retained her matchless strength, and, like the Greek
Atalanta, was only to be won by a champion who could excel her in games
of strength, and her conquered suitors were all put to death. Gunther,
the brother of Chriemhild, being willing to obtain her on these
conditions, Siegfried, by means of his tarn-cap, invisibly vanquished
the Valkyr, while Gunther appeared to be her conqueror; and when she
thus had been compelled to give her hand, it was Siegfried who, again
unseen, broke down her violent resistance, and compelled her to become a
submissive wife, on which she lost all her supernatural strength.
Siegfried was rewarded by the hand of Chriemhild, Gunther’s sister.
By-and-by the two sisters-in-law had a desperate quarrel about
precedence; in the old northern version, which should wade farthest into
the Rhine when bathing; in the half-civilized German song, which should
first enter the cathedral of Wurms; and in the course of it Brynhild was
roundly informed that she had not given way to her husband, but to
Siegfried. Valkyr nature could not stand such an affront, so Brynhild
set on Hagen to assassinate Siegfried. The northern story makes her slay
herself, and be burnt with his corpse on a funeral pile, in Suttee
fashion; the German tames her into being merely brought to repentance
too late by the death of her husband.
No doubt Brynhild was commemorated by the name of the Gothic princess,
daughter of King Athanagild, who, for her misfortune, was married to the
Frank Sigebert, and through the whole of her long life continued a
fierce and dauntless resistance to her savage rival Fredegund, until,
when both were aged women, Brenhilda fell into her rival’s power, and
was implacably sentenced to be dragged to death by wild horses. French
historians aver that her name was at first only Bruna, and that hilda
was added to make it royal; but this is very unlikely, since Spanish
historians call her Brenhilda. The Latinism is Brunechildis, in French
Brunehault, but the name has not been followed, except by the northern
race, whose existence was hardly developed at the time of the
misfortunes of the Austrasian queen, and who therefore take it from her
original. Among these it has been contracted to Brunilla and Brynil.
The meaning is the Valkyr of the Breastplate, the _byrni_ of old
Scottish, _bryne_ of the North, _bruniga_ of the German, _broigne_ in
Old French, _bronha_ in Provençal. A near connection of this name is the
northern Bryngerd, placing the gentle Gerda in this cuirass; and the
North has likewise Brynjar, properly _hari_, the Cuirassier, and
Brynjolfr, which wolf in a breastplate was a great Icelandic ancestor,
and has been cut short into Brynjuv and Brynjo.
The Chriemhild, or Helmet Valkyr of the _Nibelung_, is the Gudrun of the
northern version; and Gudrun, as before said, would be either good
wisdom, or, far more probably, war wisdom. In the _Nibelungenlied_, the
action of the story begins with Chriemhild telling her mother her dream
of her favourite falcon being torn to pieces by two eagles; and when it
is explained to mean her future husband, vowing that she will never
marry. However, Siegfried’s arrival, and his successful exertions in
winning Brunhild for Gunther, overcame all the lady’s scruples.
She had lived happily ten years in the Netherlands with Siegfried
before, on a visit to Wurms, she was so ill-advised as to reproach
Brynhild with his victory over her; and afterwards was deluded into
sewing a mark upon his garments to show where was his vulnerable spot.
After his death, she found out the murderer by the ordeal of touch, and
treasured up a deadly and enduring spirit of revenge; perhaps the most
terrible of all the many forms in which legend has proclaimed the old
rule of blood for blood.
She was left the heiress of all Siegfried’s treasure, as well as of his
_Nibelungen_ or Netherlandian troops, but it was taken from her by her
husband’s murderer, and sunk beneath the Rhine. After thirteen years of
widowhood, she was induced to marry Etzel, or Atli, king of the Huns, by
the promise that he would avenge all her injuries; but still she bided
her time for thirteen more years, at the end of which space she invited
her brothers and all their champions to visit her in Hungary at
Etzelenburg. They had not long been there before she stirred up a most
tremendous battle, in which mutual destruction took place, as is
minutely related in the ancient lays. Finally her brother Gunther was
captured and slain at her savage command, and she herself slew the
murderer Hagen with Siegfried’s own sword. Immediately after, however,
she was put to death as an act of justice by old Sir Hildebrand; at
least so says the _Nibelungenlied_; but in the _Kœmpe Viser_ there is a
still further revenge, for the secret of the deposit of the treasure is
left with the son of Hagen, who beguiles Grimhild into the cave with the
hope of its restoration, and there locks her in and starves her to
death.
The historical Attila is really said to have had a German wife named
Kremheilch. The Gudrun of the North is a far more amiable personage. She
forgives her brother, and is with difficulty persuaded to marry Atli,
who is, in this version, Brynhild’s brother, and lays the plot against
Gunther, in order to avenge his sister’s death. She does all in her
power to warn them, but in vain; and when all had been slain, her senses
failed her, and in her frenzy she slew her two children by Atli, and
made him drink their blood; he died of horror, and she cast herself into
the sea, but was carried alive to the land of King Jonakr, whom she
married, and then underwent other misfortunes which extinguished the
last remains of her family. Her name of Gudrun has already been treated
of.[131]
-----
Footnote 131:
_Nibelungenlied_; Weber and Jamieson; Thierry; Mariana; Munch.
SECTION IV.—_Gunther._
_Gunth_ (Goth.), _guth_ (A.G.S.), _gunnr_ (North), _gond_ or _gonz_
(High German), all meant war or battle, and have an immense number of
derivative names, inextricably mixed up with those from God and Gut; and
it is even thought that there may be a close connection between them, so
much did the Teutons believe their deities to be gods of battle, and
goodness to be courage. The word _gunth_ has lived on even in Lombardy
in the Gonfalon, the war banner, solemnly carried out to battle in a car
as the images of the gods had formerly been, in charge of the official
known as the _gonfaloniere_ in the republics of northern Italy.
Gundahari, warrior, was really an old name among the kings of Burgundy,
who were, no doubt, called in honour of Gunther or Gunnar, the eldest
brother of Kriemhild, and husband of Brynhild. He seems to have been
brave but weak, led first by Sigurd, then by Hagen, but at last fighting
with great spirit.
Gunthar, or Gunnar, at full length Gundahari, continued in favour with
the Burgundians; and an abbot in Brittany being canonized, left Gonthier
to France, and Gontiere to Italy.
This masculine Gunnar was very common in the North, and so was likewise
the feminine Gunnr, war, or Gundvar, war prudence, both confounded in
Gunnar, which historians generally render as Gunnora.
Gunnhildur was in high favour in the North. One most celebrated owner
was the wicked queen of Eric Blodaxe. She was said to be a native of the
Orkneys, and to have filled Scandinavia with her crimes, upon the
details of which, however, Norse and Danish histories are not quite
agreed.
Gunhild again was the Danish princess whose murder on St. Brice’s night
brought her brother Sweyn down in fury upon England; and her nephew Knud
likewise had a daughter so called, but who was Anglicized into
Æthelthryth; and each generation of the Godwine family records a lady
Gunhild. After the Conquest, however, Gunhild died away in England; but
it has never been discarded in the North, where it is now called
Gunnilda, or Gunula.
That daughter of William the Conqueror, or sister of Gherbod the
Fleming, whichever she was, who was the ancestress of the Warrennes, and
is buried at Lewes, has a name so much disguised as to be as doubtful as
her birth. It maybe Gunatrud, a Valkyr title, or Gundridur, war haste,
or Gundrada, war council, the same as the Spanish Gontrado; at any rate
it has had few followers.
Gunnr and Göndol were both Valkyr titles, and the Valkyr Göndol’s most
noted namesake was a maiden of the Karling race, who was bred up by St.
Gertrude, at Nivelle; and on her return to her father’s castle at
Morzelle, used to go to her early devotions at a church half a league
distant from home. On winter mornings she was lighted by a lantern,
which the legend avers to have been blown out by the wind, but rekindled
by her prayers. Thence comes the name of St. Gundula’s lamp, applied to
the _Tremella_, an orange-coloured jelly-like fungus that grows on dead
branches of trees in the winter. She is the patroness of Brussels, where
the church of St. Gudule is the place used for coronations; but her
common title in Flanders is Ste. Goëlan, while the convent built in her
honour at Morzelle, in Brabant, is Ste. Goule.
War could not fail to have her wolf, the Gundulf of Norman England, the
Gunnolfr of Iceland, the Gundolf of Germany, and, far more notable than
either, the Gonsalvo or Gonzalo of Spain, always frequent among the
Visigothic families, and becoming especially glorious in the person of
the great captain, the brave and honourable conqueror of Naples, and the
trainer of the infantry that gave the predominance to Spain for a
hundred years, until they fell as one man at Rocroy.
┌────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┐
│ French. │ Provençal. │ Spanish. │Portuguese. │ Italian. │
│Gonsalve │Guossalvo │Gonzalo │Gonçalo │Consalvo │
│Gonzalve │ │ │ │ │
└────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┘
The war raven, Gunthram, figures in French history as Gontran, and the
war serpent is the German Gundlin, or Gondoline, when a lady; when a
man, the terrible Guthorm, whom, as King Alfred’s foe, godson, and
tributary, our histories call Guthrum. In Denmark, the name was very
early contracted into Gorm; but it has been so often spelt Gudthorm,
that a doubt has arisen whether the latter half of the word may not be
_thorm_ or _thyrma_.
It is very difficult to distinguish between the derivatives of _God_ and
_Gund_, both being very apt to eliminate the distinctive letters. On the
whole, however, it seems as if these warlike names had been some of the
most universal throughout the continent, though in England they were
very scarce, and do not occur in royal pedigree, nor in hagiology,
except in the case of St. Guthlac, the first founder of the original
Croyland Abbey, whose name in the North would be Gudleik or Gulleik, war
sport.
Hosts of northern Frankish and Visigothic names thus commence, and many
feminines end with this word. The other varieties thus beginning are:—
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Nor. Gunbjorg; Ger. Gondaberge; Goth. Sp.—War protection │
│ Nor. Gunbjorn—War bear │
│ German. French. │
│ Gondebert │ Gondobert } │
│ Gondeberta │ Gombert } War splendour │
│ Gumpert │ Jombert } │
│ Ger. Gondebald; Fr. Gondebaud; Sp. Gondebaldo—War prince │
│ Nor. Gudbrand, Guldbrand, Gulbrand—War sword │
│ Ger. Gundekar—War spear │
│ Nor. Gunlaug, Gullaug—War liquor │
│ Nor. Gunleif, (Eng. Cunliffe)—War love │
│ Nor. German. Spanish. │
│ Gudmar │ Gundemar │ Gondomiro } War Greatness │
│ Gulmar │ Gutmar │ Gondomar } │
│ Nor. German. │
│ Gudmund │ Gundemund } War hand │
│ Gulmund │ Gunimund } │
│ Ger. Gunderich; Fr. Gonderic; Sp. Gonderico—War ruler │
│ Sp. Gondesinda—War strength │
│ Nor. Gunnstein—War jewel │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Gunthe was the old German feminine contraction for any of these warlike
damsels, and being further endeared into Jutte, or Jutta, was probably
the source, under the hands of chroniclers, of the Judiths, who made
their appearance among the Franks so long before the days of Scripture
or saintly names.[132]
-----
Footnote 132:
Munch; Michaelis; _Nibelung_; Weber and Jamieson; Mariana; Thierry;
_Garland for the Year_; Alban Butler; Fleischner, _Onomatologie_;
Lappenberg; Dasent, _Burnt Njal_; Marryat, _Jutland_.
SECTION V.—_Hagen._
Haghen, Hagano, or Hogni, may be considered as the villain of the
_Nibelungen_. In the Danish version he is the half-brother of Grimhild
and Gunther, with an elf-father; in the German, he is their wise and
far-travelled uncle, who first related the adventures of the
newly-arrived stranger, Siegfried, but always seems to have disliked
him, and readily undertook to revenge Brynhild’s injuries upon him. As
Loki deceived Frigga, he persuaded his niece to mark where was the
mortal spot on her husband’s skin, and contrived that no wine should be
taken into the forest, so that Siegfried might be reduced to lie down to
drink at the stream, and thus expose the fatal place.
The body bled at his touch, and he was the chief object of Chriemhilt’s
vengeance, more especially after he had taken the treasure away from
her, placed it in a cave beneath the Rhine, and jealously guarded the
secret of the spot. When she invited the brothers to Hungary he was much
averse to the journey, till he found that his disclination was imputed
to fear, when he became vehemently set upon going, in spite of the omens
against it. Taunts and injuries passed between him and Chriemhilt, and
the next day the fierce and furious battle began, which raged till
Gunther and Haghen alone were left. After Gunther had been killed,
Chriemhilt offered Haghen his life, on condition that he would disclose
the place where the treasure was, but he refused, and died by her hand.
There is a curious poem, called the _Duke of Aquitaine_, which is
evidently another version of the same notion of Haghen. Hagano, a
descendant of the Trojans, is there sent to deprecate the invasion of
Attila, and afterwards assists the Burgundian king Gunther of Wurms in
an attack on Duke Walther of Aquitaine, and Hildegunna, sister to
Gunther, in order to recover a treasure that they had carried off from
Attila’s court, where they had been hostages. This version of the great
central story of Europe named Hagen, Count of Aquitaine, the uncle of
Charles the Bald; but the North has used it more, in the form of Hogen.
The name is either from _hagr_, deft or handy, or else from _hagi_, a
hook; most probably the latter, perhaps in connection with the other
meaning, a thorn or prickle, so that here we may find a personification
of the thorn destroying the victor. The word _hag_ is seldom found in
names, and is probably imitated from Hagen, without much regard to the
meaning. It occurs only in the Danish, as Hagbrand, Hagbart, contracted
as Habaar, or Habor; Hagthor, which is incorrectly modernized as Hector;
and Hagny. The more usual form in Denmark is Hogne, probably from the
German Hagano.
But there has been a confusion between this Hagan, or Hogni, and Haagan,
properly Haakvin, from _haa_, high, and _kyn_, meaning of high kin, the
well-known Norwegian and Danish name of many a fierce viking; sometimes
Latinized as Haquinus, Frenchified as Haquin, and called in the North
Haaken, or Hakon. Domesday has it as Kaco, Hacon, Hacun, and Hakena; and
Hacon still lingers among the fishermen of the Orkneys. Other northern
names, with the same opening, _haa_ (pronounced _ho_), are Haamund, no
doubt the parent of our Hammond, and Haavard, whence our Hayward, both
alike meaning high protection.[133]
-----
Footnote 133:
Lettsom; _Nibelungenlied_; Weber and Jamieson; Munch; Anderson, _Royal
and Noble Genealogies_.
SECTION VI.—_Ghiseler._
Ghiseler is one of the brothers of Gunther, an inoffensive personage,
and the only one of the party of whom Chriemhild took any civil notice,
when she had decoyed them to her court to their destruction.
Nevertheless he did not escape, but died in combat with Wolfhart, of
Bern, when the champions of Dietrich could not be withheld from the
fray.
His name is tolerably clear—Giselhar, the pledged warrior. The first
syllable is from _gildan_, _geldan_, _keltan_, to owe, or to pay what
was due. The terms ran through all the Gothic tongues, and caused the
Anglo-Saxons to call all the offerings due to the gods _gield_ and
_ghëlstar_.
A pledge of mutual obligation was, in Anglo-Saxon, _gisel_, and is still
_gidsel_ in the North; in the German, _geissel_. Thence, far more
probably than from the older word _geisli_, a beam, or nimbus, was
derived the Frank Gisel, as a maiden’s name. A daughter of Pepin, so
called, was offered to Leo X. of Constantinople; and afterwards the
daughter of Charles the Simple, who became the pledge of amity between
the Karlingen and Northmen, by her marriage with Rollo. She was called
by the French Gisèle, by the Normans Gisla, in which same form it has
lived on in Friesland and in Norway. The commencement is not, however, a
very common one in the North, though Giselher is repeated in Gissur
Isleifson, Bishop of Iceland, in the eleventh century. Gislaug, the
pledge drink, is likewise northern, but though _gils_ is an extremely
common termination, almost all the names where it is a commencement are
Frankish, or German, and thus probably Giselfrid came to the North as
Gisrod.
Giselhilda, and Giselberge, were German, also Gisalhart, and Giselof;
and Gisalrico is found among the Spanish Goths. Geltfried and Giltimir
are also German forms, and the latter explains Gelimer, the Vandal king
in Africa, conquered by Belisarius.
Gils is a common Norwegian name, and no doubt contributed to the English
Giles, French Gilles, and Spanish Gil, though all these look to the
Greek hermit in France, Aigidios, as their patron. In the North, Ægidius
is rendered by Ilian, Yljan, Yrjan, Orjan, but not by Giles: and it
would seem as if Julius had been confounded with the name, as well as,
perhaps, Giolla, a servant.
Giolla Brigde, or Bridget’s disciple, is thought to have contributed the
Scottish examples of Gilbert, which is incorrectly explained by some as
Gelb-bert, or yellow bright; but is clearly traceable to the old Frank
Giselbert. There were four saints so called, namely, an abbot of
Fontenelle, a great friend of William the Conqueror, an Auvergnat knight
in the second Crusade, the English founder of the order of Gilbertine
monks, and a bishop of Caithness; and it has been a prevalent name in
England, Scotland, and the Low Countries, with many contractions,
especially in the latter.[134]
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ Italian. │ German. │
│Gilbert │Guilbert │Gilberto │Giselbert │
│Gilpin │Gisebert │ ———————— │Gilbert │
│Gil │Gileber │Dutch. │Gisbert │
│Gibbon │Gilbert │Gysbert │Gispert │
│Gipp │Ghiliber │ ———————— │Giseprecht │
│ │ │Flemish. │ │
│ │ │Gilli │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
Footnote 134:
Munter; Munch; Michaelis; Grimm; Took.
SECTION VII.—_Ghernot._
Ghernot was Gunther’s second brother, who was free from the guilt of the
murder of Siegfried, and greatly displeased with Haghen for depriving
Chriemhilt of the treasure; but he shared the fate of his brothers,
being killed early in the encounter by the Markgraf Rudiger.
Perhaps, necessity of war, or spear compulsion, would be the best
sounding translations of this remarkable name.
Ghere, the same as the northern Gejr and German Kero, is the messenger
sent to invite Siegfried and Chriemhild to Wurms, when they paid the
visit that had such fatal consequences; and _gher_ or _gjer_ is one of
the most frequent of the component parts of names. Its right and
original meaning is a spear, the same as that of the Latin _quiris_ and
Keltic _coir_. Thence the Anglo-Saxons called all other weapons _waren_,
and the battle _war_, a word we still use, just as the French do
_guerre_, and the Spaniards _guerra_.
_Gar_ is _quite_ in modern German, and _gher_ has dropped out of the
language, and thus most of the German names commencing with it have been
misinterpreted to mean _all_, but it is impossible to compare them with
their northern cousins without tracing the same spear in both.
The chief favourite amongst these spear titles seems to have been once a
Valkyr name Gêrdrûd, or Geirthrud, the spear maid; for, alas! the pretty
interpretation that has caused so many damsels of late to bear it, as
meaning _all truth_, is utterly untenable, unless they will regard
themselves as allegorically constant battle-maids, armed with the spear
of Ithuriel.
The ancient popularity of this name was owing to a daughter of one of
the great Pepins, in their _maire du palais_ days. She founded the abbey
of Nivelle, and was intensely revered by the Franks and Germans, chiefly
on account of the miracles imputed to her. At old heathen feasts, the
cups quaffed in honour of gods or demi-gods were prefaced by the words
“_Wuotansminne, Thorsminne_,” meaning in Woden’s or Thor’s memory; but
the Christian teachers changed these toasts to be in the memory of the
saints, such as Michelsminne for the guardian angel. _Johannisminne_ was
the special favourite, and was supposed to be a charm against poison,
because the Evangelist was thought to have experienced the fulfilment of
the promise, “If ye drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt you,” as
typified by the dragon in his cup. The royal nun, Gertrude, was almost
as great a favourite as the Apostle with the Germans, and the regular
toasts at their banquets came to be _Johannisminne_ and _Gerdrutsminne_,
till drinking to St. John and St. Gertrude were almost a proverb for
revelry.
Let us observe, _en passant_, that _minne_, lately in honour of Minna
Troil erected into a lady’s name, is from the Gothic _munan_, to
remember, from the Saxon form of which we take our _mind_. Minnie has
lately become a favourite name, and must be referred to this source.
A second St. Gertrude, of noble blood in Saxony, was abbess of Heldelfs,
had an exceedingly high reputation for sanctity, and died in 1334,
leaving her name doubly popular.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ Italian. │ Portuguese. │
│Gertrude │Gertrude │Gertrude │Gertrudes │
│Gatty │ │Geltruda │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ German. │ Bavarian. │ Netherlands. │ Danish. │
│Gertraud │Traudl │Drutje │Gertrud │
│Trudchen │Traul │Trudje │Jartrud │
│ │ │Trudel │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Slovak. │ Lettish. │ Esth. │ Polish. │
│Jera │Gêrde │Kert │Giertruda │
│Jerica │Gerte │Truto │ ———————— │
│Jedert │Gedde │Truta │ Lithuanian. │
│Jra │ │ │Trude │
│ │ │ │ ———————— │
│ │ │ │ Hungarian. │
│ │ │ │Gertrud │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
There is great confusion between Gerwald and Gerhard; the one meaning
spear power, the other firm spear.
Though _gar_ was not a common English prefix, the first Saint Gerhold
was Anglo-Saxon. He migrated to Ireland, received the cowl in the
monastery of Mayo, founded that of Tempul Gerald, died in 732, and
became the subject of one of the Irish legends of saints. It declared
that the wife of Caomhan, king of Connaught, turned him out of the fort
of Cathair Mhor, with his 300 saints, who thereupon joined him in one of
the peculiar prayers of Irish saints, that there never should be another
king of the same race for ever. However, he afterwards relented, and
only cut off from the throne the offspring of the lady herself, while to
those of the king’s former wife he granted the right of sitting first in
the drinking house and of arraying the battle. The Irish call him
Garalt, and have confused his name with the Keltic Gareth, one of the
knights of the Round Table, so that Garrett and Gerald are regarded as
identical.
The great prevalence of the name in Ireland is, however, chiefly owing
to the Normans. There had been two Frank saints thus called in the
twelfth century, Gerard of Toul, and Girroald of Fontenelle; but it was
also a Lombardic name, and the old Florentine family of the Gherardi
claims the parentage of one of the many Gerolds who accompanied William
the Conqueror, the same whose descendant, Maurice Fitzgerald, was one of
the companions of Earl Strongbow, the parent of the Fitzgeralds, or
Geraldins, of Kildare, the turbulent race, who disputed with the Butlers
of Ormond the supremacy of the island. Lady Elizabeth Fitzgerald, a
daughter of this house, was the lady who, in imitation of Beatrice and
of Laura, was erected by Surrey into the heroine of his poetry, under
the title of the Fair Geraldine, thus leading to the adoption of this
latter as one of the class of romantic Christian names. Gerald Barry,
the Welsh chronicler who Latinizes himself as Giraldus Cambrensis, may
have been rightly Gareth, and the provincial form Jarrett, still common
in the North, is probably rather a remnant of the Gareth of Strathclyde,
than a version of the Norman Gerald.
Another St. Gerald, bishop of Namur, left his name to be very common in
the Low Countries, where we have already shown how curiously the
transformation was effected of Gerhard Gerhardson into Desiderius
Erasmus. Lastly, a St. Gerhard went on a mission to convert the
Hungarians, and the name, or rather the two names, for there is no
distinguishing between them, have become universal.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ Provençal. │ Italian. │
│Gerard │Gerard │Girart │Gherardo │
│Garrett │Giraud │Guerart │Gerardo │
│Jarett │Girairs │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ German. │ Netherlands. │ Dutch. │ Frisian. │
│Gerhard │Gerard │Gerhardus │Geerd │
│ │Gerrit │Gerrit │ │
│ │Geert │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Danish. │ Polish. │ Lettish. │ Hungarian. │
│Gerhard │Gieraud │Gerkis │Geller │
│Geert │ │Gêrts │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
┌────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ Italian. │ German. │ Frisian. │
│Gerald │Giraud │Giraldo │Gerold │Gerold │
│ │Guirauld │ │ │Gerelt │
│ │Girault │ │ │Gerel │
└────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┘
Gerhardine in German, and Giralda in Italian, are the feminines, besides
our own Geraldine. Possibly Giralda may once have been the Valkyr name
Geirhilda, which has survived in the North in the form of Jerilla, _jer_
being the northern corruption of _geir_. Jerlau is thus Geirlaug, and
Jeruf, or Jerul, Geirolf.
In like manner, though with different pronunciation, we make Jervis out
of the old Norman Gervais, which was probably Geirfuss, or warlike
eagerness. It used to be explained as _gerfast_, all firm, but this is,
of course, wrong; though, as I have not found Geirfuss in the roll of
northern names, and it would have been Gerfuns in Germany, where Gerwas
is common, as is Gervais in France, and Gervaso in Italy, this must be
doubtful.
The Gerberge of French history, the queen of Louis l'Outremer, was the
same as the Geirbjorg of the North: Gerwin, or spear friend, made the
Guarin of France, whence the Waryn of a few English families, and
Guarino of Italy.
The old Spanish-Gothic feminine Garsendis was certainly Garswinth, or
spear strength, and the equally ancient Garsias, or Garcia, so common in
Galicia and Navarre, must have its commencement from the same source,
though the last syllable has lost its individuality on the soft Spanish
tongues. It was long a royal name, but was dropped about the thirteenth
century, and makes its last public appearance in the person of the
Peruvian prince and author Garcilasso de la Vega.
The spear raven, Gerramn, is the old English Jerram, that has become
lost in Jerome; and the spear prince, Gerbold, has furnished the family
name of Garibaldi. _Gar_ is very rare in native Anglo-Saxon names,
whether as a beginning or end, but most frequent in all the other
branches of the Teuton stock; and its other form, _gais_, is the most
reasonable explanation of the beginning of the name of Geisserich, the
king of the Vandals, who has been made into Genserich, and then
translated into the Gander king! The remaining forms are:—
┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Ger. Gerbert; It. Gerberto—Bright spear │
│ Ger. Gerfrid—Spear peace │
│ │
│ Nor. German. Neth. Frisian. │
│ │
│ Gierlac │ Gerlach │ Garlef │ Spear sport │
│ │ Gerlib │ Garlaf │ Garleff Spear relic │
│ │
│ Nor. Geirmund, Garmund—Spear hand │
│ Nor. Geirny—Spear fresh; Gierrandur—Spear house │
│ Nor. Geirridur—Spear impulse; Gierstein—Spear stone │
│ Nor. Geirthiofr—Spear thief; Geirvör—Spear prudence │
│ Nor. Geirvart; Fris. Gerber—Spear guard │
└───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
SECTION VIII.—_Folker._
Of all the champions of Burgundy, none is more full of gallantry and
_bonhommie_ than Folker, the mighty fiddler of Alsace, a true knight,
always equally ready for music or for fighting. If the _Nibelungenlied_
be really another form of the Eddaic myth, Folker may answer to Bragi,
the god of poetry, but he has his own individual character of blithe
undaunted courage. Even when the terrible battle has begun, and the
heroes find themselves hemmed in by Chriemhild’s warriors, Folker
fiddles on, until he dies by the hand of Hildebram.
Folker’s name is from our own word _folk_, the near relation of the
Latin _vulgus_, whose progeny are found all over Europe in _vulgar_,
_vulgo_, _foule_, &c. Most likely Folkvard is really the right version,
and would mean people’s guard, and Folker is rather its corruption than
independently the people’s warrior, and the same with Folko; they are,
therefore, all thrown together in the following table.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│English. │German. │Frisian. │Nor. │
│Fulk │Volquard │Folkert │Folkvard │
│ ———————— │Volkvart │Foke │Folke │
│ French. │Folkward │Fokko │Fokke │
│Fulcher │Folquhard │ │ │
│Feuquiers │Folkhard │ │ │
│Foulques │Folker │ │ │
│Fouques │Folko │ │ │
│ │Fulko │ │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
In the Foulques stage, this name was home, alternately with Geoffroi, by
the counts of Anjou, and with the strange soubriquets of _Nerra_ and
_Réchin_. One of these counts, the grandfather of our Henry II., became
king of Jerusalem; but our English Angevins did not perpetuate the name;
and though six Fulcos are recorded in Domesday, Fulk never took root in
England, and is chiefly remembered because it belonged to Fulk Greville,
the friend of Sydney. It was, in fact, with all its varieties, chiefly
Burgundian.
Germany shows a few other forms: Folkwin, or Volquin, which exactly
answers to Demophilos, or Publicola; Folkrad, Folkrich, and Folkmar;
also Folkbert, which some prefer to Wilibert, as the origin of the
Savoyard Filiberto, and our Fulbert.[135]
-----
Footnote 135:
_Nibelungenlied_; Weber and Jamieson; Munch; Michaelis.
SECTION IX.—_Dankwart._
In the _Nibelungenlied_ the father of Chriemhilt, who dwelt at Wurms,
was ‘hight Dankrat,’ and the marshal at the court was Dankwart the
swift, Hagen’s brother. Innocent as he was of a share in his brother’s
crime, he was the first to be assailed while he was dining with Etzel’s
knights, and he had to fight his way through Chriemhild’s warriors
before he could return to his comrades in the hall, when he kept the
door until, like all the rest, he perished in the massacre.
The first syllable of the name is the same as our word _thank_, and the
name means thankful or grateful. The father of Chriemhild was thus
Thank-rede, or grateful speech, and from him the Northmen seem to have
taken their Thakraad, which in Normandy became Tancred, the knight of
Hauteville, whose twelve gallant sons chased the Saracens from Apulia,
and were the founders of the only brave dynasty that ever ruled in the
enervating realms of the Two Sicilies. The son of one of these gallant
knights, Tancredi di Puglia, was the foremost in the first crusade, and
the favourite hero of Tasso, in whose epic he is a Christian Achilles;
and Tancredi again was the last Sicilian king of the true Norman line,
the same whose bickerings with Cœur de Lion make so unpleasant an
episode in the third Crusade.
Dankwart, thankful guardian, lingered in Germany; and in 1668, a
Yorkshire register records the baptism of Tankard, the son of a ‘Turkey
merchant,’ who had probably learnt the name from some of his foreign
connections. Dankheri, thankful warrior, was in Normandy Tancar. Dankker
is the German surname, and has even come to Tanzen; so that our surname
Dance may have the same origin. Thangbrand was the German priest whom
King Olaf Tryggvesen of Norway sent to convert Iceland, but whose
severity led to his expulsion; and Germany also mentions Dankmar; but
the prefix is almost exclusively German.[136]
-----
Footnote 136:
_Nibelungenlied_; Munch; Pott.
SECTION X.—_Theodoric._
Theodoric of Bern is hardly a genuine hero of the _Nibelung_, being
really the main figure in a cycle of Germanic romances of his own; but
as he, under the abbreviation Dietrich, is brought in to play a
considerable part in the final action of the tale, this seems the
fittest place for treating of him and the names in connection with him.
He seems to have been brought into the _Nibelungenlied_ because the
Germanic mind could conceive of nothing considerable passing without
him. He is represented as one of the four-and-twenty princes in King
Etzel’s train, and as anxious to prevent mischief to the visitors from
Burgundy, warning them of Chriemhilt’s enmity, and refusing to attack
them at her request. When the great slaughter began, it was Dietrich who
conveyed the king and queen safely out of the _mêlée_, and withheld his
men from engaging in it, until almost at the end, when they could no
longer be restrained, and rushing into the fray were all slain except
old Sir Hildebrand, though on the other hand, Gunther and Haghen alone
remained alive of the Burgundians. Dietrich then armed himself, and
after a fierce combat, made them both prisoners, and delivered them up
to Chriemhilt, fully intending that she should spare their lives; but
when her relentless fury had fallen on them, he assisted King Etzel to
bury the dead, and to return the horses and armour of their fallen
champions to their respective countries.
Other German romances, however, elevate this prince to a much higher
rank. The _Book of Heroes_, written by Wolfram of Eschenbach and
Heinrich of Ofterdingen, makes Dietrich of Bern, in Lombardy, son of
King Dietmar. Hearing of Chriemhilt’s rose garden, which measured seven
miles round, and was guarded by twelve champions, he was seized with a
desire to do battle with them, for love of battle, not of ladies, though
the victor was to receive a chaplet of roses and a kiss from the young
lady. The wise old Sir Hildebrand, of the Wolfing line, conducted him
and his eleven companion champions to Wurms, where the single combats
took place. Dietrich’s knights were successful, and for the most part
took the Chaplets, but refused the kisses, because they disdained
Chriemhild as a faithless maiden.
A Danish ballad describes ‘Kong Tidrich’s’ tremendous battle with a
Lindwurm, the progeny of one that had escaped his great-grandfather
Wolfdietrich. He was led to enter on the battle by entreaties for help
from a lion whom the dragon had seized; but at first he came by the
worst, for his sword broke, and
‘The Lindwurm took him on her back,
His steed beneath her tongue,
Bore them into the hollow hill
To her eleven young.’
She bade them eat the horse to pass away the time while she rested,
promising that on her awakening they should devour the knight. In the
cave, however, Tidrich found the magic sword of Siegfried and two
knives; and in spite of the threats of the young dragons, and the
promises of the old one, he killed them all; but the old worm fell so as
to choke the mouth of the cave, whereupon the friendly lion dug him out,
and supplied the place of the slain steed by carrying him to Bern on his
back.
So much for romance. History mentions a real Theodoric, son of
Theudemir, and king of the Ostrogoths in Italy, from 475 to 527. He had
been sent as a hostage to Constantinople, and there educated; and though
he could not write his name, and had a stamp perforated with the letters
Theod to enable him to sign his edicts, he was exceeding able, wise, and
skilful, and Arian as he was, conciliated the love of the Catholics.
Verona was his chief city, and is evidently the Bern of the romances. He
lived too late for the historical Attila, who had died in 453; and
though there is a report of a previous Theodoric, who meddled in a
dissension between Attila’s sons, and took part in a great slaughter
that lasted fifteen days, it is most likely that the original Theuderik
was a mythical personage, after whom these historical princes were
called, and who afterwards received the credit of some of their deeds,
and was localized in the places of their dominion. It is in favour of
this notion that Dietrich of Berne is one of the many titles of the wild
huntsman, though the Lusatians corrupt him into Dietrich Bernhard, and
the Low Countries into Dirk-mit-den-Beer, or with the beard. Indeed,
Dirk, the Dutch form of Theodoric, was a half-mythical king of Holland.
It was a most universal name, Anglo-Saxon and Visigothic, as well as
Frank and German; and two saints made it everywhere popular in the
middle ages, though the Dutch at present chiefly use it.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ Italian. │Span. and Port.│
│Theodric │Theodoric │Teodorico │Theodorico │
│Theodoric │Thierry │Dieterico │ │
│Derrick │Thian │ │ │
│Terry │Thean │ │ │
│Tedric │ │ │ │
│ (_Domesday_) │ │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ German. │ Bavarian. │ Frisian. │ Danish. │
│Diotrich │Dietl │Tiaderik │Tjodrckr │
│Dietrich │ ———————— │Tiarik │Didhrikr │
│Diez │ Dutch. │Tiark │Theodrckr │
│Diether │Diederik │Tiado │Tidrich │
│ │Dierk │Tiaddo │Didrik │
│ │Dirk │Todo │ ———————— │
│ │ │Tade │ Slovak. │
│ │ │Tido │Todorik │
│ │ │Tide │ │
│ │ │Dudde │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Polish. │ Bohemian. │ Lettish. │ Hungarian. │
│Dytrych │Detrich │Diriks │ │
│ │ │Didschis │Ditrik │
│ │ │Tiz │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
The name of Dietmar, the father of Theodoric, is to be found in many
forms; in Theudemir, a Frank, who faithfully served Constantius; in an
Ostrogothic Theodomir; Spanish, Theodomiro; and the modern Frisian,
Thiadmar, Tiedmer, Tyeddemer, Tidmer. It means people’s greatness.
Dietleib, his friend, is rightly Ditlev; and in the North, Thjodleif,
the people’s relic, or what is left to them. He, too, survives in
constant Friesland, as Teallef, Taedlef, Tiadelef.
The chief favourite of this class is, however, the people’s prince,
occurring both among the Frank and early Anglian kings, and belonging to
two French hermits and one English archbishop. It took firm root in
Provence, and has an aroma of crusades and courts of love surrounding
it; and though it is not in Domesday, it and its contractions survive as
English surnames; and in a Gloucestershire parish register of the
eighteenth century, the feminine form occurs frequently in every variety
of spelling; Tibelda, Tiballa, Tibotta, Tybal.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ Spanish. │ Portuguese. │
│Theodebald │Theudobald │Theudebaldo │Theobaldo │
│Theobald │Thiebault │ │ │
│Tybalt │Thiebaud │ │ │
│Tibble │Tibaut │ │ │
│Dibble │ │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Italian. │ German. │ Dutch. │ Netherlands. │
│Teobaldo │Dietbold │Tibout │Dippolt │
│Tebaldo │Diephold │ │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
The people’s wolf was canonized as a Frank hermit, who gets called St.
Thiou. Our friend Theodolf, the Icelander, as Fouqué calls him, would
have been in his own land Thjodolf, and the contraction is there Kjold,
or Kjol, as Kjoil, or Kjoille, is for Thjodhild, the same as the
Diuthilt of the Germans, and Theudhilda, a nun-sister of Clovis. St.
