Navn

Personlige navn

Europeiske navnemønstre

Utviklingen av personlige navn var komplisert. I det gamle indoeuropeiske systemet hadde en person ett navn, som kan være en av to typer: en sammensatt eller ikke-sammensatt substantiv. Navn uten sammenslåing kan opprinnelig ha blitt gitt til underordnede medlemmer av stammen og deres barn. Sammensatte navnene assosierte ofte bæreren med en gud (de kalles teoforiske navn) eller attesterte hans dyder, evner, ferdigheter, eiendeler og så videre. Forbindelsen til betydningen av delene av forbindelsen var noen ganger bare løs, noe som er spesielt observerbart i tysk antroponyme (se nedenfor). Eksempler på sammensatte navn inkluderer sanskrit Viṣṇuputra 'sønn av Vishnu,' Devadatta 'gitt av gud,' og Devarāja 'gudskonge.'Fra Iran kommer det avestanske navnet Hōrmizāfrīd' foredling av Ahura Mazdā 'og det gamle persiske navnet Mithradates' gitt av Mithra '(to iranske guder).

quiz

Er det ikke åpenbart?

Hvem godtok overgaven av britene i slaget ved Yorktown?

Blant greske navn er det også mange teoforiske navn, for eksempel Herodotos 'gitt av Hera,' Isidoros (moderne Isidore) 'gitt av Isis', og både Theodoros (moderne Theodore) og Dorotheos (moderne bare i den feminine formen, Dorothy) ' gitt av gud. ' Det er mange andre lignende greske navn - for eksempel Astyanax 'byens herre,' Perikles 'veldig berømte, og Demosthenes' folks styrke. ' Platon 'bred (i skuldre)' er et ikke-sammensatt gresk navn.

The compound names of the Celts include Vercingetorix ‘great king of warriors,’ Orgetorix ‘king of killers,’ and Rextugenos ‘son of justice.’ Noncompound Celtic names included, for example, Artos ‘bear’ and Galba ‘big.’ Examples of Germanic compound names include Heriberhto ‘army + resplendent’ (modern Herbert), Huguberhto ‘resplendent by thought’ (modern Hubert), Godofrido ‘divine peace’ (modern Gottfried and Geoffrey), Frideriko ‘peace + powerful’ (modern Frederic and Friedrich), and Theodobaldo ‘people + valiant.’ Among the noncompound Germanic names is Karl (or Charles), in the Latin form Carolus ‘man.’ Typical Slavic compound names are Vladimir ‘governs the world,’ Vladislav ‘rule + glory,’ and Miroslav ‘world + glory.’

The Latin system of personal names was quite different and probably developed under Etruscan influence. In the earliest times the Romans seemingly had only one name—e.g., Romulus, Remus, Manius. From the beginning of historical times, however, the Roman personal name consisted of a praenomen (given name, forename) and a nomen (or nomen gentile). Only intimates used the praenomen, and its choice was restricted to fewer than 20 names, among them Gaius, Gnaeus, Marcus, Quintus, Publius, Tiberius, and Titus. The nomen that followed was hereditary in each gens (a related group of families, like the Scottish clan); examples include Antonius, Aurelius, Claudius, Cornelius, Fabius, Horatius, Julius, Lucius, Maccius, Tullius, and some others. Because the choice of both the praenomen and the nomen was restricted, the patrician families and later all families started using a hereditary name, called a cognomen.

These cognomina developed from original surnames—e.g., Cicero ‘bean,’ Pictor ‘painter,’ Plautus ‘flat foot,’ Tacitus ‘silent.’ Thus, the Roman name eventually consisted of three parts: Marcus Tullius Cicero, Gaius Julius Caesar. In addition, a person might acquire an individual surname, called an agnomen: Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus was so named because of his successful war in Africa.

This system of naming was used during the whole republican period and later in the empire. Toward the end of the empire, however, the naming pattern began to change and subsequently was lost. One reason was that more persons used names lacking any real relation to themselves. For instance, a slave (and then his children) used the praenomen and the nomen of the master who set him free; e.g., had Marcus Tullius Cicero freed a Syrian slave, the name of the latter might have been Marcus Tullius Syrus.

The number of freed slaves grew constantly, particularly after the victory of the Christian religion. Also, a free inhabitant of the empire who was granted Roman citizenship acquired the praenomen and nomen of the magistrate who made him a citizen, and in 212 ce, when all free noncitizens were given citizenship by the emperor Caracalla, hundreds of thousands of persons prefixed Marcus Aurelius to their names, whether Greek, Syrian, African, or any other. In this way, Roman names lost their significance.

Christian names

Another change was introduced by the Christians, who belonged to social classes that were not particularly concerned with the habits of the Roman higher class and who preferred names connected with their own religion—e.g., from its founders (Petrus, Paulus, Joannes, Maria, Timotheus) or from the new martyrs, frequently persons with simple Latin or Greek surnamelike names such as Stephanos ‘wreath’ (modern Stephen), Laurentius ‘laurel’ (modern Lawrence), and Sidonius ‘coming from Sidon [in Phoenicia]’ (modern Sidney). Simple names like these were sometimes called signum. The Christians, however, soon started creating their own names—e.g., Benedictus ‘blessed,’ Desiderius ‘desiring [salvation],’ Renatus ‘reborn [by baptism]’ (modern René).

With the spread of Christianity, this stock of names spread into territories that did not belong to the Roman Empire, but the diffusion was slow. In both the Germanic and the Slavic sphere (half of which came under the influence of the Eastern church), the use of many of the original non-Christian names was continued, partly by tradition and partly because some of the bearers of these names became saints themselves. In this way, the repertory of given names was set, in general, somewhere around the 12th century. A notable addition to it was the influx of Old Testament names brought by the Reformation (Adlai, Benjamin, and so on). Certain names have left no trace of their ephemeral existence—e.g., Puritan names such as Humility, Be Faithful, Kill Sin; French Revolutionary names; and Russian post-Revolutionary names such as Mels (an acronym containing the initial letters of Marx, Engels, Lenin, and Stalin). American fanciful given names for girls, such as Claretta, Elizene, Gwyned, and Marilla, are also relatively insignificant in impact, though the group is growing.