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Help[Facts] Re: Latinize the name Napoleon Bonaparte, and Lestat de Lioncourt - edited
in reply to a message by sogfrk
Just a note - I'm a hobby-Latinist still in grammar school, not professional whatsoever. These are just my ideas, don't take them as truth.
Napoleon could have something to do with the city of Naples (Neapolis in Latin). So if you'd want something like "citizen of Naples" you could use Neapolitanus. Another possibility is changing the last part (Leon) which is an Ancient Greek name, to the Late Roman form (see forms of Leon here: http://www.behindthename.com/name/leon/related) Leo or Leonius - so you'd get Napoleo or Napoleonius. Do note that this would be a Late Roman form.
But I think Napoleon is acceptable in Latin as it is. Some Greek names ending in -on (Kleon, Timon, Herodion, Mnason) are the same in Latin (though some are changed slightly, like Kleon --> Cleon), especially Biblical names.
Bonaparte sounds very Latin already; it's the ablative form of "bona pars", meaning "good part". The only problem I have with it is that Latin nomina (family names) usually end in the masculine -us, and "pars" is feminine.
Lestat could mean two things (as stated on its page on BtN): "state"/"status", or it could be derived from Stan. If we accept the first theory then Status could be a Latin form of Lestat, since status is a Latin word, too.
If we accept the second then we'd have to translate Stan to Latin. Stan means "stone", and a possible translation of "stone" in Latin is "saxum". I suppose Saxum could be a possibility.
"de Lioncourt" obviously means "of the lion's court". I think the best translation of "court" would be "atrium". "Lion's court" would be "atrium leonis"; if you'd want to translate it to "of the lion's court" then "atrii leonis" would be the correct form, but that wouldn't make a nice nomen, I think. I'd like some other opinions on this...
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
I know, it's all horrible teenage angst.
Napoleon could have something to do with the city of Naples (Neapolis in Latin). So if you'd want something like "citizen of Naples" you could use Neapolitanus. Another possibility is changing the last part (Leon) which is an Ancient Greek name, to the Late Roman form (see forms of Leon here: http://www.behindthename.com/name/leon/related) Leo or Leonius - so you'd get Napoleo or Napoleonius. Do note that this would be a Late Roman form.
But I think Napoleon is acceptable in Latin as it is. Some Greek names ending in -on (Kleon, Timon, Herodion, Mnason) are the same in Latin (though some are changed slightly, like Kleon --> Cleon), especially Biblical names.
Bonaparte sounds very Latin already; it's the ablative form of "bona pars", meaning "good part". The only problem I have with it is that Latin nomina (family names) usually end in the masculine -us, and "pars" is feminine.
Lestat could mean two things (as stated on its page on BtN): "state"/"status", or it could be derived from Stan. If we accept the first theory then Status could be a Latin form of Lestat, since status is a Latin word, too.
If we accept the second then we'd have to translate Stan to Latin. Stan means "stone", and a possible translation of "stone" in Latin is "saxum". I suppose Saxum could be a possibility.
"de Lioncourt" obviously means "of the lion's court". I think the best translation of "court" would be "atrium". "Lion's court" would be "atrium leonis"; if you'd want to translate it to "of the lion's court" then "atrii leonis" would be the correct form, but that wouldn't make a nice nomen, I think. I'd like some other opinions on this...
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
I know, it's all horrible teenage angst.
This message was edited 1/7/2015, 9:20 AM
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