Surnames as First Names: English Surnames — E

Esgar

More gems among the surnames of English, Anglo-Norman and Norse origin, which have so far seen little use as given names. Today is E.

• Ede — from the Old English girl’s name Eda from ēad ‘rich’, a name in its own right in the early Anglo-Saxon period, although later it was used more as a short form of Edith.
• Eaglen — from the Norman-French Egelina, the feminine of Egil, an ancient Germanic name of uncertain meaning.
• Eames — from Old English ēam ‘uncle’.
• Easterby — from the Old Norse áustr í bý meaning ‘east of the village’.
• Eastley – from Old English ēast ‘east’ + lēah ‘wood’, ‘woodland clearing’, ‘glade’, ‘pasture’ and ‘meadow’.
• Edbrough — from the Old English girl’s name Edburg; ēad ‘rich’ + burh ‘fortified place’.
• Edis — from the Old English girl’s name Edusa, a name of uncertain meaning, but probably a short form of Eadgifu or Edith. Var: Eddis.
• Edney, Edoney — from the Old Norse name Idhunna ‘love-work’, the name of the Goddess of Youth. Var: Idony.
• Effemy — from Euphemia, a Greek name meaning ‘auspicious speech’. Also Effeny and Effeney.
• Elberry — from Elberry, Devon. Probably Old English elle(n) ‘elder’ + burh ‘fortified place’.
• Elion — from Helléan in Brittany, a place of uncertain meaning, possibly connected with Breton huel ‘high’ or Middle Breton haelon ‘brows’.
• Ellerby — from Ellerby. Old English personal name  Ælfweard ‘elf-guard’ + Old Norse bý ‘farmstead’, ‘village’ and ‘settlement’. Var: Ellaby.
• Ellery — from the personal names Hilary (originally a male name). Latin hilaris ‘cheerful’ and Eularia, a form of Eulalia, a Greek name meaning ‘sweetly-speaking’.
• Elmley — from one of the places of the name. Old English elm ‘elm’ + lēah ‘wood’, ‘woodland clearing’, ‘glade’, ‘pasture’ and ‘meadow’.
• Elver — from the Old English personal name  Ælfhere – ælf ‘elf’ + here ‘army’.
• Elvery — from the Old English personal name Æthelfrið — æthel ‘noble’ + frið ‘peace’.
• Elvey, Elvy — from the Old English girl’s name Ælfgifu ‘elf-gift’.
• Embra — probably from Emborough, Somerset. Old English emm ‘flat-topped’ + beorg ‘mound’ and ‘hill’. It may also be a variant of Amery.
• Emeney, Emmony — from Ismenia, a medieval name of uncertain origins.
• Emley — from Emley, Yorkshire. Old English personal name Em(m)a (probably here a male name) + lēah ‘wood’, ‘woodland clearing’, ‘glade’, ‘pasture’ and ‘meadow’.
• Ensor — from Edensor, Derbyshire (home to the famous Chatsworth House). Old English personal name Eadin (from ēad ‘rich’) + ofer ‘sloping bank’ and ‘ridge’.
• Esgar, Esger — from the Old Norse name Ásgeirr ‘(a) God-spear’.
• Eveleigh — from a lost village called Eveleigh in Devon. Old English male personal name Eafa or Eofa + lēah ‘wood’, ‘woodland clearing’, ‘glade’, ‘pasture’ and ‘meadow’. Eafa/Eofa are short forms of names beginning with eofor ‘boar’.
• Everley — from Everley, Yorkshire. Old English eofor ‘boar’ + lēah ‘wood’, ‘woodland clearing’, ‘glade’, ‘pasture’ and ‘meadow’.
• Eversley — from Eversley, Kent. Old English eofor ‘boar’ + lēah ‘wood’, ‘woodland clearing’, ‘glade’, ‘pasture’ and ‘meadow’.

Read Full Post »

An August Gust of Guses

Do you like Gus as a short name, but are not so keen on Augustus and its related names August and Augustine?

Here are some alternatives!

Agastya — A name from Hindu mythology. Agastya is a name of Shiva, as well as the name of a legendary Hindu sage, believed to have received many of the earliest mantras which feature in the Rig Veda from Brahman. It is also the Indian name for Canopus. It comes from the Sanskrit aga mountain + asyati ‘to throw’, and is usually translated as ‘mountain-thrower’.

Angus — a classic and very old Gaelic name, from the Old Irish óen ‘one’ + gus ‘excellence’, ‘force’ and ‘courage’. The standard modern Gaelic form is Aonghas, but Aengus, Aonghus, Oenghus and Óengus are all known. In Irish myth Aengus is the God of love, youth and poetic inspiration.

