View Message

I'm afraid, „flower_of_dawn“ is not all that wrong. The meaning of DAMON seems to be debated. Beside the Greek word “damatzo” (to tame) “daimon” (devine being, spirit) is another possible word to derive the name from. Mike doesn’t always have the space (or time) to discuss all possible meanings, sometimes he just decides. Sometimes ha adds other possible meanings, but tells us which one he favours. Sometimes Mike may be wrong, but is willing to learn (like we all are). I have stuck to wrong etymology, until someone convinced me, and if you have good evidence, that “daimon” cannot be the source of DAMON, let me know. And there is one more thing I have learned: If one meaning of a name is correct, a different one doesn’t necessarily have to be wrong.
The other examples you are giving are not as clear as you may think:
EMILY: The Latin word “aemilius” originally meant “eager, dilligent” and later took the meaning “jealous, rival”. But it is well possible, that the name is not Latin in origin, but Greek: from “aimylios” (clever).
CAROLINE: Who ever said, this means “woman”, was not as stupid, as you may believe. If you assume that CHARLES (KARL) means “man” (which I don’t believe is true) – why not translate CAROLINE as “woman”?
LORELEI: Of course it doesn’t mean “siren”, but she is one. So if sombebody called LORELEI (I have never heard of a real person by that name) said: “My name means ‘siren’”, I would not necessarily contradict.

---

Andy ;—)