Audard has undergone a still greater change; he was once archbishop of
Narbonne, and called Theodhard, or ward, the Tiard of Friesland, and
Thjodvar, or Kjovar, in the North.
The remaining forms are,
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Ger. Dietbert; Frank. Theudebert—People’s brightness │
│ Ger. Dietbrand—People’s sword │
│ Ger. Dietburg—People’s protection │
│ │
│ Nor. German. Frank. │
│ Thjodgjer } │
│ Toger } │
│ Kiogjeir } Dietgar Theodokar—People’s spear │
│ Kygeir } │
│ Kyer } │
│ │
│ Ger. Dietfrid; Frank. Theodofrid—People’s peace │
│ Ger. Theodegisel; It. Teodisclo—People’s pledge │
│ Ger. Diether—People’s warrior │
│ Nor. Thjodhjalm; Ger. Diethelm—People’s helmet │
│ Ger. Dietlind; Lomb. Theudelinda—People’s snake │
│ Ger. Dietman—People’s man │
│ Ger. Diutrat; Frank. Theodorada—People’s council │
│ Ger. Dietram—People’s raven │
│ Nor. Thjodvald, Kjodvald, Kjoval—People’s power.[137] │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Footnote 137:
Weber and Jamieson; Munch; Grimm; Butler; _Nibelung_.
SECTION XI.—_Uta, Ortwin._
Frau Uote was the mother of Kriemhild, who interpreted her dream and
predicted the early death of her bridegroom. Ortwin, of Metz, was
_truchsess_, or carver, and was the nephew of Hagan and Dankwart,
sharing, of course, their fate.
They are not very interesting personages, but it is curious that they
bear the only names, among all the Nibelungen, which have any genuine
Anglo-Saxon likenesses; that is, if Uote is, indeed, from the word in
Anglo-Saxon, _ead_, in the North _aud_, in Mæso-Gothic _audr_, in High
German _od_, everywhere meaning wealth. Some ascribe it to the same root
as _good_ and as _Woden_, including them with _adel_, noble; but its
derivatives are more easy to follow than its forefathers.
In the North, _odel_ is the term for property to which an entire family
retains an equal right, _all-od_, or allodial property. But when the
warriors made incursions on their neighbours, they obtained, in
addition, their share of spoil, originally cattle, _feh_, or _feo_, i.
e., their _fee_. So _feh-od_ came to be the word for possessions gained
by the individual by personal service to his lord, and thus passed from
cattle to land itself, when held of the chief on condition of following
him in war; and thus we have the _feudal_ system, with its _feoffs_ and,
too often, its _feuds_.
The feminine of this word probably named Uta. It was popular everywhere.
Audur-diupaudga, or Audur the deeply rich, was a female viking, one of
the first Icelandic settlers, who called a promontory Kambness, because
she dropped her comb upon it; nor has her name passed from her own
country, while, in Norman-England, it appears first as Auda and then as
Alda, answering to Alda the wife of Orlando the Paladin, and Alda queen
of Italy in 926, also to another Alda, a lady of the house of Este, in
1393. These are from the Gothic and Scandinavian _aud_; but the High
German form was also represented by Oda and the Low German by the old
Saxon Ead, which was soon translated into Ide, the most common of all
the early feminines in the Cambrai register, together with its
diminutive Idette. Ida was the name of King Stephen’s granddaughter, the
Countess of Boulogne, was always used in Germany, and has of late been
revived in England, from its sounding like the title of a poetical
mountain of the Troad.
It is not quite clear whether Othilie, the Alsatian virgin of the
seventh century, who was said to have been born blind, but to have
obtained sight at her baptism, is a form of Odel, noble, or a diminutive
of Oda, or whether she is Otthild, answering to our Eadhild, one of the
many sisters of Æthelstane: and there is the same doubt with Odilo and
Odilon, the masculines.
The masculine form of _aud_ was extremely common. We had it in the
person of Ida, king of Bernicia; the North owned many an Audr; the
Germans used Odde, Orto, and Otto, and when the gallant Saxon counts won
the imperial crown, they took the old Latin Otho for the rendering of
their name. France, meantime, had called her Burgundian prince Eudon,
but when a relay of Norman Audrs appeared, they were Odons; and in the
needlework with which Queen Matilda adorned Bayeux cathedral, her
husband’s doughty episcopal half-brother is always labelled ‘Odo Eps.’
But though we had previously had a grim Danish archbishop Odo, and
though Domesday shows plenty of Eudos and Odos, neither form took root,
and both are entirely continental.
┌────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┐
│ French. │ Provençal. │ Italian. │ German. │ Nor. │
│Odon │Orzil │Otto │Odo │Audr │
│Eudon │ ———————— │Ottone │Otto │Odo │
│Eudes │ Lettish. │Ottorino │Orto │Oddr │
│Othes │Atte │ │Otho │ │
│ │Attinsch │ │ │ │
└────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┘
Ortvin the truchsess, had his namesake in the Lombard Audoin father to
Alboin, also, in the Frank Audwine, blessed by St. Columbanus, beloved
by St. Eligius, and bishop of Rouen, whose loveliest church is that of
St. Audoenus, now transformed by French lips into St. Ouen. And, at
home, we hail the same ‘rich friend’ in Eadwine, the first Christian
king of Northumbria, whose conversion is the most striking portion of
Bede’s history. His dominion extended over the Lothians, and he disputes
with Aodh and the Ædui the naming of Edinburgh. Beloved as he was, his
name of Edwin never entirely died away, and became in modern times
diffused by the popularity of Goldsmith’s ballad, and of Beattie’s
_Minstrel_. It is just known upon the Continent. Ortwin, or Audoenius,
is very possibly the Don Ordoño of the early Spanish kingdoms; but
Germany has chiefly dealt in the independent Odvin. Edwin, in spite of
Mr. Taylor’s tragedy of _Edwin the Fair_, is not the same as Edwy,
namely Eadwig, rich war, a name well remembered for the unhappy fate of
the owner.
Odoacer, as the Romans called him, who was put to death by Theodoric,
was properly Audvakr, treasure watcher; not quite the same as the
Germanic Ottokar, or Ortgar, happy spear, which is identical with our
familiar Eadgar, or Edgar. This name, after being laid to rest with the
Anglo-Saxon monarchy, came to life again with the taste for antiques;
and Edgar Ravenswood, in his operatic character, has brought Edgar and
Edgardo.
Eadmund, or happy protection, is one of our most English names,
belonging to the king of East Anglia, who, as the first victim of the
Danes, became the patron saint of Bury St. Edmund’s, and the subject of
various legends. The sudden deaths of Sweyn, and afterwards of Eustace
de Blois, when engaged in ravaging his shrine, made him be regarded as
an efficient protector; and Henry III., when he had the good taste to
make his sons Englishmen, christened the second after this national
saint, so that Edmunds were always to be found in the House of
Plantagenet, and thence among the nobility and the whole nation. The
Irish called it Emmon, the Danes adopted it as Jatmund, in addition to
their own Oddmund, the French occasionally use it as Edmond, and Italy
knows it as Edmondo.
The most really noted of all our own genuine appellations is, however,
Eadvard, the rich guardian. It comes to light in our royal line with the
son of Alfred, and won the popular love for the sake of the young king
whom St. Dunstan and the English called the martyr, in their pity for
his untimely fate. And again, little as ‘the Confessor’ had been loved
in his feeble lifetime, enthusiastic affection attached to him as the
last native sovereign; while, on the one hand, it was the policy of the
Norman kings to regard him as their natural predecessor, and of the
barons to appeal to the laws that had prevailed in his time. All parties
thus were ready to elect St. Edward to be the patron saint of England,
and, in the ardour of embellishing his foundation of Westminster Abbey,
it was natural to give his name to the heir of the crown, afterwards
‘the greatest of the Plantagenets.’ The deaths of his three children
bearing Norman or Spanish names confirmed this as the royal name, and
the third king so called spread it far and wide. It was carried by his
granddaughter to Portugal, and there had its honour so well sustained by
her noble son, as there to find another home; and with us it has
recurred continually in every rank.
The contraction Neddy, common to all of these, is one of the titles of a
donkey.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ Welsh. │ French. │ Italian. │
│Edward │Jorwarth │Edouard │Odoardo │
│Neddy │ Irish. │ │ │
│Teddy │Eudbaird │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Portuguese. │ German. │ Nor. │ Netherlands. │
│Duarte │Eduard │Jaward │Ede │
│ │Oddward │Audvard │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
The other less celebrated parallel varieties are:—
┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Eng. Eadbald—Rich Prince │
│ Eng. Eadburh—Rich pledge │
│Eng. Eadburge; Nor. Oddbjorg; Ger. Edburge—Rich protection │
│ Eng. Eadbryht—Rich splendour │
│ Eng. Eadfrith; Ger. Otfrid; Prov. Audafrei—Rich peace │
│ Eng. Eadfled; Fr. Audofled—Rich increase │
│ │
│ Nor. German. │
│ Oddgrim │ Ortgrim } │
│ Audgrim │ } Rich helmet │
│ │
│ Nor. Odgisl—Rich pledge │
│ │
│ Nor. German. French. │
│ Audgunnr │ Oddgund │ Augen } │
│ Ougunna │ │ } Rich war │
│ Augunna │ │ } │
│ │
│ Nor. Odkel, Odkatla—Rich kettle │
│ Fr. Authaire—Rich warrior │
│ Oddlaug—Rich liquor │
│ Nor. Oddleif; Ger. Ortleip, Ortleib—Rich relic │
│ Eng. Eadmar; Nor. Odmar; Ger. Otmar—Rich greatness │
│ Nor. Oddny—Rich freshness │
│ Eng. Eadred—Rich council │
│ Eng. Eadric, Edric; Ital. Odorico—Rich king │
│ │
│ English. Nor. German. │
│ Eadulf │ Odulf │ Oddulf } │
│ │ Oulf │ Ortwulf } Rich wolf │
│ │
│ English. German. │
│ Eadwald │ Edvald } Rich power. │
│ Edwald │ Odvald } │
└───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Eadswith, Eadgifu, and Eadgyth, all once separate names, together with
Adelgifu and Ælfgifu, seem to have been all mixed up together by the
Normans. Eadgyth was undoubtedly the name of Earl Godwin’s daughter, of
whom Ingulf said, ‘_Sicut spina rosam, genuit Godwinus Egitham_;’ but in
the roll of her lands in Domesday, she is Eddeva, Eddid, and Edeva, and
for some little time Edeva seems to have been used among the Normans,
though the queen of Henry I. was not allowed to retain anything so
Saxon. Aline and Edith were used in a few families, but Edith survived
the others.
_Giav_ or _give_ is not a very common commencement; but in the Vilkina
Saga, King Gjuko is the father of Gunnar and Gudrun, and the whole
family are called Giukungr. In German, in the _Book of Heroes_, he is
Gibicho, and there was really a historical Burgundian King Gibica,
mentioned as a law-giver; but in the _Nibelungen-nôt_, Gibich is only a
vassal king of Etzel’s. The North had Gjaflaug, liquor giver, no doubt
the Hebe of the Norse banquets, Gjavvald, in German, Gevald, and perhaps
Gabilo and Gavele, the Gebelius of Latinists. Germany had likewise
Gebahard, a firm or perhaps a strong giver, which still survives under
the unpromising sound of Gebhard.
Gyda, or Gytha, that most difficult name, sometimes sounds like Gith,
the contraction of Eadgyth; but it was evidently northern, having
belonged to the proud damsel of Hordaland, who refused to marry Harald
Harfagre, unless he was sole king of all Norway. Afterwards it was borne
by the semi-Danish ladies of Earl Godwin’s family, and melted into
Gjutha, then became confounded with Jutta, which was considered as short
for Juditha.
SECTION XII.—_Sintram._
Sindolt was the _schenke_, or butler, at the court of Wurms, in the
_Niebelungenlied_; and in the Vilkina Saga, Sintram is one of the heroes
of Thidrek’s following. The derivation of the first syllable is
uncertain. Michaelis takes it from the old High German _sinths_, a
journey. Professor Munch refers Sindre to a word meaning sparkling or
spark, and mentions a mythological dwarf who was a famous smith, and was
yclept Sindre; also a poet in Harald Harfagre’s time, whose appellation
was Guthorm Sindre, or the sparkling. Sundre or Sondre is, the same
authority tells us, more used in the Thellmarken in Norway than
elsewhere; and another possible derivation for it is from ‘_sondra_,’ to
sunder. The forms Sunrir and Sunris are there found; and Germany had a
few others, such as Sindwald, or Sindolt, Sindbald, the Sinibaldo of
Italy, Sindbert, Sindolf, and the above-mentioned Sindhram, chiefly
interesting to us as chosen by Fouqué for the name of his masterpiece,
the wonderful allegory spun out of Albert Durer’s more wonderful
engraving.
SECTION XIII.—_Elberich._
The elf king Elberich here brings in his own fairy kindred. In the
_Nibelung_, he is watching over the fatal treasure when Siegfried comes
to claim it, and, dwarf as he is, does such fierce battle over it that
Siegfried was ‘in bitter jeopardy;’ but he is at length overcome sworn
to Siegfried’s service, and brought by him to Wurms, where he has no
more to do but to lament when Haghen makes away with the treasure.
He is called very ancient, and well he may be, for he had appeared in
the _Book of Heroes_ long before the time of even Hughdietrich, when
King Otnit of Lombardy had set forth to win the daughter of the king of
Syria, and Elberich showed himself under a linden tree in the guise of a
beautiful child. Otnit was about to pick him up, but received from him a
tremendous blow, and after a sharp fight came to terms, and thenceforth
he assisted him in his enterprise, gave him magic armour, and assisted
him to gain the lady. Much of this story is repeated in the French
romance of _Huon de Bourdeaux_, where Auberon, as he is there called,
gives the knight an ivory horn wherewith to summon him to his aid in an
emergency, and thus arose the English Oberon, the elf-rik or king, the
graceful but petulant fairy whom Drayton marries to the Irish Mab, and
Shakespeare to the Greek Titania. He had his human namesakes, too;
Alberich was in fashion as a Frank name, as Ælfric was as a Saxon; and
the Domesday Book shows that while we had plenty of the latter native
form, Edward the Confessor had already imported two specimens of
‘Albericus comes,’ and these or their sons contracted into Aubrey, which
was known to fame as almost hereditary among the De Veres, earls of
Oxford. France, too, had her Aubri; and Alberico was used in Lombardy,
where likewise the notable and terrible monarch Alboin, whose name as
Alboino is still common among the peasantry, bore the name that
Anglo-Saxons called Ælfwine, or elf-friend, perhaps likewise an allusion
to the aid and friendship of ‘Oberon the faëry,’ whose first protégé was
a Lombard. Alwine is the feminine used in Germany, and _perhaps_ may be
our Albinia.
The elf of England and Germany, the _alfr_ of the North, was a being
dear to the imagination of the people. His name means the _white_, the
same word already mentioned as forming the Latin _albus_, and
designating the Elbe and the Alps, as well as appearing in the Elphin of
Cymric legend. The elves, or white spirits, were supposed to be
beautiful shadowy gifted beings, often strangely influencing the life of
mortals, so that in old Germany the Alfr were the genii of man’s life,
like the Disir of the North; and Elberich probably originally attended
Otnit in this capacity. Christianity did not destroy the faith in the
elf-world, but the existence of these beings was accounted for by
supposing them children of Eve, whom she had hidden from the face of her
Maker, and He had therefore condemned to be hidden from the face of man.
They were thought to mourn for their exclusion from Redemption, and to
seek baptism for their infants; but in process of time their higher
attributes dropped off from them, and they were mixed up with the
malicious black dwarfs. They took to stealing young maidens, as the
Scottish Burd Ellen, and to exchanging infants in the cradle; and
Scotland created an Elfinland, which was a striking element of worldly
vanity. In England, the traditions of the Keltic spirits, pucks and
pixies, were mixed up with them, and our Elizabethan poets treated them
as the males of the French fairies; and what comes to us so recommended,
surely we must accept.
These elves, in their more dignified days, played a considerable part in
our native nomenclature; nay, the most honoured of all our English
sovereigns wrote himself upon his jewel Ælfred, _i.e._, Elf in council,
wise as a supernatural being. Some have tried to read the word Alfried,
all peace; but there is no doubt that the Elf is the right prefix. The
English loved to continue his name, but it was Latinized as Aluredus,
and thus Alured is the form in which it is borne by many persons
recorded in Domesday, and is still kept up and regarded as a separate
name, though Alfred has been within the last century resumed in England;
it is much used about the good king’s birth-place at Wantage in
Berkshire, and has of late been adopted in France and Germany.
Ælfhæg was as high as an elf; whether given to a very small infant, or
supposed to refer to a being of unearthly stature, does not appear. It
was the very inappropriate name of the archbishop who, under Ethelred
the Unready, was pelted to death at a Danish banquet because he would
not oppress his flock to obtain a ransom. The offence given by Lanfranc
in refusing to regard him as a true martyr may be judged by the large
numbers called after him in Domesday. In Sussex they are set down as
Ælfech; in Hants as Ælfec; in Nottingham as Ælfag; and thanks to the
Latinism of Alphegius, our calendar calls him Alphege.
Ælfgifu, or the elf gift, was the unfortunate Elgiva of history, a not
unsuitable name for one whose beauty was like a fatal fairy gift,
bringing ruin on her and on her husband; but it was also used to
translate into Saxon that of the Norman Emma, which was regarded as too
foreign for the Saxons. Knut’s first wife, Ælfwine (elf darling), the
daughter of Ælfhelm, Earl of Southampton, is recorded by Dugdale as
Ailive; and Aileve, Ælveva, or Alveva, is very common in Domesday.
Aileve indeed continued in use for many years.
In fact, it was England that made by far the most use of elf names. The
North was perhaps the next in the use of them, having an immense number
of instances of Alfr in the _Landnama-bok_, but there the elf at the end
of a word has such an unfortunate tendency to transform himself into a
wolf, that it is impossible to tell which was the original, the same
person being sometimes written Thoralf, and sometimes Thorulf. There are
few instances preserved from the other Teutonic branches, except as we
have seen the two Lombardic names, that seem direct from Elberich.
English names in Æthel often contract into El, and when followed by an
_f_, appear to be _elves_; but they must be pursued to their original
form before being so rendered.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Nor. Alfdis—Household fairy │
│ Nor. Alfgejr; Eng. Ælfgar—Elf spear │
│ Nor. Alfgerdur—Elf woman │
│ Nor. Alfheidur, Alfeidur—Elf cheerfulness │
│ Eng. Ælfhelm—Elf helmet │
│ Nor. Alfhild—Elf battle maid │
│ Nor. Alfliotr—Elf terror │
│ Eng. Ælfric—Elf king │
│ Eng. Ælfthryth, Elfrida—Threatening elf │
│ Eng. Ælfwold—Elf power │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Alvaro and Elvira are the Spanish forms of these elf names.
A bishop of Lichfield, whose name was Ælfwine, was always called Ælla,
and thus there is reason to suppose that _elves_ named both the Ælle of
Deira, whose name caused Gregory the Great to say that Alleluja should
be sung in those regions, and also the later Ælla, who put Ragnar
Lodbrog to death. Otherwise these would be referred to the word in
Gothic, _aljan_, meaning battle, found in the Old German Ellanheri and
Ellanperaht.
Some of our commencing _els_ are no doubt from the fairy source; but
there are others very difficult to account for, beginning in Anglo-Saxon
with _ealh_, which is either a hall, or without the final _h_, the
adjective _all_, by which in fact they are generally translated. The
most noted of them is Ealhwine, the tutor of Charlemagne’s sons,
generally called Alcuin, though his name has remained at home as Aylwin.
Some Aylwins, are, however, certainly from Ægilwine, or awful friend;
Ealhfrith, Ealhmund, and Ealhred, are also found, and one of these must
have formed the modern Eldred. Among ladies are Ealhfled, and Ealhswyth,
or Alswitha. On the whole it seems to us that the _hall_ is the more
probable derivation; the _h_ so carefully used in the Saxon Chronicle is
unlike a contraction.[138]
-----
Footnote 138:
Munch; Weber and Jamieson; St. Pelaye, _Huon de Bourdeaux_; Grimm;
Keightley; Lappenburg; _Landnama-bok_; _Domesday_; Scott, _Minstrelsy
of Scottish Border_; Sharon Turner; Kemble, _Names of the
Anglo-Saxons_.
CHAPTER V.
THE KARLING ROMANCES.
SECTION I.—_The Paladins._
Another remarkable cycle of romantic fable connected itself with a
prince, not lost in the dim light of heroic legend, but described by a
contemporary chronicler, and revealed in the full light of history.
However, in reality, the records of Eginhard were, no doubt, as unread
and unknown as if they had never existed, and with the notion that a
magnificent prince had reigned over half Europe, there was ample scope
for tradition to connect with him and his followers all the floating
adventures that Teutonic, Keltic, or Latin invention had framed; and,
by-and-by, literature recorded them, using them as her own world of
beauty and of wonder, until nothing but the names were left in common
with their originals.
France, Germany, Lombardy, and Spain, all looked back to the same
emperor, and hung their traditions around him, with a far more national
sentiment than it was possible for them to possess for the British
Arthur. In the Charles who bore the surname of the Great, all the
legends centred. He was at once emperor, and, like his grandfather,
champion of Europe against the Saracens, with whom in popular fancy,
both his own Saxons and his grandson’s Northmen were fused together; he
was besieged, like his grandson, in Paris, and lost all his best
followers in the pass of Roncesvalles, by the treachery of the
Navarrese.
These were the materials that fancy had to work upon. The existing
feudal system supplied the machinery, and not with utter incorrectness,
since it had actually then existed in its infancy, and the chiefs of the
Frank court were veritably obliged to pay martial service to their head
for the lands that they had received from him on the conquest of the
country. _Pfalz_, the same word which we now call _palace_, the central
court, furnished the title for the feudatories employed at the court;
_Pfalzen_, a word that continued in use in its proper region, Germany,
naming the Pfalzgraf of the Rhine, whence we have learnt to speak of the
Count Palatine and the Palatinate.
Pfalzen, then, on French tongues, became Paladins, and Paladins were
supposed to have been not so much political as military, so that we
regard the term as meaning a champion of high prowess. There was an idea
likewise of a council of these Paladins as the twelve peers of France in
the golden age of her constitution; and the Docipairs, as the Douzepairs
were sometimes run together, stood on a level in romantic imaginations
with the Seven Champions of Christendom, or the Knights of the Round
Table.
Spanish ballads, German lays, and Provençal songs, had been working up
the stories of the Paladins, when somewhere about the year 1100, there
came forth a French translation of the supposed chronicle of Turpin, who
had really been archbishop of Rheims in the reign of Charlemagne. The
chronicle was confirmed in 1122 by the infallible authority of the Pope,
and was translated again and again, amplified and referred to by every
one who wrote or sung of the Paladins, for the events they celebrated,
whether it contained them or not.
The influence of the Karlingen upon our subject has been great. First,
some of the genuine historical characters left hereditary Christian
names; next, several were adopted in romantic and chivalrous families,
and in the poetical ages of literary Italy, they became absolutely
frequent.
Paladins, however, connect themselves with hardly any genuine female
names of the same period. The Ossianic Fenians have their wives and
beloved maidens, the knights of the Round Table are united with ladies
of Cymric title, like their own, and evidently as traditionary as
themselves; the dames of the _Nibelungenlied_ are intimately connected
with the whole structure of the legend; but the knights of Charlemagne
have brought with them few genuine ladye loves. Orlando once had a wife,
the Alda, or Belinda, of the old traditions; but even the Clarice of
Renaud in the _Quatre Fils Aymon_, betrays a late French, or rather
Romanesque, influence; and far more do the Doña Clara, Belerma, and
Sebilla of the Spanish ballads, show how late they must have arisen;
whilst Angelica, Marfisa, Bradamante, Fiordespina, and Fiordiligi, and
the like, are absolute Italian inventions.
The Frankish ladies seem, in fact, to have been held in little
estimation. Chivalry had not blossomed into respect for womanhood, and
they had probably been left behind by their lords in the march of
civilization. The female names from time to time cast up in the surging
tide of affairs seldom appear except for disgrace or misfortune, so that
we come to the conclusion that womanhood in the Frank empire was seldom
happy or honourable except in the cloister. Thus, no traditional names
of woman came down with the Paladins; and when love became an essential
part of the machinery of the Italian poets, they had to invent, and
entitle, the heroines for themselves.
SECTION II.—_Charles._
Most heroes gain by becoming the subjects of romance, but this has been
by no means the case with the great Karl of the Franks, for though ‘il
Rè Carlo’ be three rolled into one, he has lost the heroism of him of
the hammer, and the large-minded statesmanship of the first emperor,
obtaining instead the dulness and weak credulity of him who was called
the Bald.
The three Charleses are matter of history, and the Carlo Magno of
romance and ballad is little more than a lay figure, always persuaded to
believe traitorous stories of his best friends, and meeting with
undignified adventures, as in the case of the enchanted ring that bound
his affections to lady, bishop, and lake. We therefore pass on at once
to this name, which a foolish old story thus accounts for. As an infant
he was put out to nurse, and when brought home, much grown, his mother
exclaimed, ‘What great carle is this?’ whence he continued to be so
called, instead of by his baptismal name of David. This tale may have
been suggested by the fact, that the veritable Charles the Great, when
laying aside his state he became a scholar in his palace hall, under the
teaching of the English Alcuin, assumed the appropriate title of David.
Karl was in fact, as we have shown in the chapter on ancestral names,
the regular family name of the line, used in regular alternation from
its first appearance with the grandfather of the hammering Charles, who
perhaps took his soubriquet from Thor, and gradually acquiring more and
more ignominious epithets till it sunk into obscurity in Lorraine,
whence it only emerged again when the Karlings intermarried with
Philippe Auguste, and brought the old imperial name into the French
royal family, where five more kings bore it. They sent it to Naples with
Charles of Anjou; and his son, Charles Robert, or Caroberto, being
elected to Hungary, had so many namesakes that Camden was led to suppose
that all Hungarian kings were called Carl. It went to Germany when the
son of the blind king of Bohemia received it from his father’s
connection with the French court, and afterwards reigned as the 4th Karl
of Germany, taking up his reckoning from the old Karlingen. Again, the
second ducal house of Burgundy was an off-shoot from the line of Valois,
and it was from Charles the Bold that the name was transmitted to his
great grandson of Ghent, soon known to Europe as Carlos I. of Spain,
Karl V. of Germany, Carolus Quintus of the Holy Roman Empire. He was the
real name spreader from whom this became national in Spain, Denmark, and
even in Britain, for his renown impressed James I. with the idea that
this must be a fortunate name; when, in the hope of averting the unhappy
doom that had pursued five James Stuarts in succession, he called his
sons Henry and Charles. The destiny of the Stuart was not averted, but
the fate of the ‘royal martyr’ made Charles the most popular of all
appellations among the loyalists, and afterwards with the Jacobites, in
both England and Scotland, so that rare as it formerly was, it now
disputes the ground with John, George, and William, as the most common
of English names.
Another namesake of Charlemagne must not be forgotten, namely, the son
of St. Olaf, of Norway, whom his followers, intending an agreeable
surprise to the father, baptized after the great emperor by the name of
Magnus, whence the very frequent Magnus, of Scandinavia, and Manus of
Ireland.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ Keltic. │ French. │Span. and Port.│
│Charles │ GAEL. │Charles │Carlos │
│Charlie │Tearlach │Charlot │ German. │
│ │ ERSE. │ │Karl │
│ │Searlus │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Italian. │ Swedish. │ Danish. │ Dutch. │
│Carlo │Karl │Karl │Carolus │
│Carolo │Kalle │Karel │Carel │
│ │ │ │Karel │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Polish. │ Bohemian. │ Illyrian. │ Lusatian. │
│Karol │Karel │Karlo │Karlo │
│Karolek │ ————————— │Karlica │Karlko │
│ │ Slovak. │Karlic │ │
│ │Karol │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│Lettish. │ Esthonian. │ Hungarian. │ Dantzig. │
│Karls │Karl │Karoly │Kasch │
│ │Karel │ │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
The two feminines are of late invention. The first I have been able to
find was Carlota or Charlotte, of Savoy, who married Louis XI., and thus
introduced this form to French royalty. Charlotte d'Albret had the
misfortune to be given in marriage to Cesare Borgia, and had one
daughter, who married into the house of La Tremouille, whence the brave
Lady Derby carried it into England, and our registers of the seventeenth
century first acknowledge Charlet. The Huguenotism of the house of La
Tremouille connected it with that of Bouillon, where the heiress Carola,
or Charlotte, was married in 1588. The house of Orange probably thence
derived it, and it became known in Germany, whence it was brought to us
in full popularity by the good queen of George III. A sentimental fame
was also bestowed on it, as the name of Göthe’s heroine in _Werther_.
Carolina, the other form, seems to have been at first Italian, and
thence to have spread to Southern Germany, and all over that country,
whence we received it with the wife of George II., by whom it was much
spread among the nobility, and is now very common among the peasantry.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ Spanish. │ Italian │
│Charlotte │Charlotte │Carlota │Carlotta │
│Lotty │Lolotte │Lola │Carlota │
│Chatty │Caroline │ │Carolina │
│Caroline │ │ │ │
│Carry │ │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ German. │ Swedish. │ Slovak. │ Lettish. │
│Charlotte │Lotta │Karolina │Latte │
│Lottchen │ │Karolinka │ ————————— │
│Caroline │ │Karla │ Dantzig. │
│Lina │ │ │Linuschca │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
Ceorl was the name of an early king of Mercia, and of a thane of
Alfred’s, who defeated the Danes, and Carloman was almost as common as
Carl in the old Karling family.[139]
-----
Footnote 139:
Sismondi; Roscoe; Michaelis; Pott; Anderson, _Genealogies_.
SECTION III.—_Roland, &c._
When the army of Charles the Great was marching back from Spain, the
Gascons, Navarrese, and Goths, who were afraid of being swallowed up by
his empire, if they exchanged his protection for that of the Arabs,
plotted together, fell on the rear of his columns as they were passing
through the defile of Roncesvalles, close to the little town of Fuente
Arabia, and slaughtered the whole division that were guarding the
baggage. ‘There was slain Rotlandus, prefect of the Armorican border.’
So says Eginhard, the contemporary chronicler, and as he mentions only
two other nobles as having been killed, it is natural to conclude that
this Rotlandus was a man of mark. Who was he? Certainly Warden of the
Marches of Brittany, but was he a Frank Hruodland (the country’s glory),
the repressor of the Kelts, or was he a Breton in the Frankish service?
The Cymry have laid claim to him; they say that the rolling word is
intended to render Tallwch, a rolling or overwhelming torrent, the name
of the father of Tristrem; and in the later romances, this knight has
actually been turned into Rowland, which thus has become a favourite
national Welsh name.
It is far more likely that ‘Rotlandus’ was Frank, but the next question
is, what were the deeds that made his birth worth contending for, and
the war song of Rou be the chant of the gallant minstrel Taillefer, to
cheer the Normans on to their victory at Hastings?
Eginhard is utterly silent. Turpin tells us that Rolandus was the
emperor’s nephew, the son of his sister Bertha, and of Milo de Anglars.
With Turpin, the expedition to Spain is the prominent feature of the
reign, and he gives us an account of a mingled battle and controversy
between Roland and Ferragus, a giant of the race of Goliath, and only
vulnerable in one point, where, however, Roland managed to pierce him.
Very soon after follows the ambush of Roncesvalles, the enemy being
Saracens, not Christians, but conducted by the traitor Ganelon. After a
terrible battle, Roland, sorely wounded, lay down under a tree, and
apostrophizing his good sword Durenda, in the most tender manner, thrice
struck it upon a block of marble, and shattered it in twain, lest it
should fall into the Saracen hands. Then he blew upon his horn, which
had such wondrous tones that all other horns split at the sound, and
this blast was with such effort that he burst all the veins in his neck,
and the sound reached the king, eight miles off! He then commended his
soul to heaven, and made a most pious and beautiful end.
That block of marble is magnified by popular fame into the mountain
itself, and la Brèche de Roland is supposed to be the cleft made by his
sword! The Northern Lights, too, are said to be King Charles riding by,
and Roland bearing the banner. The Spaniards, so far as they were
Christians and Teutons, felt with the Franks; so far as they were
Celtiberians, against them, and the result was a collection of admirable
popular ballads, all prime authorities with Don Quixote, in which _il
rey Carlos_ and his peers are treated as national heroes. Nevertheless
they are proud of his defeat at Roncesvalles, declare that the emperor
broke his word to Don Alfonso of Leon, and that the attack was therefore
made in which Don Alfonso’s nephew, Bernardo de Carpio, was leader, and
demolished the invulnerable Conde Roldan, by squeezing him to death in
his arms.
It is the Spaniards alone who have transferred to Roldan the
invulnerability of Achilles, Siegfried, and Diarmaid; the French and
Italians bestow it only on Ferragus, who is, as already mentioned, an
evident Keltic importation through the Breton poets, being either the
Irish Fergus, or the Welsh Vreichfras, though he has since become a
Moorish giant.
The English, having their own Arthur to engage their attention, did
little more than versify Turpin, but allowed Roland’s sword to be
carried away by his friend Sir Baldwin, and took vengeance for his
death.
But it was the Italians who did the most for their Orlando. Some
floating Valkyr notion had attached itself in German fancy to his
mother, who was at first Bertha the goose-footed, and then the
large-footed, and romance further related that she was the emperor’s
sister, who had secretly married the knight Milone di Anglante, and
therefore was driven out of the court, and forced to take refuge in a
cave, where the hero was born, and was called Rotolando, from his
rolling himself on the ground. His father went to the wars, and Berta
became the diligent spinner before alluded to, but she was still so poor
that his young companions each gave her boy a square of cloth to cover
him, two white, and two red, whence he always bore those colours
quartered on his shield. Afterwards he was taken into favour, and became
the chief Paladin.
Here Luigi Pulci took him up, and made him the hero of a poem called the
_Morgante Maggiore_, from a giant whom Orlando converted, and who
followed him faithfully about through all his adventures. Orlando is
here a high-spirited Christian knight, brave, pious, and faithfully
attached to his wife Alda. When slain at Roncesvalles, he mentions her
in his last and very beautiful prayer, and his sorrow for his comrades,
and parting with his horse and sword, are very touching.
It was Bojardo who deprived Orlando of his old traditional character of
the high-minded champion, that crusading days had dwelt upon. Led,
perhaps, by the idea of the frenzy of Amadis de Gaul, he made Orlando
fall desperately in love with the fair and false Angelica, princess of
Catay, and leave the court and all his duties just as the Saracen king
Gradasso was invading France, to obtain possession of Durindana,
Orlando’s sword. The action of the poem is taken up with the adventures
imposed upon Orlando by the mischievous beauty, and the pursuit of him
by the other Paladins, and finally it leaves off with the whole chivalry
of Charlemagne besieged in Paris by the Saracens.
Orlando was only _innamorato_ according to Bojardo; Ariosto took him up
and made him _furioso_. Continuing the poem where it had dropped from
Bojardo’s hands, Ariosto made Angelica fall in love with an obscure
youth, and marry him, whereupon Orlando, after the example of Amadis de
Gaul, went into the state of frenzy that Don Quixote tried to imitate;
and the Christians suffered as much as the Greeks did without Achilles,
till the champion’s senses were brought back from the moon; when he
returned to his duty, restored fortune to the Christians, and saved
France from becoming tributary to the infidel.
Charles VIII. of France, in his romantic youth, named one of his
short-lived children, Charles Roland, by the way of union of the two
heroes.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│English. │ French. │ Italian. │ Spanish. │
│Roland │Roland │Orlando │Roldan │
│Rowland │ │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│Portuguese. │ German. │ Netherlands. │ │
│Rolando │Roland │Roeland │ │
│Roldao │Ruland │ │ │
│ │Rudland │ │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
The derivation of the first syllable is the word _hruod_ in Frank,
_hrothr_ in the North, and in modern German _ruhm_, meaning fame or
glory.
_Hruod_ is a most prolific word. As Hruodgar, famous spear, it figures
in the _Nibelungenlied_, where the Markgraf Rudiger is the special
friend of Dietrich, and for a long time, like him, refrains from the
fray, though at last he plunges into it and is killed.
There seems to have been a veritable Hruodgar living in the time of
Pepin, who married a lady whose father’s name was Hector, whence it was
taken for granted that she descended from Hector of Troy. Therefore the
House of Este bore the white eagle in their coat of arms, because it was
said he of Troy had a shield azure with a silver eagle! Roger, Olivier,
and Roland are mentioned together as subjects of minstrel songs. In the
old romances there is a Ruggieri de Risa, or Reggio, who marries an
Amazon, called Galaciella, but is soon after murdered, and she is
carried off by sea by her enemies, whom, however, she manages to
overpower and destroy on the voyage, but only to be driven to a desert
island, where she dies at the birth of her twins, Ruggiero and Marfisa.
This Ruggiero is the prime favourite of the Italian poets. Bojardo tells
how he was bred up on lion’s marrow by the enchanter Atlante, in Africa,
and when his education was finished, was sent to France with the
wonderful hippogriff, or winged horse. And Ariosto, probably in
compliment to the House of Este, made his adventures the main plot of
the _Orlando Furioso_, and completed it by converting him to
Christianity, and marrying him to the brave and amiable Amazon,
Bradamante.