Asparagus — the vegetable. The name is ancient, coming from the Greek asparagos, of uncertain origin, though possibly from the Proto-Indo-European *sp(h)er(e)g- ‘to spring up’. In the past, also much valued for its healing and healthful properties, hence its botanical name Asparagus officinalis.

Constantine — Gus is often found as a short-form for Constantine among the Greek community. The name of the Roman Emperor responsible for legalizing Christianity in the Roman Empire, Constantine is revered as a saint in the Orthodox church. His name derives ultimately from the Latin constans ‘firm’, ‘stable’ and ‘invariable’.

Crataegus — the botanical name for hawthorn. One very much for Pagans and Nature lovers! Comes ultimately from the Greek krataigos ‘thorn-tree’.

Džiugas — a traditional Lithuanian name, from the Lithuanian džiugus ‘cheerful’.

Fergus — Another old Gaelic name (properly Fearghus or Fearghas) from the Old Irish fer ‘man’ + gus ‘excellence’, ‘force’ and ‘courage’.

Finegas — a name from Irish mythology. Finegas was an elderly druid who taught Finn McCool. From the Old Irish fionn + éices ‘scholar’, ‘sage’, ‘seer’ and ‘poet’.

Gaspard — French form of Jasper, which most likely comes from the Persian: khazāndār ‘treasurer’. There’s also the Spanish Gaspar and Italian Gaspare.

Gaston — French name meaning ‘a Gascon’, i.e. ‘from Gascony’.

Ghassan — Arabic name meaning ‘youth’.

Gurgustius — the name of a legendary king of Britain. From Welsh gor- ‘super’ + gwst ‘power’, ‘force’ and ‘excellence’.

Gus — nothing stopping you just using Gus on its own! Many have. Remember that in Old Irish, gus means ‘excellence’, ‘force’ and ‘courage’. There’s also the pet-form Gussie.

Gust — short form of Gustavus and Augustus. Gust was in the US top 1000 as a name in its own right in 1880.

Gustavus — Latinized form of German Gustav, a very old name of uncertain origins. Often translated as meaning ‘staff of the Goths’, its oldest form Chustaffus suggests that its first element might be the Old German chud, from chûton ‘to meditate’ –giving Gustav the meaning ‘staff of meditation’.  The French form is Gustave, Italian Gustavo, and Gustaf is Scandinavian.

Icotasgus — an attested Brythonic name, the first element isn’t certain (it may be *iko- ‘woodpecker’). The second is *tasgo- ‘badger’.

Magus — Latin magus ‘mage’, ‘learned man’.

Moritasgus — a Celtic God, identified by the Romans with Apollo, whose name means ‘great badger’.

Pagasaeus — an epithet of Apollo. It comes from the Greek harbor Pagae, itself meaning ‘(fishermen’s) nets’ in ancient Greek.

Radagast — a wizard in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. It means ‘tender of beasts’ in Adûnic.

Vegas — adoption of the name of the US city of Las Vegas. This is from the Spanish vega meaning ‘fertile plain/valley’ and ‘meadow’.

Zygus — the ancient Greek name for Libra, from zugos ‘yoke (of a plough)’, ‘crossbar’ and ‘balance beam’.

Read Full Post »

Nook of Names Pick of the Week — Una

‘Number names’ seem to be a bit of an in thing at the moment, what with the recent celebrity arrivals, Harper Seven Beckham and Aleph Portman-Millepied. So this weeks Nook of Names Pick of the Week is a variation on the theme… or is it?

There is no denying that una is the feminine form of the Latin unus ‘one’ — both unus and one derive from the same Proto-Indo-European source, along with the German ein(e), Greek enas, Old Irish óen and Welsh un.

Unus also means ‘a single’ and ‘alone’.

As a name, this Una (traditionally pronounced ‘YOO-nuh’) first appears in Edmund Spenser’s epic allegorical masterpiece The Faerie Queene — written in the late 16th Century in praise of Queen Elizabeth I.

Una — essentially ‘the One and Only’ — stands for the Protestant Church of Queen Elizabeth I.  This is, of course — as far as Spenser is concerned — Good and True (in stark contrast with Elizabeth’s predecessor Queen Mary, and her Catholic Church, represented by the character of Duessa).

The Faerie Queene, even though it was never finished, was extremely influential, and bona fide examples of Una as a genuine given name in England date from the early 17th Century.

But this Latin Una is not the only Una of the British Isles. There is another, with an even older pedigree, over the Celtic Sea — Irish Úna.

