Date
Meaning & History
Latinized form of the Greek name Θυμβραίος (Thymbraios), of which the meaning is uncertain. It could have been derived from the Greek noun θύμβρα (thymbra) "savory", which refers to a herb now known as Satureja thymbra. Another possibility is that the name is derived from Greek Θύμβρα (Thymbra), which was the name of a city near Troy. Thymbraios would then roughly mean "of Thymbra". The city was also sometimes called Θύμβρη (Thymbre), and it is unknown what the city's name is ultimately derived from. Finally, it is also possible that Thymbraios is a compound name, in which case the first element is either derived from Greek θῦμα (thyma) meaning "victim, sacrifice" or from Greek θυμός (thymos) meaning "soul, spirit". Also compare the Greek verb θυμόω (thymoo) meaning "to make angry, to provoke". As for the second element, it is unknown what it could have been derived from. In Greek mythology, Thymbraeus was a son of the Trojan priest Laocoön. He was suffocated by sea serpents, along with his father and his brother Antiphantes.