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ArchivesRe: Help with meanings of Filipino names
in reply to a message by thegriffon
Well. You mention some quite interesting (and accurate, as far as I can tell) facts about the multi-faceted language sitation in the Philippines, and about the many ways that names start with a well-defined meaning, but then change and change again over time until it's hard not get dizzy...
But: So what? We can still try, can't we? And see how far we can go, which sometimes indeed is not far, and other times nowhere at all, with names that are a complete mystery.
If you check my list of names that are frequently used in the Philippines (which I list, for the sake of simplicity, under the label "Tagalog"), you will see that many of the really traditional names are written identically to common, everyday Tagalog words.
No *guarantee*, as you correctly argue, that the names really *are* the common words, but come on, what's the probability of a particular name just written the same way, but with a completely different etymology, in a country where many signs point towards a fondness of using everyday words as names in earlier times?
You may strive for near-perfection and near 100% certainties; I confess that I am content with less, to a reasonable degree.
But: So what? We can still try, can't we? And see how far we can go, which sometimes indeed is not far, and other times nowhere at all, with names that are a complete mystery.
If you check my list of names that are frequently used in the Philippines (which I list, for the sake of simplicity, under the label "Tagalog"), you will see that many of the really traditional names are written identically to common, everyday Tagalog words.
No *guarantee*, as you correctly argue, that the names really *are* the common words, but come on, what's the probability of a particular name just written the same way, but with a completely different etymology, in a country where many signs point towards a fondness of using everyday words as names in earlier times?
You may strive for near-perfection and near 100% certainties; I confess that I am content with less, to a reasonable degree.
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