This Una — pronounced ‘OO-nuh’, and sometimes Anglicized as Oona or Oonagh — is a name from Irish mythology. One Una was, ironically enough, a fairy queen — the wife of Finnbarr.

The best known, however, was a wife of Finn McCool. It was she who saved the day with her cunning when the Scottish giant Bennandonner crossed the Giant’s Causeway (which Finn had built) to fight Finn.

Una concocted a plan to trick Bennandonner into thinking Finn was far bigger, stronger and ‘more giant’ than Bennandonner. She dressed Finn up to look like a baby — and told Bennandonner that this enormous baby was Finn’s child.

This spooked Bennandonner enough, but while he waited for Finn to come home, Una gave him and the ‘baby’ an enormous steak to eat. The scary baby managed fine — but Bennandonner couldn’t eat a mouthful — the reason? The ‘baby’ had a real steak, but Una gave Bennandonner a rock painted to look like one.

This was all too much for Bennandonner, and he hot-footed it back to Scotland, tearing up the Causeway as he went.

In Modern Irish, úna actually means ‘famine’, but Úna is generally thought to have derived from the Old Irish uan ‘lamb’, and as well as appearing in myth, Úna was used as a genuine given name in medieval Ireland.

After the 17th Century, Irish names were usually ‘translated’ into English names — chosen sometimes by meaning, and sometimes by resemblance.

Thus Úna was turned into the English Agnes, due to the shared ‘lamb’ theme — for although Agnes does not derive from the Latin agnus ‘lamb’, its similarity meant that it was strongly associated with the fluffy creatures.

Others used were Winnie and Juno, because of their similarity in appearance and sound.

Although it is difficult to tell whether the Latin or Irish Una is being used, Una, Oona and Oonagh are all found in the 19th Century — and not just in Ireland.

None is seeing much use at the moment. In the UK, Una was nowhere near the top 1000 in 2010, while Oona and Oonagh languished below the 2000s.

Una is similarly scarce in the US, where in 2010, the Latin Una was found more frequently spelled phonetically as Yuna. There were also a few examples of Yoona.

Oona is extremely rare, and Oonagh doesn’t feature at all.

Una also has some interesting meanings in other languages. In Italian and Spanish, una is the feminine indefinite pronoun – i.e. ‘a’ – as well as ‘one’, just like in Latin.

In the South American language Tupi, una means ‘black’, and features in the name of the mythical South American snake the boyuna ‘black snake’, while in Old Norse, una means ‘to dwell contentedly’, ‘to enjoy’, ‘to rejoice’ and ‘to be content with (one’s lot)’.

There are various rivers and towns around the world called Una too, such as the Una River in Croatia, and Una in Gujurat, India. There’s even a genus of butterfly called Una.

So if you’re thinking Luna, but worried it’s too Harry Potter, why not consider the lovely, lonely Una instead?

Read Full Post »

Sneak Peek Week II — Iolo

Iolo Morganwg

For the penultimate day of Sneak Peek Week, I’m coming home to Wales, to bring you a name little known outside the Principality — except perhaps, by Druids: Iolo (pronounced ‘yol-oh’) — and friends.

Iolo ♂

A Welsh name with a somewhat disputed history. It is mostly regarded today as a pet-form of IORWETH, but it is argued by some that it is actually the Welsh form of JULIUS. Bearers: Iolo Morgannwg, the Bardic name of Edward Williams (1747-1826), often called the father of Modern Druidry, whose work the Barddas was highly influential in the Druid revival.

Iorwerth ♂

Welsh: iôr ‘lord’ + gwerth ‘worth’. A name borne by numerous figures in Welsh history, it is one of a handful of genuinely Welsh names which have remained in constant use since at least medieval times. Anglicized as Yorath. Variant: Iorath.

Julius ♂

The gens Julia is probably the most famous of all the Roman families. It claimed descent from the Trojan Hero Aeneas, son of Venus through his son Ascanius, who was also called Iulus. The legend has it that he was originally called Ilus – from Ilia, another name for Troy — but his name was corrupted. In fact, it is more likely that the name is a diminutive form of Iovis, the genitive of Jupiter (and from which we get Jove), and that the family was originally dedicated to him. Used since the 16^th Century – often as Julius Caesar. Bearers: Julius Henry ‘Groucho’ Marx (1890-1977), the US comic actor; Julius Rosenberg (1918-53), whose execution as a communist spy during the McCarthy era remains controversial. Italian: Giulio, Hungarian: Gyula, French: JULES, Portuguese, Spanish: Julio, Polish: Juliusz, Russian: Yuliy.

Read Full Post »

Sneak Peek Week II — Jack

Today’s sneak peek is Jack — which was the most popular boy’s name in the UK for over fifteen years, until yesterday’s Oliver knocked it off the top spot in 2009.

