• DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social
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    2 days ago

    It keeps blowing my mind when I learn that other languages haven’t obfuscated the meanings of names behind two thousand years of linguistic divergence.

    Your name almost certainly means something basic too, you just don’t remember what it is.

    • balsoft@lemmy.ml
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      1 day ago

      Yep. Some common names:

      Steve ← Steven ← Stephanus ← στέφανος = crown (or wealth)

      Linda ← -linde = tender, soft

      James ← Iacomus ← Iacobus ← Ἰάκωβος ← Ἰακώβ ← יַעֲקֹב = heel, footprint / follow, watch, observe

      Karen ← Catherine ← Αἰκατερίνη ← Ἑκάτη = one who works from far away (referring to a goddess)

      • ilinamorato@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        And “Tiffany” may sound like a very 20th-century American name, but it actually dates back to the early 13th century and is based on a Greek word that’s even older. The “Tiffany Problem” is a really interesting phenomenon in the anthropological/perceptual space based on that.

        Tiffany ← Tifinie ← Θεοφάνεια = “God’s arrival/appearance”

        It’s also more closely related to the name “Natalie” than you might think, at least etymologically.

        Natalie ←Natalia ←natale domini = “birth of the Lord” (Latin)