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ArchivesXiomara -- Germanic or Celtic?
Several sources seem to interpret the name Xiomara, which is now becoming fashionable with Hispanic parents in the USA, as a Spanish form of the Germanic name Guiomar. This site has that interpretation, though it does say "possibly".
I have just discovered, however, that there is a famous woman in history with the name who was not German. That is Chiomara, wife of the ancient Galatian leader Ortagion, who is the subject of a legend saying she was kidnapped and raped by a Roman centurion, and then tricked that centurion while she was being returned to her husband, and beheaded him, making the remark that she preferred to have only one man who had had intercourse with her alive at one time. Her story was first written in Greek, and the "Ch" of the spelling of her name in English was "X" in Greek, as shown by this article in the online Ancient Library:
http://ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/0703.html
The Galatians were the Celtic people who invaded and settled in what is now central Turkey. So wouldn't Xiomara be a Greek or Latin form of some Celtic name, and not Germanic at all? If so, are there any experts in Celtic languages on this board who could give a Celtic interpretation for Chiomara or Xiomara? The story about the original namebearer is so dramatic that I can easily see it being introduced into Latin America, or Spain itself, through some literary reference to her, instead of being an alteration of Guiomar.
Here is another online reference to the legend of Chiomara:
http://ancientworlds.net/aw/Post/142344
Interestingly, Chiomara is also the name of a genus of butterflies, though, as with the genus of butterflies called Vanessa, the butterflies were probably named after the legendary character.
I have just discovered, however, that there is a famous woman in history with the name who was not German. That is Chiomara, wife of the ancient Galatian leader Ortagion, who is the subject of a legend saying she was kidnapped and raped by a Roman centurion, and then tricked that centurion while she was being returned to her husband, and beheaded him, making the remark that she preferred to have only one man who had had intercourse with her alive at one time. Her story was first written in Greek, and the "Ch" of the spelling of her name in English was "X" in Greek, as shown by this article in the online Ancient Library:
http://ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/0703.html
The Galatians were the Celtic people who invaded and settled in what is now central Turkey. So wouldn't Xiomara be a Greek or Latin form of some Celtic name, and not Germanic at all? If so, are there any experts in Celtic languages on this board who could give a Celtic interpretation for Chiomara or Xiomara? The story about the original namebearer is so dramatic that I can easily see it being introduced into Latin America, or Spain itself, through some literary reference to her, instead of being an alteration of Guiomar.
Here is another online reference to the legend of Chiomara:
http://ancientworlds.net/aw/Post/142344
Interestingly, Chiomara is also the name of a genus of butterflies, though, as with the genus of butterflies called Vanessa, the butterflies were probably named after the legendary character.
This message was edited 8/12/2006, 10:22 AM
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Replies
No idea about XIOMARA - just refering to VANESSA
Hi, Cleveland,
I'm afraid I have nothing to say about XIOAMARA/CHIOMARA. I have never heard of either.
I was just wondering what you meant, when you said "as with the genus of butterflies called Vanessa, the butterflies were probably named after the legendary character." - What "legendary character" do you refer to in the case of VANESSA?
Also I'm taking the chance in a completely different matter: I will be going to the States for one year a week from now. I would love to call your new name book my own there. I wlll have one day in Seattle, before I go to a place with no internet. And I'm not sure whether I'll find a book store in Seattle that has your book in store. But I do have a Master Card. So would you please give me the exact data of your book (ISBN + title; I had all of this written down, but it got lost in the procedure of our move) once more so I can go and ask and have it sent to the place where I will be.
Also I am looking for a co-author for two projects I have in mind for the American market. Maybe you could E-mail me at:
mail@andreas-brosch.de
Thanks in advance!
Andy
Hi, Cleveland,
I'm afraid I have nothing to say about XIOAMARA/CHIOMARA. I have never heard of either.
I was just wondering what you meant, when you said "as with the genus of butterflies called Vanessa, the butterflies were probably named after the legendary character." - What "legendary character" do you refer to in the case of VANESSA?