Jack ♂

Pet-form of JOHN, used since the Middle Ages. It developed from the earlier medieval pet-form Jankin (which gave rise to the surnames Jenkin, Jenkins, Jenkinson, Jenks and Jinks, etc). It was very common in the late medieval period, and came into use as a generic name for a man or male creature, such as Jack Tar. Some uses have become so engrained the fact that the name Jack is involved almost goes unnoticed, such as steeplejack, jackass and JACKDAW. The name features particularly highly in folklore. Jack Frost is frost personified; a spirit of Winter who draws fern-patterns on icy glass-panes. Jack-in-the-green is a name of the Green Man, and jack-o’lantern is another name for the will-o’-the-wisp. Several surnames derive from it, including Jack, Jacks, Jaggs, Jakes, Jeeks, Jacket, Jacklin, Jackman and JACKSON. Before the 20^th Century, most Jacks were baptized John, even if they only ever used Jack all of their lives. Dim: Jackie, Jacky. Bearers: Jack Parsons (1914-52) – whose birth name was Marvel – was a notable American Thelemite, who is also known for the work he did at Caltech in rocket propulsion.

John ♂

The English form of Hebrew Johanan ‘Yahweh has favored’; John developed from the Latin form Iohannes, later Johannes, from the Greek Iôannês. Johanan was an extremely common name amongst Jews in the 1^st Century CE, and, as the name of the John the Baptist and the Evangelist responsible for one of the Gospels and the Book of Revelation, it was always going to become a popular name among the Christians. St John the Baptist was regarded as second only to Jesus — so it should come as no surprise that when Jesus got the festival of the Winter Solstice for his feast day, John was apportioned the summer one. The name wasn’t used much in Western Europe until the 1^st Crusade (1095-99), after which hundreds of churches were dedicated to St John, and the name was bestowed upon countless baby boys. Variants: Jon (modern). Diminutives: JACK, JAKE, JOCK, Johnny, Johnnie, Jonny, HANK; Hankin, Hancock, Jankin, Jenkin (historical). Manx: Ean, Irish Gaelic: EOIN, SEÁN, Italian: Giovanni, Gianni, Gino (diminutive), Albanian: Gjon, German: Hans, Johann, Johannes, Finnish: Hannu, Jani, Joni, Jukka, Maori: Hoani, Armenian: Hovhannes, Scots Gaelic: IAIN, Seon; Seonaidh (diminutive), Bulgarian, Welsh: IOAN, Greek: Ioannis, Giannis, Yannis, YANIS, Welsh: IEUAN, IFAN,  Iwan, SÎON, Basque, Romanian: Ion Russian, Czech, Serbian, Croatian: Ivan, Dutch, Polish: JAN, Estonian: Jaan, Slovenian: Janez, Latvian: JANIS, Hungarian: János, French: JEAN, Danish: Jens, Portuguese: João, Catalan: Joan, Dutch, Danish, German, Swedish: JOHAN, Macedonian: JOVAN, Cornish: Jowan, Icelandic: Jón, Dutch: Joop (diminutive), Spanish: Juan, Hawaian: Keoni, Galician: Xoán, Arabic, Turkish: Yahya, Breton: Yann; YANNICK (diminutive). Bearers: King John of England (1167-1216); John Dee (1527-1608), the astrologer and ceremonial magician – among many other things; John Aubrey (1629-97), the English antiquarian, was one of the first people to study Stonehenge; John Toland (1670-1722), the Irish philosopher, founded the Ancient Druid Order in 1717; John Keats (1795-1821), the English poet; John Galsworthy (1867-1933), the English novelist; John Adams (1735-1826) and John F. Kennedy (1917-63), US Presidents Numerous men tried and executed for Witchcraft have borne the name John, including John Proctor (c.1632-92) and John Willard (bef. 1672-92) at Salem, Massachusetts in 1692, and John Lindsay (c.1688-97), who was one of those convicted and executed at Paisley, Scotland, in 1697, aged just 11 years old.

Read Full Post »

Sneak Peek Week II — Oliver

The paladin Oliver features in the French medieval epic the Song of Roland

Beginning Sneak Peek II is Oliver — the most popular boy’s name in the UK  for the 2nd year running in 2010, but only 88th in the US (though climbing quickly).