Bojardo probably adopted Ruggiero because his country was Reggio, a
country with which the name had become connected, when Roger de
Hauteville had founded the kingdom of Sicily, and Ruggero, the son of
his elder brother, Robert Guiscard, had been count of Apulia. These were
both, of course, direct from the northern Hruodgeir, as was the
turbulent Roger de Montgomery, who gave so much trouble in Normandy. It
was once a famous knightly name, but is now too much discarded. Roger
must once have been very frequent in England, since Hodge is still
proverbial for a rustic,—whereas as a rule he is never so called, though
the Registrar-General noted an extraordinary number of Roger Tichbornes
in the year of the claimant’s trial!
┌────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ Italian. │ Spanish. │ German. │
│Roger │Roger │Ruggiero │Rogerio │Rüdiger │
│Hodge │ │Rogero │ │Roger │
├────────────┼────────────┼────────────┼────────────┼────────────┤
│ Nor. │Netherlands.│ Russian. │ Polish. │ Lettish. │
│Hrodgjer │Rogier │Rozer │Rydygier │Rekkerts │
│Raadgjer │Rutger │ │ │ │
└────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┘
Hrothgar was also a famed name among the Angles. It appears in Beowulf,
as the chief of the Scyldings, the son of Healfdane. There, too, are
found Hrothmund and Hrothwulf; and the northern names of Hroar and
Hrolfr are contractions of these, though the characters they belong to
are not the same as those in Beowulf. Hrolf Krake was the subject of a
northern Saga; and the father of our Norman kings, whom we are wont to
call by his Latinism of Rollo, formed from the French stammer of Rou,
was in fact Hrolf Gangr, or at full length, Hrothulf, Fame-Wolf. A name
of fame and terror it was, when the mighty man, too weighty for steed to
carry him, was expelled from his own land, and fought for a home, not
for plunder, among the fertile orchards of Neustria, when his followers'
rude homage overthrew the degenerate Karling, and ‘the grisly old
proselyte,’ in his baptism, assumed, without perhaps knowing of the
similarity, the French Robert. This change prevented his original name
from being very prevalent among the Normans; and the German form,
Rudolf, is chiefly from a sainted Karling prince, who was bishop of
Bourges, and from whom Rudolf of Hapsburg must have derived it. From him
it became imperial, and other countries received it, without knowing it
for their old friend.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ Spanish. │ Italian. │
│Rodolph │Rodolphe │Rodulfo │Rodolfo │
│Rolf │Raoul │ ————————— │Ridolfo │
│ │Roul │ Portuguese. │ │
│ │Rou │Rodolpho │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ German. │ Bavarian. │ Frisian. │ Swiss. │
│Rudolf │Ruedolf │Rulef │Ruedi │
│ │ │Rulves │Ruedeli │
│ │ │Rotholf │Rudi │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
│ Swedish. │ Nor. │ Lettish. │ Hungarian. │
│Rudolf │Hruodulf │Rohlops │Rudolf │
│Rolf │Hrolfr │ │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
Robert, the name assumed by Rolf Gauge at his baptism was Frank, rather
than Northern, inasmuch as _bjart_ is an uncommon conclusion among his
native race. Hruadperaht, or bright fame, was the original form, the
property of a bishop, who somewhere about the year 700 founded the first
Christian church at Wurms. Honoured alike in France and Germany, he
became Ruprecht in the latter, and Robert in the former. Like St.
Nicolas, he is in Germany supposed to exercise a secret supervision over
children; in some places _Knecht Ruprecht_ dispenses Christmas gifts,
but he more often keeps watch over naughty children, and thus answers to
the English Robin Goodfellow, or Hob Goblin. _Red_ was long supposed to
be the origin of the name, which some made Redbert, or bright speech,
others Redbeard! The German form, however, disproves both of these, and
Ruprecht continued in honour in its own country, naming in especial that
wise Pfalzgraf of the Rhine, who in 346 founded the university of
Heidelberg; and on the deposition of the crazy Bohemian Kaisar Wenzel,
was elected Emperor of Germany, and reigned for nine years with great
success and glory. It was after him that the infant, born at Prague,
during the brief greatness of the Winter King, received that name of
Rupert, which was so terrible to the Roundheads, but which for the most
part they translated by their native Robert—native, because thoroughly
Anglicized, for it was of French growth, had belonged to two or three
saints, and to the hymn-writing and much persecuted king called the
pious, the second of the Capet or Parisian dynasty; but after the son of
St. Louis carried it off to the House of Bourbon, it scantily appeared
among the royal family. Normandy, however, cultivated it after it had
been chosen at the baptism of her first duke, and sent it to Apulia with
the astute Robert Guiscard, whence Roberto became national in the
Neapolitan realms, and was adopted by the Angevin line, among others by
the king who patronized Petrarch. The next Duke of Normandy who bore it
was that wild pilgrim, whose soubriquet varies between the Devil and the
Magnificent. The disinheritance of his equally wild, but more
unfortunate grandson, Robert Courthose, diverted it from the English
throne, but a flood of knights and nobles had poured in and established
it so completely, that in a few generations more Hob was one of the
established peasant names in England. Robin was its more gracious
contraction—let our dearly beloved archer be who he will—either as
ballad tells, the outlawed Earl of Huntingdon, or as late critics would
have us believe, only another manifestation of Robin Goodfellow, or of
the wild huntsman. Robin was the epithet by which Queen Elizabeth was
wont to address the two earls, step-father and stepson, who so long
sunned themselves in her favour; and though it has now acquired a homely
sound, and the popularity of the full name has somewhat waned, it is
still frequent. To Scotland it was brought by the Anglo-Norman barons,
and when the English Bruces had made their distant drop of Royal
Scottish blood float them to the throne, Robert the Bruce became a
passionately beloved national hero, and his name one of the most
favoured in the Lowlands. In Ireland it is called Roibin, a gentleman
called in English Robin Lawless being in Irish, Roibin Laighleis.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ Scotch. │ French. │ Italian. │
│Robert │Robert │Robert │Roberto │
│Robin │Robin │Robers │Ruberto │
│Hob │Robbie │Robi │Ruperto │
│Bob │Rab │Robinet │ │
│Rupert │ │Rupert │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
│ German. │ Bavarian. │ Slovak. │ Lusatian. │
│Hruodebert │Ruprecht │Ruprat │Huprecht │
│Ruprecht │Prechtl │ │ │
│Rupert │ │ │ │
│Rudbert │ │ │ │
│Robert │ │ │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
Not behindhand in glory is the northern Hrothrekr, or Germanic
Hruoderich, famous ruler. In Gothic Spain, it was indeed Rodrigo, who
lost his country to the Moors, but became in his people’s minds the
centre for pity as much as for blame, and the subject of the beautiful
legends that Southey has embodied in the finest of his poems. And it was
Rodrigo Diaz de Bivar,‘Ruy mi Cid Campeador,’ in whom ballad lore
delighted. This became one of the most frequent of all the
grand-sounding names prefaced by Don, and Rodriguez and Ruiz to be very
common surnames.
The northern Hrothrekr was not long in being shortened to Hrorekr, and
thence came the name of that Norseman, who, according to Russian
historians, was invited by the Slaves to be their protector, and founded
the Norman dynasty of Ruric, which continued on the throne during the
troubled days of Tatar supremacy. Roric and Godwald were the first
Northmen to obtain fiefs in France. In Wales, Scotland, and Ireland,
Roderick has a sort of false honour, being adopted as the equivalent of
the native Keltic names, the Welsh Rhydderc, and the Gadhaelic Ruadh;
for Roy and Rorie, though rightly and traditionally so called by their
friends, would now all make Teutons of themselves, and use the signature
of Roderick.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ Italian. │ Spanish. │
│Roderick │Rodrigue │Rodrigo │Rodrigo │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ German. │ Nor. │ Russian. │ │
│Roderich │Rothrekr │Rurik │ │
│ │Hrorek │ │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
There are numerous other forms from this prolific source. Rother, who
figures in Lombardic history, is the German Hruodhari, or famous
warrior, and in the North divides with Hrothgar the property of the
strange abbreviation, Roar, and in the harsh old Latinisms of Frank
names is Crotcharius.
There too is found Chrodovaldus, which in German was once Hrodowald, and
afterwards Rudold, perhaps, too, the Danish and Scottish Ribolt, and in
the North Roald, and in Italian Roaldo, the founder of an order of
monks. Nay, Romeo de' Montecchi himself, the Montague of Shakespeare,
bore a common Lombardic name, softened down from the Chrodomarus of
Frankish Latin, as in Germany Hruotmar is Rudmar and Romar. Hromund, or
Romund, must not be confused with the derivatives of Ragin, though it is
most likely that the Irish Redmond is a Danish legacy from this source.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Nor. Hrodbern—Famous bear │
│ Frank. Chrodogang—Famous progress │
│ Nor. Hrothild; Ger. Hrodhilde; Frank. Chrodehilda—Famous │
│ heroine │
│ Ger. Hrodfrid—Famous peace │
│ Ger. Hrodhard—Famous strength │
│ Ger. Hrudo; Frank. Chrodo; Nor. Hroi—Fame │
│ Nor. Hrodny—Famous freshness │
│ Nor. Hrollaug—Famous liquor │
│ Nor. Hrolleif—Relic of fame │
│ Nor. Hrodsind; Frank. Chrodoswintha—Famous strength │
│ Ger. Hrodstein—Famous stone. │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Ruod must have been evolved from the word meaning speech, _razda_ in
Gothic, _rœdo_ in Anglo-Saxon, whence advice became _rede_ in Old
English and Scottish, and _rath_ in modern German.
_Rad_ is chiefly a Frankish prefix, though we had one king Redwald.
Radegond, or war council, was a Frankish queen who became a nun at
Poitiers, and left a name still used by French girls in that
neighbourhood. King Ordoño of Gallicia married, about the year 910, a
lady recorded as Radegonda, or Arragonda, or Urraca, so that the
perplexing Urraca may possibly be a contraction of this name. In the
Spanish vernacular a magpie is called _urraca_, but probably from the
likeness of the word to the note of the bird.
Radegist or Radelchis, and Radegar, were princes of Beneventum. Radbad,
the Frisian Rabbo, and Radbert, seem to be Old German forms, but it is a
word liable to be confused with _hramn_, and with _rand_, and though a
common masculine termination in England, in the North it is only a
corruption of _fred_, peace.
SECTION IV.—_Renaud._
To the French, Renaud de Montauban was a far more popular and national
hero than even Roland.
His name, Raginwald, was common among the Franks, and his origin is
suspected to be an Aquitanian Rainaldus, who in 843 was killed in
fighting with the Bretons, when in the miserable days of Charles the
Bald, they invaded France under Nominoë, and were joined by the
traitorous Count Lambert.
Charles the Bald, as has been said, seems to have sat for the picture of
his grandfather, the Bretons turned into the Saracens, Count Lambert’s
treachery went to swell the account of Gano, and Rinaldus could fall at
Roncevaux quite as well as at Mans!
He is just mentioned by Turpin as among the knights who accompanied
Charlemagne, and were killed at Roncesvalles; and the Spanish ballads
dwelt much upon the exploits of Don Reynaldos; indeed it appears that he
enjoyed Don Quixote’s special admiration for having carried off, in
spite of forty Moors, a golden image of Mahomet, which he wanted to melt
up for the payment of his men!
Such an exploit was decidedly in the line of the French hero Renaud, or
Regnault, who is in romance a sort of prince of freebooters. He and his
three brothers go by the title of the Quatre Fils Aymon, and he is a
sort of chivalrous Robin Hood to the French mind, insomuch that country
inns may still be found with the sign of the _Quatre Fils Aymon_. In the
old French tale, the outlawry of Renaud is accounted for by his having
been insulted by the emperor’s nephew Berthelot, while playing at chess,
and replying with a blow of the golden board that struck out the
offender’s brains. He and his brothers then were banished, lived a
freebooting life, built the castle of Montalban in Gascony, the king of
which country bestowed on him in marriage his daughter Clarice, and
finally went on pilgrimage, made his peace with the emperor, turned his
hand to the building of Cologne Cathedral, and was killed there by his
jealous fellow-workmen.
In Italy Rinaldo became a wild, high-spirited Paladin, always fighting
and falling in love, and retaining little in common with his French
original, except the possession of his matchless horse Bayard, or
Bajardo, which fought as well as his master, and on his loss ran wild in
the woods. In the _Morgante_, Rinaldo mistrusts Gano, and avoids the
ambush of Roncesvalles, but is afterwards carried with his brother
Ricciardetto by two devils, to revenge the slaughter, which they do most
effectually.
In the _Orlando Innamorato_, Rinaldo is at first ensnared by Angelica’s
beauty, but is cured by drinking unwittingly of the fountain of hate,
while she drank of the fountain of love, and was enamoured of him. He is
carried off by Malagigi to an enchanted island of delight, but returns
during the great siege of Paris, takes a counter-draught of the fountain
of love, fights in single combat with Ferrau, but is interrupted by
Bajardo straying into a wood, whither he pursues the animal, and is
there deserted by Boiardo, to be taken up by Ariosto, and after many
adventures brought to relieve the Christian army in the utmost danger,
and to give his sister Bradamante in marriage to Ruggiero.
Some have thought that Tasso’s one fictitious hero, Rinaldo, was partly
borrowed from the Paladin, going as he does to the enchanted gardens of
Armida, and being only brought back when the crusading host was in the
utmost jeopardy. The chief mission of this latter Rinaldo was, however,
it may be suspected, to be a compliment to the House of Este.
Some even think Roland himself only another version of Ragenwald, but
the one Paladin is undoubtedly traceable to Hruoland, as is the other to
Ragenwald, though I am inclined to think that the Rolandsaulen, that
accompany the Irminsaulen at the gates of old cities, may perhaps be
rightly from Raginwald, judgment-power.
The Normans received this name from two sources, the French Regnault or
Renaud, generally from the Paladin, and from their own northern Ragnwold
or Rognwald. So Domesday has it in various forms, as Ragenald, Reynald,
and Rainald, the latter fourteen times after the Conquest; and amongst
them all we have derived our Christian name of Reginald, and the surname
of Reynolds. The Scots took their form from the northern Rognvald,
belonging to a great Jarl of the Orkneys, a noted skald, and thus
obtained Ronald, which is in Gaelic Raonmill.
_Ragn_, or judgment, the leading word in this class of names, is
connected with the Latin _rego_, to rule, and as _rectus_ sprang from
the one, so the Gothic _raihts_ and our _right_ arose from the Teutonic
forms, as well as to _wreak_, and the German _rache_, vengeance, both
from the old idea of justice. _Ragn_, though primarily meaning justice,
is also used, as judgment is, in the sense of wisdom. Reginald Pole was
in his own time known as Reynold. We get the longer name from his
Latinism as Reginaldus.
Some of Renaud’s freebooting fame may have come from a person whose name
so closely resembles his own, that it is by no means easy to distinguish
their progeny; namely, Raginhard, or firm judge. A nobleman of this name
was Count of the Palace, or Pfalzgraf, to Louis de Debonnaire, and
engaged in a conspiracy against him, with Bernard, king of Italy. They
were made prisoners, and condemned; the emperor commuted the sentence to
the loss of their sight; but his wife, who wanted Bernard’s inheritance,
took care that so savage a person was sent to perform the operation that
they both died in consequence.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ Scottish. │ Gaelic. │ Italian. │
│Reginald │Ronald │Raonmill │Rinaldo │
│Reynold │Ranald │ │ │
│Rex │ │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Spanish. │ French. │ German. │ Polish. │
│Reynaldos │Regnauld │Reinwald │Raynold │
│ │Renaud │Reinald │ │
│ │Regnault │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Esthonian. │ Lettish. │ Frisian. │ │
│Rein │Reinis │Reinold │ │
│Reino │ │Rennold │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
Another Reginard is said by Le Grand to have been a cunning politician,
who lived in Austrasia in the ninth century, and much troubled his lord
by sometimes taking part with the Germans, sometimes with the French, by
which means he became so much detested that he was the subject of many
songs in which he was called the Little Fox. At any rate, in the great
animal epic, the fox has taken the name of Reinart, or Reinecke Fuchs,
and as early as 1313, when the sons of the wily Philippe le Bel were
knighted, the edifying spectacle was represented before them of the life
of Renard the Fox, who became successively physician, clerk, bishop,
archbishop, and pope, eating however hens and chickens all the while,
much after the fashion of their father’s unhappy tool at Avignon. Renard
has thus become the absolute name of the animal in France, to the entire
exclusion of the ancient _golpe_, and in England Reynard is his
universal epithet. It was not however confined to the creature, but was
once prevalent among the human kind.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ Provençal. │ Italian. │
│Reynard │Regnard │Rainart │Rainardo │
│ │Renart │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ German. │ Frisian. │ Polish. │ Hungarian. │
│Raginhart │Renert │Raynard │Reinhard │
│Reinhard │Rinnert │Raynard │Reinhard │
│Reineke │Rennart │ │ │
│Renke │Rienit │ │ │
│Renz │ │ │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
Another old Frankish form is Raginmund, much in use in southern France,
where there was a long line of counts of Toulouse, called Raymond, one
of whom was celebrated by Tasso in the first Crusade as a gallant
knight, but the last of whom, Raymond Berenger, one of the earliest
examples of double names, went down before the sword of the first Simon
de Montford, as a supporter of the Albigenses. The counts of Barcelona,
in Spain, bore the like name, and the old Romanesque territories are
still its usual home.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ Provençal. │ Italian. │ German. │
│Raymond │ Raimons │Raimondo │Reinmund │
│ ————————— │ ————————— │ │Reimund │
│ French. │ Spanish. │ │ │
│ Raimond │Ramon │ │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
Terrible to us, but glorious to Denmark, was the name of Ragnar. Once we
had it peacefully in East Anglia, as Raginhere, the warrior of judgment,
but in that same East Anglia it was to have a deadly fame. The
historical Ragnar seems to have been decorated with a few mythical
exploits of some more ancient hero, for he is one of the dragon killers.
His first wife, Thyra, had her bower encircled by a deadly poisonous
serpent, the ravager of the whole country, until he won her hand by the
slaughter of the serpent, having guarded himself from its venom by a
suit of hairy garments covered with pitch, whence he obtained the
soubriquet of Lodbrog. Afterwards he married a poor but beautiful maiden
called Krake, who, after she had borne him four sons, disclosed that she
was the last of the Wolsungen, the daughter of Sigurd and Brynhild. Nay,
Icelandic families connect themselves through her with the heroes of
Wurms! And after this it is strange to find Jarl Ragnar sailing up the
Seine, and ravaging Paris, in the days of Charles the Bald, being in
fact the Agramante of the poets. Again he was the cause of bitter woe to
England, falling into the hands of King Ælle of Northumbria, and being
put to death by being thrown into a pit filled with vipers, where, till
his last breath, he chanted the grand death song that is worthy to stand
beside the dirge of King Eric Blödaxe. It was revenge for his death that
brought his fierce sons with that dire armament which ravaged
England—the invasion that was fatal to Edmund of East Anglia, ruined the
great abbeys of the fens, and though finally mastered by Alfred, made
the North of England Danish. This name of dread was brought to Normandy
by his kindred, and figures in Domesday as Raynar, a frequent surname in
England. In France it was cut down to René, a name that crept into the
House of Anjou, and was bestowed on the prince—too much of a troubadour
and knight-errant for a king—who vainly tried on so many crowns, and was
hated in England because ‘Suffolk gave two dukedoms for his daughter.’
Why the feminine of this name, Renée, was chosen for the younger
daughter of Louis XII., does not appear, but when she married into the
House of Este, it was translated into Renata, and the Italians, in their
revived classicalism, seem to have fancied it had some connection with
regeneration. Renira is the Dutch feminine form.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ Provençal. │ German. │
│Rayner │Reignier │Raynier │Reiner │
│Rainer │Renier │ ———————— │ ———————— │
│ │René │ Italian. │ Nor. │
│ │ │Renato │Ragnar │
│ │ │Ranieri │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
Raginmar, great judgment, still exists in Germany, as Reinmar, or
Reimar, and is the most probable origin of the Ramiro, so frequent among
the early kings of the small struggling Pyrenean realms.
Ragnhild, a favourite with old Norwegian dames, has become in Lapp,
Ranna.
The German contraction _rein_ has been often translated into pure, but
this is an error, as these names can almost uniformly be traced back to
_ragn_.
The remaining forms are—
┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ German. English. │
│ Ragnfrid, M. │ Renfred, M. } Judgment of peace │
│ Ragnfrida, F. │ } │
│ │
│ Nor. │
│ Ragnfrid, F. } │
│ Ragnrid, F. } Fair judgment │
│ Randid, F. } │
│ Randi, F. } │
│ │
│ Ger. │ Prov. │
│ Raginbald │ Rambauld } │
│ Reinbold │ } │
│ Renbold │ } Prince of judgment │
│ Rembald │ } │
│ │
│ Ger. Reginbrecht, Reinbert—Splendour of judgment │
│ Nor. Ragenheid—Wise impulse │
│ Ger. Reinger—Spear of judgment │
│ Nor. Reginleif—Relic of judgment │
│ │
│ German. Frisian. │
│ Raginward │ Remward } │
│ Reinward │ Renward } Guardian of judgment │
│ │ Remma } │
└───────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
And lastly Regina, called in Bavaria Reigl and Regl, was originally less
the Latin queen than the feminine of _ragn_. Nor in effect is the
meaning far apart.[140]
-----
Footnote 140:
Roscoe, _Bojardo and Ariosto_; Sismondi, _Histoire de France_; Mallet;
_Northern Antiquities_; _Spanish Ballads_.
SECTION V.—_Richard._
Richard, or Richardet, was one of the Quatre Filz d'Aymon, who,
according to one version, was the person who gave the fatal blow with
the chess-board, instead of Renaud. He is not a very interesting
personage, being rather the attendant knight than the prime hero, the
rescued, not the rescuer; but under his Italian name of Ricciardetto, he
has a whole poem to himself, a mere scurrilous satire upon friars, and
was the lowest depth to which romantic poetry fell.
It was not to this Paladin that his name owed its frequency, but to
Ricehard, or stern king, an Anglo-Saxon monarch of Kent, who left his
throne to become a monk at Lucca, and was there said to have wrought
many miracles. The third Norman duke bore the name, and transmitted it
to two successors, whence we obtained as many as twenty Richards at the
Conquest, and have used it as a favourite national name ever since. Two
more saints bore it, the excellent bishop of Chichester, and a hermit,
who was made bishop of Andria, in Apulia. Three times has it been on the
throne, though finally discarded by royalty after the enormities imputed
to the last Plantagenet; and latterly it has lost a little of its
popularity, though it has never been entirely disused.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ Italian. │ Netherlands. │
│Richard │Richard │Riccardo │Rijkert │
│Ritchie │ ——————————— │Ricciardo │Riikard │
│ (_Scot._) │ Portuguese. │Ricciardetto │Riik │
│Diccon │Ricardo │ │ │
│Dick │ ——————————— │ │ │
│ │ Polish. │ │ │
│ │Ryszard │ │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
The leading syllable is from the same source as _ragn_; it is he who
executes judgment, the ruler or king, the same word as the Indian
_rajah_, and the Latin _rex_. It was _reiks_ in Gothic, _rich_ in old
German, _ryce_ in Anglo-Saxon; and its derivative _reich_ was the origin
of the Neustria and Austrasia, the _oster reich_ and _ne oster reich_,
eastern and not eastern, realms, of the Franks, and of the present
Austria or eastern kingdom. _Reich_ is the home term for the German
empire at the present day. Our adjective _rich_ is its sordid offspring,
and in France a wealthy peasant is _un richart_.
_Rik_ is more in vogue as a Gothic and Frank commencement than among
most of the other Teutons, though all use it as a conclusion. Richard is
its only universal name; but among the first foes of the Romans, we find
among the Suevi, Rechiarius, who is the same with the German Richer, or
kingly warrior, and the French saint, Riquier. Ricimar, the name of the
terrible Goth who for a short time held Rome, is the great king, and was
the maker and dethroner of the four last Augusti; and his namesakes,
Ricimer and Rechimiro, appear in Spain, and may, perhaps, be the right
source of Ramiro. Recared, Richila, Riciburga, are also Gothic.
The Franks show Rigonthe, or royal war, a daughter of Fredegonda;
Rictrude, a saint, as well as Richilde, also a queenly name, which
continued for some time in use, and is better than the Richenza and
Richarda, sometimes used in England as the feminines of Richard. Richolf
endures in Friesland as Rycolf, Ryklof, or Rickel, and Germany once had
Ricbert.
One great name of this derivation is the northern Eirik. The first
syllable is that which we call _aye_ to the present day, the word that
lies at the root of the Latin _œvum_, the German _ewig_, and our own
_ever_. Ei-rik is thus _Ever King_. An ancient Erik was said to have
been admitted among the gods, and Earic was the second name of Æsc, the
son of Henghist; but it was the northern people who really used Eirik,
which comes over and over in the line of succession of all the Northern
sovereignties, figures in their ballads, and, in the person of King
Eirik Blödaxe, is connected with their finest poetry. In the present day
it is scarcely less popular than in old times, and has the feminine
Eirika.
┌────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ German. │ Nor. │ Swedish. │
│Eric │Eric │Erich │Eirik │Erik │
├────────────┼────────────┼────────────┼────────────┼────────────┤
│ Polish. │ Slovak. │ Lettish. │ Esth. │ Lapp. │
│Eryk │Erih │Erik │Erik │Keira │
│ │Areh │ │Eers │ │
└────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┘
Two other names of the North have the same commencement, Eimund, ever
protecting, or eternal guard, commonly called Emund, and Eilif, the
ever-living, answering to the Greek Ambrosios. Eilif is also written
Eiliv, Elliv, Ellef, and even Elof, and Latinized in Elavus.[141]
-----
Footnote 141:
Roscoe; Munch; Butler; Michaelis.
SECTION VI.—_Astolfo._
Astolfo is to the Paladins what Conan is to the Feen, the butt or
_grazioso_. In his full-blown perfection he is first cousin to Orlando,
being the son of Milone’s brother Ottone, and was also related to
Rinaldo, according to the quaint genealogies of the chivalrous heroes
that exact heraldry loved to draw up. He joined the four sons of Aymon,
when they left the court after the quarrel at chess, and shared in their
wild exploits; but apparently permitted no meaner interlopers in the
trade, for when he caught a party of robbers, he insisted on some
unfortunate hermits being their executioners, declaring such an office
was quite as pleasing to Heaven, ‘_che dire il Pater nostro_,’ and
finally pummelling them into compliance. In Bojardo, Astolfo gained
possession of a magic lance, brought by Angelica from Catay, which
unhorsed all its antagonists, and secure in its aid, refused when he was
required to deliver up to Gradasso, Bajardo and Durindana, which had
been left in his charge while their masters were wandering after
Angelica, but challenged Gradasso to single combat, defeated him, and
then went in search of his cousins. Ariosto conducts him into the
enchanted palace, where every one was pursuing something lost; Rinaldo,
his horse, Bradamante, Ruggero, Ruggero, Bradamante.
One blast of Astolfo’s horn, also magical, destroyed the enchantment,
and he became possessed for the time of the Hippogriff, upon whom he
soared to the terrestrial paradise, and was conducted by St. John to the
moon, where he obtained possession of Orlando’s senses, and restored
them to him. The later writers, who added to the burlesque element and
diminished the chivalrous, made more and more of Astolfo’s boastfulness,
till he is quite the buffoon of their poems. He was finally killed at
Roncesvalles; and the Spaniards call him Don Estolfo.
The person killed at the same time as Rotlandus is called, by Eginhard,
Anselmus, and he, no doubt, contributed in the idea of the Astolfus,
Count of Champagne, whose burial after the battle is recorded by
Archbishop Turpin. But the real bearer of the name of Astolfo was one of
the enemies of the Karlings, namely, Astolfo, king of the Lombards, who
held his court at Pavia, and whose encroachments on the Roman territory
were the first cause of the interference of the Franks in Italy. He was
besieged by Pepin at Pavia in 755, and forced to come to terms; but he
was evidently a very considerable sovereign; and Ernesto, Marchese
d'Este, was killed in battle with him in 745. His promotion to be a
Paladin is accounted for by his having been a Christian, and the
character he bears, by the possibility of there having been satirical
songs and poems upon him, especially at the time when Charlemagne
ill-treated his granddaughter, Desirata. Astolfo is still a current name
in Lombardy, though we do not find it anywhere else, and its congeners
only in Scandinavia.
The meaning of the last syllable is, of course, wolf; the first is
_aast_ or _ast_, love or wishes, or if the sense of hot impetuosity be
allowed, Astolf is the swift wolf. Aasta was rather a favourite name
with the maidens of the North, and Asta is not disused, though too often
treated as the short for Augusta.
Astridur is from _hridhur_, an impulse, and thus would mean swift
impulse, or the impulse of love. It was greatly used by the royal ladies
of the North, among whom may be specified the mother of St. Olaf, and a
daughter of Knut, called by Danish pronunciation, Estridh, but
transmuted into Margaret.
The diminutive of Ast, under various mispronunciations, named that most
terrible of vikings, Hasting, whose ravages, though kept from England by
the policy originated by Alfred, were fearful all along the French
coast, and even extended to Italy. It is he who is said to have many
times submitted to baptism, and then returned to his fury again; and
there is a curious report, that Rollo’s Normans found him settled in
France, and reproached him with the tameness of his old age, so that he
dashed away again, and returned to his ships and his piracy. Hastinc
occurs in Domesday, and Warren Hastings' family claimed descent from the
old Sea King.[142]
-----
Footnote 142:
Roscoe; Sismondi; Munch; Michaelis; _Histoire de Normandie_.
SECTION VII.—_Ogier le Danois._
One of the Paladins was, undoubtedly, the legacy of a much more ancient
myth, namely, Ogier le Danois. He does not play a very prominent part in
the poems of the Italians, but as Ogier the Dacian he is one of Turpin’s
catalogue of knights, and a ballad especially dear to Don Quixote thus
commences:—
‘De Mantua sale el Marques,
Danes Urgel el leal.’
It proceeds to tell how he found Valdovinos, his nephew, dying under a
tree, having been assassinated by the emperor’s son, Carloto. The ballad
further relates how the Marques proceeds to court, gets Carloto tried by
his peers and doomed to death, and though el Rey Carlo banishes them all
for uttering the condemnation, the sentence is carried out.
This Italian marquis is an exceedingly droll development of the old
Teutonic hero, Holger Danske. In Italy he is Oggieri, Oggero, or Uggieri
il Danese; in French, Ogier le Danois; and, at times, _le damné_, or _il
dannato_, which title is further accounted for by the story that he was
a Saracen who became a Christian, and that his friends wrote from home
‘_tu es damné_,’ whence he chose to be thus christened. In the _Reali de
Francia_, Charlemagne cuts off, with his own hand, the head of an
unfortunate Oldrigi, whose blood was too noble to be shed by any one
else. Now this Oggier was without doubt a contribution from the stores
of Norman tradition; for Holger, or Olger, Danske is the grandest
national hero of Denmark. There is a ballad, given by Weber, where he
and Tidrek the Strong have a tremendous battle, and he comes off victor.
Moreover, he has eaten of the fruit of the trees of the sun and moon,
and has become immortal, and there he sits with his fellows in the
vaults of the Castle of Kronberg, near which are two ponds, called his
spectacles. A peasant, with a plough-share on his shoulders, once lost
his way, and wandered in; he found a circle of tall old men in armour,
all asleep round a stone table, with their heads resting on their
crossed arms. Holger Danske, who sat at the head of the table, raised
his head and the stone broke asunder, for his beard had grown into the
stone. He asked his guest some questions about the upper world and
dismissed him, offering his hand. The peasant, dreading the gigantic
grip of the old champion, gave his ploughshare. ‘Ha! ha!’ said Holger,
as he felt its firmness, ‘it is well. There are still men in Denmark.
Tell them that we shall come back when there are no more men left than
can stand round one tun!’ But the ploughshare had been twisted round by
his fingers. Can this return of Holger be the Roger Bon Temps of the
French peasantry?
But Holger, though I have placed him among the Paladins, might have gone
even farther back than the days of Dietrich. He is a mythical king, well
nigh a god, originally called Haaloge, and owing, as his sacred island,
Haalogaland, or Heligoland.
His name itself is _holy_, our very word _holy_—the _halig_ of the
Anglo-Saxons, the _hellig_ of the North, the _heilig_ of Germany, and
these words sprang from those denoting health; as the Latin _salve_,
hail, _salvus_, safe, and _salvatio_, safety, are all related to
soundness.
Leaving this, as not belonging to our main subject, we find that Helgi,
the Norse form of the word for this holy old mythic king, was
exceedingly popular in the North. Helgi has a poem to himself in the
elder _Edda_. A son of Burnt Njal was called Helgi, and forty-two cases
are found of the name in the _Landnama-bok_, and thirty-four of its
feminine, Helga. In Domesday there are five called Helgi, besides
fourteen Algars, very possibly meant for Holger; and it may be suspected
that the Helie of the early Norman barons may have been as much due to
the Helgi of their forefathers as to the prophet whom they learnt to
know on Mount Carmel. Perhaps, too, Helga was the source of Ala, or Ela,
by which name a good many Norman ladies are recorded, the best known of
whom was Ela, heiress of Salisbury, the wife of one William Longsword
and mother of the other, one of the founders of Salisbury Cathedral, and
the witness of a vision of her son’s death in Egypt.
Helgi’s descendants towards the East are far more certain matters.
Helgi, called Oleg by the Russian historians, was the son of Rurik, the
first Norman grand prince of Kief, and his daughter, Olga, visited
Constantinople, and was there baptized by the name of Helena, which
makes the Russians suppose her two names to translate one another; but
they have fortunately not discarded either Oleg or Olga, which thus
remain mementoes of the northern dynasty among the very scanty number of
Russian names that are neither Greek nor Slavonic.
In its own country Helgi gets contracted into Helle, and Helga into
Hæge.[143]
-----
Footnote 143:
Munch; Roscoe; Keightley; Marryat, _Jutland_.
SECTION VIII.—_Louis._
With the throne of the Franks, the Karlingen took their favourite prefix
of the old Salic line, _hlod_.
This word, the same in root as the Sanscrit _çru_, Greek κλύω (kluo),
Latin _cluo_, Anglo-Saxon _hlowan_, may possibly have been originated by
the cow, to whose voice, in our own language, the verb _to low_ is now
restricted. All mean to make a noise; and the dignity of that noise
increased, for κλυτός (klutos) was Greek for renowned, κλέος, fame, as
we saw when dealing with Cleomenes, Cleopatra, &c.; and in Latin,
_clueo_, was to be famous, _clientes_ or _callers_ beset the honoured
man, and _laus_ was praise or fame; and so not only have we _loud_ in
English, _lyde_ in the North, for the ordinary adjective, but _hlod_ or
_hlud_ was the old German term for renown, and _los_ for which French
knights afterwards fought and bled, and a score of other words, less
relevant to our purpose, will easily suggest themselves as current in
every European tongue, first cousin words from _laus_ or from _hlod_.
The rough aspirate at the beginning was once an essential portion of the
word, and among the Franks it must have been especially harsh, since
their contemporary Latinists always render it by _ch_.
Chlodio, as they call him, is numbered as the second of the long-haired
Salians, the father of ‘Meroveus,’ and leader of the incursions of the
Franks about 428. His grandson married the Burgundian maiden, called by
the Valkyr title of Hlodhild, or Chlodechilda, as the Latin civilization
of her day called her, when it hailed her with delight as the converter
of her husband to Christianity. Although canonized, her name was not in
great use for a good many generations, and to this she probably owes it
that, when it was revived as belonging to a royal saint, for the benefit
of the daughter of the good dauphin, son of Louis XV., it had not been
shorn of its aspirate like all the cognate ones. It has since become a
favourite with French ladies.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ French. │ Italian. │ German. │
│Clotilde │Clotilda │Klothilde │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
The husband of Clotilda was known to his own fierce Franks as Hluodowig,
or famous war, or consecration; but when his success after his prayer to
the God of Hluodhild had brought him to abjure his Teuton gods, and
receive baptism from St. Remi, the pope accepted the only orthodox
sovereign of Europe as most Christian king and eldest son of the Church
by the appellation of Chlodovisus, or Clovis, the retranslation into
French.
Among his successors was found many a _fainéant_ who had nothing of him
but his prefix and his long hair, and one who is counted as Clovis II.
When these had passed away, Charles the Great gave the name of the great
founder of the former line to one of his younger sons, the only one who
lived to succeed him.
What Hlodwig Haman’s War was called in his own day may be seen by the
curious barbaric Latin poem sung by his soldiers in honour of their
exploit in setting him at liberty, when he had been treacherously made
prisoner by Adelgis, Duke of Beneventum, a song that shows Latin in its
first step towards the tongues of southern Europe.
‘Audite omnes fines terre errore cum tristitia,
Quale scelas fuit factum in civitas Beneventum
Lluduicum comprenderunt, sancto pio Augusto.’
