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Help[Facts] Nataniel
Hi! I've posted on this board a couple of times and always received very helpful responses. So, I'm back again! Does anyone know anything about the boy's name Nataniel? Not Nathaniel, but Nataniel. One name web site said it's Spanish and another said it's just an alternative spelling of Nathaniel. Also, I've been assuming it's pronounced nuh-TAN-yole, like Nathaniel with a 't' sound instead of 'th'. If it is Spanish, anyone know how often it's used, or what countries it's used in? Thanks a bunch!
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In Spanish
Nataniel is indeed the Spanish version of Nathaniel. Nataniel in Spanish is prn. nuh-tuh-nee-ELLE. (distress in the last syllable)
I don't think there is a Latin country where It is more often used, compared to others... I suppose it is as common as any other Old Testament's name...
Nataniel is indeed the Spanish version of Nathaniel. Nataniel in Spanish is prn. nuh-tuh-nee-ELLE. (distress in the last syllable)
I don't think there is a Latin country where It is more often used, compared to others... I suppose it is as common as any other Old Testament's name...
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In South Africa it's the Afrikaans pronunciation and spelling of Nathaniel, and is pretty widely used. Like most languages, Afrikaans doesn't have a TH sound, so they very sensibly drop the H.
It's pronounced nah-TAAH-nee-ul, as close as I can get, and often gets abbreviated to Niel, which sounds like Kneel, or indeed Neil!
There's a prominent musician/performer here who is just known as Nataniel - no surname. He's brilliant - looks like a bald version of Boy George, but what a voice, and what a wonderfully original imagination!
It's pronounced nah-TAAH-nee-ul, as close as I can get, and often gets abbreviated to Niel, which sounds like Kneel, or indeed Neil!
There's a prominent musician/performer here who is just known as Nataniel - no surname. He's brilliant - looks like a bald version of Boy George, but what a voice, and what a wonderfully original imagination!
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Yes, Nataniel is a variant spelling of Nathaniel. Whether it is used in Spain I don't know. The Italian form is NATANAELE. In Germany there is NATHANAEL (fairly rare), NATHANIEL (even rarer) and NATANIEL (almost non-exsistant).
Now the TH here represents the Hebrew letter TAW, whereas the Hebrew letter THET (or TETH? I have no idea how you guys spell the letters of the Hebrew alphabet) usually appears as a plain T. There is a tendency in Germany (and other parts of Europe I believe) to drop the H in biblical names as far as modern bible editions are concerned. So you will read about David and Goliat instead of Goliath. This has not really influenced given names in Germany as far as I can see.
A TH in a name may have other reasons though: With names like Natalie you may find the spelling with a TH (Nathalie) which is originally French. But I have no idea why the French spell the name this way. It is of Latin origin and there is only one T-sound in Latin and TH is only found in Greek loan words.
Now Greek again has two Ts like Hebrew (they took their alphabet from some other Semitic language, probably Phoenician; the funny thing is, in Greek it's the first T in the Alphabet that we reproduce as TH).
Take ANTHONY: The etymology of the Name is doubtful, it may be Latin or pre-Latin, maybe Greek (but if it is Greek, it has the second T in it, the non-TH one). It wasn't until the Renaissance that scholars started spelling the name ANTHONY. They did so because they thought it had something to do with the Greek vocabulary word "anthos" (meaning "flower"), which is pretty, but not true.
I hope this doesn't lead to even more confusion ;–)
Andy
Now the TH here represents the Hebrew letter TAW, whereas the Hebrew letter THET (or TETH? I have no idea how you guys spell the letters of the Hebrew alphabet) usually appears as a plain T. There is a tendency in Germany (and other parts of Europe I believe) to drop the H in biblical names as far as modern bible editions are concerned. So you will read about David and Goliat instead of Goliath. This has not really influenced given names in Germany as far as I can see.
A TH in a name may have other reasons though: With names like Natalie you may find the spelling with a TH (Nathalie) which is originally French. But I have no idea why the French spell the name this way. It is of Latin origin and there is only one T-sound in Latin and TH is only found in Greek loan words.
Now Greek again has two Ts like Hebrew (they took their alphabet from some other Semitic language, probably Phoenician; the funny thing is, in Greek it's the first T in the Alphabet that we reproduce as TH).
Take ANTHONY: The etymology of the Name is doubtful, it may be Latin or pre-Latin, maybe Greek (but if it is Greek, it has the second T in it, the non-TH one). It wasn't until the Renaissance that scholars started spelling the name ANTHONY. They did so because they thought it had something to do with the Greek vocabulary word "anthos" (meaning "flower"), which is pretty, but not true.
I hope this doesn't lead to even more confusion ;–)
Andy
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