Oliver ♂

Oliver is usually derived from the Old French: olivier < Latin: olivarus ‘an olive tree’, but it is quite likely that its real ‘roots’ lie with OLAF. It was the name of one of the paladins (chief warriors) of Charlemagne, and was popular in medieval France and England. Diminutives: Ollie, Olly; Noll (historical). Bearers: Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658), Lord Protector of Britain during the Commonwealth; Oliver Goldsmith (1730-74), the Anglo-Irish playwright; Oliver Reed (1938-99), the British actor; Oliver Stone (b.1945), the US film director; Oliver Twist, eponymous hero Dickens’ novel of 1838; Oliver Haddo in Somerset Maugham’s The Magician (1908) – the character was modeled on Aleister Crowley, and Crowley himself used it as a pseudonym in a piece accusing Maugham of plagiarism.

Olaf ♂

The modern form of the Old Norse: Óleifr and Anleifr – ano ‘ancestor’ + leifr ‘relics’. It was a very popular Norse name, borne by six kings of Norway. Scots Gaelic: Amhladh – Anglicized as AULAY; Irish Gaelic: Amhlaoibh – Anglicized as Auliffe.

Olive ♀

The olive has been cultivated for thousands of years for its fruit and the oil produced from it, which has been used for cooking, lighting and the cleansing of the skin since ancient times. According to Greek mythology, the olive was the gift of Athene to Athens, sprouting from her staff which she plunged into the Earth on the Acropolis. The olive was also associated with Olympia, where the victors’ crowns in its famous games were woven of olive leaves. Brides in Greece wore a chaplet of olive leaves – as such it was a symbol of both chastity and fertility. It has also long been a symbol of peace. It is ruled by the Sun and Fire. Latin: oliva ‘olive’, ‘olive tree’ and ‘olive branch’. Oliva was the name of an early and obscure Roman saint, and was adopted as a girl’s name in the Middle Ages. This became Oliff and Olive in the vernacular. It was re-embraced enthusiastically in the late 19^th Century, along with other names of flowers and shrubs. Bearers: Olive Shreiner (1855-1920), the South African feminist, pacifist and writer, best known for The Story of an African Farm (1883). Olive (1850) was a novel by Dinah Craik.

Read Full Post »

Nook of Names Pick of the Week — Augustus

Statue of Augustus in Ravenna

How can I not take a look at Augustus in August?

Often, when a name resembles a word, it’s purely coincidental.

But where Augustus and August are concerned, the similarity is about as far from coincidental as it is possible to be.

Quite simply, without Augustus, August simply wouldn’t exist.

Or, rather, the month we call August, would be called something else. Possibly Sextil, from its original Latin name Sextilis.

Doesn’t quite have the same ring, does it!

The name Augustus is a direct adoption of the Latin augustus, a powerful word with a whole ripening orchard of meaning — it is ‘majestic’, ‘venerable’, ‘worthy of honor’, ‘consecrated’, ‘sacred’ and ‘revered’.

Augustus derives from the verb augeo. This has the basic meaning of ‘increase’ and ‘nourish’. Further senses include ‘strengthen’, ‘enrich’, ‘magnify’, ‘extol’,  ‘praise’ and ‘exalt’.

At an early date, in Pagan Rome, it took on the religious language of ‘reverence’, ‘honor’ and ‘worship with offerings’.

Augustus (and August) are not the only words we get from this important verb. Others, which all serve to color Augustus itself, include, auction, augment, author, authority and auxiliary.

Also possibly connected is augury — its origin is disputed, however; there is a strong case to be made that it derives from avis ‘bird’ + -gar from garrio ‘to talk’ and ‘chatter’.

Augustus was first used as a name when it was adopted in 27 BCE by Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus, the ‘last man standing’ after decades of internal strife and civil war at Rome. In that year, Augustus became ‘Imperator’ — ‘Emperor’ — of Rome; the Roman Republic died, and the Empire began.

Right from the moment Augustus assumed the name, Augustus was partly a name, partly a title — fairly comparable to the ‘His/Her Majesty’ and ‘His/Her Royal Highness’ prefixed to the names of the British royal family today. All Roman emperors after the Emperor Augustus took the name Augustus upon their ascension to the imperial throne.

The precedent for naming a month in honor of an individual was set in 44 BCE, in the aftermath of Julius Caesar’s assassination. Augustus didn’t even have to wait until he was dead; the Roman month of Sextilis became mensis Augustus in 8BCE. And (essentially) August has been August ever since.

Inevitably there is a Saint Augustus — three, to be precise, though two of them are modern.

But the earliest is 6th Century.

A 15th Century illumination of the Coronation of Philip Augustus

In the 12th Century, the French King Phillip II (1165-1223) acquired Augustus as a sobriquet  because he was born in August.

Augustus, however, doesn’t seem to have been used as a proper given name until the 16th Century, and it wasn’t until the 18th Century that the name started to see much use in the English-speaking world.

