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Help[Facts] Anthony, true origin
Hello,
I just notice you list Anthony as a roman name, starting with Anthony and Cleopatra.
However Anthony (as it's "th" shows) is of Greek origin.
Anthon was the son of Hercules, and all his sons made up the clan of Antonides (part of Heraclides). Each descendant of this clan was called Anthonios (son of Anthon).
Plutarch mentions this in his "Life of Anthonios" chapter 4, section 2.
I just notice you list Anthony as a roman name, starting with Anthony and Cleopatra.
However Anthony (as it's "th" shows) is of Greek origin.
Anthon was the son of Hercules, and all his sons made up the clan of Antonides (part of Heraclides). Each descendant of this clan was called Anthonios (son of Anthon).
Plutarch mentions this in his "Life of Anthonios" chapter 4, section 2.
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Replies
Beware of propagada, only the word is a modern invention ;)
Marcus Antonius invented Anton, son of Hercules, in order to claim descent from him.
see - http://bit.ly/2ow6H (shortened link to book on Google books)
Plutarch may have been born a Greek, but became a Roman citizen.
This site says the th was added due to a mistaken belief that the name derived from the Greek Anthos, flower. I'm sure it can be substantiated that that spelling only appears later.
Sorry spent too long finding links, Lumia's reply is better :)
Marcus Antonius invented Anton, son of Hercules, in order to claim descent from him.
see - http://bit.ly/2ow6H (shortened link to book on Google books)
Plutarch may have been born a Greek, but became a Roman citizen.
This site says the th was added due to a mistaken belief that the name derived from the Greek Anthos, flower. I'm sure it can be substantiated that that spelling only appears later.
Sorry spent too long finding links, Lumia's reply is better :)
This message was edited 9/8/2009, 6:53 AM
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The TH is spurious, an English addition from 16th c. By the way, the form used by Plutarch is with T and not with TH, even in the chapter 4, section 2, as you can see at the Greek text:
http://books.google.cat/books?id=Pet9U_4cC7IC&pg=PA51&lpg=PA51&dq=plutarch+anthonios&source=bl&ots=JF1sRuzedg&sig=z7XqHDl0lnBMVuDtk16MN2t1598&hl=ca&ei=tlumSqOIBMigjAeTybCYDg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7#v=onepage&q=&f=false
About the origin, you have misinterpreted the information in this site:
"English form of the Roman family name Antonius, which is of unknown Etruscan origin. The most notable member of the Roman family was the general Marcus Antonius (called Mark Antony in English), who for a period in the 1st century BC ruled the Roman Empire jointly with Augustus. When their relationship turned sour, he and his mistress Cleopatra were attacked and forced to commit suicide, as related in Shakespeare's tragedy 'Antony and Cleopatra' (1606). (...)"
Antonius is doubtless a Roman name, well documented as nomen gentilicium for the gens Antonia, one of the most important plebeian Roman families. So, this piece of information of BtN is completely true and it would be despite of the ultimate etymological origin.
On the other hand, BtN states that "the most notable member (...) was the general Marcus Antonius." Most notable is obviously not synonym of "first", hence BtN is not saying that the name Anthony (Antonius) started with Marcus Antonius and Cleopatra.
The etymology mentioned by Plutarch is an educated folk etymology, trying to connect historical figures and families with mythological characters (and later with Roman and Greek historical figures), which was very typical among Roman, Medieval, Renaissance and 19th c. historians.
This type of educated folk etymologies were also common among Medieval and Renaissance scholars regarding first names and trying to connect them with Latin and Greek words, because the Classical languages were the prestigious ones.
http://books.google.cat/books?id=Pet9U_4cC7IC&pg=PA51&lpg=PA51&dq=plutarch+anthonios&source=bl&ots=JF1sRuzedg&sig=z7XqHDl0lnBMVuDtk16MN2t1598&hl=ca&ei=tlumSqOIBMigjAeTybCYDg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7#v=onepage&q=&f=false
About the origin, you have misinterpreted the information in this site:
"English form of the Roman family name Antonius, which is of unknown Etruscan origin. The most notable member of the Roman family was the general Marcus Antonius (called Mark Antony in English), who for a period in the 1st century BC ruled the Roman Empire jointly with Augustus. When their relationship turned sour, he and his mistress Cleopatra were attacked and forced to commit suicide, as related in Shakespeare's tragedy 'Antony and Cleopatra' (1606). (...)"
Antonius is doubtless a Roman name, well documented as nomen gentilicium for the gens Antonia, one of the most important plebeian Roman families. So, this piece of information of BtN is completely true and it would be despite of the ultimate etymological origin.
On the other hand, BtN states that "the most notable member (...) was the general Marcus Antonius." Most notable is obviously not synonym of "first", hence BtN is not saying that the name Anthony (Antonius) started with Marcus Antonius and Cleopatra.
The etymology mentioned by Plutarch is an educated folk etymology, trying to connect historical figures and families with mythological characters (and later with Roman and Greek historical figures), which was very typical among Roman, Medieval, Renaissance and 19th c. historians.
This type of educated folk etymologies were also common among Medieval and Renaissance scholars regarding first names and trying to connect them with Latin and Greek words, because the Classical languages were the prestigious ones.
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