‘Lluduicus’ is now known to the French as Louis le Debonnaire, a title
that some ascribe to his piety, others to his weakness. The Germans took
him as Ludwig, and thenceforth these two varieties held a double course,
while the softer Provençals made him Aloys, which is now regarded, owing
to a saint of its own, as a separate name. Three monarchs of the Karling
line bore this favourite name, and the fifth descendant of Hugh Capet
brought it in again, to come to its especial honour with the saintly
Crusader, ninth king so called, from whom it became so essentially
connected with French royalty, that after the succession of the
Bourbons, no member of the royal family was christened without it.
Indeed, hardly any one of rank or birth failed to have it among their
many names, till its once-beloved sound became a peril to the owners'
heads in the Revolution, and it has in the present day arrived at
sharing the unpopularity of François.
Elsewhere it is chiefly a French importation; the Welsh use Lewis as an
Anglicism of Llewellyn, and the Irish of Lachtna; and the Scots make
rather more use of it from their old alliances and connection through
the Scottish guard. The Scottish Lodowick is probably taken from the
northern form of the original word; just as with the Italians, Luigi is
the mere Italian version of Louis, Lodovico the inheritance from the
Lombards or Germans, and in this shape was long current in northern
Italy, belonging in particular to the unfortunate Sforza, of Milan, who
perished in the first shock between France and Italy.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ Breton. │ Scottish. │ French. │
│Ludovick │Loiz │Lodowick │Clovis │
│Lewis │Loizik │ │Louis │
│Louis │ │ │Looys │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Provençal. │ Italian. │ Spanish. │ Portuguese. │
│Aloys │Lodovico │Clodoveo │Luiz │
│Chlodobeu │Luigi │Luis │ │
│Lozoic │Aloïsio │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ German. │ Swiss. │ Swedish. │ Dutch. │
│Ludwig │Ludi │Ludwig │Lodewick │
│Luz │ —————— │ │Lood │
│Lotze │ Bavarian. │ │ │
│ │Wickl │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Polish. │ Bohemian. │ Slovak. │ Hungarian. │
│Ludvik │Ludvik │Ludvick │Lajos │
│Ludvis │ │Ljudevit │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
The Provençal Aloys apparently was the first shape that threw out a
feminine, the Aloyse or Heloïse, whose correspondence with Abelard was
the theme of so much sentiment, and whose fame, brought by the archers
to Scotland, no doubt was the origin of the numerous specimens of Alison
found in that romantic nation. According to Dugdale, the wife of the
Norman William Mallet was Hesilia or Helewise, no doubt the same as
Heloïse. Heloïse had nearly died away in France when Rousseau’s romance
of _La Nouvelle Heloïse_ brought it as well as Julie into fashion again.
The votaresses of St. Louis had, however, chosen to come much nearer to
his name, and by the end of the fifteenth century Louise was in great
vogue at the French court; it travelled everywhere with French
princesses, came to us with the House of Hanover, and has now a thorough
hold of all ranks.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ Italian. │ Spanish. │
│Louisa │Louise │Luisa │Luisa │
│Louie │Lisette │Eloïsa │ ————————— │
│ ————————— │Loulou │ │ Portuguese. │
│ Scotch. │Heloise │ │Luiza │
│Leot │Louison │ │Luizinha │
│Alison │ │ │ │
│Ailie │ │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ German. │ Swedish. │ Polish. │ Lettish. │
│Ludowicke │Ludovica │Ludvika │Lusche │
│Luise │Lovisa │Ludoisia │Lasche │
│ │Lova │Lodoiska │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
The eldest son of the great Clovis was Hlodmir, or Clodomir, great fame,
made more euphonious in German as Ludomir, and furnishing such surnames
as Luttmer and Lummers.
All his sons were murdered by their uncles, except one, who was shorn of
his long locks to save his life, and was put into a convent, where he
became a holy man, was canonized, and his harsh name of Hlodowald, or
Clodvald, became the pleasant one of St. Cloud, best known for the sake
of the palace near Paris. Another St. Chlodvald, of Metz, is commonly
called St. Clou.
One of the uncles who killed the poor boys was Hlodhari, or Chlotachari,
famous warrior, a terrible savage, but the last survivor of the
brothers, and counted in the Frank history as Chlother, or Clotaire.
Others of his race likewise were so baptized, and when the name passed
to the Karlingen it was as Lothar. So was called the son of Louis le
Debonnaire, whose portion, known at first as Lotharingen, came to be in
Latin Lotharingia, and still remains Lorraine. Lothar did not pass away
from Germany; one emperor, after the separation, was so called; and it
fell into many forms of surnames, in especial into Luther; and when
Martin Luther had rendered this almost saintly to his countrymen, they
over-hastily explained it by _lother_, pure; while the Bohemians found a
similar word in their own tongue, meaning a swan. Oddly enough, Huss
signified a goose, and the saying arose that the Bohemian goose had let
fall a quill, which had been picked up by a swan of far more distant
flight.
Luther has a few namesakes in his own country on his own account, but,
in general, Chloter has died out of Christian nomenclature.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ German. │ Spanish. │
│Lothario │Clotaire │Lothar │Clotario │
│Lowther │Lothaire │Luther │ ————————— │
│ │ │ ———————— │ Lettish. │
│ │ │ Italian. │Lutters │
│ │ │Lotario │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
Chlodoswintha, or famous height, was a Frank princess, without namesakes
beyond her own race; in fact, the use of this prefix seems to have been
exclusively Frank.[144]
-----
Footnote 144:
Sismondi, _Histoire des François_, _Littérature du Midi de l'Europe_;
Friedrich Pott; Michaelis; Thierry, _Récits des Temps Mérovingiens_.
CHAPTER VI.
DESCRIPTIVE NAMES.
SECTION I.—_Nobility._
The names connected with any great cycle of interest have been nearly
exhausted, and only those remain that seem to have been chosen more for
sense than connection, though afterwards continued for the sake of their
owners. Several of our own truly English or Anglo-Saxon names are among
these, and in especial those with the prefix meaning noble, Æthel,
Athel, Adel, Edel, or in High German, Adal. It is thought to come from
the universal word _atta_, a father, and thus to convey that the owner
has forefathers, the essence of nobility, as with the _pater_ and
patrician of Rome, and the _hidalgo_, the son of something, of Spain.
Adel, or Æthel, is a favourite prefix in all the Teutonic branches
except the Scandinavian, where it does not occur at all. It is
essentially Gothic,—witness Athalaric, the formidable but gentle
conqueror of Rome, who well deserved his name of Noble-King. He is
generally, however, called Alaric, and his name has been deduced from
_al_, all; but the right reading seems to be that which identifies his
appellation with our own English Æthelric, and the Uadalrich of Germany.
Udalrich, archbishop of Augsburg till the year 973, is notable as the
first person canonized by the pope according to the present forms, which
could not, however, have included the half-century of posthumous
probation, as he was placed in the calendar only twenty years after his
death. Contracting his name to Ulrich, Germany made him a favourite
national saint; and we find him and his feminine spread throughout the
countries influenced by the empire, and the feminine particularly
prevalent in Denmark, whither it was carried by German queens. Though
the ensuing table places all the forms of Athalaric together, it should
be kept in mind that the forms beginning with _A_ are the modern
namesakes of the great Goth, those with _U_ and _O_ the votaries of that
saint, and Adelrich is considered as a different name from Ulrich.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ Italian. │ German. │
│Æthelric │Alaric │Alarico │Adelrich │
│Alaric │Ulric │Ulrico │Alarich │
│Ulrick │Olery │ │Uadalrich │
│ │ │ │Ulrich │
│ │ │ │Alerk │
│ │ │ │Oelric │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Bavarian. │ Swedish. │ Frisian. │ Swiss. │
│Rickel │Alarik │Ulrik │Uoli │
│ │Ulrik │Olrick │Ueli │
│ │ │Ulerk │Uerech │
│ │ │Ulk │ │
│ │ │Ucko │ │
│ │ │Ocko │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Polish. │ Bohemian. │ Slovak. │ Lettish. │
│Ulryk │Ulric │Ureh │Uldriks │
│ │Oldrich │Ulrih │ │
├───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┤
│ FEMININE. │
├───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┤
│ German. │ French. │ Roman. │ Polish. │
│Ulrike │Ulrique │Ulrica │Ulryka │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
The successor of Alaric, who laid him in his river-grave, is known to us
as Ataulfus. In his own time he was Athaulf, the Noble-Wolf, and his
likeness stands in our own roll of English kings as the father of
Alfred, namely, Æthelwulf; but this good old name was dropped in
England, while its German cousin, in honour of a sainted bishop of Metz,
of the ninth century, became very common in the principalities of the
empire, and was imported with the house of Hanover in the barbarous
Latin form of Adolphus. Its feminine, coined in Germany, is Adolfine,
usually called Dofine, and now extremely common. This may possibly be
the source of the Dolphine given as the name of one of the daughters of
Waltheof, Earl of Northumbria, as the habit of making barbarous
feminines was just beginning in her time.
┌────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ Italian. │ German │ Finn. │
│Ethelwolf │Adolphe │Adolfo │Adolf │Ato │
│Adolphus │ │Udolfo │Odulf │Atu │
│Dolph │ │ │ │ │
└────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┘
Athanagild, or Athalagild, Noble Pledge, was another of these early
Goths, and afterwards we meet the same meaning in Adelgis, or Adelchis,
the brave son of the last Lombardic king, whose noble spirit, under his
misfortunes, is the subject of a fine tragedy of Manzoni. The duke of
Beneventum, who made Louis le Debonnaire prisoner, was Adelgis; but it
is curious to find the soldiers in the dog-latin poem above alluded to,
terming him Adalfieri. Odelgis was old High German.
Æthel was so much used by the royal families of Kent and Wessex, that
the diminutive, Ætheling, was latterly applied to designate the heir to
the crown, and was thus continued even after the Conquest to the son of
Henry I., who perished in the white ship.
Æthelbryht, or Noble Splendour, named our first Christian king of Kent,
also a brother of King Alfred’s, and a missionary of the royal blood of
Northumbria, who preached in southern Germany, and died about the year
700, at Egmond, where, as St. Adelbrecht, he became patron. His name was
taken at baptism by one who became archbishop of Magdeburg, who, in his
turn, bestowed it on his pupil, the Bohemian Woyteich, Army-Help. This
convert was afterwards bishop of Prague, and was martyred near Dantzic
while preaching to the heathen Prussians in 997. Adelbrecht could not
fail to become national wherever the saint had set his foot; and when
shortened to Albrecht, was adopted by Italy, and thence sent to
Jerusalem with a Latin patriarch, who, being beatified, rendered Alberto
freshly popular in the South. Albrecht, and the feminines Alberta and
Albertine, were, however, almost entirely German, until the late Prince
Consort brought the name to England, where it bids fair to become one of
the most frequent of national names. Some fancy it comes from Allbright;
but the German saints, whence it was taken, are evidently direct from
our English Æthelbryht, though in Germany Adelbert and Albrecht are now
treated as two separate names. Bela, which belonged to an excellent
blind king of Hungary, is believed to be the Magyar form of the name.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ Provençal. │ Italian. │
│Ethelbert │Albert │Azalbert │Albert │
│Albert │Aubert │ │Albertino │
│ │Albret │ │ │
│ │Aubertin │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ German. │ Wallachian. │ Finn. │ Danish. │
│Adalbert │Averkie │ │Albert │
│Albrecht │ ————————— │Alpu │Bertel │
│Ulbricht │ Polish. │ │ │
│ │Albert │ │ │
│ │Olbracht │ │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
Æthelred, Noble-speech or counsel, the brother of Alfred, was almost
canonized by his subjects, and is sometimes called Ethered, whence the
Scottish Ethert. The nickname of our last Ethelred was a play on his
name “onreade,” not meaning so much tardy as without counsel—Noble-rede
the Un-reedy. Ethelred must not be confused with Etheldred, the feminine
name, properly Æthelthryth, meaning in Anglo-Saxon the Noble-threatener,
connected with the German Ediltrud, or noble maiden. Most likely names
ending in _trut_ had been brought to England, and as the Valkyr sense
was forgotten, the native meaning of _threat_ was attached to the word,
and the spelling adapted to it. St. Æthelthryth was a queen who must
have been a very uncomfortable wife, and who, finally, retired into a
monastery, getting canonized as St. Etheldreda, and revered as St.
Audry. From the gewgaws sold at her fairs some derive the term tawdry;
and, at any rate, Awdry has never been extinct as a name among the
peasantry, and has of late been revived, though with less popularity
than the other more modern contraction, Ethel, which is sometimes in
modern times set to stand alone as an independent name. Addy is the
common Devonian short for Audrey.
Germans do, however, seem to have used the word without another
syllable, for Adilo, or Odilo, was an old name, and Ado and Addo are
still current in Friesland, no doubt, the same as the Ade of the
Cambrian registers. Adela and Adèle, too, occur very early; indeed,
there is reason to think that just as in England the son was the
Ætheling, in Frankland the daughter was the Adalheit, or the Adelchen.
This word _heit_ is translated as the root of the present German
_heiter_, cheerful, and thus would mean noble cheer; but I suspect it is
rather _heid_, condition, answering to the _hood_ or _head_ at the end
of our abstract nouns, _e. g._ hardihood, and that the princess royal of
each little Frankish duchy or county was thus the ‘Nobleness’ thereof.
All the feudal princes of the tenth and eleventh centuries seem to have
had an Adelheid to offer in marriage, and to have Latinized her in all
manner of ways, while practically they called her Alix (or Alisa in
Lombardy), a name that was naturalized in England, when _Alix la Belle_
married Henry I. Alice is our true English form, though it has been
twisted into Alicia, and then referred for derivation to the Greek
Alexios, so as often to appear in Latin documents of the later middle
ages in the form of Alexia; whereas in earlier times, before its origin
was forgotten, it is translated by Adelicia, Adelisa, or Adelidis.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ Provençal. │ Italian. │
│Adelaide │Adelaide │Azalaïs │Adelaïda │
│Adeline │Adeline │ │Alisa │
│Adeliza │Adelais │ │ │
│Adela │Adèle │ │ │
│Alice │Alix │ │ │
│Alicia │Aline │ │ │
│Elsie │ │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ German. │ Netherlands. │ Slovak. │ Lettish. │
│Adelheid │Adelheid │Adelajda │Audule │
│Adeline │Adelais │ │Addala │
│Adele │ │ │ │
│Else │ │ │ │
│Ilse │ │ │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
The French made great use of all the forms of the name; the Germans, in
honour, perhaps, of the Italian Queen Adelaide—whose adventures before
her marriage with the Emperor Otho were so curious—preferred that
variety, and from them we received it again with our good Queen
Adelaide, from whom it is becoming frequent amongst us. The German Alice
is Else, a favourite old peasant word. This same contraction is common
in northern England, but gets confused with Elizabeth, as in Scotland,
with Alison; and in Ireland, the prevalent Alicia is, perhaps, meant for
Aileen, or Helen.
The Adeleve of early Norman times is probably meant for Æthelgifu,
Noble-gift, a frequent Saxon lady’s name, which we generally call
Ethelgiva.
Æthelwold, the Saxon historian of royal blood, is Noble-power.
Æthelheard, or noble resolution, answers to Adelhard, a cousin of
Charlemagne, and abbot of Corbie, whom his contemporaries glorified as
at once the Augustin, the Antony, and the Jeremiah of his day, and who,
being canonized, left Alard and Alert to Friesland, and Aleardo, Alearda
to Provence.
Æthelstan, the Noble-stone or jewel, was second only to Alfred in
ability and glory, and his name lived on to the Conquest, when it is set
down as Adestan and Adstan.
Adelhelm, the Noble-helmet, named the excellent and poetical Aldhelm,
bishop of Sherborn, from whom the headland on the Dorset coast was once
called St. Aldhelm’s head, but is now corrupted into St. Alban’s head.
Adelgar, or Noble-spear, was chiefly continental, first figuring in the
beautiful Scottish ballad of _Sir Aldingar_, but better known in
Lombardy, where Allighero sprang from it, and gave his patronymic to
Dante Alighieri. Algarotti was another Italian derivative; and in
France, Augier and Augereau; in Germany, Oehlkar, show that it once must
have been much in use. It is not always easy, however, to separate
between the words from Adel and from Hilda. The remaining varieties are—
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Ger. Adelar—Noble eagle │
│ Ger. Adelbar, Alpero—Noble bear │
│ Ger. Adelbold; Eng. Æthelbald—Noble prince │
│ │
│ Ger. Odelburga } │
│ Eng. Æthelburg } Noble defence │
│ │
│ Eng. Æthelburh—Noble pledge │
│ │
│ German. │
│ Adelfrid } │
│ Adalfrid } │
│ Ulfrid } Noble peace │
│ Ulfert } │
│ Olfert } │
│ │
│ Eng. Æthelfledh—Noble increase │
│ Ger. Adelgard—Noble protection │
│ Ger. Adelgund; Fr. Adelgonde—Noble war │
│ │
│ Ger. Adelhild—Noble heroine │
│ Ger. Udalland, Uland—Noble land │
│ Ger. Adelinde, Odelind; Eng. Ethelind (_mod._)—Noble snake │
│ Ger. Adelmann, Ullman—Noble man │
│ Ger. Adelmund; Eng. Edelmund (_Domes._)—Noble protection │
│ Ger. Adelmar; Eng. Ethelmar; Fr. Ademar, Adhemar—Noble │
│ greatness │
│ Ger. Adelschalk—Noble servant │
│ │
│ Ger. Adelswind—Noble strength │
│ Ger. Adeltac—Noble day[145] │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Footnote 145:
Pott; Michaelis; Lappenburg; Butler; Palgrave; Turner.
SECTION II.—_Command._
The Gothic _bidyan_ has resulted in our verb _to bid_, the German
_baten_, the Danish _byde_, besides _bote_, a messenger, and the
_budstick_, bidding-stick, or summons to the muster.
All these were in the sense of command; but from the same root grew the
race of entreating words, the Scandinavian _bede_, German _bitten_, and
English _beg_. When these entreaties were devotional, the Germans made
the verb _beten_, and our term for prayer, _bede_, passed on to the
mechanical appliance for counting beads—the _beads_ of the rosary, while
the pensioner bound to pray for his benefactor was his _bedesman_.
It is doubtful whether this, or the Welsh _bedaws_, life, gave his name
to the Venerable Bæda, but no doubt to himself and his contemporaries it
suggested the idea of prayer. There is no doubt, however, in the case of
Baudhildur, or Bathilda (the commanding heroine), the daughter of king
Nidudr, the lady whom Volundr carried off with him when he fled from her
mother’s cruelty. After her was called Bathilda, an Anglo-Saxon slave,
who was elevated to be the wife of the second Hluodwig, and lived so
holy a life, and exerted herself so much to obtain the redemption of
slaves, that she was canonized, and, as _la reine Bathilde_, was greatly
venerated in the believing days of France. Denmark also used this name,
having probably taken it from England. There ‘Dronning Bothild,’ the
wife of king Ejegod, spread the name among the maidens, so that it
passed to Norway as Bodild, Bodil, and even to the contraction Boel.
Of English birth, too, was the Commanding-wolf—Bedvuolf, or Bodvulf—who,
with his brother, St. Adolf, went, about the end of the sixth century,
to seek religious instruction in Gallia-Belgica. Adolf became bishop of
Maestricht, and eponym to the Adolphuses. Bodvulf came home, and founded
the monastery of Ikano, where he died in 655, and was canonized. The
monastery was destroyed by the Danes, and the situation forgotten, but
the saint’s relics were carried away by the fugitive monks, and
dispersed into various quarters, giving title to four churches in
London, besides St. Botolf’s bridge, commonly called Bottlebridge, in
Huntingdonshire, and St. Botolf’s town, in Lincolnshire, usually known
as Boston, whence was called its American cousin Boston, with little
relation to the saint. The tower of the church of St. Botolf, looking
forth over the Wash, was a valued landmark, and thence the saint was
apparently viewed as a friend of travellers, and connected with the
entrances to cities, much as St. Christopher is elsewhere. Camden even
supposed him to be Boathulf, or boat helper, and his day, the 17th June,
is a market day in Christiania, under the term of Botolsok, or Botsok.
In Jutland there is a church of St. Botolv; and in the North the names
of Botol and Bottel are kept up; while, in England, there only remain to
us the surnames of Bottle and Biddulph. The Old German forms of the two
names above-mentioned are Botzhild, Botzulf; and Botzo, or Boso, a
Commander, was now and then used as a name with them, as in the instance
of the troublesome duke of Burgundy, whom French historians generally
call Boson, and who is apt to be translated by _böse_, wicked.
Boto, Botho, Poto, are also found in Germany, and the very earliest
specimen of this class of name is to be found in Botheric, commanding
king, the name of the governor whose murder in the hippodrome caused
Theodosius to give his bitterly repented command for the massacre of
Thessalonica. Now and then _bot_ occurs at the end of a word, as in the
Spanish prince Sisebuto, the messenger of victory, or victorious
commander.
These are not the same with some that look much like them, derived from
the Northern _bød_, German _badu_, A.G.S. _beado_, war. Beadwig, in the
Wodenic ancestry, is thus battle war, and the Gothic king of Italy,
Totila, is probably made by the Romans from Bødvhar, battle pleader, a
name still used in the North as Bødvar. Bødmod, Bødulf, and Bødhild, or
Bødvild, have also been in use.[146]
-----
Footnote 146:
Munch; Michaelis; Pott; Sismondi; Butler; Camden; Le Beau; Kemble.
SECTION III.—_Brightness._
The root _brâj_ furnished the Greek φλέγεεν, Latin _flagrare_, and
Gothic _bairht_, the Anglo-Saxon _beohrt_, or _byrht_, the Old German
_percht_, and Northern _bjart_.
It is a component of Frank, German, and Anglo-Saxon nomenclature, but is
rarely found in genuine Norsk; the only instance in the _Landnama-bok_
is Biartmar, who is noted as of Irish birth, so may have brought an
Anglo-Saxon name.
Bertha, the most obvious of all the progeny of _biart_, has been treated
of in her character as a personification of the bright Epiphany night,
mixed up with an old epithet of Frigga and with the spinning Holda. So,
in Swabia, these legends have formed a masculine, Berchthold, who has
become the wild huntsman in that quarter. Berchtvold was really an
English prince of the Heptarchy, and Brichtold is in Domesday.
Perahtholt is a veritable Old German name, making the modern
Bartold—Niebuhr’s name,—the Italian Bertaldo, and French Bertould.
Bertalda is not so likely to be the feminine of this word as to come
from Berchthilda, like the name of Bertille, a sainted abbess of
Chelles.
It is not easy to discover whether the most popular of all thus
commencing should be regarded as a single corrupted name, or the produce
of two, of which one has the second syllable _hramn_, a raven, the other
_rand_, a house. The patron saint of all alike is Bertichramnus, bishop
of Mans till 623, and his Latinism leaves no doubt that he was
Bright-raven. It was chiefly popular in France, whence we must have
obtained it, although there is no instance of it in Domesday, and it was
especially glorious in the fourteenth century, for the sake of gallant
Constable du Guesclin, ‘the eagle of Brittany,’ whom Spanish
chroniclers, by a droll perversion of his appellation, called ‘Mosen
Beltran Claquin,’ when he came to fight their battles.
┌────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┐
│ English. │ Scotch. │ French. │ Provençal. │ Italian. │
│Bertram │Barthram │Bertrand │Bertran │Bertrando │
├────────────┼────────────┼────────────┼────────────┼────────────┤
│ Spanish. │Portuguese. │ German. │ Lusatian. │ Hungarian. │
│Beltran │Bertrao │Bertram │Batram │Bertok │
│ │ │Berdrand │Batramusch │ │
└────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┘
The wolf was sure to accompany the raven; so Perahtolf, or Bertulf, was
canonized as an abbot in Artois, and left the German Bertulf, and our
own Bardolph, the flaming comrade of Falstaff.
Bertwine, or Bright friend, was the St. Bertin of France, and the
Bertuccio of Italy, often found in the old Lombardic towns.
Brihtric was the English earl who so gallantly died in defending England
from the Danes in the unhappy days of Ethelred the Unready, and another
Brihtric was the unsuccessful suitor of Matilda of Flanders, on whom she
wreaked an unworthy vengeance after the Conquest. All the Brihts in
Domesday seem to be of Saxon birth, since they use the English instead
of the Norman French commencement, which was already _Ber_, as in the
instance of Bertrade de Montfort, Bright speech, the countess of Anjou,
who deserted her husband for Philippe I. of France. The remaining forms
are—
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Ger. Bertar; Fr. Berthier—Bright warrior │
│ { Brichteva—Bright gift │
│ { Bricfrid—Bright peace │
│ { Brichtmar—Bright fame │
│ Eng. { Brichsteg—Bright warrior │
│ { Britfleda—Bright increase │
│ { Brichstan—Bright stone │
│ { Bricsteg—Bright maid │
│ Ger. Bertrud—Bright maid │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────┘
_Bert_ is one of the most indispensable conclusions among all the German
range of names, and is far more common there than as a commencement.
Another word meaning bright, or glittering, is the Northern _jar_,
_jor_, _jer_, the German _ir_. Iring, or Irinc, is a semi-mythological
person. Old German tradition declared him to have been the counsellor of
Irnvrit of Thuringia, and that when both had been taken by the Franks,
he was deceived into slaying his sovereign, after which, in his rage, he
killed the victorious Frank, laid him under his master’s body, and then
cut his way through the enemy, and returned home.
He appears again in the _Nibelungen-noth_ as the Markgraf Irinch of
Tenemarche, or Denmark, in company with Irnvrit of Düringen, i.e.
Thuringia: he wounds Hagen, but is slain by him, and lamented over by
Kriemhild. His name was sometimes subsequently used, and is, perhaps,
what French histories call Harenc.
Jørund is a northern name with a similar prefix, and means a brilliant
or glittering man; but it gets called Jøren, and mixed up with Jorgen,
or George.[147]
-----
Footnote 147:
Grimm, _Deutcher Mythologie_, _Deutche Heldensage_; Munch; Alban
Butler; Sismondi; _Ayale-y-z-urita_.
SECTION IV.—_War._
In Ulfilas' Bible, ‘the multitude of the heavenly host’ is translated
‘_Haryis hunniakundis managei_.’ In Anglo-Saxon, an army is _here_, in
old German _heri_, in the North _her_, all perhaps coming from the ear,
and _to hear_, as having been summoned, like the legion from being
chosen. Thence the leader was the English Heretoga, and German Herzog,
finally translated into the Latin _dux_, and becoming political and
territorial. The doings of the _herr_ were expressed by various old
words, of which the Scottish _to harry_ is the direct descendant.
_Heerfurst_, or army leader, may be the Ariovistus of Cæsar.
The single warrior was _har_ in the North, _hari_ in Germany, and as
_ar_ is often found at the end of names. Many German critics translate
the word by the army, instead of the warrior; but Professor Munch
considers that the warrior, _hari_, was the original meaning, and that
_herjar_, his plural, afterwards came to mean the army.
The oldest and most famous of all the family is introduced to us by
Tacitus as Chariovalda, a Batavian prince. It is the hardened sound of
Harivald, Warrior power, or ‘Army wielder,’ a name that the Germans soon
called Heriold, and the North Harald. This soon became one of the most
renowned northern names. Harald Harfagre, or the fair-haired, was he who
vowed never to trim his locks till he was sole king of Norway, and thus
sent Thorer the Silent to Iceland, and Rolf-ganger to Normandy. Harald
Krake, king of Sleswig, was baptized in the presence of Louis le
Debonnaire, and used the already mentioned vow to forsake Thunner,
Scaxnot, and all their works. He afterwards introduced St. Anschar to
Denmark, but like all the first Christian kings of Scandinavia, was
himself expelled from his realm by his subjects. Harald Hardrada, or the
resolute, was the very crown of the poetic sea-kings of Norway, meeting
with romantic adventures in Constantinople, singing the praises of his
Russian bride all across the sea, exchanging gallant messages with his
namesake Harold Godwinson at Stamford Bridge, and dying as poetically as
he had lived at the foot of his banner Landwaster. It was from the Danes
that Harold came to England with the son of Knut, and to the son of Earl
Godwin, the usurper, more than half a Dane in blood and temper, who,
because he died in battle with the Normans, is regarded by the popular
mind as an English patriot, and has in very modern times had a good many
namesakes. Harald, or, as the Frisians call it, Herold, is only properly
national in Scandinavia and the islands from Iceland to Man.
Next in note is what the Franks called Charibert, when it belonged to
the king of Paris, whose daughter brought Christian doctrine to Kent,
and prepared the way for St. Augustine. St. Haribert was archbishop of
Cologne about the year 1000, and at that time the name became extremely
common among the French nobility. A Norman settler had brought it to
England even in the time of Edward the Confessor; and one of the many
Herberts founded a family in Wales, which, in the time of Henry V., was
one of the first to follow the advice to use one patronymic instead of
the whole pedigree of names. It is probably owing to the honours in
various kinds of the branches of this family that Herbert has of late
years become an exceedingly prevalent Christian name in England. Except
that the Frisians call it Harber and Hero, and Italy puts an _o_ at the
end, it has no variations. Herman is confused with Eormen; and the other
forms are—
┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Ger. Herberge—Warrior protection │
│ Ger. Herbold—Warrior prince │
│ Nor. Herbrand; Ger. Herbrand—Warrior sword │
│ Nor. Herbjorn—Warrior bear │
│ Ger. Herdegen—Warrior blade │
│ Ger. Hertag—Warrior day │
│ Nor. Hergils—Warrior pledge │
│ Nor. Herlaug—Warrior drink │
│ Nor. Herleik—Warrior sport │
│ Nor. Herleif—Warrior relic │
│ Ger. Herimar—Warrior greatness │
│ Nor. Hermod; Ger. Hermund; Frank. Charimund—Warrior protection │
│ Nor. Herjolf; Ger. Heriulf; Frank. Chariwulf—Warrior wolf │
│ Ger. Heraric—Warrior king │
└───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
The warrior names were of the fiercest order. Leid (if it do not mean a
road) was the same with the word in modern German, meaning hurt or
mischief, and expressed spite or violence. The North had Liedulf,
afterw—ards contracted into Leiul, and no doubt the Scottish Lyulf, and
German Lethard, Lethild, Laidrad, Laidwald, Laidwig.
In the same spirit we have _neid_ or _nöt_, meaning violence or
compulsion, though it has resulted in the German _neid_, envy, and our
_need_, want. We have it in the name of St. Neot, the relative and
rebuker of King Alfred in his haughty days, and the hero of a legend of
little fishes daily renewed for his food. Also Nidhard was a great
chronicler of Frank history, and left a name surviving as Nyddert, in
Friesland, and cut into Nitz, in Germany. There, too, were Notburg and
Notger, Nidbert in France, and in the North, Notulf, afterwards written
Notto. The terminal _nôt_ is, however, more common.
Wig or Vig is war itself, and is found in the genealogy of Odin. Wægdæg,
or War day, is an ancestor of the Deiran kings.
Vigleîk still subsists in the North, and so does Viglaf, relic of war,
the same as that of Wiglaf, the chronicler.
The other forms are—
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Ger. Wigbert; Fris. Wicbo—Bright war │
│ Nor. Vigbrand—War sword │
│ Ger. Wigbald—War prince │
│ Ger. Wigburg—War protection │
│ Nor. Vigfus—War eagerness │
│ │
│ German. Frisian. Nor. │
│ │
│ Wighard │ Wygard │ Vighard } │
│ Wichhard │ Wiart │ } │
│ Weikard │ Wiert │ } │
│ Wigo │ │ } War firmness │
│ Wigi │ │ } │
│ Viga │ │ } │
│ │
│ { Wigher, Wicher—Warrior │
│ { Wighelm—War helmet │
│ { Wiglind—War serpent │
│ Ger. { Wigmann, Wichman—War man │
│ { Wigmar—War fame │
│ { Wigram—War raven │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
These are almost all German. The terminations in _wig_ are often owing
to German pronunciation of the word _veh_, or _vieh_, consecration, and
sometimes of the northern _veig_, liquor.
The strange northern name of Snorre, famous for the sake of that
Froissart of the North, Snorre Sturleson, comes from _snerra_, strife.
_Styrke_ is the strong, the same word as that in which the old
chroniclers describe William the Conqueror, as ‘so very stark.’ Sterkulv
and a few other forms have been found in the North.
Toke is a very curious old name. It seems to mean the mad or raging,
and, growing into Tyke or Tyge in Denmark, was the name that was
Latinized into Tycho by the celebrated astronomer Brahe, who did not
leave his madness behind him with his name. The famous Jomsburg
sea-rover, a sort of northern Lycurgus of the tenth century, was
Palnatoke, supposed to be properly Toke, the son of Palne. Palne is an
unexplained name used by the Danes, and perhaps borrowed from the Wends;
but there are a few other instances of it, among them the Anglicized
Earl Pallig, the husband of Sweyn’s sister Gunhild, who was killed by
Ethelred the Unready.
_Thiostr_ means hardness or harshness, and was in use in the North as
Triostulf, since contracted into Kjostol, Thiostvald, Thiostar; and
probably Tostig, the ungracious son of Godwine, who brought Harald
Hardrada to invade England, took his name from thence.
SECTION V.—_Protection._
_Bar_—the word for strength—has been most fertile in produce. Its
progeny are far too numerous to describe; but the most notable at
present in use are the Berg, the strength of the hills, a mountain, and
Burg, a fortress.
The names derived from it are, in combination, the _bjorg_ of the North,
in the masculine, meaning protector, and _borg_, the feminine, meaning,
perhaps, protection,—the _berge_ of the Germans and _burg_ of the
Anglo-Saxons answering to the same. The Anglo-Saxon ladies also bear
names ending with _burh_, also from the same root, and meaning a pledge,
the strength of an engagement, and the origin of our verb, _to borrow_.
Burrhed, king of Mercia, bore this name; but instances of it are not
very common.
Birger, Byrger, Birge, are the masculines much used in Scandinavia; and
the combinations were Biorgulv, Bergthor, Bergthora, the faithful wife
of Njal, and Bergliot, the daughter of Thorer the Silent,—the same name
that has been already mentioned as the northern one that has been mixed
with the Irish Brighid, and which would mean protecting ugliness. Other
forms are Bergswain, protecting youth, Berghild, answering to our
Mercian princess Burgenhild, and Borgny, apt to be cut down to Borny.
This is the word to which the Burgundians owed their title, as dwellers
in burghs, instead of wanderers on the open plain.
Another large race of names comes from the Gothic _warjan_, Anglo-Saxon
_warian_,—the ‘_ware_’ of rustic shouts in England like the ‘_gare_’ of
France, the latter syllable of beware and aware, and the _wehrer_ of
Germany. The quality of precaution furnished the North with its
favourite terminations _var_ and _vara_, indicating the possession of
the prudent virtue that makes a man _wary_. It does not begin names, but
it often ends them, both in the North and Germany, as Geirvar, Hervar,
Amalvara, Hildiwara, &c.
The inhabitant was the natural defender, and in Anglo-Saxon and Norsk
_ware_ became synonymous with the dweller, as Cantwara, the defenders of
Kent, for the Kentishmen; Burgwara, the burghers; and in the North,
Vikvarjar, bay defender. _Ware_, a defender, is thus a commencement in
the German Warimunt, Guarding protection, the Vœrmund of the Mercian
genealogy, and Vermund of the North, while its surviving representatives
in France are Guiremond and Vermont.
Warenheri, or Protecting-warrior, is the Guarniero of Tasso, the Garnier
of France, whence this form came to England as a surname after the Edict
of Nantes, whilst Warner had been the legitimate descendant of the
native Vœrnhare.
Warand, the German participle name, may have assisted in forming Guérin
and Warren, unless there was a Warewine to account for it. Warnfrid or
Warno, Werinhold and Warnebold, are also German.
The defender was with us the _Weard_, guard-warden, and _weardian_ was
to ward or guard; as in French _garde_ and _garder_, in the North
_vördhr_, in Germany _wart_, _warten_. This is the favourite
termination, the _ward_ of England passing the _wart_ of Germany, the
_vard_ of the North; but of rare appearance as a commencement, though
there is an instance of a German Wartgar, or guardian-spear.
These are extremely like the words taken from _to gird_, like _gerda_,
_gaard_, &c., but they are essentially different: watching is here the
idea of safety, as enclosure is there.
The termination _mund_, so common among all the Teuton nations, has been
a very great difficulty. Some regard it as the German _mund_ or
_munths_, a mouth. The fact, however, appears to be that _mund_ means a
hand in the elder languages, and from a hand was early transferred to
him who used his hand in protection.
All the best authorities agree in translating _mund_ as protection; but
as _mund_, a hand, is a feminine noun, the derivation from this source
is a little doubtful, as the only lady’s name thus terminated is
Rosamond. It is never a prefix.
Names ending in _mund_, hand, are often confused with those finishing in
_mod_ or _muth_, meaning courage or wrath, the _mood_ of England and
_muth_ of Germany. Even in very early times, Thurismund, or Thurismod,
would be indifferently written; but _mod_ is not very common, and is apt
to shorten into _mo_, as Thormod, Tormo.
The Germans used to imagine that all their names ending in _hulf_ meant
help; but this pleasant faith was destroyed by the northern wolf, and
only one real _help_ name is extant, the Helfrich of modern Germany, and
Hialfrek of the North, which own an ancient precedent in the old Frank
Hialperik or Chilperic.