Possibly the earliest attested bearer is Sigismund Augustus, King of Poland, who was born in 1520.  Another early bearer — probably responsible for its later popularity in the royal houses of Germany — was Augustus, Elector of Saxony (1526-86).

And it was the German royal house of Hanover — the ruling house of Great Britain from 1714 — which was responsible for kick-starting the name’s use in Britain and America.

The full name of King George II was George Augustus — named after his grandfather, Ernest Augustus (1629-98). He named one of his sons William Augustus in 1721.

The second son of Frederick, Prince of Wales was Edward Augustus (1739-67).

Portrait of Prince Augustus Frederick by Thomas Gainsborough

King George III liked the name so much that he used it five times:

• George Augustus Frederick — later King George IV — born 1762
• Frederick Augustus — born 1763
• Edward Augustus — born 1767 (named after his dead uncle)
• Ernest Augustus — born 1771
• Augustus Frederick born 1773

(And he used Augusta for two of his daughters!)

Since then, there has been many an interesting and noteworthy Augustus.  The architect Augustus Pugin (1812-52), father of the  Gothic Revival, and artist Augustus John (1878-1961) are two of my personal favorites.

With its imperial, royal and aristocratic connections, it is a name that has gained ‘airs’. It has seen a lot of use in literature — sadly not always terribly favorable. Probably the worst is Augustus Gloop, in Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. More recently, J.K.’s use of it for Death-Eater Augustus Rookwood hasn’t exactly changed its image.

But there are more positive Augusti; Augustus ‘Gus’ McCrae in Larry McMurtry’s Lonesome Dove novels, and Augustus/Gus Coverly in Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia are just two from recent years.

Both serve to highlight the fact that the regal Augustus shortens beautifully and naturally to the cheerful and approachable Gus.

There are other related names too; Augustine — the English form of Latin Augustinus ‘belonging to Augustus’ — is a bit of a mouthful, but its vernacular form Austin is the most popular and familiar of the Augustus family at the moment. Then there are the non-English forms — French Auguste, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish Augusto, Lithuanian Augustas and Finnish Aukusti (which has the rather nice short form Kusti).

And, of course, the German, Dutch and Polish August — identical in appearance, if not pronunciation with the English month, which is also in use in the English-speaking world nowadays, as a name in its own right.

Which, like the turning of the year, returns us nicely back to where we started — the bounteous and happy month of August!

Read Full Post »

The Blessings of Betony

I have been blessed this year with a magnificent patch of white betony in my herb garden. Its malachite green leaves and spikes of creamy-white flowers have taken over a whole bed!

Several years ago, I encountered a girl called Betony, and it struck me immediately what a marvelous girl’s name it made.

Her sister had the equally beautiful name of Aster — but that’s another story.

Betony comes from Late Latin betonica, itself from the classical vetonnica. Pliny recorded that this was the name given to the plant by the Gauls, who were said to have named it after the Vettones — a Celtiberian tribe — whom they claimed were the first to discover its properties.

Whatever the truth of the origins of its name, it is known that betony has been one of the most prized of all herbs since ancient times; its reknown was so great that it was believed that even animals knew of its powers, and a stag injured by an arrow — but not killed — would seek out betony, eat it, and be healed.

The Anglo-Saxons, in particular, valued it above all other herbs.

By the Middle Ages, it was regarded as a panacea, and used to treat almost anything, from dog-bites to toothache, jaundice to gout.

An old saying, originating in Sussex, was, ‘sell your coat and buy betony’, testimony to the high esteem in which it was held.

No physic garden was ever without it, and even today, it can still be found growing around the ruins of monasteries.

By the 20th century, it had become neglected, but modern herbalists are using it once more, and incorporating it in treatments for some headaches and neuralgia, as well as anxiety — always among its foremost uses.

A weak betony tea (not all that dissimilar in taste to normal tea) taken three times a day is still reckoned a good treatment for tension-related headaches and to soothe period pain.

It is also still considered useful for treating diarrhoea and indigestion.

Be warned though, fresh leaves are said to cause intoxication, and it is not a herb to be used in pregnancy.

But in the days of yore, betony wasn’t just rated for its medicinal qualities. It was considered to be a powerful herb of magic, offering protection against ‘the dark arts’ and ‘evil spirits’.

As a result, it was often planted in churchyards, and by houses. People would wear it to guard against ‘fearful visions’ and to drive away ‘devils and despair’.

Even today, many witches and druids still use betony to protect the soul and the body against harm.

A further interesting ancient folk belief regarding betony was that snakes would fight and kill each other wherever betony had been planted in a ring.

