Usual Given Names Being a Answer of Far History
Posted on Apr 6, 2011 04:24:06 AM
We go on with the publication of a overview regarding the origin of European patronymics widely used at present. This part is devoted to names that came from far-away past.
• Old Mainland Germanic: Some very familiar names, that are Arnold, Baldwin, Millicent, Alice, Gertrude, Jocelyn, Hilda, and Matilda – every of which have settled cognates in German, Dutch, French, and other languages – borne in Germanic pre-history. It is possible to utilize English to Polish translation to find more. Names reached English by a shaded way. The paperwork language of the court of the Merovingian and Carolingian Franks (5th – 9th centuries) was Latin, but their vernacular language was a Germanic dialect, and their given names were mostly of Germanic etymology. These Frankish given names became established in ancient France and in due time were picked up by the Vikings who lived in Normandy in the 9th century. After the Norman occupation of England in 1066, these personal names were brought to England, where they largely replaced usual Anglo-Saxon personal names such as Ethelred and Athelthryth. A very insignificant Anglo-Saxon personal names preserved, for example Edward, that was borne by King Edward the Confessor (c. 1002–1066; ruled 1042–1066), the offspring of an Anglo-Saxon man and a Viking woman, who was revered by Anglo-Saxons and Normans alike. A quite different situation is that of Alfred, an British patronymic that fell out of use under the Normans, but was restored in the 19th century in honor of the great 9th-century king of Wessex.
• Old Norse: Ancient Norse is, of course, a Germanic language, but its naming custom is rather original from that of mainland Germanic, and many usual Norse names are currently used in Scandinavia today, for example Olaf, Harald, Hakon. There has been much borrowing from German (e.g., Helga, Ingeborg). Several Nordic patronymics such as Ingrid have been adopted much more widely. Many looked for Polish translation services into Slavic. In the latter case, the TV celebrity Ingrid Bergman (1915–1982) was a strong attraction.
• Old Slavic languages: Names such as Wojciech (Vojteˇch), BogusLaw (Bohuslav), and StanisLaw (Stanislav) are hardly used in the English-speaking world except among Slavic immigrants, but demonstrate a vital and flowing Slavic tradition, with traces in different Slavic linguas. Many such names are pre-Bible, whereas others have been sanctified by recognition as a saint’s name. Except where a saint has been involved, these names are not much used in Russia, because there the Orthodox Church has long insisted on using names associated with Christian patrons, such as Fyodor (Theodore) and Dmitri. These are mostly of Greek etymology. Among the Western Slavs (Poles, Czechs, Slovaks) and Southern Slavs (Serbs, Croatians, Slovenians, Bulgarians, etc.), each linguistic community of Slavic speakers has its own contrast list of traditional personal names, majority of which are of Slavic origin.