The pronunciation of _ward_ runs so naturally into _hard_, that many
names, which when traced to their roots, turn out to terminate with
_ward_, are spelt in German and French as if they were _hard_. The word
_hard_ does, however, really enter into the composition of a few names,
chiefly German. There is, however, a semi-mythical northern lady called
by the amiable name of Harthgrepa, Firm-grip or Hard-claw; and
HartheKnad, or, as we call him, Hardicanute, seems to have had this
distinguishing epithet added to his father’s name. The most noted of the
other forms was Hardwine, Firm friend, the Hardouin of old French
chroniclers, called in Italy Ardoino.
Harding, firm
Hartrich, firm king
Hartwig, firm war
Hartmund, firm protection
Hartmod, firm spirit.
The names in _rand_ have likewise been a difficulty; but the word is
best referred to the Gothic _razn_, a house, and likewise a shield, from
the protection both afford.
Rand is a northern prefix, and its derivatives are not easy to
distinguish from those of Regin and Raven. Röndolfr, or House wolf, was
certainly a northern name, and the same seems to have belonged to St.
Radulphus, bishop of Bourges in 888, and to thirty-eight Radulfs in
Domesday Book, then to the good justiciary, Ranulf de Glanville, under
Henry II., to the crusading Earl Randle of Chester, and subsequently to
many a Randal, Randolf, and Ralf, or, as we foolishly spell the word,
Ralph.
The North had Rannveig, House-liquor, by way of a lady, and have
shortened her into Rannog and Ronnau, also Rannmod, Randvid, Randve, or
Randverr, house consecration.
Fast—in the sense of firm, not of quick—is found in the northern
Fastolf, in the Frank queen, Fastrade, Firm council, in Fastburg,
Fastmann, Fastmund. Lidvard, an old Norse name, that with us has run
into Ledyard, in its own country into Levor, is the gate ward.
Tryggve, a favourite old northern name, is the true or trusty. The same
word sometimes serves as a termination, as in Sigtryg or Sihtric.
SECTION VI.—_Power._
_Magan_ is the Gothic and Saxon to be able, whence our defective _may_,
and a number of other words in all the various northern tongues, in
especial _main_ or _chief_. The names from it are chiefly of German
origin. Maginfred, or Powerful-peace, was a fine Old German name, which,
by the time it came to the brave but unfortunate Sicilian, son of
Frederick II., had been worn down to Manfred, whence he was called by
his subjects Manfredi, by his French foes Mainfroi, and by his English
contemporaries Mainfroy.
Meginhard, main power, was a chronicler of the early ages, and in 1130
appears in the Cambrai registers. The Germans used it as Mainhart, and
the English surname Maynard is from it. Meginrat made Meinrad, or
powerful council, and Maginhild is still in use in the North as Magnild.
The _main_ land is, in fact, the chief land, the _main_, the chief sheet
of water, or sea, and _might_ and _main_ are so closely connected
together, that Maginhild is the most natural step to Mahthild, Main
heroine to Might heroine; for _maht_ is really the modern German
_macht_, and our own _might_, and both these mighty names were in early
use in Germany. Mahthild was the wife of the emperor Henry the Fowler,
and afterwards became the sainted abbess of Quedlingburg. Another
Swabian Mechtild was canonized after being abbess of Adilstetten; and so
fashionable did the name become, that all the French maidens, who were
not Alix, seem to have been Mahthild; and in Italy it was borne by the
Countess Matilda, the friend of Gregory VII., whose bequest was one of
the pope’s first steps to the temporal power, and who is introduced by
Dante in the flowery fields of Paradise. The Flemings call it Mahault,
and thus term the lady, who, as the wife of William the Conqueror,
brought it to England. Molde, as the Normans were pleased to term it,
was regarded as so decidedly a Norman name, that the Scottish-Saxon
Eadgyth was made to assume it, and it continued the regnant royal name
until it sunk beneath the influences of the Provençal Alienor. It seems
as if Matilde had been freshly introduced in Flanders when Count Philip
married Matilda of Portugal; and this, and the old traditional Mehaut,
went on side by side, just as in England did the full name Matilda, and
the Anglicized Norman contraction Maude. Of late years Maude has been
fashionable, though not so near the original, nor so really graceful in
sound as Matilda. The earlier Mall and Moll were from Matilda, not Mary,
which came much later into use.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│English. │French. │Italian. │Bavarian. │
│Matilda │Mathilde │Matilda │Mechtild │
│Molde │Mahaud │ ————————— │Mechel │
│Mall │Mehaut │German. │Melchel │
│Maud │ │Mathilde │ │
│Tilda │ │ ————————— │ │
│Tilly │ │Hamb. │ │
│ │ │Tilde │ │
│ │ │Tille │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
Maatfred and Maatulf were old masculines.
From _may_ and _might_ we pass to our other defective auxiliary _can_.
‘Knowledge is power,’ is an idea deeply rooted in our languages, for the
difference between _I ken_ and _I can_ is well-nigh imperceptible. The
Sanscrit _gna_, forming the Greek verb γιγνώσκω (gignosco), reappears in
the Latin _nosco_, and the Anglo-Saxon _cnawan_. Another Anglo-Saxon
form is _cunnan_, answering to the Danish _kjende_, Iceland _kunna_,
German _kennan_. Thence our word _cunning_, knowing, and _cuth_, the
past participle, known, noted, or dexterous, whence came several
North-Anglian names, Cutha, Cuthwealh, Noted power; Cuthred, Noted
council; Cuthwine, Noted friend; Cuthburh, Noted pledge; and chief of
all Cuthbryht, the great saint of Lindisfarn in his lifetime, of Durham
after his death, when the wanderings of his relics rendered his fame so
great that Cuthbert is still national among the peasantry of Northumbria
and the Lothians.
_Kann_ seems to have been originally a past tense of _ken_, and the
Teutonic mind concluded that to have learnt is to be able, for all
adopted the word _can_ without an infinitive, and varied it into past
tenses. To be able was likewise to dare, whence the old Teuton _kuoni_,
Frank _chuon_, Saxon _cene_, German _kuhn_, bold.
Be this as it may, a large class of names has arisen from these words of
knowledge and action, earliest of the bearers of which should stand
Kunimund, king of the Gepidæ, and Chunimund, king of the Suevi, both
meaning Able protection. Chuonrath, Able council, or Bold-speech, was
also Suevic, and in the form of Konrad, afterwards a world-wide name in
the Swabian house of Hohenstaufen, till the last of their generous
though impetuous blood was shed on the scaffold of Corradino, as Naples
fondly termed its unfortunate young heir, the Conradin of history. Pity
for his untimely fate assisted to spread the name through all the German
dependencies, and it has become so common that, like Vasili, Tom, and
Heinz, Künz has descended to cats. It has the feminine Cunzila; and our
old Mercian King Cenred represented it in England.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ Provençal. │ Italian. │
│Conrad │Conrade │Cohat │Corrado │
│Cenred │Quenes │ │Currado │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ German. │ Bavarian. │ Swiss. │ Swedish. │
│Konrad │Kadl │Chuedli │Konrad │
│Kunz │Kuenl │Kudli │ ————————— │
│Kurt │Kuenz │Chuedler │ Netherlands. │
│Kuno │Kunl │Kored │Koenraad │
│ │ │Koredli │Court │
│ │ │Chuered │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Danish. │ Russian. │ Bohemian. │ Slovak. │
│Cort │Konrad │Kunad │Kunsch │
│ │Kunrat │ ————————— │ │
│ │Kondratij │ Lusatian. │ │
│ │ │Kunat │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
Kunigund, or Bold war, was the name of a daughter of the counts of
Luxemburg, who was wife to Henry of Bavaria, the sainted emperor, and
shared in his canonization, rendering her name national in Bavaria.
Another royal saint reigning in Hungary added to its honours, nor has it
ever sunk into disuse.
┌────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┐
│ French. │ Italian. │Portuguese. │ German. │ Bavarian. │
│Cunigonde │Cunegonda │Cunegundis │Kunigunde │Kunl │
└────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┘
The West Saxon Cenbyrht is the same with the German Kunibert; and Wessex
likewise reckoned among her kings Cenfyrth, or able peace, Cenfus, bold
impetuosity; while Mercia has Cenhelm and Cenwulf.
Alternating with these are Cynric, Cynebald, Cynewald, Cyneburh,
Cynethryth, whose first syllable is _cyn_, _kin_, or _kind_, meaning, of
course, kindred or lineage. Some refer Kunibert and Kunigund to this
same _kin_ instead of _kuhn_. This word _cyn_ is one of those regarded
as the root of king, _cyning_, the son of his race or kindred.
Another word seems to have had the same double meaning of ability being
strength; for _svinn_, which is wise in the northern tongues, is in
those of central Europe, strong; the English _swith_, Gothic _swinths_,
German _swind_; whence the present _geschwind_, and swift; moreover,
_swindig_ is much, or many, in vulgar Dutch, and to _swindle_ is
probably to be too much for the victim.
Suintila was an old Gothic king of Spain, Swithbert, one of the early
Anglo-Saxon missionaries, especially honoured as the converter of the
kindred land of Friesland, where he was revered as St. Swibert. Swithelm
was another Saxon form; but the most noted amongst us was Swithun, the
bishop of Winchester, tutor to King Alfred, and endowed with many
supposed miracles, the best known of which was the forty days' rain, by
which, like other honest English saints, he testified his displeasure at
having his bones meddled with. The Germans have had Swidburg,
Swintfried, Swidger; but in general this has served as a feminine
termination, as in Melicent, Frediswid, and in all the many _swiths_ and
_swinds_ of the Franks and Goths.
Whether this be the root or not, Svein is in the North a strong youth,
generally a servant, but in the form of Svend becoming the favourite
name of the kings of Denmark, belonging to him whom Ethelred’s treachery
brought down on England, where it was called Swayn, and translated into
Latin as Sueno, while Tasso calls the crusading Swend, Sveno. Svinbjorn
occurs in Iceland, and is our Swinburn. Svenke, again, is the active or
slender youth. It is amusing to see how, from a strong man, the swain
became a young man, then a bachelor, then a lover, and, finally, a
shepherd.
Another of the mighty words that have been formed into names is _vald_,
the near relative of the Latin _valeo_. Our verb _to wield_ continues
the Anglo-Saxon _wealdan_, which named the wealds of Kent, nay, and the
world itself.
Vald still stands alone in the North, and once was the name of a Frank
abbot of Evreux; St. Valdus, in Latin, St. Gaud, in French.
The leading name is, however, Waldheri, Powerful-Warrior appearing as
the young prince of Aquitaine, who, in the curious Latin poem which
seems to represent the Frankish _Nibelungenlied_ in the south of France,
flies from Attila’s court with his fellow-hostage, the Burgundian
Hildegunna, and her treasure, and repulses the pursuing Gunther and
Hagano. This same Walther was said to have afterwards reigned thirty
years in Aquitaine, and, no doubt, the name was already common there,
when, about 990, it came to saintly glory, through a monastic saint of
that dukedom, who, being followed by two others, caused it to be spread
far and wide. Indeed, there are twenty-eight Walters in Domesday, and
Cambrai made plentiful use of it in the same form, till, about 1300, the
spelling was altered to the French Gautier. Walther von Vogelwied, the
Minnesinger, who bequeathed a perpetual dole to the birds of the air at
his tomb, well deserved that the memory of his name should be kept up in
Germany, and it has always been very popular. Wat, as a contraction, is
as old as Rufus’s time, and Water was in use, at least, in Shakespeare’s
time, when he shows the prophecy of Suffolk’s death by water fulfilled
by the name of his assassin.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ Irish. │ French. │ Italian. │
│Walter │Thaiter │Waltier │Gualtiero │
│Water │ │Gualtier │ ———————— │
│Wat │ │Wautier │ Spanish. │
│Watty │ │Gatier │Guttierre │
│Wattles │ │Gautier │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Portuguese. │ Netherlands. │ Lettish. │ Dutch. │
│Gualter │Gualterus │Waters │Wolder │
│Gualterio │Walter │ ———————— │ │
│ │Wouter │ Swiss. │ │
│ │Wout │Watli │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
Waldemar is an old German form imported by the Normans to England, and
sometimes supposed to have been carried to Russia, and to have turned
into Vladimir; but this has been traced to a genuine Slavonic source,
though it is used by the Russians to represent Walter.
This commencement is almost exclusively German; its other varieties are
Waldobert, or Walbert, the Gualberto of Italy, Waldrich, and, perhaps,
Walpurg, though she is more probably from _val_, slaughter.
Frodhr, Wise or learned, is sometimes an epithet, but is also used for a
name, and Latinized into Frotho. The Germans have it in combination as
Frodwin, wise friend, Frodbert and Frodberta, whence the French make
Flobert and Floberte.
The root _mah_, which made the Sanscrit _mahat_, Zend _maz_, Greek
_megas_, Latin _magnus_, Kelt _mawr_, comes forth again in Teutonic,
with _mære_, or _mara_, in Anglo-Saxon, with its comparatives _mœrre_
and _mœriste_, whence our _more_ and _most_. This same sense of
greatness formed the word _maara_, fame, and _maren_, to celebrate, both
old German, and it is the commencement of the Frank chieftain’s name
from whom all the princes of the earlier race were called Meerwings,
Merowig, or Famed men, the Meerwig of German writers and Meroveus of
Latinity, whence the Merovée of French history.
Our own Anglian Mercians had among their royal line Merowald, Merehelm,
and Merewine; but, in general, _mer_, or _mar_, is used as a termination
rather than a commencement, and then is always masculine. Merohelm is
also called Merchelm, so the French saint, ‘Marculphe,’ _may_ have been
Merowulf, though he now looks more like Markulf, a border wolf.[148]
-----
Footnote 148:
Munch; Sismondi; Butler; Junius; Kemble; Michaelis; Lappenburg;
Mariana; Weber and Jamieson; Donovan.
SECTION VII.—_Affection._
The Teutons had a few names denoting affection. Dyre is the same in
Norse as our own word _dear_, or _dyr_ in Anglo-Saxon. An inlet on the
north-west corner of Iceland is still termed Dyrefiord, from one of the
first settlers, and Dyre was the hero of a ballad in the _Kæmpeviser_,
answering to the Scottish Katharine Janfarie, the original of young
Lochinvar. The old Germans had Dioro and Diura, and the Anglo-Saxons
affectionately called the young sons of their nobility Dyrling, or
darling.
_Leof_, the German _lieb_, beloved, is much used by the Anglo-Saxons.
Two bishops, one of Wells, and afterwards primate, the other of
Crediton, were called Leofing, or Lyfing. The first was certainly
properly Ælfstan, so it is probable that in both instances Leofing was
merely an endearing name that grew up with them, and displaced the
baptismal one; but its Latin translation, Livingus, shows the origin of
the surname of Livingstone.
England also had Leofwine, Beloved friend, the only native name borne by
any of the sons of Earl Godwin. An earlier Leofwine was a member of St.
Boniface’s mission, and converted many of the heathens on the banks of
the Weser; and as St. Lebwin is patron of Deventer, probably occasioned
the name of Lubin, which, from being borne by French peasants, crept
into pastoral poetry.
Another of the same mission party was Leobgytha, or Dear gift, called
also Liuba and Liebe, who was sent for from her convent at Wimborne to
found one of the earliest nunneries in Germany. It is probably from her
that Lievine became an old Cambrecis name.
Leof seems to have been the special prefix of the earls of Mercia, for
we find among them, besides Leofwine, Leofstan and Leofric, the last the
best known for the sake of his wife and of Coventry.
The continental instances of the prefix are among the Spanish Goths,
Liuva, Leovigildo, and Liuvigotona; and among the Franks, Leobhard, or
Liebhard, a saint of Touraine.
The only present survivor of all the varieties is probably, if we
exclude the occasional Puritan Love, the Cornish and Devon feminine
Lovedy.
Far more universal are the names derived from the old word _vinr_, or
_wine_, meaning friend or object of love, the same which has left a
descendant in the German _wonne_, affection, and the Scottish adjective
_winsome_. It is a continual termination, as must have been already
observed, and we had it as a commencement in our great English
missionary Winfrith, or Friend of peace, the Devonian bishop who spread
Christianity over Germany, but who is far better known by the Latin
surname which he assumed, namely, Bonifacius. Winibald was another of
our missionary saints, and Germany has also had Winrad, Winrich, and
Winmar, but the Welsh Wenefred must not be confused with it.
_Mild_, or _mild_, is exclusively Saxon; nay, almost exclusively
Mercian, for it only occurs in one family; that of King Merowald, who
named his three daughters Mildgyth, Mildburh, and Mildthryth. All became
nuns, the two latter abbesses, one in Shropshire, the other in the isle
of Thanet, and they were canonized as Milburga and Mildreda. Milborough,
as the first became Anglicized, was found within the last century in
Shropshire, and Mildred was never entirely disused; it belonged to the
daughter of Burleigh, and has lately been much revived, under the notion
that it means mild speech; but _red_ is always masculine, and, as has
been before said, _thryth_ commands or threatens, so that Mildthryth is
the gently strict.
SECTION VIII.—_Appearance._
Miss Carolina Wilhelmina Amelia Skeggs was verily named after a beard.
Skegg means neither more nor less than a beard, and strange to say,
Bardr and Skegg were both fashionable names in the North; indeed, one
Icelandic gentleman rejoiced in the euphonious title of Bardr Bla-skegg,
or Beard Blue-beard.
But we have an independent name of this class. William de Albini, the
second husband of Henry I.’s widow, Alix of Louvaine, wore moustachios,
which the Normans called _gernons_, and thus his usual title was William
_als Gernons_; and as the common ancestor of the Howards and Percys, he
left this epithet to them as a baptismal name, one of the most whimsical
of the entire roll. From the Percys it came to Algernon Sidney; and
partly through his admirers, partly through inheritance, and partly
through the love of trisyllables, has become diffused in England.
_Faxe_ meant the hair or tresses, as may be seen in the names of the
horses of day and night, Skinfaxi and Hrinfaxi. Two instances of it are
found in the _Landnama-bok_, Faxi, a colonist from the Hebrides, and
Faxabrandr, most likely an epithet due to some peculiarity of hair,
probably whiteness, or perhaps fieriness; but it was not common, though
it came to England to be the surname of Sir Thomas Fairfax.
The name of our excellent friend Wamba in _Ivanhoe_ must probably have
been taken from one of the Visigothic kings of Spain, with whom it was
most likely a nickname, like that of Louis de Gros in France, for it
means nothing but the belly. Epithets like this were not uncommon, and
sometimes were treated as names, such as Mucel, or the big, the
sobriquet of the earl of the Gevini; or Budde, the pudding, the person
who showed Knut the way over the ice. Many of those used in England were
Keltic, showing that the undercurrent of Cymric population must still
have been strong.
It is remarkable how very few are the Teuton names taken from the
complexion—in comparison with the many used by the Kelts, and even by
the Romans—either because the Teutons were all alike fair, or because
they thought these casual titles unworthy to be names. Bruno was
exclusively German, and may perhaps be only a nickname, but it came to
honour with the monk of Cologne, who founded the Carthusian order, and
has been used ever since; and the North has Sverke, Sverkir, swarthy or
dark, a famous name among the vikings.
Far more modern is the name of Blanche. The absence of colour is in all
tongues of Western Europe denoted by forms of _blec_. In Anglo-Saxon,
_blœc_ or _blac_ is the colour black, but _blœca_ is a _bleak_, empty
place, and _blœcan_ is to bleach or whiten; _blœco_, like the German
_bleich_, stands for paleness. It is the same with German and Norse, in
the latter of which _blakke hund_ is not a black dog but a white one.
All these, however, used their own _weiss_ or _white_ for the pure
uncoloured snow; while the negative _blœc_, or colourless, was adopted
by the Romance languages, all abandoning the Latin _albus_ in its
favour. It is literally true that our _black_ is the French _white_;
_black_ and _blanc_ are only the absence of colour in its two opposite
effects.
Blach, Blacheman, Blancus, and Blancard, all appear in Domesday; but
Blanchefleur and Blanche, seem to have been the produce of romance. The
mother of Sir Tristrem was Blanchefleur, a possible translation of some
of the Keltic Gwenns or Finns, and it probably crept from romance to
reality among the poetical people of southern France. The first
historical character so called was Blanca of Navarre, the queen of
Sancho IV. of Castille, from whom it was bestowed on her granddaughter,
that child of Eleanor Plantagenet, whom her uncle, King John, employed
as the lure by which to detach Philippe Auguste from the support of
Arthur of Brittany. The treaty only bore that the son of Philippe should
wed the daughter of Alfonso of Castille; the choice among the sisters
was entrusted to ambassadors, and they were guided solely, by the sound
of the name borne by the younger, that of the elder sister, Urraca,
being considered by them hateful to French ears, and unpronounceable to
French lips. John was punished for his policy, for Blanche’s royal
English blood was the pretext of the pope in directing against him her
husband, Louis the Lion, but no choice could have been a happier one for
France, since Blanche of Castille was the first and best of her many
queen-regents.
From her the name became very common in France. One of the daughters of
Edward I. was so called, probably from her, in honour of his friendship
for her son; it became usual among the English nobility, and is most
common in Italy, though it is somewhat forgotten in Spain.
┌────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ Italian. │ Spanish. │Portuguese. │
│Blanch │Blanche │Bianca │Blanca │Branca │
└────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┘
A Swedish heroine called Blenda made this name, from _blenden_, to
dazzle, common in her own country, but it is not known elsewhere.
_Koll_, with a double _l_, meaning head, is sometimes used in northern
names, but far less commonly than _kol_, cool, or rather in the act of
cooling after great heat. The great blast-bellows with which the gods
charitably refreshed the horses of the sun, are called in the Eddaic
poetry, _isarnkol_, or iron coolers, and there may have been some
allusion to this in the names of Kol and Kale, which alternated in one
of the old northern families. But as the cooling of iron involved its
turning black, _kolbrünn_ meant a black breastplate, and was thus used
as a by-name; and it may be in this sense of black that _kol_ enters
into the composition of Kolbjorn, black bear, Kolgrim, Kolgrima;
Kolskegg would thus be black-beard; but Kolbein can hardly be black-leg,
so, perhaps, it may refer to the bones being strong as wrought iron; and
Kolfinn and its feminine are either cool-white or refer to Finn’s
strength. Colbrand is in English romance the name of the Danish giant
killed by Guy of Warwick, at Winchester; but the Heptarchy displays a
very perplexing set of Cols, as they have been modernized, though they
used to be spelt Ceol. There were three Ceolwulfs in Bernicia, Mercia,
and Wessex; Ceolred in Mercia, Ceolwald in Wessex, Ceolnoth on the
throne of Canterbury. Are these the relatives of the northern _kol_,
cool, or are they _ceol_, keel, meaning rather a ship than merely the
keel, as it does now? Or, on the other hand, are both these, and the
northern _col_, adaptations of the Keltic _col_ or _gall_, like those
already mentioned of Finn? Their exclusive prevalence among the
Scandinavians and Anglo-Saxons would somewhat favour the notion.
The northern feminine terminal, _frid_, belongs to this class, and means
the fair, or pretty, from the old northern _fridhr_, though it is most
deceitfully like _fred_, or _frey_, peace, and is probably from the same
root.
Teitr is a northern man’s name, meaning cheerful: _Zeiz_ answers to it
in old German; and though the analogue in Anglo-Saxon does not otherwise
occur in any Anglo-Saxon work, yet we find from Bede that Æthelburh, the
daughter of Æthelbeorht and Bertha, of Kent, who carried her
Christianity to her husband, Eadwine, was also called Tâte, by which we
may gather that she was particularly lively and cheerful.
SECTION IX.—_Locality._
A large and interesting class of names relate to country, and express
the birthplace or the wandering habits of the original bearers.
The word _land_ was one of these. Its primary meaning seems to be the
abode of the people. Long ago we spoke of the Greek λαος, prominent in
Laodamia, and many other of the like commencement. An almost similar
term runs through the Teutonic tongues; the Saxon _leod_, German
_leute_, Frank _liade_, Northern _lydhr_. The _leod_, or _leute_, seem
to have been the free inhabitants, including all ranks, and thence we
have the _laity_, for the general people, and the _lewd_, which has sunk
from the free to the ignorant, and then to the dissipated.
The great region of these names taken from the people is Germany.
Leutpold, the people’s prince, was a canonized Markgraf of Austria, in
the days when that family had hardly yet begun its course of marrying
into greatness, and making Leutpold better known at every stage, and by
each new dialect differently pronounced, till it turned into Leopold,
and was confounded with the old lion names. Indeed, in the old Swiss
ballad on the battle of Sempach, translated by Scott, Leopold the
Handsome is called the Austrian Lion. The recurrence of the name in the
modern imperial line has made it European, and the close connection of
our own royal family with the wise king of the Belgians has brought it
to England. Of course, it has not escaped a modern German Leopoldine.
┌────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ Italian. │ German. │ Slav. │
│Leopold │Léopold │Leopoldo │Luitpold │Leopoldo │
│ │ │ │Leupold │Poldo │
│ │ │ │Leopo │Poldi │
└────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┘
Leutgar, the people’s spear, was a good bishop of Antrim, who was
speared by the people, or, at least, murdered by them, in the furious
wars of the long-haired kings, and was revered as a martyr under the
Latin form of Leodigarius. A priest of Chalons was canonized by the same
name, which is in France Leguire, and was brought as a territorial
surname to England as St. Leger.
Liutgarde seems to have been a Frank saint, but there is no account of
her in Alban Butler; but hers is one of the favourite old names at
Cambrai. Liutprand, the people’s sword, is one of the chief chroniclers
of early French history, and the other forms are Liuther, the only one
accepted by the North, and that in the form of Lyder.
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Ger. Liutbert; Fries. Liubert—People’s brightness │
│ Ger. Liutberga—People’s protection │
│ Fr. Leodefred, Leufroi—People’s peace │
│ Ger. Liutmar; Fries. Luttmer, Lummer; Fr. Leodemir—People’s │
│ greatness │
│ Ger. Leuthold, Liutold; Ags. Leodwald—People’s power │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
The _land_ itself was compounded into names chiefly among the Franks,
Germans, and Lombards, often as a conclusion, but now and then at the
beginning. Lantperaht, or the country’s brightness, is the most noted of
these, having been borne by three saints of Maestricht, Lyons, and
Venice, and having thus become national in all the countries around; but
it is universally corrupted into Lambert, and has been generally derived
from a lamb.
┌────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ Italian. │ German. │ Dutch. │
│Lambert │Lambert │Lamberto │Landbert │Lambert │
│ │Lanbert │ │Lambert │Lammert │
└────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┘
Landerich, or country’s ruler, was an early Frank saint, who has left
Landry to be still frequent among the Flemish and French peasantry.
Landfrang, lord of the country, was the Lombardic Lanfranco, whence the
Lanfranc of the archbishop of Canterbury, whom William the Conqueror
imposed on the English Church, but who brought in fresh vigour and
learning. Landfrid has left the surname Laffert to France; its
contraction Lando belonged to a saint, and has the feminines Landine and
Landoline. There are also recorded Landolf, Landrad, Landrada, and
Landinn.
If Germany and Italy talked of dwellers in the land, the North, with its
seas and numerous islets, distinguished the islanders with the word Ey,
or Øi, the word that we use to this very day in speaking of Guerns_ey_
Jers_ey_, &c., of an _eyot_ in a river; and even in Sodor, that puzzling
companion to the Isle of Man, which once was the Sudeyas, or South
Isles, the Hebrides.
The most famous northern island name is Eystein, or Øistein, much in use
among the early kings, and especially honoured for the sake of the good
brother of Sigurd the Crusader, who stayed at home and worked for his
people’s good, while Sigurd was killing blue men in the land of the
Saracens. The Danish Eystein was turned into Austin, or Augustin, to be
more ecclesiastical, and this may be the origin of some of our Austins.
Eyulf, or the island wolf, has become, in the course of time, Øiel and
Øiuf. Eyvind, who appears in the _Landnama-bok_ with the unpleasant
sobriquet of Skalldur Spiller, or the poet spoiler, is supposed to have
been the Island Wend, a reminiscence of the Wends on the shores of the
Baltic. It was a very common name, and became Øvind and Even, while
Eymund, in like manner, was turned into Emund. An island thief was not
wanting, as Eythiof; nor an island warrior, as Eyar; also Eyfrey,
Eylang; and the ladies Eygerd, Eydis, Eyny, and Eyvar, or, as Saxo calls
her, Ofura.
An island is also sometimes _holm_, whence the northern Holmstein and
Holmfrid, with Holmgeir, which gets mixed with Holger.
Persons of mixed birth were drolly called by the actual fractional word
_half_, in Germany Halbwalah, half a foreigner, or half a Wallachian,
and Halbtüring or half a Thuringian; and in the North, generally,
Halfdan, half a Dane. So early was this in use that there was a mythical
king, Halfdan, from whom the name was adopted by many a true-born Dane
and Northman, and has been Latinized as Haldanus.
Travellers had their epithets, which probably came to be family names.
_Lide_, Wanderer, was compounded in Haflide, sea wanderer; Vestlide,
west wanderer; Vetilide, winter wanderer; and Sumalide, or summer
wanderer, which last was current among the lords of the Isles, and kings
of Man, in the shape of Somerled, or, in Gaelic, Somhle; but ‘the heirs
of mighty Somerled’ did not long keep up his name.
Travellers again had their name from _fara_, the modern German _fahren_,
and the scarcely disused English _to fare_, meaning to journey. The most
noted instance is Faramund, who, in the guise of Pharamond, is placed at
the head of the long-haired Frankish dynasty, far travelled it may be,
from the river Yssel whence the Salic stock took the title that was to
pass to one peculiar law of succession; also Farabert, Farulf, and
Farthegn, contracted into Farten, and Faltin, and then supposed to be a
contraction of Falentin, or Valentine. _Thegn_ did, in fact, originally
mean a servant, so that Farthegn was either the travelled servant, or
the travelled thane. Fargrim appears in Domesday; but these names are
not easy to divide from those taken from _waren_, to beware.
Even the exile had his sorrows commemorated in his children’s names. No
doubt if we could meet with the story of the original Erland, we should
find that he was born under the same circumstances as Peregrine Bertie,
for the name is from the old northern _er_, out, or away from, and
_land_. Erland is the Outland, the banished man, and he must have been
beloved, or celebrated, for Erlendr, as the Icelanders had it, occurs
plentifully, with its diminutive Erling, and perhaps the corruption
Elling.
The unfortunate Bishop Hatto’s name was anciently Hazzo, and is
translated a Hessian.
Viking has been used as a Christian name in Norway in comparatively
modern days, in memory of the deeds of the terrible Vikingr of old; but,
in spite of the resemblance in sound, it must not be suspected of any
relation to sea-kings, being only the inhabitant of a vik, or bay, of
course the most convenient abode for a sea-rover.
The sea, _haf_, or _hav_, as it was called in the North, named Haflide,
Hafthor, and Hafgrim, as well as the mythic hero, Haflok, the Dane,
whose life, according to his legend, was saved by his faithful servant
Grim, the founder of Grimsby, in Lincolnshire, the native place of our
own Sir Henry Havelock, who was bewailed by the Danish school-children
as their own ballad hero. The two feminine terminations _laug_ and
_veig_ may have been in its honour, but it is much to be feared that
they only meant liquor, and at the best were allusions to the costly
mead of the gods, the drink of inspiration, or the magic bowls that
inflamed the Berserks. Nay, men rejoiced in the name of Ølver or Ølve,
meaning neither more nor less than Ale, _øl_, which acquires a _v_ in
the oblique cases and plural. Ø1ver and Olaf have, no doubt, been
confounded into the modern Oliver.
Knud, or Knut, a very common northern name, is a very puzzling one. Its
origin and nationality are Danish, and it only came to Norway by
intermarriages, nor does it appear at all in the _Landnamabok_. The
great Dane who brought it here is called by the chroniclers Canutus,
from some notion of making it the Latin _hoary_, and thus we know him as
Canute; but even in Domesday, one landholder in Yorkshire, and another
in Derbyshire, are entered as Cnud. The whole North, and the inhabitants
of the Hebrides, use the name, which comes from the same root as our
_knot_, and properly means a protuberance, a hill, or barrow.
SECTION X.—_Life._
Life played its part among Teutonic names. One old word conveying this
sense was the Gothic _ferchvus_, Saxon _feorh_, and Northern _fiorh_.
The Anglo-Saxon _feorh_ also meant youth, and thus passed on to mean a
young man.
There are not many names from thence, but one of the few has been a
great perplexity, and has been explained in many ways, _i. e._ the
Gothic Ferhonanths, the last syllable being _nanth_, daring, so that its
sense would be, ‘adventuring his life.’ It was the Spanish Goths who
used this gallant name, and made it with their Romance tongues into
Fernan and Fernando. San Fernando, king of Castille, and father of our
own Eleanor, made it a favourite for his royal line; and a younger son
of Castille so called, being heir of Aragon, carried it thither, and
thence it passed to southern France, where the grandson of old King René
was Ferrand or Ferry. Aragon again bestowed it upon Naples; but it was
there prolonged into Ferdinando, whilst Spanish elisions had at home
turned it to Hernan, as the conqueror of Mexico termed himself. It was
bestowed upon the second son of Juana la Loca, who was born in Spain,
and long preferred there to his brother, though it was to the imperial
throne that he was destined to succeed, and to render his Spanish name
national through Germany, where Ferdinand has long been a sore puzzle;
sometimes explained by _fart_, a journey, and sometimes by _fried_,
peace, but never satisfactorily. The contraction Nandel was the shout of
the mob in the ears of Ferdinand, the obstinate, narrow-minded man who
won his cause by mere force of undivided aim. It is so popular in Spain
and Germany as in each to have a feminine, Fernanda and Ferdinandine.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ Spanish. │ Italian. │
│Ferdinand │Ferdinand │Fernando │Ferdinando │
│ │Ferrand │Hernando │Fernando │
│ │Ferry │Hernan │Ferrante │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ German. │ Polish. │ Lettish. │ │
│Ferdinand │Ferdynand │Werlands │ │
│Nandl │ │ │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
Ferahbald and Ferahmund were forgotten old German forms, and Fjorleif
was known in the North.
This is, probably, relic of life, as otherwise the word would be a
reduplication; but the termination _leif_ or _lif_ is sometimes used,
being our very word life.
There are two words which may be said to form names of progress, the
German _gang_, from to go, sometimes commencing as in Gangolf, but more
usual at the end of a word; and the Northern _stig_, from the universal
root _stig_, found in the Greek ἔστιχον, and in our step and stile, also
stairs, for the usual sense of the word implies mounting upwards; and
the name of the semi-Danish archbishop of Canterbury who crowned Harold,
and was one of the Conqueror’s lifelong captives, was the participle
Stigand, mounting, and was long extant in the North, as well as the
Danish Styge and Stygge.
PART VII.
NAMES FROM THE SLAVONIC.
SECTION I.—_Slavonic Races._
The last class of names that have had any influence upon European
nomenclature are those borne by the Slavonic race dwelling to the
eastward of the Teutons, and scarcely coming into notice before the
period of modern history.
Nor, indeed, have they been ever very prominent. Slipping into the
regions left empty by the Teutons, or depopulated by the forays of the
Tatars, these nations have carried on a life for the most part obscure
and industrious, though now and then drawn, either by Mongol fury on the
one hand, or by Teuton ambition on the other, into gallant exertions;
but a genuine Slavonian has seldom or never extended his power far
beyond his own country. Imaginative and poetical, they have nevertheless
few ancestral traditions, they have no history previously to coming
under the influence of other countries, and their migrations are even
less known than those of the early Kelts and Teutons.
All that we do know is that by the time the ten horns of modern empire
were developing themselves, there was a long strip of Slavonians, or
Wends, extending from the White and Baltic seas down to the Black and
Adriatic, making a division between the Teutons and the Tatars, but
utterly unable to oppose a barrier when periodical fits of fury and
invasion seized upon the wild hordes to the eastward of them.
Wends, or Venedi, seems to have been one universal national term;
_Slava_ furnished another. The word, like the Greek κλύα and Teuton
_hlod_, is from the root _çru_, and denotes fame or glory; and it is
constantly employed in the personal names, commencing Slavoljub,
glorious love, Slavomir, glorious peace, Slavomil, friend of glory, and
terminating Siroslav, far-famed, and many others, usually rendered as
_slas_ and _slaus_.
But just as Geta, the Goth, stood for a bondsman in classical
literature, so when the Slav became the captive of the German, his once
glorious epithet became the generic term of the thrall, bought and sold,
while the derivatives of the Latin _servus_ were reserved for the free
hired domestic. Glory had literally turned to slavery, perhaps the more
readily because it is the Slav who, of all the Indo-European race, most
readily bows beneath the yoke, so that to this day, his forms of
courtesy are the most servile, his respectful address the most
extravagant, used in Europe.
At our first glimpse of the Slavonic nations, the Danube flowed through
the midst of a considerable settlement of them, known to classical
writers as Bulgarians, and most savage foes to the Eastern empire, who
lost army after army in expeditions against these barbarians.
In the North, two great merchant republics at Kief and Novgorod were
conducting the trade of the North, and apparently living an honourable
life of industry and self-government.
All around the east and south of the Baltic were other large territories
occupied by Slavonians, from Finland to Jutland; and, with few
exceptions, most of these lands still own a Slavonian population, though
only one has a native government.