As a girl’s name, Betony is very rare, and what use it has seen has largely been since the 1970s.

But with poor old Betty now seemingly thoroughly out to pasture, and Betsy only just starting to rise again in the UK, Betony — with all its rich and evocative layers of meaning — could be seen as providing a distinctly contemporary alternative.

Read Full Post »

The Magical Names of Stonewylde

Today sees the publication of Shadows at Stonewylde the fourth book in the Stonewylde Series by Kit Berry. For those who don’t know it, Stonewylde is an ancient estate deep in a forgotton corner of Dorset, England. It is a beautiful, idyllic place, where the inhabitants live in unison with the gentle rhythms of the land, at one with Mother Earth, marking out the turning of the seasons with time-honoured traditions. But beneath the surface, not all is well — or good…

To mark the occasion, here are some of the best names from the series (so far!):

Yul. Yul is the hero of the series. He was born at the Winter Solstice, hence his name — a variant of Yule. For centuries this was the usual name for Christmas and Christmastide and remained the more usual form in Scotland and Northern Counties until recent times. It comes from the Old English: ʓeōl, cognate with the Old Norse: jól – the Norse Pagan midwinter festival lasting twelve days. These days, it is now the most commonly used Pagan term for the Winter Solstice. Yule was used as a personal name in the Middle Ages — probably for those born at Christmastide — and a feminine form Yula is recorded.

Sylvie. The books’ heroine. The ethereal Sylvie is a slight-framed girl with striking silver-blond hair. She also has a mysterious affinity with the moon. Named because of her silver hair, Sylvie is the French form of Sylvia, the usual modern spelling of Latin Silvia, the feminine of Silvius, a name borne by a number of legendary kings of Alba Longa in Latium. It derives from Latin: silva ‘a wood’. Rhea Silvia is the mother of Romulus and Remus by the God Mars. Her name may indicate that she is in reality a woodland deity or nymph, although in the myth she is simply a mortal princess.

Solstice. The name of the original Magus — a special Stonewylde title used of Stonewylde’s lord and master.  Solstice — invariably called Sol — was born at the Summer Solstice. The word comes from the Latin: solstitium, itself from sol ‘sun’ + stito ‘to stand still’. The Summer Solstice is popularly called Midsummer; in Pagan circles, it is often called Litha or Alban Hefin. Vestiges of Pagan celebration survive across Europe, such as the Latvian Jāņi – though whether this gets its name from St John — who took over the Summer Solstice — or the solar God Janis is not known for certain! Even in Victorian England, ancient rites still abounded; young women would creep into churchyards at night to sow hemp seed as a charm to reveal their future husbands!

Eclipse — usually called Clip — is Sol’s brother. He is a somewhat nomadic shaman and story-teller. He gained his name because he born at an eclipse. Eclipse is an Old French word from Latin eclipsis, itself from the Greek ekleipô ‘to fail’  — i.e. fail to appear. In the past, eclipses were viewed as portentous – especially solar ones.

Miranda. Sylvie’s flame-haired mother. Miranda derives from the Latin: mirandus ‘worthy of admiration’ from the verb miror ‘to admire’, and first appears in Shakespeare’s The Tempest.

Leveret. Yul’s younger sister. A leveret is a baby hare. It comes from levrette, an Old French diminutive form of levre ‘hare’. Leveret is also a surname — deriving from the same source — which is found as a given name in real life from as early as the 17th Century.

Maizie. Yul’s mother. A variant of Maisie, itself a Scottish pet-form of Margaret. The spelling with a ‘z’ hints of maize, in keeping with the preference at Stonewylde for names from Nature.

Rufus. An entirely new character for Shadows! Rufus is Miranda’s son by the original Magus. The name simply means ‘red’ and ‘ruddy’ in Latin. It was a very common cognomen (surname) in Roman times, especially for people with red hair, and there is more than one St Rufus. In times past, it was also used as a nickname — one of the most famous examples being William Rufus (c.1058-1100), a.k.a. King William II of England. Evidence of its use as a genuine given name dates from the 16^th Century

Merewen — an artist, in charge of painting the stones at the circle in preparation for festivals. It is form of the Old English name Mærwynn, from mær ‘famous’ and wynn ‘joy’; other forms include Merewina, Merewin, and Meriwenna — the usual form employed for 10th Century saint of the name.

Gefrin. Yul’s younger brother. Gefrin is an important Anglo-Saxon site in Northumberland, the seat of the Kings of Bernicia. Gefrin itself is of Celtic origin, sharing the same source as Welsh gafr ‘goat’ and bryn ‘hill’.