Also I'm taking the chance in a completely different matter: I will be going to the States for one year a week from now. I would love to call your new name book my own there. I wlll have one day in Seattle, before I go to a place with no internet. And I'm not sure whether I'll find a book store in Seattle that has your book in store. But I do have a Master Card. So would you please give me the exact data of your book (ISBN + title; I had all of this written down, but it got lost in the procedure of our move) once more so I can go and ask and have it sent to the place where I will be.
Also I am looking for a co-author for two projects I have in mind for the American market. Maybe you could E-mail me at:
mail@andreas-brosch.de
Thanks in advance!
Andy
1
I have been on vacation for a while and so just saw this.
Sorry to confuse you by using the phrase "legendary character". The original Vanessa is a character in the poem by the Irish author Jonathan Swift titled Cadenus and Vanessa. He created the name to honor his friend Esther VanHomrigh by blending the Van from her surname with "-essa", short for Esther. So in Vanessa's case the "legend" is the one written by Swift.
Sorry to confuse you by using the phrase "legendary character". The original Vanessa is a character in the poem by the Irish author Jonathan Swift titled Cadenus and Vanessa. He created the name to honor his friend Esther VanHomrigh by blending the Van from her surname with "-essa", short for Esther. So in Vanessa's case the "legend" is the one written by Swift.
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VANESSA
Thanks for clearing this up, Cleve. We have had posters on this board with some remarkable ideas about Vanessa (Phanessa) being an ancient goddess meaning "butterflie". But I couldn't imagine you spreading such ideas.
Btw there is a species of butterflies called „Vanessa Fabricius 1807“. Which means it was named after a guy called Fabricius in the year 1807. And he was obviously a fan of Jonathan Swift. Or do you have any evidence that the given name Vanessa turned up before that time?
Thanks for clearing this up, Cleve. We have had posters on this board with some remarkable ideas about Vanessa (Phanessa) being an ancient goddess meaning "butterflie". But I couldn't imagine you spreading such ideas.
Btw there is a species of butterflies called „Vanessa Fabricius 1807“. Which means it was named after a guy called Fabricius in the year 1807. And he was obviously a fan of Jonathan Swift. Or do you have any evidence that the given name Vanessa turned up before that time?
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I think you have the name a little off. The butterfly genus wasn't named after Fabricius, it was named by Fabricius in 1807. I wrote an article on this issue titled How Vanessa Became a Butterfly: A Psychologist's Adventure in Entomological Etymology which appeared in 1993 in Names, the journal of the American Name Society.
The "Phanessa" idea is a corruption of a theory originally proposed by Flora Gaines Loughead, who wrote one of the first baby name books published in the USA, Dictionary of Given Names. Loughead actually said that Vanessa was from Phanes, the name of an obscure god (NOT a "goddess" called "Phanessa"). I think her theory is unlikely, because Fabricius, as an educated scientist of his generation, would have simply used Phanes as the name for the genus of butterflies if he wanted to name them after the god, instead of altering that name to Vanessa. It is much more likely that Fabricius named the genus after the character in Swift's poem, especially since this genus is most closely related to another genus called Nymphalidae, and the character Vanessa is called a "nymph" several times in Swift's poem.
The "Phanessa" idea is a corruption of a theory originally proposed by Flora Gaines Loughead, who wrote one of the first baby name books published in the USA, Dictionary of Given Names. Loughead actually said that Vanessa was from Phanes, the name of an obscure god (NOT a "goddess" called "Phanessa"). I think her theory is unlikely, because Fabricius, as an educated scientist of his generation, would have simply used Phanes as the name for the genus of butterflies if he wanted to name them after the god, instead of altering that name to Vanessa. It is much more likely that Fabricius named the genus after the character in Swift's poem, especially since this genus is most closely related to another genus called Nymphalidae, and the character Vanessa is called a "nymph" several times in Swift's poem.
This message was edited 8/24/2006, 2:41 PM
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Thanks for the info! This is really interesting!
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