The Mongols have, perhaps, chiefly influenced the changes undergone by
the Slaves. The great and terrible Tatar invasion of Attila trod them
down, but by ruining the Roman empire, established homes for them,
especially round the Danube. In the kingdom now called Hungary, there is
a large Slavonian population, called Slovak, from the term _slov_, a
word, living mixed with the remains of the Huns, but keeping a separate
language.
The mountain-girt lozenge of Bohemia was also a separate kingdom, with
its own language, not the same, though nearly related, and more
resembling that of the fierce elective kingdom of Poland.
The migrations of the Teutons drove most of the Wends out of Denmark
into the marshy and sandy lands at the mouth of the Vistula; and,
somewhat later, home quarrels, and fears of the Tatars, impelled the
republics of Russia to call in the aid of the Northmen, who quickly put
an end to the freedom of the cities, and set up the principality that
was the germ of the Russian empire.
The Greek Church converted the Bulgarians about the year 870, and the
translations of the liturgy and Scriptures, made for their benefit, have
been the authorized version of the Slavonians ever since. The same
missionaries, Cyrillus and Methodius, likewise baptized the first
Christian king of Bohemia; and in the next century, a Bohemian bishop,
Adalbert of Prague, converted Hungary and Poland. But these three realms
gave their allegiance to the Western, not the Eastern Church; and though
Hungary received much of her civilization from Constantinople, her faith
was with Rome. The Norse Grand Princes of Muscovy themselves sought
Christianity from Byzantium, and the Russian Church has ever since been
the most earnest and conservative of the Eastern Churches.
The Baltic Slavonians held out longest against the Gospel. Missionaries
preached to them, and orders of knighthood crusaded against them on far
into modern history, and the final period of their conversion and
settlement into small duchies or realms, held by the conquering knights,
is hardly worth tracing out.
The next step in general Slavonic history is the great Turkish outbreak,
which almost crushed Muscovy, and infused a strong Tatar element into
the Russian population; and, finally, conquered the Greek empire, and
with it the Bulgarian lands, which, though never Mahometanized, have
ever since remained under Turkish dominion.
The kingdoms of Bohemia and Hungary, with the other western Slavonic
provinces, were one by one absorbed into the German empire, or by the
House of Austria—it made little difference which was the original
tenure—all are ‘Austrian’ now, whether willingly or not.
With the same skill, the House of Brandenburg obtained the domains of
the Baltic Slaves, and formed the kingdom of Prussia, very Teutonic to
the west, and very Slavonic to the east.
Meantime, after a long period of exhaustion, almost of extinction, the
Muscovites came forth from the Tatar oppression stronger than ever; and
by gradual conquests from their former enemies, at length formed their
huge empire of the east.
And Poland, after many a turbulent election, many a summons to German
princes to hold the reins of its restless multitude, was finally and
unrighteously dismembered and divided, and the cry of its wrongs has
ever since rent the ears of Europe.
The existing Slavonian languages are the Russian, the literary language
of the great empire; the Livonian, or the language spoken by the persons
who are not of Finnish blood in the elbow beneath the Gulf of Finland;
the Lettish and Lusatian, used by the old Prussian subjects and their
neighbours in Russia; the Polish; the Slovak, spoken in Hungary; the
Servian, Illyrian, and Croatian, all representing the old Bulgarian.
Of all these, it is perhaps the Polish that has contributed the most
names to the European stock, and they are but few; but there were
intermarriages, and friendly intercourse, besides occasional elections
to the Polish throne; and, latterly, the dispersion and exile of the
Polish nobility carried their names into distant parts of Europe, and
gave them a romantic interest.
Bohemia and Hungary sent a few names into the Austrian line, but they
soon died out; and Russia uses comparatively few native Slavonic names,
but makes chief use of those of the saints of the Greek Church.
Slavonian languages are said to be soft in their own speech, but our
letters clumsily render their sounds, and make them of cumbrous length;
and the few names that have been adopted have been severely mangled.
They are, for the most part, grand and poetical compounds, often exactly
corresponding to Greek or Teutonic names, and with others more poetical
than those in either of these other languages, such as Danica, the
Morning star; Zwezdana, or in Russian, Swetlana, a Star; Zora, Zorana,
Zorica, the Slovak Aurora; and Zorislava, the Dawn of glory; Golubica,
the Dove; Lala, the Tulip. The Slaves use likewise the amaranth, or
everlasting flower, as a name both for men and women, namely, Smiljan
and Smiljana; and while a man may be called Dubislav, or Oak fame, the
Servians and Illyrians call their daughters after fruits,—Grozdana, Rich
in grapes; Jagoda, the Strawberry; and Kupina, or Kupiena, the
Gooseberry.[149]
-----
Footnote 149:
Kombst, (in Johnson’s) _Physical Atlas_; Max Muller, _Lectures_; Le
Beau, _Bas Empire_; Schleicher, _Sprachen Europen_; Zeuss, _Deutschen
und die Nachbar Stamme_.
SECTION II.—_Slavonian Mythology._
The Slavonians had a polytheistic religion, answering, in spirit, to
that of the other Indo-European nations; but as they had no mythic
literature, like Greece and Scandinavia, we are dependent for
information upon popular ballads and superstitions, eked out by the
notices of missionaries and statements of conquerors; and it is not easy
to perceive whether their myths were an independent branch of the
general stock, or only the Teutonic religion under another dress.
The divine word, in all the various nations, is Bog. It was used for
God, both in the old heathen times, and afterwards in its full sense,
when Christianity became known to them. It enters into numerous names,
both before and after Christianity. The most noted is Bogislav, or God’s
glory, which was borne by many a Pole and old Prussian; and, in 1627, it
finished off the old Slavonic line of dukes of Pomerania, from whom that
state came to the acquisitive house of Brandenburg. The historical
Latinism of the name is Bogislaus; and it is still current in Illyria as
Bogosav.
Theophilus is literally translated by Bogoljub or Bogoje in Illyria, and
Bohumil in Bohemia. This makes it probable that Robert Guiscard thence
took the name of his eldest son, Bohemond, giving it a Norman
termination. The mother is called Alvareda, and she is said to have been
divorced on the score of consanguinity; but it is not improbable that
this was a mere excuse of the wily duke of Calabria for ridding himself
of an Illyrian wife. Bohemond is said to have been called after a giant
of romance; but the giant has not as yet transpired, and may have been,
after all, a Slavonic divinity. Bohemond, or Boemondo, as Tasso calls
him, was the Ulysses of the first Crusade, and left a grandson namesake.
Theodorus and Theodora are answered by Bogdan and Bogdana, both spelt
with _h_ in Bohemia—Bohdan, Bohdana, and in Illyria Bozidar, Bozidara;
and, as has been already said, the Divine birth-night, Christmas, is
commemorated by Slovak children being called Bozo. Bogohval is Thank
God, Bogoboj, God’s battle, all names in use in Poland and the kindred
nations before the general names of Europe displaced the native growth.
The word does not answer to either Deus or God, but is related to the
Sanscrit _bhagas_, destiny.
The word _ljube_, Love, is rather a favourite in the affectionate
Slavonic nomenclature. At the outset of Bohemian history we come on the
beautiful legend of Queen Libussa, or the darling. She succeeded her
father in 618, governed alone for fourteen years, then, finding her
people discontented, sought the wisest man in her domains for a husband,
and found him, like Cincinnatus, at the plough, when he not only
retained his homely cloak, iron table, and bark sandals, as marks of his
origin, but bade them be produced at all future royal elections. His
name, Przemysl, or the thoughtful, was continued in his line, though
chroniclers cut its dreadful knot of consonants by calling it Premislaus
and the next ensuing namesake Germanized himself as Ottokar. He was
afterwards elected king of Poland, where the name was used, with the
feminine Przemyslava.
Russia has the feminine Ljubov, Love, fondly termed Lubuika, and, in
families where French is spoken, called Aimée, though this more properly
translates Ljubka and Ljubnia. The Slovaks have Ljuboslav and its
feminine, and the Polish Lubomirsky is Peace-loving. The Russian Ljubov
is chiefly used in allusion to the Christian grace of love; and Faith,
or Vjera, and Hope, Nadezna, are both, likewise, very popular at the
present day, the latter usually Frenchified into Nadine; while the Serbs
have Nada, or Nadan.
The Slaves of Rugen had a terrible deity called Sviatovid, or the
luminous, who was considered to answer to Mars, or Tyr, and had a temple
at Acron, and an image with seven heads, which must have much resembled
Indian idols. A white horse was sacred to him, and was supposed to be
ridden by him during the night, and to communicate auguries by the
manner in which it leaped over lances that were arranged in its path.
Human sacrifices were offered to this deity both in Rugen and Bohemia;
and when his image was at length overthrown, St. Vitus, from the
resemblance of sound, was confounded with him by the populace, and
Svantovit, as they called both alike, was still the tutelary genius of
the place. Svetozor, Dawn of light, and Svetlana, a Russian lady’s name
still in use, are connected with light, the first syllable of his name.
Conjoined with Sviatovid, and lying on a purple bed in the temple in
Rugen, was the seven-headed Rugevid, or Ranovid (whose name is explained
by reference to the Sanscrit _rana_, blood-thirsty); and likewise
Radegost, the god of hospitality, from _rad_, prosperous, and _gose_, a
guest, the word so often encountered. Several names began with the first
syllable—Rada, Radak, Radan, Radinko, Radmir, Radivoj, Radko, Radman,
Radmil, Radoje, Radoslav; and the Illyrians have the hospitable name of
Gostomil, or Guest love: indeed, _gost_ forms the end of many Slavonic
names, in accordance with the ready and courteous welcome always offered
by this people.
Davor is another war god, whose name seems of very near kindred to
Mavors, or Mars, and who left Davorinn, Davroslav, and Davroslava, as
names.
Tikla was the old Slavonic goddess of good luck, and, being confounded
with St. Thekla, made this latter name popular in Poland, Russia, and
Hungary; and, in like manner, Zenovia, the huntress goddess, conduced to
make Zenobia, and Zizi, its contraction, common in Russia.
The fire god was Znitch; and though he does not show any direct
namesakes, yet there are sundry fire-names in his honour, such as the
Slovak Vatroslav and Illyrian Ognoslav, both signifying fire glory.
Possibly, too, the Russian Mitrofan may be connected with the old
Persian _mithras_, or sacred fire; though in history it figures in Greek
ecclesiastical guise, as the Patriarch Metrophanes.[150]
-----
Footnote 150:
Tooke, _Russia_; Eichioff, _Tableau de la Littérature du Nord au Moyen
Age_; Zeuss, _Deutschen und die Nachbar Stamme_; _Universal History_.
SECTION III.—_Warlike Names._
Few more Slavonic names remain to be mentioned, and these more for their
correspondence with those of other races than for much intrinsic
interest.
Very few are known beyond their own limits. Stanislav, or Camp glory, is
the most universal, and is one of the very few found in the Roman
calendar, which has two Polish saints thus named. The first, Stanislav
Sczepanowski, Bishop of Cracow, was one of the many prelates of the
eleventh century who had to fight the battle of Church against king, and
he was happy in that his cause was that of morality as well as
discipline. Having excommunicated King Boleslav for carrying off the
wife of one of the nobles, he was murdered by the king in his own
cathedral; and Gregory VII. being the reigning Pope, his martyrdom was
an effectual seed of submission to the Church. The wretched king died by
his own hand, and the bishop became a Slavonian Becket, was enshrined at
Cracow, and thought to work miracles. His name was, of course, national,
and was again canonized in the person of Stanislav Kostka, one of the
early Jesuits who guided the reaction of Roman Catholicism in Poland.
The name has even been used in France, chiefly for the sake of the
father of the Polish queen of Louis XV., and afterwards from the influx
of Poles after the partition of their kingdom.
┌──────────────┬──────────────┬──────────────┬──────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ Portuguese. │ Italian. │
│Stanislaus │Stanislas │Estanislau │Stanislao │
├──────────────┼──────────────┼──────────────┼──────────────┤
│ German. │ Bavarian. │ Polish. │ Illyrian. │
│Stanislav │Stanes │Stanislav │Stanisav │
│ ———————— │Stanisl │Stach │Stanko │
│ Lettish. │Stanel │Stas │ │
│Stanislavs │Stanerl │ │ │
│Stachis │ │ │ │
└──────────────┴──────────────┴──────────────┴──────────────┘
Much in the same spirit is the Russian Boris, from the old Slavonian
_borotj_, to fight. It has never been uncommon in Muscovy, and belonged
to the brother-in-law of Ivan the Terrible, Boris Goudenoff, who was
regent for his imbecile nephew Feodor; and, after assassinating the
hopeful younger brother, Dmitri, reigned as czar, till dethroned by a
counterfeit Dmitri. Borka and Borinka are the contractions, and Borivor
was the first Christian duke of Bohemia.
Bron, a weapon, forms Bronislav and Bronislava. Voj is the general
Slavonic term for war, and is a very frequent termination. Vojtach, the
Polish Vojciech, and Lithuanian Waitkus, all mean warrior.
It is a curious feature in nomenclature how strongly glory and fame are
the leading notion of the entire race, whose national title of glory has
had such a fall. _Slav_ is an inevitable termination; _voj_ almost as
constantly used; and even the tenderest commencements are forced to love
war, and to love fame. The old Russian Mstisslav glories in vengeance
(_mest_), but is usually recorded as Mistislaus; Rostislav increases
glory; Vratislav, Glowing glory, names not only the Wratislaus of
history, but the city of Breslaw. The Slovak Vekoslav, and Vekoslava,
are Eternal fame.
The two animals used in Slavonic names are warlike; Vuk, the wolf, and
Bravac, the wild boar; but both these are very possibly adopted from the
German Wulf and Eber.
SECTION IV.—_Names of Might._
_Boleje_, strong or great, answers to the Teuton _mer_, and Boleslav is
great glory. Boleslav Chrobry, the second Christian prince of Poland,
was a devout savage and great conqueror, both in Russia and Bohemia. He
was the first Pole to assume the title of king; and after his death, in
1025, there are many instances of his name in both Poland and Bohemia.
In this latter country it had, however, a far more sinister fame.
Borivor and Ludmilla, the first Christian prince and princess of that
duchy, had two grandsons, Boleslav and Vesteslav, or Venceslav, the
first a heathen, the latter a Christian. Boleslav stirred up the pagan
population against his brother, and murdered him while praying in church
at Prague, on the 28th of September, 644, thus conferring on him the
honour of a patron saint and centre of legends. The House of Luxemburg
obtained the kingdom of Bohemia by marriage, and Venceslav was
introduced among their appellations in the form of Wenzel; and the crazy
and furious Bohemian king of that name sat for a few unhappy years on
the imperial throne; but in spite of the odium of that memory, the name
of good King Wenceslas, as we call it, held its ground, and contracts
into Vacslav and Vaclav. Some say that it is crown glory, from
_vienice_; others deduce the prefix from _vest_, the superlative of
_veliku_, great, which furnished the Bulgarian Velika, Veleslav,
Velimir.
The familiar root that has been so often encountered in _valeo_,
_wield_, &c., in the sense of power, gives the prefix _vlad_ to various
favourite Slavonic names. The Russian Vladimir, being of the race of
Rurik, is sometimes seized upon as Waldemar; and, in fact, there is
little difference in the sense of the first syllable. He is a great
national saint, since it was his marriage with the Greek Princess Anna
that obtained for the Byzantine Church her mighty Muscovite daughter;
and in honour of him, Vladimir has been perpetually used in Russia,
shortened into Volodia, and expanded into Volodinka by way of
endearment.
The national saint of Hungary was Vladislav, who was the restorer of the
faith that had almost faded away after the death of the sainted King
Stephen, and was chosen as leader of a crusade, which was prevented by
his death in 1095. His name, and that of his many votaries, have sorely
puzzled Latin and Teutonic tongues; when not content, like the French,
to term him St. Lancelot, his countrymen call themselves after him
Laszlo, or Laczko, the Illyrians Lako, the Letts Wendis; but chroniclers
vary between Uladislaus and Ladislaus in Hungary and Poland; and when
the Angevin connection brought down a king from Hungary to revenge the
death of his brother upon Giovanni of Naples, the Italians called him
Ladislao; and as Ladislas we recognize the last native Hungarian king,
brother-in-law to Charles V. Vladislavka is a feminine, contracting into
Valeska, which is still borne by Polish young ladies. Vladivoj is
another of the same class, and _sve_, all, with the verb _vladati_, to
rule, has formed Vsevolad and Svevlad, All ruler, and Vseslav, All fame.
Possibly there may be some connection here with the deity Volos, Weles,
or Veless, invoked under these names by the Slaves, Bohemians, and
Russians, as witness of their oaths, and likewise as guardian of flocks.
Possibly the Roman Pales may be the same deity under another form; but
the name of Volos is still applied to shepherds, and comes, no doubt,
from the Slavonic _vlas_, or Russian _volos_, the same word as wool.
The word _mir_ at the end of Vladimir is somewhat doubtful. It may mean
peace, or it may mean the world; and in like manner the Slovak Miroslav
stands in doubt between world-fame or peaceful-fame.
Purvan, Purvançe, is the Bulgarian _first_, whether used in the sense of
chief or of first-born does not appear; but, at any rate, bearing a most
eastern sound with it.
We are familiar with the Russian _ukase_, from _ukasat_, to show forth;
and _kaze_ in Polish has the same sense of command. Kazimir is thus
Command of peace, a noble title for a prince, and essentially national
in Poland, where it was endeared by the fame of three of the best of the
earlier sovereigns. It has the feminine Kasimira, and is one of the very
few Slavonic names used by Teutons. Intermarriages introduced it among
the German princes; and Johann Kasimir, a son of the Pfalzgraf of the
Rhine, was a noted commander in the war of the Revolt of the
Netherlands, and received the Garter from Queen Elizabeth. He was
commonly called Prince Kasimir, and his namesakes spread in Germany; and
either for the sake of the sound, or Polish sympathies, Casimir was
somewhat fashionable in France.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ French. │ Polish. │ Bohemian. │ Lettish. │
│Casimir │Kazimir │Kazimir │Kasimirs │
│ —————— │Kazimierz │ │Kasche │
│ German. │ │ │Kaschis │
│Kasimir │ │ │Kaschuk │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
_Kol_, council, formed Koloman, somewhat noted in early Slavonic
history.
_Jar_, pronounced as beginning with _y_, means strength or firmness.
Jaromir, Firm peace, was prince of Bohemia in 999. Jaropolk, firm
government, was the last heathen grand prince of Muscovy; and this name,
with Jaroslav, is very frequent in the early annals of the House of
Rurik.
From _lid_, the people, (our old friends _hleute_ and λαος,) came
Ljudomir and Ludmilla, who was the first Christian duchess in Bohemia,
and was strangled by her heathen daughter-in-law, Dragotina, the mother
of Boleslav and Venceslav, leaving a sainted name much used among all
Slavonian women, and called at home Lida and Lidiska; in Russia,
Ljudmila. Lidvina was likewise Bohemian, from Vina, an old goddess.
SECTION V.—_Names of Virtue._
Words signifying goodness are far from uncommon in this class of
nomenclature. _Dobry_, good, has a worthy family. Dobrija, sometimes
called Dobrowka, was the Bohemian princess whose marriage, like those of
Clotilda, Bertha, and Anna, brought religion into her new country. Her
husband, Miczslav, of Poland, had been born blind, but recovered his
sight at seven years old. He had seven wives while still a heathen, but
was told that he would have no children unless he began afresh with a
Christian lady. He demanded the Czech princess. She brought St.
Adalbert, of Prague, with her; and Mistislaus, as he is generally called
in history, is counted as the first Polish Christian king, in the year
970. So national was the name, that the Poles altered Maria of Muscovy
to Dobrija, on her marriage with Kasimir, their king. The other names of
this commencement are Illyrian—Dobrogast, Dobroljub, Dobroslav, and its
feminine Dobrovoj, Dobrvok, Dobrutin, and Dobrotina, Good guest, Good
love, Good glory, Good war, Good wolf, and Beneficent.
_Ssvätyj_, holy, and _polk_, government, are the component parts of the
old Russian Sviatopolk, often found among the early race of Rurik. Holy
glory, Sviatoslav, was the inappropriate name of the son of the
Christian princess Olga, the same who refused baptism, believing that
all the converts were cowards, and that he should lose the support of
the war gods and of his followers.
The Illyrian _blag_, good, makes Blagorod, Good birth, also, as usual,
Blagovoj, Blagoslav, Blagodvor, Blagogost, and the contraction Blagoje.
_Prav_ is upright, a connection, it may be, of _probus_, and it has
formed the Slavonic Upravda, and the Illyrian Pravdoslav, Pravdoslava,
Pravoje. It is, perhaps, the same with the Wend _prib_, which formed the
name Pribislava. The Danes amalgamated the Wend _pred_ into their own
names as Predbiorn, or Preban.
_Çast_, or _cest_, is honour. The first letter, _ç_, should be
pronounced _z_; it is rather a favourite with Poland and Bohemia.
Çastibog exactly answers to the Greek Timotheus, as does Çastimir to the
modern German Ehrenfried, very possibly a translation from it. Çastislav
is the most popular form, like all else ending in _slav_, and has
shortened into Çaslav, Çaislav, Cestislav, Ceslav.
Of the same sound is the first letter of _çist_, pure, whence Çistav and
Çistislav. From _tverd_, firm, we have Tverdko, Tverdimir, Tverdislav.
SECTION VI.—_Names of Affection._
The Slavonian nature has much in common with the Irish, and there is
much of caressing and personal affection. _Ljub_, as has been seen, is a
favourite element in names, and _dragi_, dear, does a considerable part.
Dragomira, or Dear peace, was the name of the heathen mother of Boleslav
and Venceslav. Dragoslav, or dear glory, is Russian, and Poland and
Bohemia have used Dragan, Draganka, Dragoj, Dragojila, Dragioila,
Dragnja, Dragotin, Dragotinka, Dragilika, Dragija.
_Duschinka_ is the tender epithet which, in Russia, a serf applies to
her lady in addressing her. It is properly the diminutive of Duscha,
happy, which is sometimes a Christian name in Russia, as well as in
Illyria, where it is called Dusa and Dusica. _Stastny_ is the Bohemian
word for happy, and is sometimes used as a name. Blazena, meaning happy,
in these tongues, is used as the South Slavonic equivalent for Beatrice.
Another word for love is _mil_. Mila and Milica are the feminines,
meaning lovely, or amiable, Milan the masculine; but all these are now
confounded with the numerous progeny of the Latin Æmilius. _Mil_ is a
favourite termination, and is found loving war and glory—Milovoj and
Miloslav.
Cedoljub and Cedomil are both most loving names, the first half of the
name signifying a child, so that they signify ‘child-love,’ or ‘filial
affection.’
Brotherly love is likewise honoured as nowhere else, save in the Greek
Philadelphus, which exactly renders Bratoljub, from _brata_, a word of
the universal family likeness whence ἀδελφός and _hermano_ are the only
noted variations. Brajan and Bragican also belong to brotherhood.
_Deva_ is a maiden, whence Devoslav and Devoslava, probably formed, or
at least used, in honour of the Blessed Virgin.
SECTION VII.—_Names from the Appearance._
A few names of extremely personal application exist, such as the Servian
Mrena, white in the eyes, and Mladen, young, and the highly
uncomplimentary Illyrian Smoljan and Smoljana, from _smoljo_, an
overhanging nose, probably a continuation of the nickname of some
favoured individual.
_Krasan_, beautiful, however, was used in names, as Krasimir, Krasislav,
Krasomil, &c.; and _zlata_, golden, though once used in Zlatoust, as a
literal translation of Chrysostomos, in other names may, it is hoped, be
employed to denote beauty; or else Zlatoljub, with its contractions
Zlatoje and Zlatko, would be a most avaricious name. Zlata, Zlatana,
Zlatibor, and Zlatislav, are also used.
_Tiho_, silent, is a curious prefix. Tihomil, Silent love, and Tihomir,
Silent peace, are clear enough; but Tihoslav, Silent glory, is a
puzzling compound, probably only arising from the habit of ending
everything with _slav_.
It is remarkable, however, that there is an entire absence of the names
of complexion so common among the Kelts and Romans.
CONCLUSION.
MODERN NOMENCLATURE.
It still remains to cast a passing glance over the countries of the
European commonwealth, and observe the various classes of names that
have prevailed in them. It is only possible to do this, with my present
information, very broadly and generally. In fact, every province has its
own peculiar nomenclature; and the more remote the place the more
characteristic the names, and, therefore, the most curious are the least
accessible. It is the tendency of diffused civilization to diminish
variations, and up to a certain point, at least, to assimilate all to
one model, and this process for many years affected the educated and
aristocratic community, although latterly a desire for distinctiveness
and pride in the individual peculiarities of race and family, have
arisen; but, on the other hand, the class below, which used to be full
of individualities, has now reached the imitative stage, and is rapidly
laying aside all national and provincial characteristics, The European
nobility, except where some old family name has been preserved as an
heirloom, thus cease, about the sixteenth century, to bear national
names; but all are on one level of John, Henry, Frederick, Charles,
Louisa, &c., while the native names come to light among citizens and
peasants; but now, while the gentleman looks back for the most
distinctive name in his remote ancestry, and proudly bestows it on his
child, the mechanic or labourer shrinks from the remark and
misunderstanding that have followed his old traditional baptismal name,
and calls his son by the least remarkable one he can find, or by one
culled from literature. These remarks apply chiefly to England, but
also, in great measure, to the town population of France, and to all
other places which are much affected by the universal fusion of national
ideas and general intercourse of the present day.
SECTION I.—_Greece._
Modern Greece has the most direct inheritance from the ancient,
classical, and old Christian names. True, her population has undergone
changes which leave but little of the proud old Ionian or Dorian blood;
but her language has been victorious over the barbarous speech of her
conquerors, and Latins and Bulgarians became Greek beneath her
influence.
The inhabitants of her peninsulas and islands are, then, with few
exceptions, called by Greek names. The exceptions are, in the first
place, in favour of the Hebrew names that are in universal use, not only
the never-failing Joannes and Maria, but Isaakos, David, Elias, and
others, for whom the Greek Church has inculcated more constant
veneration than has the Latin. Next there are the few Latin names that
were accepted by the Greeks during the existence of the Byzantine
empire, and either through martyrs or by favourite sovereigns,
recommended themselves to the love of posterity; but these are few in
number, and Konstantinos is the only distinguished one. And, lastly, an
extremely small proportion have been picked up by intercourse with the
Western nations, but without taking root.
The mass of Greek names belongs to the class that I have called ‘Greek
Christian,’ being those that were chiefly current in the years of
persecution and martyrdom—some old hereditary ones from ancient time,
others coined with the stamp of the Faith. These, with others expressive
of favourite ideas, such as Macharios, Blessed, Sophia, Wisdom, Zoe,
Life, were the staple of the Greeks until the modern revival brought
forward the old heroic and historical names; and Achilles, Alkibiades,
Themistokles, &c., are again in familiar use.
In a list of names used at the present day in the Ionian Islands, I find
seventeen men and four women of the old historical and heroic class; the
four ladies being Kalliope, Arethusa, Euphrosyne, and Aspasia; and,
perhaps, Psyche and Olympias ought to be added to these: twenty-three
male and nineteen female of the Christian Greek class: two Hebrew, _i.
e._ Joannes and Jakobos, of men; three of women, Maria, Anna, and
Martha. Paulos and Konstantinos, and perhaps Maura, alone represent the
Latin, and Artorioos the Kelt, probably borrowed from some Englishman.
Surnames are inherited from the Latin nomina, and began earlier in
Constantinople than anywhere else. They are divided between the
patronymic, ending, as of old, in _ides_, the local, and the permanent
nickname.
SECTION II.—_Russia._
The European portion of the vast empire of Russia is nationally
Slavonic, but much mixed with Tatar; and the high nobility is descended,
at least according to tradition, from the Norsemen. The royal line is,
through intermarriages, almost Germanized. The Church continues the
faith, practice, and ritual of the Greek Church, but in the old Slavonic
tongue, from which the spoken language has much deviated.
The Greek element greatly predominates in the nomenclature: native
saints have contributed a few Slavonic specimens, and a very few
inherited from the Norsemen occur; but the race of Rurik seem very
quickly to have adopted Russian names. The Tatar population hardly
contributes a Christian name to history, and the Germans almost always,
on their marriage with the Russian imperial family, assumed native, _i.
e._ Greek or Roman-Greek, names. The present fashions in nomenclature
are, however, best explained in the following letter from an English
lady residing in Russia:—
'Children (and grown-up persons in their own family) are, I may say,
universally called by their diminutives. In society the Christian name
and patronymic are made use of, and you seldom hear a person _addressed_
by his family name, though he may be spoken of in the third person as
“Romanoff,” or “Romanova” (surnames take the gender and number of their
bearers), except by his superiors, such as a general to his young
officers, &c.
'The patronymic is formed by the addition of _vitch_, or _evitch_, to
the Christian name of a person’s father; as Constantine Petrovitch,
Alexander Andréevitch, in the masculine; and of _ovna_, or _evna_, in
the feminine, Olga Petrovna, Elizavetta Andréovna.
'I would call your attention to the error that is generally made in the
newspapers, where these patronymics are spelt with a _W_, whereas they
really are spelt and pronounced with a _V_.
'The diminutives can always be traced to the root, being derived from
the first, or the accented syllable, of the full name, with the
termination of a little fond syllable, _sha_, _ia_, _inka_, _otchka_,
_oushka_; for instance, Mária, Másha, Mashinka—Olga, Olinka, Olitchka:
Ian, John, Vanoushka, Vanka—Alexandre, Alexandra, Sasha, Sashinka. Not
in one diminutive are there such glaring differences of spelling and
sound, as Dick for Richard, Polly for Mary, Patty for Martha.
'Perhaps it is not superfluous to mention, that there are diminutives of
reproach as well as of affection; if you scold Olga, she becomes Olka;
Ivan, Vanka; and so on. This form, however, is seldom made use of by
well-educated people, except in fun; though there are some who do not
hesitate to make free use of it in their kitchens and nurseries, in a
private sort of a manner. Among the lower orders, and especially in the
country, it is not considered reproachful, but is the general form of
appellation. You observe, that this is formed by the addition of _ka_ to
the principal syllable.
'I find, on attentive search in the “_Monument of Faith_,” a sort of
devotional book of prayer and meditations applied to every day of the
year, and with the names and a short-biography of each saint, that there
are 822 men’s names and 204 women’s in the Russian calendar. Of these,
you will be surprised to hear twelve only are really Slavonic.
Unfortunately I am unable to inform you of their meanings,
notwithstanding every inquiry among the few educated inhabitants of this
little out-of-the-way town; but if ever I have an opportunity of seeing
a real “Sclavonophile,” as searchers into Russian antiquities are
called, I will not fail to ask about it. The names are as follows:—
‘1 Boris (_m._), grand duke; murdered in 1015.
‘2 Gleb (_m._), brother to Boris; murdered in 1016.
‘3 Vetcheslav (_m._), Duke Chetsky.
‘4 Vladimir (_m._), grand duke; baptized in 988 (1st Christian grand
duke).
‘5 Vsévolod (_m._), duke; he changed his name to Gabriel when
baptized; died in 1138.
‘6 Igor (_m._), grand duke of Tchernigoff, 1147. (Norse.)
‘7 Razóomnik (_m._); this name is taken from _rázoom_, which means
sense, wisdom, and signifies a wise, sensible person.
‘8 Olga (_f._), grand duchess, god-mother to Vladimir. She was the
first Christian duchess. (Norse.)
‘9 Ludmilla (_f._), god-mother to Vsevold, and martyred in the cause
of Christianity.
‘10 Véra (_f._), means faith.
‘11 Nadéjda (_f._), hope.
‘12 Lubov, charity, love.
‘All the other names are of Greek, Latin, or Hebrew origin (with a very
few exceptions, of which I will speak afterwards), and though they
generally differ in termination, yet they are to be recognized
instantly. I observe that in Greek names _K_ is used, and not the sound
of _S_, as in Kiril, Kiprian (Cyril, Cyprian). Also that _Th_ takes the
sound of _F_, as Féodore, Fomá (Theodore, Thomas). But the _Th_ is
represented by a letter distinct from that by which _Ph_ or _F_ are
represented, the former being written Θ and the latter Ø, but both have
exactly the same sound. _U_ sometimes becomes _V_ when used in the
middle of names, as Evgenia (Eugenia), Evstafi (Eustace). _B_ in many
instances becomes _V_, as in Vasili (Basil), Varvara (Barbara),
Varfolomey (Bartholomew).
‘The names of other origin are very few, viz.:—
'Avenir—Indian;
Arisa—Arabian;
Daria—Persian;
Sadof—Persian;
Erminigeld—Gothic.
‘German names, I may say, are not to be found in the Russo-Greek
calendar.
‘When I say that there are 1026 Christian names in the calendar, I must
explain that the number of saints is infinitely greater; there being
from two or three to twenty or thirty every day of the year, the 29th of
February included. There are sixty-one St. John’s days, thirty St.
Peter’s, twenty-seven St. Féodor’s, twenty-four St. Alexandre’s,
eighteen St. Gregory’s, sixteen St. Vasili’s, twelve St. André’s, ten
St. Constantine’s, &c.
‘Sometimes the same saint is fêted two or three times in the year, but
the different saints of the same name are very many. The female saints
are in less number. Maria and Anna each occur ten times in the year,
Euphrosinia six times, Féodora eight, and so on. In proportion to the
number of saints so are the names of the population; so that Ivan is the
most common; next, I think, comes Vasili, André, Pëtre, Nicolas
(Nikolâï), Alexandre.
‘The lower orders have no idea of dates; they always reckon by the
saints’ days. Ask a woman the age of her baby, she will say, “Well, I
suppose it is about thirty weeks old.” “What is its name?” “Ivan.”
“Which Ivan?” you ask, your calculations being defeated by the sixty-one
St. Johns. “Why, the Ivan that ‘lives’ four days after dirty Prascóvia.”
You then understand that the child must have been born about the 10th or
12th October, as the blessed saint is irreverently called “dirty
Prascóvia” from falling on the 14th October, a very muddy time of the
year in holy Russia.
‘One name only can be given at baptism, and it must be taken from the
orthodox calendar. German, French, and English names not to be found
there cannot be bestowed, nor can a surname, as in England.’
SECTION III.—_Italy._
Italy, like Greece, has her classical inheritance. Her Lucio, Marco,
Tito, Giulio, bear appellations borne by their Oscan or Sabine
forefathers, even before Rome was a city; but mingled with this ancient
stream there have been such an infinite number of other currents, that
no land has undergone more influences, or has a more remarkable variety
of personal names.
In the decay of the Roman Empire, and the growth of the Church, the old
prænomina were a good deal set aside, by the heathen in his search for
heroic-sounding titles, by the Christian in his veneration for the
martyrs and saints of his Church. So the prosaic matter-of-fact
three-storied name of the Roman was varied by importations, generally of
Christian Greek, but now and then of heroic Greek; and as the Christian
element predominated, the Hebrew apostle or prophet suggested the name
of the young Roman. Barbarians, acquiring rights of citizenship, ceased
to adopt the nomen of their patron, retaining appellations that a Scipio
or Cato would have thought only fit to be led in a triumph, but still
putting on a Latin finish and regarding them as Roman. But
these—disgraceful as they are now regarded—were the days that stamped
the Roman impress on the world, and marked the whole South of Europe
with an indelible. print of Latin civilization and language.
Goths, Vandals, Gepidæ, and Lombards came on northern Italy one after
the other; and the Lombards established a permanent kingdom that deeply
influenced the north of the peninsula and Teutonized its nobility. The
towns were less open to their influence; and Venice remained the Roman
and partly Byzantine city she was from her source—using a language where
her _g_ is still the Greek ζ, and christening her children by the names
of later Rome in its Christian days, only with the predominance of the
national saint, Marco, the guardian of the city ever since his bones
were stolen from Alexandria. The recurring _ano_, or _ani_, of Venetian
surnames is the adoptive _anus_ of Rome—republican Rome—whose truest
representative the merchant city was till her shameful degradation and
final ruin.
The Italian element in the population of Cisalpine Gaul continued far
too strong for the Lombardic conquerors, and ere long had taught them
its own language. If they wrote, it was in their best approach to
classical Latin; when they spoke, it was in the dialectic Latin of the
provinces farther broken by the inability of the victors to learn the
case terminations, which were settled by making, in the first
declensions, all the singular masculines end in _o_, and plurals in _i_,
all the feminines in _a_ and _e_; in the others, striking a balance and
calling all _ite_. But though the speech was Latin, the Lombard kept his
old Teutonic name—Adelgiso, Astolfo, or the like, and handed it on to
his son, softened, indeed, but with its northern form clearly traceable.
Time went on, and the Lombardic kingdom was fused into the Holy Roman
Empire. The towns remained self-governing, self-protecting old Roman
municipalities; the Lombardic nobles, if they had a strong mountain
fastness, lived like eagles in their nests and were the terror of all;
if they had but a small home on the plains, were forced to make terms
with the citizens and accept their privileges as a favour. Thus came the
Teuton element into the cities, and old Lombardic names were borne by
Florentine and Milanese citizens. The Roman nomina so far were preserved
that a whole family would be called after its founder, whether by his
name or nickname. The noted man might be originally Giacopo, but called
Lapo for short. His children were, collectively, Lapi; a single one
would be either Bindo Lapo, or, latterly, _dei Lapi_, one of the Lapi.