Sweyn. And another brother! A variant of the English swain, little found outside of poetry any more, but it is an old English word for a young man, specifically a servant of a knight. It is exactly cognate with the Old Norse sveinn from which the popular Scandinavian name Sven derives. This has long been used as a name — the Vikings introduced it to Britain too, in the Middle Ages, and it is responsible for a number of English surnames, such as Swann, Swain and Swayne.

Read Full Post »

Surnames as First Names: English Surnames — D

Darben

More surnames as first names; all of English, Anglo-French or Norse origin, which have so far seen hardly any use as given names.

Today, it’s the turn of D.

• Dacre — from Dacre in Cumbria, or various places called Acre. Dacre is named after Dacre Beck, from the Common Celtic *dakro- ‘tear’; usually translated as ‘the trickling one’, while Acre is from the Old English æcer‘newly cultivated land’.
• Dallam, Dalham — from Dalham, Suffolk. Old English dæl ‘valley’ + hām ‘village’, ‘estate’, ‘manor’, ‘homestead’
• Dallyn — from Dalling, Norfolk. Old English personal name Dalla + –ingas ‘family/following’
• Damerell — from Aumale in France. This was originally Alba Margila ‘white marl’.
• Danby — from Danby in Yorkshire. Old Norse Dana ‘of the Danes’ + bý ‘farmstead’, ‘village’ and ‘settlement’.
• Danvers — from Anvers, an old form of Antwerp.
• Darben — from Middle English deore ‘dear’ + bearn ‘child’.
• Darley — from Darley, Derbyshire. Old English dēor ‘deer’ + lēah ‘wood’, ‘woodland clearing’, ‘glade’, ‘pasture’ and ‘meadow’.
• Darlow — Old English dierne ‘secret’ + lufu ‘love’. Arose as a nickname.
• Daubenay — from one of the places called Aubigny in France, deriving from its Gallo-Roman name Albinacum, from the Gaulish or Roman personal name Albinus or Albinius, either from the Common Celtic *albiyo- ‘(upper) world’ and ‘white’ or Latin albus ‘white’.
• Daventry — from Daventry, Northamptonshire. Old English personal name *Dafa (perhaps from dafen ‘suitable’) + trēow ‘tree’.
• Dayne — from Old French dein ‘worthy’ and ‘honorable’, deigne ‘haughty’ or deien ‘dean’. Has sneaked into the top 1000 just once, in 2000.
• Debney — either from Daubenay, or from the Middle French dieubeneye ‘God bless’.
• Decker — although in the UK this would automatically bring to mind double decker buses, I don’t think it carries such connotations elsewhere! Middle English dykkere – ‘ditcher’ – i.e. someone who digs and repairs ditches.
  
• Delacour — Old French de la court ‘from the manor’.
• Delamond — Old French de la mont ‘from the hill’.
• Delver — from Middle English delvere ‘delver’, i.e. ‘digger’ and ‘quarryman’.
• Denby — from one of the places of the name. Old English Dena ‘of the Danes’ + Old Norse bý ‘farmstead’, ‘village’ and ‘settlement’.
• Denry — from Old French denrée ‘penny-worth’. Also Darry.
• Derolf — from the Old English name Dēorwulf — dēore ‘dear’ + wulf ‘wolf’.
• Devereux — from Evreux in France, itself from the Celtic tribe the Eburovices, who took their name from the river Ebura, possibly considered a Goddess. From the Common Celtic *eburo- ‘yew’.
• Dockeray — from Dockray, Cumbria. Old English docce ‘dock (the plant)’ or ‘water-lily’ + Old Norse vrá ‘nook’. Also Dockery.
• Dorey, Dory — from French doré ‘golden’.
• Douceamour — Old French douce amour ‘sweetheart’.
• Draker — Middle English drakere ‘standard-bearer’ from Old English draca ‘dragon’.
• Dray — Middle English dregh ‘enduring’, ‘patient’, ‘stalwart’, ‘fierce’, but also ‘slow’. Variant: Drey.
• Drayton — from one of the places of the name. Old English dræg ‘sledge’ and ‘dray’ + tūn ‘enclosure’, ‘village’, ‘farmstead’, ‘manor’, ‘estate’.
• Drury — Old French druirie ‘love token’.
• Durham — from the famous, historic city. Old English dūn ‘hill’ + Old Norse holmr ‘island’, ‘river-meadow’,
• Dutton — from one of the places of the name. Old English dūn ‘hill’ + tūn ‘enclosure’, ‘village’, ‘farmstead’, ‘manor’, ‘estate’
• Dyster — from Middle English deystere ‘(female) dyer’.

Read Full Post »