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ArchivesRe: History of Lorelei?
in reply to a message by serendipity2004
Actually, a friend and I did a long search for the meaning of this name and here's what we got:
Lorelei comes from Loreley, a rock in the Rhine where the German myth was to have taken place. Translating a German site on the rock and the naming of the rock told us that "lur(e)" means "lurk, ambush" and "lei/ley/leia" simply means "rock". So, as this site lists, Lorelei means "ambush rock".
That's the earliest definition I could find. I'm not sure when the myth came about, but I'm assuming it was after the rock had established the name.
Myself... I would still use it. The name Dolores, for example, means "pains" in Spanish (from the latin "dolor" (pain)), but it was a very popular name in the 1930's. It seems that only certain names retain the tarnish of a bad meaning.
And, like you pointed out, most people don't know their mythology anyway. More people will probable know the song Lorelei by Styx, than will know the Germanic myth.
Lorelei comes from Loreley, a rock in the Rhine where the German myth was to have taken place. Translating a German site on the rock and the naming of the rock told us that "lur(e)" means "lurk, ambush" and "lei/ley/leia" simply means "rock". So, as this site lists, Lorelei means "ambush rock".
That's the earliest definition I could find. I'm not sure when the myth came about, but I'm assuming it was after the rock had established the name.
Myself... I would still use it. The name Dolores, for example, means "pains" in Spanish (from the latin "dolor" (pain)), but it was a very popular name in the 1930's. It seems that only certain names retain the tarnish of a bad meaning.
And, like you pointed out, most people don't know their mythology anyway. More people will probable know the song Lorelei by Styx, than will know the Germanic myth.
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