Sometimes office gave a surname, as Cancelliero, when the family became
Cancellieri. One of these Cancellieri was twice married; and one of the
wives being yclept Bianca, her children were called Bianchi; their
half-brothers Neri, merely as the reverse; and thence arose the two
famous party words of the Guelfs of Florence. Latterly, when these names
in _i_ were recognized as surnames, it was usual to christen a boy by
the singular, and thus we have Pellegrino Pellegrini, Cavaliere
Cavalieri, and many other like instances, familiar to the readers of
Dante and of old Italian history. Dante’s own names—the first contracted
from a Latin participle, the second the direct patronymic from his
father—Alighiero, the Teutonic noble spear, form a fit instance of the
mixed tongue, which he first reduced to the dignity of a written
language. Those were its days of vigour and originality; of fresh
name-coining from its own resources,—Gemma, Fiamma, Brancaleone,
Vinciguerra, Cacciaguido—words not merely of commonplace tradition, but
original invention.
Meantime southern Italy had been under other influences. Long remaining
a province of the Eastern empire, Calabria, Apulia, and Sicily were the
marauding ground of the Saracens, till the gallant Norman race of
Hauteville came to their deliverance, and imposed on them a
Norman-French royalty and nobility, with their strange compound of
French and Northern names—Robert and Roger, Tancred and William,
Ferabras and Drogo, the latter certainly Frank, as it belonged to an
illegitimate son of Charlemagne. It was brought to England by Dru de
Baladon, a follower of the Conqueror; and we find it again in Sir Drew
Drury, the keeper of Mary of Scotland. It may be related to the
Anglo-Saxon _dry_, a sorcerer, and _dreist_, the German skilful, but its
derivation is uncertain.
When the Norman influence waned, the Swabian power gave a few German
names to the Two Sicilies, but was less influential than either the
French in Naples or the Aragonese in Sicily, where the one strewed
Carlo, the other Fernando and Alfonso.
All this time the Christian name was the prominent one, more used and
esteemed than titles throughout all ranks. Men and women would be simply
spoken of as Giovanni or Beatrice, or more often, by contractions, Vanni
or Bice, Massuccio, or Cecca, now and then with Ser or Monna (signor or
madonna) added as titles of respect.
All the time, what may be called the Roman Catholic influence on
nomenclature was growing in its great centre. The city of martyrs was
filled with churches where the remains of the saint gave the title, and
was thought to give the sanctity, and these suggested names to natives
and pilgrims alike. Cecilia, Sebastiano, Lucia, &c., and more than can
be enumerated, won their popularity from owning a church that served as
a station in the pilgrimages, and thus influenced the world. Relics
brought to Rome, and then bestowed as a gift upon princes, carried their
saints' epithets far and wide; and when Constantinople was in her decay,
and purchased the aid of Western sovereigns by gifts of her sacred
stores, the Greek and Eastern saints had their names widely diffused, as
Anna, Adriano, &c. Moreover, the feasts of different events in the life
of the Blessed Virgin Mary began to tell on Italian names, and
Annunciata, and later, Assunta, were the produce.
Francesco is the most universal name of native Italian fabrication. It
is one of what may be called the names spread by religious orders, all
of which originate in Italy; Benedetto, oldest of all and universal in
Romanist lands; Augustino, never very popular; Domenico, not uncommon in
Italy, but most used in gloomy Spain; Francesco and Clara, both really
universal in Protestant as well as Roman Catholic lands.
The revival of classical literature, produced partly by the influx of
Greek scholars after the fall of Constantinople, partly by the vigour of
Boccaccio and Petrarch, brought a classical influence to bear on Italy,
of which her names are more redolent than those elsewhere. Emilia,
Virgilio, Olimpia, Ercole, Fabrizio, all arose and flourished in Italy,
and have never since been dropped, though the Romanist influence has
gone on growing, and others have affected parts of the country.
Romance had some influence—Orlando, Oliviero, Rinaldo, Ruggiero—and the
more remote Lancilotto, Ginevra, Isolda, Tristano, all became popular
through literature; and the great manufacture of Italian novels, no
doubt, tended to keep others in vogue.
The French and German wars in Italy, the erection of the Lombardic
republics into little tyrannical duchies, and the Spanish conquest of
Naples, all tended to destroy much of the individuality of Italian
nomenclature, and reduce that of the historical characters to the
general European level. And this tendency has increased rather than
diminished, as Spain devoured the North, and ‘balance of power’
struggled for Austrian interests, and established Bourbon kingdoms and
duchies. The old national names were not utterly discarded; there was
still a Lombardic flavour in the North, a classical one in the old
cities, a Norman one in Sicily; but the favourite commonplace names
predominated in the noblesse, and titles began to conceal them.
Moreover, the women were all Maria, and many of the men likewise; and
the same rule at present holds good, though of late the favourites have
become Filomena and Concetta—in honour, the one of the new saint, the
other of the new dogma of Rome.
The House of Savoy, which is just now the hope of Italy, always had its
own peculiar class of names—Humbert, Amé, Filiberto, Emanuele, Vittore,
and these are likely to become the most popular in liberal Italy.
SECTION IV.—_Spain._
Spain has many peculiarities of her own, to which I would fain do
greater justice than is in my power. Celtiberian at first, she seems to
have become entirely Latin, except in those perplexing Basque provinces,
where the language remains a riddle to philologists. One Spanish name is
claimed by Zamacola as Basque, _i. e._ Muño, with its feminine Muña, or
Munila; and for want of a more satisfactory history, one is inclined to
suppose that Gaston, or Gastone, must be likewise Basque. It first comes
to light as Gascon among the counts of Foix and Béarn, from whom the son
of Henri IV. derived it, and made it French.
Rome Latinized the Spanish speech for ever, and left many an old Latin
name, which, however, went on chiefly among the lower orders, while the
Suevi and the Goths ruled as nobles and kings, bringing with them their
Teutonic names, to be softened down to the dignified Romance tongue,
which took the Latin accusative for its stately plurals in _os_ and
_es_. It is likely that the Latin element was working upwards at the
time of the Mahometan conquest, since the traitor Julian, his daughter
Florinda, the first patriot king, Pelayo, all have classically derived
names; and some of these occur in the early royal pedigrees of the
Asturias and Navarre, and the lords of Biscay, as these small mountain
territories proclaimed their freedom and Christianity. Here we find
Sancho (Sanctus), Eneco (Ignatius), Lope, Manse, Fortunio, Adoncia,
Teresa, Felicia, all undoubtedly Latin and Greek; and curiously, too,
here are the first instances of double Christian names, probably the
remnant of the Latin style. Eneco Aristo, Inigo Sancho, Garcias Sancho,
and the like, are frequent before the year 1000; and the Cid’s enemy,
Lain Calvo, is supposed to be Flavius Calvus. The Goths, however, left a
far stronger impression on the nomenclature than on the language.
Alfonso, Fernando, Rodrigo, Berengario, Fruela, Ramiro, Ermesinda, are
undoubtedly theirs; but other very early names continue extremely
doubtful, such as Ximen and Ximena, Urraca, Elvira, or Gelvira, Alvaro,
Bermudo, Ordoño, Velasquita, all appearing in the earliest days of the
little Christian kingdoms, though not in the palmy times of the Gothic
monarchy. These names have been already mentioned, with the derivations
to which they may possibly belong; but they are far from being
satisfactorily accounted for. The simple patronymic _ez_ was in constant
use, and formed many surnames.
As the five kingdoms expanded and came into greater intercourse with
Europe, the more remarkable names gradually were discarded; but Alfonso,
Fernando, Rodrigo, Alvar, Gonzalo, were still national, and the two
first constantly royal, till the House of Trastamare brought Enrique and
Juan into fashion in Castille. The favourite saint was James the Great,
or, more truly, Santiago de Compostella, in honour of whom Diego and his
son Diaz are to be found in very early times. Maria, too, seems to have
been in use in Spain sooner than elsewhere, and Pedro was in high favour
in the fourteenth century, as it has continued ever since.
Aragon and Portugal had variations from the Castillian standard of
language; and Portugal now claims to have a distinct tongue, chiefly
distinguished by the absence of the Moorish guttural; and in
nomenclature, by the close adherence to classic spelling, and by the
terminations which would in Spanish be in _on_, or _un_, being in _aŏ_,
the contraction of _nho_. Aragonese has been absorbed in Castillian, and
Catalan is only considered as a dialect.
After Aragon and Castille had become united, and, crushing the Moors and
devouring Navarre, were a grand European power, their sovereigns lost
all their nationality. French, or rather Flemish, Charles, and Greek
Philip, translated as Carlo and Felipe, reigned on their throne as the
House of Austria, while the native Fernando went off to be the German
Ferdinand. Isabel, the Spanish version of either Jezebel, or Elizabeth,
did retain her popularity, but hardly in equal measure with the
universal Maria; and as the Inquisition Romanized the national mind more
and more, the attribute names of Mercedes and Dolores, and even the
idolatrous Pilar, and Guadalupe, from a famous shrine, were invented.
These were given in conjunction with Maria, and used for convenience'
sake. Literary names seem to have been few or none, and the saint, or
rather the Romanist, nomenclature, was more unmitigated in Spain and her
great western colonies than anywhere else; even in Italy, where the
classics and romance always exerted their power. In the Spanish
colonies, even divine names are used, without an idea of profanity.
The use of the Christian name in speech has, however, never been
dropped, even under the French influence of the Bourbon monarchy; and
Don Martin, Doña Luisa, &c., would still be the proper title of every
Spanish gentleman or lady.
The Spanish names that have spread most extensively have been Fernando
in Germany, Iñigo and Teresa throughout all Roman Catholic countries,
for the sake of the two Spanish saints who revived their old
half-forgotten sound.
SECTION V.—_France._
France, the most influential of European countries for evil or for good,
can hardly be properly spoken of as _one_, in nation or language. Yet
that one dialect of hers that has contrived to be the most universal
tongue of Europe, that character, which by its vivacity and earnestness,
and, perhaps, above all, by its hard, rigid consistency, has impressed
its ideas on all other nations, and too often dragged them in its wake,
though both only belonging to a fraction of the population, are still,
in general estimation, _the_ French, and their importance undeniable.
Dislike, despise, struggle as we will, we are still influenced, through
imitation and vanity, and the deference of the weaker majority, in
matters of conventional taste.
Old Gaul had its brave Keltic inhabitants, and its race in Brittany,
unsubdued by even Rome, were only united to the rest of the country by
the marriage of their heiress, only subdued by gradual legalized
tampering with their privileges. Even in the Keltic province, however,
genuine Keltic names are nearly gone; though Hervé, Guennolé, Yvain,
Arzur, are still found in their catalogues; and in France, Généviève, by
her protection of Paris, left her ancient name for perpetual honour and
imitation.
The Roman overflow came early and lasted long; it left a language and
manners strongly impressed, and the names seem to have been according to
Latin forms and rules. Dionysius, Pothinus, Martinus, Hilarius, are all
found among the Gauls in the end of the Roman sway; and when the Franks
had burst over the country and held the north of the Loire, whenever a
Gaul comes to the surface, he is called by a Roman name—Gregorius,
Sidonius Apollinaris, Germanus, Eligius.
Southern Gaul was, indeed, never Frank. The cities were Roman
municipalities, shut their gates, and took what care of themselves they
could; while the Hlodvehs and Meervehs, the Hilperics, and Hildeberts
ravaged over the stony country, which still called itself Provincia. And
there, though Burgundians on the east, and Goths from the Pyrenees,
gradually contrived to erect little dukedoms and counties, and hold them
under the empire established by Charlemagne, the country was still
peopled by the Romanized Gaul, and the _Langue d’oc_ was spoken and
sung. This was the centre of the softened classic names, Yolande and
Constance, Alienor and Delphine, while the legends of St. Marthe and of
the Martyrs of Lyons supplied provincial saints. The rich literature,
chiefly of amatory songs, died away, and the current remains of the
language are now unwritten, falling further and further into patois, and
varying more from one another. One of its curious peculiarities is to
make _o_ a feminine termination; Dido is there short for Marguerite,
Zino for Theresine, &c.
A great number of French surnames are still Roman, such as Chauvin
(Calvinus), Godon (Claudius), Marat, Salvin, and many more, showing that
Latin nomenclature must long have been prevalent among the mass of the
people, though as history is only concerned with the court, we hear
chiefly of the Franks around the unsteady thrones of Neustria and
Austrasia. The High German of these kingdoms, as used by the Meerwings,
was extremely harsh; Hlodveh and Hlodhild, Hlother and Hlodvald, were
their rough legacies; but, despised as was the name and cheap the blood
of the Roman among them, his civilization was conquering his victors;
and when the Karlings, with their middle class cultivation, subdued the
effete line of Meerveh, they spoke Latin as freely as Frankish, and the
names they bore had softened; Ludovicus and Lotharius, Carolus and Emma
in Latin, or in German, Ludwe and Lothar, Karl and Emme. And now, among
the many saints that were fostered by the religious government and
missionary spirit of Frankland, arose the founders of the chief stock
names of Europe—Robert, Richard, Henry, Williaume, Walther, Bernard,
Bertram, Eberhard, and the like.
When, in the next generation, Germany, Lorraine, and France fell apart,
the latter country was beginning to speak the _Langue d’oui_, retaining
the Latin spelling, but disregarding it in speech, as though the scholar
had written correctly, but the speaker had disregarded the declension,
and dropped the case endings alike of Latin and Teutonic. And so Karl
was Charles, and Lodwe Louis, long before the counts of Paris, with
their assimilation of the Cymric Hu to the Teuton Hugur, had thrust the
Karlings down into Lorraine, and commenced the true French dynasty in
their small territory between the Seine and Loire.
Already had the Northmen settled themselves in Neustria, and, taking the
broken Frank names and mangled Latin speech for badges of civilization
and Christianity, had made them their own, and infused such vigour into
the French people, that from that moment their national character and
literature begin to develop.
Then it was that France exercised a genuine and honourable leadership of
Europe. Her language being the briefest form of Latin, was, perhaps, the
most readily understood of the broken Romance dialects; and though Rome
had the headship of the Church, and Germany the nominal empire of the
West, France had the moral chieftainship.
The Pope did but sanction the Crusades; it was France that planned them.
Frenchmen were the connecting link between the Lorrainer Godfrey, the
Norman Robert, the Sicilian Tancred, the Provençal Raymond, the Flemish
Baldwin. The kingdom of Jerusalem, though founded by the Lorrainer, was
essentially French; the religious orders of knighthood were chiefly
French; the whole idea and language of chivalry were French; and perhaps
rightly, for France has at times shown that rare and noble spirit that
can exalt a man for his personal qualities, instead of his rank, even in
his own lifetime. The nation that could appreciate its St. Bernard, its
Du Guesclin, its Bayard, deserved, while that temper was in it, to be a
leader of the civilized world.
England was in these earlier days regarded as a foreign and
semi-barbarous realm held by a French duke or count, while southern
France was divided into independent fiefs of the empire. The names began
to be affected by reverence for saints, and fast included more and more
of the specially popular patrons, such as Jean, Jaques, Simon, Philippe.
They became common to all the lands that felt the central crusading
impulse, and the daughters of French princes, Alix, Matilde, the
Provençal Constance, Alienor, Isabel, Marguérite, were married into all
parts of Europe, and introduced their names into their new countries,
often backed up by legends of their patrons.
Normandy lapsed to France through King John’s crime and weakness, and
the persecution of the Albigenses, and the narrower views of the popes,
changed the Crusades to a mere conquest of the _Langue d’oc_ by the
_Langue d’oui_, completed by the marriages of the brothers of St. Louis;
and though Provence continued a fief of the empire, and the property of
the Angevin kings of Naples, yet their French royal blood united it more
closely to the central kingdom, and the transplanting of the papal court
to Avignon, gave a French tinge to the cardinalate which it only
recovered from at the expense of the Great Schism.
Philippe le Bel was the last able sovereign of France of the vigorous
early middle ages; but the brilliant character of the nobility still
carried men’s minds captive, and influenced the English even through the
century of deadly wars that followed the accession of the House of
Valois, and ended by leaving Louis XI. king of the entire French soil.
The ensuing century was that when the influence of France on other
nations was at the lowest ebb. Exhausting herself first by attacks on
Italy, and then by her savage civil wars, she required all the ability
of Henri IV. and of Richelieu to rouse her from her depression, and make
her be respected among the nations. Meantime, her nomenclature had
varied little from the original set of names in use in the tenth
century; dropping a few obsolete ones, taking up a few saintly ones,
recommended by fresh relics, and occasionally choosing a romantic one,
but very scantily; François was her only notable adoption. The habit of
making feminines to male names seems to have spread in France about the
eighteenth century, rather narrowing than widening the choice. Jeanne
seems to have been the first to undergo this treatment; Philippine was
not long after, then Jacqueline, and, indeed, it may have been the
habit—as it is still among the peasantry of the South—always to give the
father’s name to the eldest child, putting a feminine to it for a girl.
With the cinque-cento came a few names of literature, of which Diane was
the most permanent; and the Huguenots made extensive use of Scripture
names—Isaac, Gédéon, Benjamin, and many more; but the Christian name was
quickly falling out of fashion. People were, of course, christened, but
it is often difficult to discover their names. The old habit of
addressing the knight as Sire Jehan, or Sire Pierre, and speaking of him
as _le Beau Sieur_, had been entirely dropped. Even his surname was
often out of sight, and he was called after some estate—as le Sieur
Pierre Terrail was to the whole world Chevalier Bayard. Nay, even in the
signature, the Christian name was omitted, unless from some very urgent
need of distinction. Henri de Lorraine, eldest son of the duke of Guise,
signs himself Le Guisard in a letter to the Dauphin Henri, son of
François I. Married ladies wrote themselves by their maiden joined to
their married title, and scarcely were even little children in the
higher orders called by one of the many names that it had become the
custom to bestow on them, in hopes of conciliating as many saints and as
many sponsors as possible,—sometimes a whole city, as when the
Fronde-born son of Madame de Longueville had all Paris for his
godmother, and was baptized Charles Paris.
Now and then, however, literature, chiefly that of the ponderous
romances of the Scudéry school, influenced a name, as Athenaïs or
Sylvie; but, in general, these magnificent appellations were more used
as sobriquets under which to draw up characters of acquaintances than
really given to children. Esther is, however, said to have been much
promoted by the tragedy of Racine.
The Bourbons, with their many faults, have had two true kings of men
among them—Henri IV. and Louis XIV.—men with greatness enough to stamp
the Bourbon defects where their greatness left no likeness.
There is something very significant in the fact, that these were the
days when it was fashionable to forget the simple baptismal name. There
was little distinction in it, if it had been remembered; Louis or Marie
always formed part of it, with half-a-dozen others besides. As to the
populace, nobody knows anything of them under Louis XIV.: they were
ground down to nothing.
The lower depth, under Louis XV., brought a reaction of simplicity; but
it was the simplicity of casting off all trammels—the classicalism of
the Encyclopædists. Christian names are mentioned again, and were chosen
much for literary association. Emile and Julie, for the sake of
Rousseau; and, from Roman history, Jules and Camille, and many another,
clipped down to that shortened form by which France always appropriated
the words of other nations, and often taught us the same practice.
The Revolution stripped every one down to their genuine two names, and
woe to the owners of those which bore an aristocratic sound, or even
meaning. Thenceforth French nomenclature, among the educated classes and
those whom they influence, has been pretty much a matter of taste.
Devotion, where it exists, is satisfied by the insertion of Marie, and
anything that happens to be in vogue is added to it. Josephine
flourished much in the first Bonaparté days; but Napoléon was too
imperial, too peculiar, to be given without special warrant from its
owner; nor are politically-given names numerous: there are more taken
from popular novels or dramas, or merely from their sound. Zephyrine,
Coralie, Zaidée, Zénobie, Malvine, Séraphine, prevail not only among the
ladies, but among the maid-servants of Paris; and men have, latterly,
been fancifully named by appellations brought in from other countries,
never native to France—Gustave, Alfred, Ernest, Oswald, &c. Moreover,
the tendency to denude words of their final syllable is being given up.
The names in _us_ and in _a_ are let alone, in spelling, at least; and
some of our feminine English contractions, such as Fanny, have been
absolutely admitted.
All this, however, very little affects the peasantry, or the provinces.
Patron saints and hereditary family names, contracted to the utmost, are
still used there; and a rich harvest might be gathered by comparison of
the forms in Keltic, Latin, Gascon, or German, in France.
SECTION VI.—_Great Britain._
The waning space demands brevity; otherwise, the appellations of our own
countrymen and women are a study in themselves; but they must here be
treated of in general terms, rather than in detail.
The Keltic inhabitants of the two islands bore names that their
descendants have, in many instances, never ceased to bear and to
cherish. The Gael of Ireland and Scotland have always had their Niel and
Brighd, their Fergus and Angus; Aodh, Ardh, and Bryan, Eachan, Conan,
the most ancient of all traditional names, continuing without interval
on the same soil, excepting a few of the more favoured Greek and old
Italian.
The Cymry, in their western mountains, have a few equally permanent.
Caradoc, Bronwen, Arianwen, Llud, and the many forms of Gwen, are
extremely ancient, and have never dropped into disuse. In both branches
of the race there was a large mass of poetical and heroic myth to endear
these appellations to the people; and it is one of the peculiar features
of our islands to be more susceptible than any other nation to these
influences on nomenclature. Is it from the under-current of the
imaginative Kelt that this tendency has been derived?
Rome held England for four hundred years; and though Welsh survived her
grasp and retained its Keltic character, instead of becoming a Romance
tongue, it was considerably imbued with Latin phraseology; and the
assumption of Latin names by the British princes, with the assimilation
of their own, has left a peculiar class of Welsh classic names not to be
paralleled elsewhere, except, perhaps, in Wallachia. Cystenian, Elin,
Emrys, Iolo, Aneurin, Ermin, Gruffydd, Kay, are of these; and there are
many more, such as March, Tristrem, Einiawn, Geraint, which lie in doubt
between the classic and the Cymric, and are, probably, originally the
latter, but assimilated to those of their Latin models and masters. It
was these Romanized Kelts who supplied the few martyrs and many saints
of Britain; whose Albanus, Aaron, and Julius left their foreign names to
British love, and whose Patricius founded the glorious missionary Church
of Ireland, and made his name the national one. His pupils, Brighde and
Columba, made theirs almost equally venerated, though none of these
saintly titles were, at first, adopted in the Gadhaelic Churches without
the reverent prefix _Gille_, or _Mael_, which are compounded with all
the favourite saintly names of the Keltic calendar.
Again, the semi-Roman Kelts were the origin of the Knights of the Round
Table. Arthur’s own name, though thorough Keltic, is claimed by Greek.
Lancelot is probably a French version of the Latin translation of
Maelgwn; and the traces of Latin are here and there visible in the
nomenclature of the brave men who, no doubt, aimed rather at being Roman
citizens than mediæval knights.
The great Low German influx made our island English, and brought our
veritable national names. An immense variety existed among the
Anglo-Saxons, consisting of different combinations, generally with some
favourite prefix, in each family—_Sige_, _Æthel_, _Ead_, _Hilde_,
_Cuth_, _Ælf_, and the terminations, generally, _beorht_, _red_, _volf_,
_veald_, _frith_, or, for women, _thrythe_, _hilde_, _gifu_, or _burh_.
The like were in use in the Low German settlements on the Continent,
especially in Holland and Friesland.
Christianity, slowly spreading through the agency of the Roman Church on
the one hand and the Keltic on the other, did not set aside the old
names. It set its seal of sanctity on a few which have become our
genuine national and native ones. Eadward, Eadmund, Eadwine, Wilfrith,
Æadgifu, Æthelthryth, Mildthryth, Osveald, and Osmund, have been the
most enduring of these; and Æthelbyrht we sent out to Germany, to come
back to us as Albert.
The remains of the Danish invasions are traceable rather in surnames
than Christian names. The permanent ones left by them were chiefly in
insular Scotland and Ireland. Torquil, Somerled, Ivor, Ronald, Halbert,
are Scottish relics of the invaders; and in Ireland, Amlaidh, Redmond,
Ulick.
But it was the Normans, Norsemen in a French dress, that brought us the
French rather than Frank names that are most common with us. Among the
thirty kings who have reigned since the Conquest, there have been ten
Christian names, and of these but two are Saxon English, three are
Norman Frank, two French Hebrew, one French Greek, one French, one
Anglicized German Greek. Strictly speaking, Richard is Saxon, and began
with a native English saint; but it was its adoption by Normans that
made it popular after the Conquest; and it came in company with William,
Henry, Robert, Walter, Gilbert, all in perpetual use ever since.
Alberic, Bertram, Baldwin, Randolf, Roger, Herbert, Hubert, Reginald,
Hugh, Norman, Nigel, and many others less universally kept up, came at
the same time; and Adelheid and Mathilda were imported by the ladies;
but, in general, there were more men’s names than women’s then planted,
probably on account of William’s policy of marrying Normans to English
women.
Scripture names were very few. There are only two Johns in Domesday
Book, and one is a Dane; but the saints were beginning to be somewhat
followed; Eustace was predominant; Cecily, Lucy, Agnes, Constance, were
already in use; and in the migration, Brittany contributed Tiffany, in
honour of the Epiphany. At the same time she sent us her native Alan,
Brian, and Aveline; and vernacular French gave Aimée and afterwards
Algernon.
It was a time of contractions. Between English and French, names were
oddly twisted; Alberic into Aubrey, Randolf into Ralph, Ethelthryth into
Awdry, Eadgifu into Edith, Mathilda into Maude, Adelheid into Alice.
Saint and Scripture names seem to have been promoted by the crusading
impulse, but proceeded slowly. The Angevins brought us the French
Geoffrey and Fulk, and their Provençal marriages bestowed on us the
Provençal version of Helena—Eleanor, as we have learnt to call their
Alienor, in addition to the old Cymric form Elayne. Thence, too, came
Isabel, together with Blanche, Beatrice, and other soft names current in
poetical Provence. Jehan, as it was called when Lackland bore it, and
its feminine Jehanne, seem to have been likewise introductions of our
Aquitanian queen.
The Lowland Scots had been much influenced by the Anglo-Saxons, whose
tongue prevailed throughout the Lothians; and after the fall of Macbeth,
and the marriage of Malcolm Ceanmore, English names were much adopted in
Scotland. Cuthbert has been the most lasting of the old Northumbrian
class. The good Queen Margaret, and her sister Christian, owed their
Greek names, without a doubt, to their foreign birth and Hungarian
mother, and these, with Alexander, Euphemia, and George, forthwith took
root in Scotland, and became national. Probably Margaret likewise
brought the habit, then more eastern than western, of using saintly
names, for her son was David; and from this time seems to have begun the
fashion of using an equivalent for the Keltic name. David itself,
beloved for the sake of the good king, is the equivalent of Dathi, a
name borne by an Irish king before the Scottish migration. David I.,
nearly related to the Empress Maude, and owning the earldom of
Northumbria in right of his wife, was almost an English baron; and the
intercourse with England during his reign and those of his five
successors, made the Lowland nobles almost one with the Northumbrian
barons, and carried sundry Norman names across the border, where they
became more at home than even in England; such as Alan, Walter, Norman,
Nigel, and Robert.
Henry II. was taking advantage of the earl of Pembroke’s expedition to
Ireland, and the English Pale was established, bringing with it to Erin
the favourite Norman names, to be worn by the newly-implanted nobles,
and Iricized gradually with their owners. Cicely became Sheelah;
Margaret, Mairgreg; Edward, Eudbaird; and, on the other hand, the Irish
dressed themselves for civilization by taking English names. Finghin
turned to Florence, and Ruadh to Roderick, &c.
Henry III. had been made something like an Englishman by his father’s
loss of Normandy; and in his veneration for English saints, he called
his sons after the two royal saints most beloved in England, Edward and
Edmund; and the death of the elder children of Edward I. having brought
the latter a second time to the throne, it was thenceforth in honour.
Thomas owed its popularity to Becket, who was so christened from his
birth on the feast of the Apostle, St. Thomas, and, in effect, saintly
names were becoming more and more the fashion. Mary was beginning to be
esteemed as the most honourable one a woman could bear; and legends in
quaint metrical English rendered Agnes, Barbara, Katharine, Margaret,
and Cecily well known and in constant use.
The romances of chivalry began to have their influence. Lionel and
Roland, Tristram, Ysolda, Lancelot, and Guenever, were all the produce
of the revival of the tales of Arthur’s court, arrayed in their feudal
and chivalrous dress, and other romances contributed a few. Diggory is a
highly romantic name, derived from an old metrical tale of a knight,
properly called D'Egaré, the wanderer, or the almost lost, one of the
many versions of the story of the father and unknown son. Esclairmonde
came out of _Huon de Bourdeaux_; Lillias, such a favourite in Scotland,
came out of the tale of Sir Eger, Sir Graham, and Sir Graysteel; Lillian
out of the story of Roswal and Lillian; and Grizel began to flourish
from the time Chaucer made her patience known.
The Scots, by their alliance with France, were led to import French
terminations, such as the diminutives Janet and Annot; also the foreign
Cosmo, and perhaps likewise Esmé.
Meantime we obtained fresh importations from abroad. Anne came with the
Queen of Richard II.; Elizabeth from the German connections of Elizabeth
Woodville’s mother, Jaquetta of Luxemburg; Gertrude was taken from
Germany; Francis and Frances caught from France; and Arthur was revived
for his eldest son by the first Tudor; Jane instead of Joan began, too,
in the Tudor times.
But when the Reformation came, the whole system of nomenclature received
a sudden shock. Patron saints were thrown to the winds; and though many
families adhered to the hereditary habits, others took entirely new
fashions. Then, Camden says, began the fashion of giving surnames as
Christian names; as with Guildford Dudley, Egremont Ratcliffe, Douglas
Sheffield; and in Ireland, Sidney, as a girl’s name, in honour of the
lord deputy, Sir Henry, the father of Sir Philip, from whom, on the
other hand, Sydney became a common English boy’s name.
Then, likewise, the classical taste came forth, and bestowed all manner
of fanciful varieties; Homer, Virgil, Horatius, Lalage, Cassandra,
Diana, Virginia, Julius, &c., &c., all are found from this time forward;
and here and there, owing to some ancestor of high worth, specimens have
been handed on in families.
The more pious betook themselves to abstract qualities; Faith, Hope,
Charity, Prudence and Patience, Modesty, Love, Gift, Temperance, Mercy,
all of which, even to the present day, sometimes are used, but chiefly
by the peasantry, or in old Nonconformist families.
Between the dates 1500 and 1600 began the full employment of Scripture
names, chosen often by opening the Bible at haphazard, and taking the
first name that presented itself, sometimes, however, by juster
admiration of the character. Thus began our use of Abraham and Sarah,
Isaac and Rebecca, Rachel, Joseph, Benjamin, Josiah, Gershom, Gamaliel,
&c.; and others more quaint and peculiar. The Puritan clergy absolutely
objected to giving unedifying names. A minister was cited before
Archbishop Whitgift for refusing to christen a child Richard. The Bible
was ransacked for uncommon names only found in the genealogies, and
parish registers show the strangest varieties, such as Hope still, Dust
and Ashes, Thankful, Repent, Accepted, Hold-the-Truth, &c. These were
chiefly given at the baptisms in the latter days of Elizabeth and the
reign of James I. They were the real, not assumed, names of the
Ironsides, but they were not perpetuated. A man called Fight-against-Sin
would have too much pity for his son to transmit such a name to him.
Original is, however, a family name still handed on in Lincolnshire.
Probably it was at first Original Sin. The most curious varieties of
names were certainly used in the 17th century. The register of the
scholars admitted to Merchant Taylors' school between 1562 and 1699
shows Isebrand, Jasper, Jermyn, Polydore, Cæsar, Olyffe, Erasmus, Esme,
Ursein, Innocent, Praise, Polycarpe, Tryamour, and a Sacheverell,
Filgate, admitted in 1673.
Comparatively few of these Puritan names were used in Scotland; but
several were for sound’s sake adopted in Ireland as equivalents;
Jeremiah for Diarmaid; Timothy for Tadhgh; Grace for Graine.
Charles was first made popular through loyalty to King Charles I., who
had received it in the vain hope that it would be more fortunate than
the hereditary James, itself brought into Scotland seven generations
back by a vow of Annaple Drummond, mother of the first unfortunate
James. English registers very scantily show either Charles or James
before the Stuart days, but they have ever since been extremely popular.
Henrietta, brought by the French queen, speedily became popular, and
with Frances, Lucy, Mary, Anne, Catherine, and Elizabeth, seem to have
been predominant among the ladies; but all were contracted, as Harriet,
Fanny, Molly, Nanny, Kitty, Betty. The French suppression of the
Christian name considerably affected the taste of the Restoration;
noblemen dropped it out of their signature; the knight’s wife discarded
it with the prefix Dame; married daughters and sisters were mentioned by
the surname only; young spinsters foolishly adopted Miss with the
surname instead of Mistress with the Christian; but the loss was not so
universal as in France, for custom still retained the old titles of
knights and of the daughters and younger sons of the higher ranks of the
nobility. The usual fashion was, in imitation of the French, for ladies
to call themselves and be addressed in poetry by some of the Arcadian or
romantic terms, a few of which have crept into nomenclature; Amanda,
Ophelia, Aspasia, Cordelia, Phyllis, Chloe, Sylvia, and the like.
The love of a finish in _a_ was coming in with Queen Anne’s Augustan
age. The soft _e_, affectionate _ie_ or _y_, that had been natural to
our tongues ever since they had been smoothed by Norman-French, was
twisted up into an Italian _ia_: Alice must needs be Alicia; Lettice,
Letitia; Cecily, Cecilia; Olive, Olivia; Lucy, Lucinda; and no heroine
could be deemed worthy of figuring in narrative without a flourish at
the end of her name. Good Queen Anne herself had an _a_ tacked on to
make her ‘Great Anna’; Queen Bess must needs be Great Eliza; and Mary
was erected into Maria; Nassau had lately been invented for William
III.’s godchildren of both sexes; and Anne, after French precedent, made
masculine for his successor’s godsons. Belinda, originally the property
of the wife of Orlando, was chosen by Pope for his heroine of _Rape of
the Lock_; Clarissa was fabricated out of the Italian Clarice by
Richardson; and Pamela was adopted by him out of Sir Philip Sidney’s
_Arcadia_, as a recommendation to the maid-servant whom he made his
heroine; and these, as names of literature, all took a certain hold.
Pamela is still not uncommon among the lower classes.
In the mean time the House of Brunswick had brought in the regnant names
of German taste—George, of which, thanks to our national patron, we had
already made an English word, Frederick, Ernest, Adolphus—a horrible
English Latinism of good old German, Augustus, an adoption of German
classic taste; and, among the ladies, generally clumsy feminines of
essentially masculine names—Caroline, Charlotte, Wilhelmina, Frederica,
Louisa, together with the less incorrectly formed Augusta, Sophia, and
Amelia.
This ornamental taste flourished, among the higher classes, up to the
second decade of the nineteenth century, when the affectations, of which
it was one sample, were on the decline, under the growing influence of
the chivalrous school of Scott, and of the simplicity upheld by
Wordsworth. The fine names began to grow vulgar, and people either
betook themselves to the hereditary ones of their families, or picked
and chose from the literature then in fashion.
Two names, for the sake of our heroes by sea and land, came into
prominence—Horatio and Arthur, the latter transcending the former in
popularity in proportion to the longer career and more varied
excellences of its owner. Womankind had come back to their Ellen, Mary,
and Lucy; and it was not till the archaic influence had gone on much
longer that the present crop sprang up, of Alice and Edith, Gertrude,
Florence, and Constance, copied again and again, in fact and in fiction,
and with them the Herbert and Reginald, Wilfrid and Maurice, formerly
only kept up in a few old families. It is an improvement, but in most
cases at the expense of nothing but imitation, the sound and the fashion
being the only guides. After all, nomenclature cannot be otherwise than
imitative, but the results are most curious and interesting, when it is
either the continuation of old hereditary names, like the Algernon of
the Howards or the Aubrey of the de Veres, or else the record of some
deeply felt event, like the Giustina of Venice, in honour of the battle
of Lepanto, or our own Arthur, in memory of the deeds of our great duke.
Names are often an index to family habits and temper. Unpretending
households go on for generations with the same set, sometimes adopting
one brought in by marriage, but soon dropping it out if it is too fine.
Romantic people reflect the impressions of popular literature in their
children’s names; enthusiastic ones mark popular incidents,—Navarino,
Maida, Alma, have all been inflicted in honour of battles. Another class
always have an assortment of the fashionable type—Augusta, Amelia, and
Matilda, of old; Edith and Kate at present.
Nonconformity leaves its mark in its virtue names and its Scripture
names, the latter sometimes of the wildest kind. Talithacumi was the
daughter of a Baptist. A clergyman has been desired to christen a boy
‘Alas,’ the parents supposing that ‘Alas! my brother,’ was a call on the
name of the disobedient prophet. There is a floating tradition of ‘Acts’
being chosen for a fifth son, whose elder brothers had been called after
the four Evangelists; and even of Beelzebub being uttered by a godfather
at the font.
Among other such names may be mentioned ‘Elibris,’ which some people
persisted belonged to their family, for it was in their grandfather’s
books: and so it was, being _e libris_ (from the books), the old Latin
manner of commencing an inscription in a book. Sarsaparilla was called
from a scrap of newspaper. ‘Valuable and serviceable’ is also said to
have been intended for a child, on the authority of an engraving in an
old watch; and an unfortunate pair of twins were presented for the
imposition of Jupiter and Orion, because their parents thought them
pretty names, and ‘had heard on them.’
Double names came gradually in from the Stuart days, but only grew
really frequent in the present century; and the habit of calling girls
by both, now so common among the lower classes in towns, is very recent.
With many families it is a convenient custom to christen the sons by the
mother’s maiden name in addition to their first individual name; but the
whole conversion of surnames into Christian names is exclusively
English, and is impossible on the Continent, as state and church both
refuse to register what is not recognized as in use. Of English surnames
we need say nothing; they have been fully treated of in other works, and
as any one may be used in baptism, at any time, the mention of them
would be endless.
In speaking of England we include not only our colonies but America.
There our habits are exaggerated. There is much less of the hereditary;
much more of the Puritan and literary vein. Scripture names, here
conspicuous, such as Hephzibah, Noah, Obadiah, Hiram, are there
common-place. Virtues of all kinds flourish, and coinages are sometimes
to be found, even such as ‘Happen to be,’ because the parents happened
to be in Canada at the time of the birth.
‘Peabody Duty perhaps keeps a store,
With washing tubs, and wigs, and wafers stocked;
And Dr. Quackenbox proclaims the cure
Of such as are with any illness docked:
Dish Alcibiades holds out a lure
Of sundry articles, all nicely cooked;
And Phocion Aristides Franklin Tibbs,
Sells ribbons, laces, caps, and slobbering-bibs.’
The Roman and Greek influence has been strong, producing Cato, Scipio,
Leonidas, &c.; but the habit of calling negroes by such euphonious
epithets has rather discouraged them among the other classes, and the
romantic, perhaps, predominates with women, the Scriptural with men. The
French origin of many in the Southern States, and the Dutch in New
England, can sometimes be traced in names.
SECTION VII.—_Germany._
What was said of Frankish applies equally to old High German, of which
Frankish was a dialect, scarcely distinguishable with our scanty sources
of information.
We have seen Frankish extinguished in Latin in the West; but in the East
we find it developing and triumphing. The great central lands of Europe
were held by the Franks and Suevi, with the half civilized Lombards to
their south, and a long slip of Burgundians on the Rhine and the Alps,
all speakers of the harsh High German, all Christians by the seventh
century, but using the traditional nomenclature, often that of the
_Nibelungenlied_. The Low Germans, speaking what is best represented by
Anglo-Saxon literature, were in the northerly flats and marshes, and
were still heathens when the Franks, under Charlemagne conquered them,
and the Anglo-Saxon mission of Boniface began their conversion.
The coronation of Charles by the pope was intended to establish the
headship of a confederacy of sovereigns, one of them to be the Kaisar,
and that one to be appointed by the choice of the superior ones among
the rest. This chieftainship remained at first with the Karlingen; but
after they had become feeble it remained, during four reigns, with the
house of Saxony, those princes who established the strange power of the
empire over Italy, and held the papal elections in their hands. It was
under them that Germany became a confederation, absolutely separate from
her old companion France.
There is not much to say of German nomenclature. She little varied her
old traditional names. Otto, Heinrich, and Konrad, constantly appeared
from the first; and the High German, as the literary tongue, has had the
moulding of all the recognized forms.
The Low German continued to be spoken, and became, in time, Dutch and
Frisian, as well as the popular dialect of Saxony and West Prussia. The
Frisian names are, indeed, much what English ones would be now if there
had been no external influences.
In spite of being the central empire, the German people long resisted
improvement and amalgamation. The merchant cities were, indeed, far in
advance, and the emperors were, of necessity, cultivated men, up to the
ordinary mark of their contemporary sovereigns; but the nobility
continued surly and boorish, little accessible to chivalrous ideas, and
their unchanging names—Ulrich, Adelbert, Eberhard, marking how little
they were affected by the general impressions of Europe. A few names,
like Wenceslav, or Boleslav, came in by marriage with their Polish,
Bohemian, and Hungarian neighbours; and Hungary, now and then, was the
medium of the introduction of one used at Constantinople, such as
Sophia, Anne, Elisabeth, which, for the sake of the sainted Landgraffinn
of Thuringia, became a universal favourite. Friedrich came in with the
Swabian dynasty; Rudolf and Leopold, with the house of Hapsburg.
Holland and the cluster of surrounding fiefs meanwhile had a fluctuating
succession, with lines of counts continually coming to an end, and
others acceding who were connected with the French or English courts.
The consequence was, that the gentlemen of these territories gained a
strong French tinge of civilization, especially in Flanders, where the
Walloons were a still remaining island of Belgæ. The Flemish chivalry
became highly celebrated, and, under the French counts of Hainault and
Flanders, and dukes of Burgundy, acquired a tone, which made their names
and language chiefly those of France, and tinctured that of the
peasantry and artisans, so as to distinguish them from the Hollanders.
Andreas, Adrianus, Cornelius, saints imported by the French dukes, were
both in Holland and the Netherlands, however, the leading names,
together with Philip, which was derived from the French royal family.
The Dutch artificers and merchants had their own sturdy, precise,
business-like character—their German or saintly names, several of which
are to be found among our eastern English, in consequence of the
intercourse which the wool trade established, and the various
settlements of Dutch and Flemish manufacturers in England.
The revival of classical scholarship in the fifteenth century was
considerably felt in the great universities of the Netherlands and of
Germany, and its chief influence on nomenclature is shown in the
introduction of classical names; namely, Julius and Augustus, and the
Emperior Friedrich’s notable compound of Maximus Æmilianus into
Maximilian, but far more in finishing every other name off with the
Latin _us_. Some were restorations to the original form; Adrianus,
Paulus, and the ever memorable Martinus; but others were adaptations of
very un-Latin sounds. Poppo turned to Poppius; Wolf to Wolfius; Ernst to
Ernestus; Jobst, instead of going back to Justinus, made himself
Jobstius; Franz, Franciscus. The surnames were even more unmanageable,
being often either nicknames or local; but they underwent the same fate;
Pott was Pottus; Bernau, Bernavius; while others translated them, as in
the already-mentioned instance of Erasmus, from Gerhardson, and the
well-known transformation of Schwarzerd into Melancthon. The Danish
antiquary Broby (bridge town), figures as Pontoppidan; Och became Bos;
Heilman, Severtus; Goldmann, Chrysander; Neumann, Neander; and as to the
trades, Schmidt was Faber; Müller, Molitor; Schneider, Sartorius;
Schuster, Sutorius; Kellner, Cellarius.
The German Christian names did not permanently retain this affectation;
but the Netherlanders, owing probably to the great resort to their
universities, retained it long and in popular speech, so that in many
Dutch contractions, the _us_ is still used, as in Janus for Adrianus;
Rasmus for Erasmus; and almost always the full baptismal name includes
the classical suffix. The surnames, of course, adhered, and are many of
them constantly heard in Germany and Holland, while others have come to
England chiefly with the fugitives from the persecution that caused the
revolt of the Netherlands. The Latin left in Dacia and long spoken in
Hungary must have assisted to classicalize the Germans even on their
Slavonic side.
The Reformation did not so much alter German as English nomenclature.
The Lutherans, following their master’s principle of altering only what
was absolutely necessary, long retained their hereditary allegiance to
their saints, and did not break out into unaccustomed names, though they
modified the old Gottleip into Gottlieb. Some of their sects of Germany
however, invented various religious names; Gottseimitdir, Gottlob,
Traugott, Treuhold, Lebrecht, Tugendreich, and probably such others as
Erdmuth and Ehrenpreis were results of this revival of native
manufacture. A few Scriptural names came up among the Calvinists, but do
not seem to have taken a firm hold.
This was the land of the double Christian name. It was common among the
princes of Germany, before the close of the fifteenth century, long
before France and Italy showed more than an occasional specimen. It was
probably necessitated, by way of distinction, by the large families all
of the same rank in the little German states. They seem to have set the
fashion which has gradually prevailed more and more in Europe; indeed,
there are some double names that have so grown together as to be
recognized companions, such as Annstine for Anne Christine, Anngrethe
for Anne Margarethe. At present it is the custom in almost all royal
families to give the most preposterous number of Christian names, of
which one, or at most two, is retained as serviceable, &c.
A few Slavonic names crept in; chiefly Wenzel from Bohemia; Kasimir from
the Prussian Wends; Stanislas from Poland; and the house of Austria,
when gaining permanent hold of the empire, spread the names derived from
their various connections; the Spanish Ferdinand, and Flemish Karl and
Philipp, besides their hereditary Leopold and Rudolf, and invented
Maximilian.
The counter-reformation brought the Jesuit Ignaz and Franz into the
lands where the Reformation was extinguished, and canonized Stanislav.
Under the horrors of the Thirty Years' War, Germany retrograded in every
respect; and when she began to emerge from her state of depression, the
brilliance of the French court rendered it her model, which she followed
with almost abject submission. Every one who could talked French, and
was called by as French a name as might be; the royal Fritz became
Fédéric, and little Hanne, Jeannette, the French _ine_ and _ette_ were
liberally tacked to men’s names to make them feminine, and whatever
polish the country possessed was French.
This lasted till the horrors of the Revolution, and the aggressions that
followed it, awoke Germany to a sense of her own powers and duties as a
nation. Her poets and great men were thoroughly national in spirit; and
though, after the long and destructive contest, she emerged with her
grand Holy Roman Empire torn to shreds, her electoral princes turned
into petty kings, her noble Hanse towns mostly crushed and absorbed in
the new states, her Kaisar merely the Markgraf of Austria, enriched by
the spoils of Lombardy and the Slavonic kingdoms, yet she had recovered
the true loyalty to the fatherland and its institutions, cared again for
her literature and her language, and had an enthusiasm for her own
antiquities, a desire to develop her own powers.
German names, to a degree, reflect this. They have ceased to ape Latin
or French. So far as any are literary, they come from their own national
literature; but as in most of the states only ordinary names are
registered, the variety is not great. More and more German names pass to
England in each generation, and become naturalized there; but the same
proportion of English do not seem to be returned.
Bavaria, having been always Roman Catholic, has more saintly names than
most other parts of Germany, and, in particular, uses those of some of
the less popular apostles, who probably have been kept under her notice
by the great miracle plays.
Switzerland, once part of the empire, though free for five hundred years
back, is a cluster of varying tongues, races, languages, and
religions,—Kelt and Roman, Swabian and Burgundian, Romanist, Lutheran,
Calvinist, German, French, Italian. Names and contractions must vary
here; but only those on the German side have fallen in my way, those
about Berne, which are chiefly remarkable for the Ours and Ursel, in
honour of the bears, and Salome among the women; the diminutive always
in _li_.
SECTION VIII.—_Scandinavia._
Grand old Northmen! They had their own character, and never lost it;
they had their own nomenclature, and kept it with the purity of an
unconquered race.
The few influences that affected their nomenclature were, in the first
place, in some pre-historic time, the Gaelic. Thence, when Albin and
Lochlinn seem to have been on friendly terms, they derived Njal, Kormak,
Kylan, Kjartan, Mælkoln, and, perhaps, Brigitte. Next, in Denmark, a few
Wend names were picked up; and, in fact, Denmark being partly peopled by
Angles, and always more exposed, first to Slavonic, and then to German
influences, than the North, has been less entirely national in names.
In the great piratical days the Northmen and Danes left their names and
patronymics to the northern isles, from Iceland to Man, and even in part
to Neustria and Italy. Oggiero and Tancredi, in the choicest Italian
poems, are specimens of the wideness of their fame. Our own population,
in the north-east of England, is far more Scandinavian than Anglian, and
bears the impress in dialect in manners, and in surnames, though the
baptismal ones that led to them are, in general, gone out of use.
Christianity did not greatly alter the old northern names, though it
introduced those of the universally honoured saints. But the clergy
thought it desirable—and chiefly in Denmark—to take more ecclesiastical
names to answer to their own; so Dagfinn was David; Sölmund, Solomon;
Sigmund, Simon; and several ladies seem to have followed their example,
so that Astrida and Griotgard both became Margarethe, and Bergliot
Brigitte.
The popular nomenclature has included all the favourite saints with the
individual contractions of the country. The royal lines have been
influenced by the dynasties that have reigned. Gustaf grew national in
Sweden after the disruption of the union of Calmar, and Denmark
alternated between Christiern and Friedrich; but the main body of the
people are constant to Olaf and Eirik, Ingeborg and Gudrun; and in the
Norwegian valleys the old immediate patronymic of the father is still in
use. Linnea as a feminine from Linnæus, the Latinism of their great
natural historian’s surname is a modern invention. Linne itself means a
lime tree.
The Northmen have hitherto been the most impressing, and least impressed
from without, of all the European nations; and thus their names are the
great key to those of the South.
SECTION IX.—_Comparative Nomenclature._
Before entirely quitting our subject, it may be interesting to make a
rapid comparison of the spirit of nomenclature, and the significative
appellations that have prevailed most in each branch of the civilized
family which we have been considering.
For instance—of religious names, the Hebrew race alone, and that at a
comparatively late period, assumed such directly Divine appellations, as
Eli, Elijah, Adonijah, Joel. The most analogous to these in spirit would
be the heathen Teutonic ones, Osgod, Asthor, Aasir; but these were,
probably, rather assertions of descent than direct proclamations of
glory.
The very obvious and appropriate Gift of God is in all branches save the
Keltic.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ Hebrew. │ Greek. │ Teutonic. │ Persian. │
│Jonathan │Theodoros │Godgifu │Megabyzus │
│Elnathan │Dorotheus │Gottgabe │ _i.e._ │
│Nathanael │ —————————— │ (late) │Bagabukhsha │
│Mattaniah │ Latin. │ —————————— │ │
│Nethaniah │ Adeodatus │ Slavonic. │ │
│ │ (late) │Bogdan │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
Servant of God is everywhere but among Latins and the Slaves.
┌────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┐
│ Hebrew. │ Greek. │ Teutonic. │ Keltic. │ Sanscrit. │
│Obadiah │Theodoulas │Gottschalk │Giolla-De │Devadasa │
└────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┘
Greek and Gaelic likewise own the Service of Christ, by Christopheros
(Christbearer), Gilchrist, and Malise; and the Arabic has Abd-Allah, and
Abd-el-Kadir, servant of the Almighty. The name of the late Sultan,
Abdul Medschid, signified the servant of the All-Famed.
┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ THE LOVE OF GOD, OR BELOVED OF GOD. │
├───────────┬────────────────┬────────────┬──────────────────┬───────────┤
│ Greek. │ Latin. │ Teutonic │ Slavonic. │ Persian. │
│Theophilus │Amadeus │Gottlieb │Bogomil │Bagadaushta│
│Philotheus │ │ (late)│ │ │
├───────────┴────────────────┴────────────┴──────────────────┴───────────┤
│ HONOURING GOD. │
├───────────────────────┬───────────────────────┬────────────────────────┤
│ Greek. │ Slavonic. │ Persian. │
│Timotheus │Çastibog │Megabazus │
├───────────────────────┴───────────────────────┴────────────────────────┤
│ GOD'S JUDGMENT. │
├───────────────────────────────────┬────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Heb. │ Greek. │
│ Daniel │ Theokritus │
│ Jehoshaphat │ │
│ Jehoiachim │ │
├───────────────────────────────────┴────────────────────────────────────┤
│ GOD'S GLORY. │
├───────────────────────────────────┬────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Greek. │ Slavonic. │
│ Theokles │ Bogoslav │
├───────────────────────────────────┴────────────────────────────────────┤
│ GOD'S GLORY. │
├───────────────────────────────────┬────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Hebrew. │ German. │
│ Eleazar │ Gotthilf │
└───────────────────────────────────┴────────────────────────────────────┘
The Greek and Slavonic have by far the most directly religious names,
next to the Hebrew, from having been less pledged to hereditary names,
and the time of the conversion. The Gaelic devotion was almost all
expressed in the Giolla and Mael prefix.
Idol names are of course numerous, but comparison between them is not
easy, as they vary with different mythologies. One point is remarkable,
that the Supreme God, whether Zeus, Jupiter, Divas, or Woden, never has
so many votaries as his vassal gods. Zeno, Jovius, and, perhaps, the
Grim of the North, are almost exceptions. The Phœnician Baal had,
indeed, many namesakes, and the Persian Ormuzd, giver of life, had
several, of whom the pope, called Hormisdas, was one. In general, Ares,
Mars, Thor, and Ranovit, the warlike gods, or the friendly Demeter and
Gerda, the beneficent Athene, the brilliant Artemis, and Irish Brighde,
the queens of heaven, Hera, Juno, Frigga, are chosen for namesakes.
Mithras in Persia, and Apollo in Greece, have their share; but, in
general, the sun is not very popular, though Aurora and Zora honour the
dawn; and the North has various Dags.
Of animals the choice is much smaller than would have been expected. The
lion’s home is, of course, the East, and _Sinha_, his Sanscrit title, is
represented by the Singh, so familiar in the names of Hindu chiefs. The
Arabs have Arslan in many combinations; the Greeks introduced Leo, which
has been followed by the Romans, and come into the rest of Europe; but
many as were the lion names of Greece and later Rome, Leonard, and,
perhaps, Lionel, alone are of European growth.
The elephant is utterly unrepresented, unless we accept the tradition,
that the cognomen of Cæsar arose from his African name. Persia has a few
leopards, such as Chitratachna.
The bear does not show himself in favourable colours in the South, and
Ursus and Ursula are more likely to be translations of the northern
Biorn—so extremely common—than original Latin names. The Erse, however,
owns him as Mahon.
The wolf is the really popular animal. Even the Hebrews knew Zeeb
through the Midianites, the Greeks used Lycos in all sorts of forms, the
Romans had many a Lupus, the Teutons have Wolf in every possible
combination, the Slaves Vuk; the Kelts alone avoid the great enemy of
the fold, whose frequency is almost inexplicable. The Kelts are,
however, the namesakes of the dog, the Cu and Con, so much loathed in
other lands, that only a stray Danish Hund, Italian Cane, and the one
Hebrew Caleb, unite in bearing his name in honour of his faithful
qualities.
The horse is, of course, neglected in Judea, where his use was
forbidden; but in Sanscrit was found Vradaçva, owning great horses; and
the horse flourished all over Persia. Aspamithras, horse’s friend,
Aspachava, rich in horses, Vishtaspa, and many more, commemorate the
animal; and in Greece, Hippolytus, Hippodamos, Hippomedon, Hipparchus,
and many more, showed that riding was the glory of the Hellenes. Rome
has no representative of her _equus_, except in Equitius, a doubtful
name, more likely to be named in honour of the equestrian order, than
direct from the animal. Marcus may, however, be from the word that
formed the Keltic March, which, with Eachan and Eochaid, and many more,
represent the love of horses among the Kelts, answering to the
Eporedorix, mentioned by Cæsar. The Slaves have apparently no horse
names; but many of our modern Roses are properly horses, and Jostein,
Rosmund, and various other forms, keep up the horse’s fame in northern
Europe.
Rome dealt, to a curious degree, in the most homely domestic names; Mus,
the surname of the devoted Decius, was, probably, really a mouse; for
while the swine of other nations never descend below the savage wild
boar of the forest—Eber, Baezan, Bravac, the Romans have indeed one
Aper, but their others are but domestic pigs, Verres, Porcius, Scrofa.
Goats flourished in Greece in honour of the Ægis, and of Zeus goats, and
Ægidios, with others, there arose; but Sichelgaita, and a few northern
Geits, alone reflect them. The chamois, or mountain goat, named Tabitha
or Dorcas, and is paralleled by an occasional masculine Hirsch, or stag,
in Germany.
The sheep appears to be solely represented by Rachael, for though the
lamb has laid claim to both Agnes and Lambert, it is only through a
delusion of sound.
Serpents, as Orm and Lind, are peculiar to the North.
The eagle figures in Aias, Ajax, Aquila, the Russian Orlof, and many an
Arn of the Teutons. It is rather surprising not to find him among the
Gael; but the raven, like the wolf, is the fashionable creature, as an
attendant upon slaughter—Oreb, Corvus, Morvren, Fiachra, Rafn, he croaks
his name over the plunderer everywhere but among the Greeks and Slaves.
The swan has Gelges in Ireland, Svanwhit in the North; the dove named
Jonah, Jemima in Palestine, Columba in Christian Latinity, Golubica in
Illyria; but gentle birds are, in general, entirely neglected, unless
the Greek Philomela, which properly means loving honey, were named after
the nightingale. The Latin Gallus may possibly be a cock; but Genserich
is not the gander king, as he was so long supposed to be.
The bee had Deborah in Hebrew, and Melissa in Greek; but, in general,
insects are not popular, though Vespasian is said to come from a wasp;
and among fishes, the dolphin has the only namesakes in Romance tongues,
probably blunders from Delphi.
Plants were now and then commemorated; Tamar, a palm tree, Hadassah, a
myrtle, are among the scanty eastern examples. Rome had a Robur, and
Illyria Dobruslav, in honour of the oak; but the Slaves have almost the
only genuine flower names. Rhoda is, indeed, a true Greek Rose, but the
modern ones are mistakes for _hross_, a horse. Violet, probably, rose
out of Valens, and Lilias from Cæcilius, Oliver from Olaf. Primrose,
Ivy, Eglantine, &c., have been invented in modern books at least, and so
has Amaranth.
Passing to qualities, goodness is found in many an Agathos of the
Greeks, with his superlative Aristos, but early Rome chiefly dealt in
Valens, leaving Bonus and Melior for her later inventors to use. The
_goods_ of the Teutons are rather doubtful between the names of the
Deity and of war, but in passing them, the relation between Gustaf and
Scipio should be observed. The Slaves have many compounds of both Dobry
and Blago, and the Irish, Alma.
Love is everywhere. David represents it in Hebrew, Agape and Phile in
Greek; but the grim Roman never used the compounds of his _amo_, only
left them to form many a gentle modern name—Amabel, Aimée, Amy. Caradoc
was the old Cymric, and Aiffe the Gadhaelic, beloved; and Wine and Leof
in the German races, Ljubov, Libusa, Milica in the Slavonic, proved the
warm hearts of the people. Indeed, the Slavonic names are the tenderest
of all, owning Bratoljub and Çedomil, fraternal and parental love,
unparalleled except by the satirical surnames of the Alexandrian kings.
Purity—a Christian idea—is found in Agnes and Katherine, both Greek;
perhaps, too, Devoslava, or maiden glory, with the Slaves. Holiness is
in the Hieronymus and Hagios of heathen Greece, meaning a holy name, and
in the northern Ercen and Vieh, at the beginning and end of names, the
Sviato of the Slavonians.
Peace, always lovely and longed-for, names both Absalom and Solomon, and
after them many an eastern Selim and Selima. Greece had Irene and
Irenæus, but not till Christian days, and the Roman Pacificus was a very
modern invention; but the Friedrich, &c., of the North, and Miroslav of
the Slav, were much more ancient.
The soul is to be found in Greece, as Psyche, and nowhere else but in
the Welsh Enid. Life, however, figured at Rome, as Vitalis, and in the
Teutonic nations as the prefix _fjor_; and the Greek Zoë kept it up in
honour of the oldest of all female names, Eve.
Grace is the Hebrew Hannah or Anna, and the _charis_ in Greek compounds.
Eucharis would not answer amiss to the Adelheid, or noble cheer, of
Teuton damsels. Abigail, or father’s joy, Zenobia, father’s ornament,
are in the same spirit.
_Eu_, meaning both happy and rich, wealthy in its best sense, is exactly
followed by the Northern _ad_ and Anglo-Saxon _ead_. Eulalia and
Eulogios are the same as Edred, Euphrasia would answer to Odny, Eucharis
and Aine likewise have the same sense of gladness. Eugenois is, perhaps,
rather in the sense of Olaf, or of the host of Adels and Ethels.
Patrocles and Cleopatra, both meaning the father’s fame, have nothing
exactly analogous to them in the Teuton and Keltic world.
Royalty is found in the Syriac Malchus, the Persian Kshahtra, or Xerxes,
the Malek of the Arab, the early Archos, Basileus, and Tyrannos of the
late Greek; even the Roman Regulus, with Tigearnach among the Kelts, and
Rik in its compounds in the Teutonic world. The loftiness and strength
of the royal power is expressed in the Persian prefix _arta_, first
cousin to our Keltic Art and Arthur, akin to the root that forms Ares,
Arius, Arteinus, and many more familiar names from the superlative
Aristos. It is the idea of strength and manhood, perhaps akin to the
Latin _vir_ and Keltic _fear_. Boleslav is the Wendic name, filling up
the cycle of strength and manly virtue.
Majesty and greatness are commemorated by closely resembling words—the
Persian Mathista or Masistes, Megas and Megalos in their Greek
compounds, Latin Magnus and Maximus, Keltic Mor, Teutonic Mer; it is
only the Velika of the Slav that does not follow the same root. The
crown names Stephanas and Venceslas, or crown glory.
Justice and judgment are the prevalent ideas in the Hebrew Dan and
Shaphat, Greek Archos, Dike, and Krite, Latin Justinus, Northern Ragn;
perhaps, too, in the Irish Phelim and Slavonic Upravda. _Damo_, to tame,
is in many Greek names; and _ward_, or protection, answers to the Latin
Titus.
Venerable is the Persian Arsaces, with Augustus and Sebastian. Power
figures in Vladimir and Waldemar, and the many forms of _wald_; and, on
the other hand, the people assert themselves in the Laos and Demos of
Greece, the _leutfolk_ and _theod_ of the Teuton, and even the _ljud_ of
the Slave. The lover of his people may be found under the various titles
of Demophilos, Publicola, Theodwine, and the Slavonic feminine Ludmila;
their ruler, as Democritus, or Archilaus, or Theodoric; their tamer, as
Laodamos; their justice, as Laodike.
Boulos, council, finds a parallel in the Teuton _raad_; but Sophia,
wisdom, is far too cultivated for an analogy among the name-makers of
the rude North.
But fame and glory were more popular than wisdom and justice. _Slava_
rings through the names of the Wends, and _klas_ through the Greeks;
while _hluod_ and _hruod_ form half the leading names of Germanized
Europe.
Clara is the late Latin name best implying fame, but answering best to
Bertha, bright, like the Phlegon of Greece, and Barsines of Persia,
which are all from one root. Lucius, light, translates some of these.
Conquest, that most desired of events to a warlike nation, is the Nike
of the Greeks. Nikias, Victor, Sige, Cobhflaith, are all identical in
meaning; and the Greek and Teuton have again and again curiously similar
compounds. Nicephorous and Sigebot, Nikoboulous and Sigfred, Stratonice
would perhaps be paralleled by Sighilda. Nicolas has not an exact
likeness, because the Teutons never place either _sige_ or _theod_ at
the end of a word.
War itself has absorbed the Teuton _spear_, and is _ger_ in our Teuton
lands. But the Greek _mache_, and Teuton _hadu_, the Kelt _cath_, and
the Slav _boj_ or _voj_, all are in common use. Telemachus, or distant
battle, is best represented by Siroslav, or distant glory. Stratos,
meaning both army and camp, Kleostralos and Stratokles, answer to
Stanislav; and Cadwaladyr, in sound as well as sense, to Haduvald.
Cathair, the Irish battle-slaughter, has likeness in the Teutonic
derivatives of Val, but the North stands alone in honouring the Thiof
with namesakes.
The hero, the warrior himself, the _Hero_ as he really is of Greece, the
_Landnama-bok_ of our Teutons, the _Landnama-bok_ and _Landnama-bok_ and
_Landnama-bok_ of Ireland, the _Landnama-bok_ of the Roman, has
namesakes in hosts. Herakles himself was not far removed from Herbert,
Robert, or Lothaire, in meaning; and Sigeher is the conquering warrior,
as Nikostratos is the victorious army.
In fact, warlike names are exhausting in similarity and multitude, and
our readers will discover many more for themselves. The peaceful ones
are far more characteristic.
See how the ocean figures in Pelagios, in Morvan, Muircheartash,
Haflide,—all the formation of maritime nations, while the Slaves have no
sea names at all, and the Latin Marina is mere late coinage. It is the
Welsh, however, who have the most sea names: Guenever, Bronwen, Dwynwen,
&c.
The earth makes Georgos and Agricola, and its cultivators have in Greece
commemorated their harvest with Eustaches and Theresa; in Illyria, their
vintage with Grozdana; but though the old farmer citizens of Rome were
called Faber, Lentulus, Cicero, and the like, produce of their fields,
these were much too homely for our fierce Teuton ancestry.
Gold is not in much favour; Chryseis, Aurelia, Orflath, and Zlata, just
represent it; and silver is to be found in Argyro, Argentine, and
Arianwen; but iron nowhere but with the Germanic races, Eisambart, &c.,
in accordance with the weapon names in which they alone delight. Nor are
jewels many,—Esmeralda, Jasper (perhaps), Margaret, Ligach, are almost
their only representatives. Spices we have as Kezia, Muriel, and
strangest of all, Kerenhappuch, a box of stibium for the eyes. Whether
the Stein of the North is to be regarded as a jewel does not seem clear,
but it is more according to the temper of the owners to regard it as
answering to Petros, a rock. Veig, Laug, and Øl, represent liquors, and
are one of the peculiarities of the North.
Beauty is less common than might have been expected. Kallista is the
leading owner of the word in Greece, but the Latin _bella_ must not be
claimed for it, and, in spite of the _ny_ and _fridhr_ of the North, it
is the Kelts who deal most in names of beauty,—Findelbh, Graine, and
more than can here be specified.
Indeed, complexion names are chiefly found among the Kelts and Romans.
The white, Albanus and Finn, (which last Finn passed to the North,) with
Gwenn in Wales and Brittany; the light-haired, Flavius, Rufus, Ruadh,
and Dearg. Fulvius, Niger, and Dubh, with the answering Swerker,
paralleled only by the late Greek Melania have very few answering names
in other lands, though the Bruno of Germany corresponds to Don, and the
Blond, now Blount, of England is said to be meant to translate Fulvius.
On exceptional names, from the circumstances of the birth, we have not
here dwelt. They were accidental, and never became national, except from
the fame of some bearer of one. The names derived from places are almost
all Latin, at first cognomina, then taken at baptism by converts. The
number names are likewise Latin. Those of high Christian ideas, like
Anastasius, Ambrosius, Alethea, are generally Greek; and when Latins as
Benedictus, the blessed, and Beatrix, the blesser, are apt to be
renderings of the Greek. The early Latin names are the least explicable,
and the least resembling those of other nations; the Keltic are the most
poetical; the Slavonic either tender or warlike; the Greek and the
Teutonic are the most analogous to one another in sense, and are the
most in use, except the more endeared and wide-spread of the
Hebrew,—John and Mary deservedly have the pre-eminence in the Christian
world above all others.
THE END.
---------------------------------------------------------
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Transcriber’s Note
The author seems to distinguish between ‘Slave’ and ‘Slavonic’ (usually
abbreviated as ‘Slav’). ‘Slave’ seems to indicate ethnic rather than
language groups.
Please consult the author’s note about the typographical conventions she
observes there.
The lengthy index of names (the Glossary) at the beginning of the text
appears to be a work in progress, and few pains were taken to perfect it
here.
● Many names are out of alphabetic order and remain so here.
● The punctuation in the Glossary is somewhat haphazard or unclear, and
has been regularized without further notice.
● There are incomplete entries, which may skip the meaning, page
references, or both. Missing page references may or may not indicate
that they do or do not appear in the text.
● Some entries include a question mark, indicating some uncertainty in
the author or editor’s mind.
Each entry is given as printed, save where there are obvious
discrepancies between the Glossary and the referenced text. These are
resolved based on the context, as noted below.
Notes
xxv.45 As an example, ‘Anuerin’, which has no page reference, is
mentioned multiple times as a Welsh bard, and the name
appears once in a list of Welsh names, but is not
otherwise remarked upon.
xliii.5 The entry for ‘Coralie’ ends with a comma, without a page
reference. The name appears on p. 456.
xlv.27 In the Glossary, ‘Darius’ includes a page number (followed
by a question mark) which refers to a section on Persian
names, where only ‘Cyrus’ is discussed.
lxii.6 There are two entries for ‘Gandolf’, once as a ‘primary
form’ (capitalized) and once in ‘Roman type’ as a form
‘since assumed’.
lxxxiii.31 The Lusatian name ‘Jjewa’ is not on p. 11 of the text, which
mentions only ‘Hejba or Hejbka’.
xciii.15 _Loiseach_ appears only on p. 133, and not on p. 405, as
printed. The page reference was corrected.
cxviii.23 An out-of-order entry for ‘Marl’ is duplicated in the proper
order.
78.50 The reference to ‘his’ father seems incorrect, since his
wife would be grateful to Phillip II of Spain (husband of
Queen Mary, and hence ‘King Consort’)for interceding in
the life of _her_ father.
100.19 The epsilon in Θεκλα (Thekla) on p. 100 was printed with an
invalid circumflex (~).
290.26 The Anglo-Saxon O character in ‘Ocscetyl’ is printed,
seemingly intentionally, with an interior triangular mark
[Odd Anglo-Saxon O].
305.43 The author gives a rune as ‘thorn’ resembling a capital
Greek lambda (Λ). The thorn rune is actually [thorn].
Other errors deemed most likely to be the printer’s have been corrected,
and are noted here. The references are to the page and line, or
indicates that the issue appears in a footnote in the original.
Corrections
vi.32 far greater difficulties[.] for Removed.
xxi.1 Teu[,/.] elf ruler, Replaced.
xxiii.4 _Sl[o/a]v._ Gr. helper Replaced.
xxiii.52 Fr. with w[h]iskers Inserted.
xxiv.5 Ama[ oe/deo], Corrupted.
xxv.35 Andreze[k/j] Replaced
(probable).
xxxi.14 BALDETRUD, _[m/f]._ Replaced.
xxxiv.19 Bérang[erè/ère] Replaced.
lx.32 _Fra[ncy/cyn]tje_ Transposed.
lx.44 _Fran[z/s]je_ Replaced.
lxxiii.2 _Netherland[s]_ Added.
lxxiv.15 H[e/é]lène Replaced.
lxxix.22 I[ñ]igo Restored.
lxxxiii.9 Jo[a]qui[n/m]a From p. 37.
xci.47 Le[a/o]nhardine Replaced.
cxiii.12 RADEG[U/O]NDA Replaced.
cxxvi.18 SWANH[WITE/VIT] Replaced.
cxxxii.7 _Tone[e]k_ Removed.
cxlii remembrance of the [Lord] Restored.
cxliii.8 ZLATI[D/B]OR Replaced.
cxliii.11 ZLATOLJU[D/B] Replaced.
13.12 Atalik, [(]fatherlike or paternal,) Removed.
14.42 Rebekah’s two daughters-in-law[s] Removed.
27.23 is used els[e]where Inserted.
29.34 are men[it/ti]oned in the pedigree Transposed.
30.35 N[eu/ue]stra Señora del Pilar Transposed.
30.41 a vision of N[eu/ue]stra Señora Transposed.
36.note _Deutsch[a/e] Mythologie_ Replaced.
43.9 pa[rt/tr]iarch St. Joannes the Silent Transposed.
60.23 a maiden[)] Added.
65.17 still more magnific[i]ent Removed.
65.40 the deacon[n]ess Removed.
67.46 the hateful A[c]quitanian grandmother Removed.
72.19 and ὄρνυμ[υ/ι] (to raise) Replaced.
86.14 Andreje[e]k Removed
(probable).
88.14 [Feminine] Presumed.
88.44 Ε[ὔ/ὐ]στᾶθηος (steadfast) Diacritic
removed.
93.41 Attalus Phila[l]dephus Inserted.
95.14 feminine Λα[ό/ο]δ[α/ά]μεία Misplaced
diacritics.
95.31 Κλ[έ/ε]οπ[α/ά]τρα Misplaced
diacritics.
138.36 merged this unwield[l]y title Removed.
167.48 that[.] after having served Removed.
187.note Michaelis[,/.] Replaced.
191.40 and to France, a[t/s] St. Hilaire. Replaced.
222.note _Deutsch[a/e] Mythologie_ Replaced.
227.12 to interp[r]et his Keltic speech Inserted.
231.39 Lear and [Mananàn/Mănănnán] Replaced.
256.35 mild-tempered or peac[e]able man Inserted.
275.47 one of the kings of Ireland[,/.] Replaced.
277.13 who had quar[r]elled about Added.
285.30 and thus passed away[.] Added.
295.26 Freygerdur [ö/o]f the North Replaced.
314.45 drawn from Wil[eh/he]lm Transposed.
328.12 the Thuringian Irmanfrit, or Ir[u/n]vrit Replaced.
334.12 rime or frost [name/mane] Transposed.
367.5 by the Markgraf Rudiger[.] Added.
368.42 the same whose de[s]cendant Inserted.
377.37 ‘the Confessor[’] Added.
378.26 Ric[k/h] kettle Replaced.
379.30 in the _Nieb[e]lungenlied_ Added.
405.28 Eri[e/c] Probable.
407.note _Récits des Temps Mérovingien[s]_ Added.
408.18 that which i[n]dentifies his appellation Removed.
413.note Turn[n]er Removed.
426.5 a border wolf[.] Added.
444.23 [B/D]ear peace Replaced.
446.24 by the l[e]ast remarkable one Inserted.
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