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My grandmother's first name was Agathe, the French form of Agatha, but it is pronounced 'ah-GAHT', which is the same pronunciation of gemstone agate in French.
I was wondering the possibility that the French name Agate was influenced by the pronunciation of the stone or perhaps of people being named after the stone rather then a Fracophone version of Agatha.
Thanks for input,
~SD
I was wondering the possibility that the French name Agate was influenced by the pronunciation of the stone or perhaps of people being named after the stone rather then a Fracophone version of Agatha.
Thanks for input,
~SD
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Replies
After a quick Google as to the origin of the name of the stone "agate", I got from dictionary.com that the stone's name comes from:
"[Middle English achate, agaten, from Old French acate, agate, alteration (influenced by Greek agathç, good) of Latin achâtçs, from Greek akhâtçs.]"
So, the English word came from the Old French word, which in turn was influenced by the Greek "agathe", good, which gives us the root for the name Agatha itself. I'd surmise the connection was somewhat indirect; the root "agathe" only serving as an influence on the pronunciation/spelling of the stone's name, whereas it is the basis of the name Agatha. However, this does tend to remind me of the Margaret/Daisy model, and I'd surmise that people would be named such because of the stone.
I'm no expert, so I would like to see if any one better versed in this would care to correct/clarify this for me as well.
"[Middle English achate, agaten, from Old French acate, agate, alteration (influenced by Greek agathç, good) of Latin achâtçs, from Greek akhâtçs.]"
So, the English word came from the Old French word, which in turn was influenced by the Greek "agathe", good, which gives us the root for the name Agatha itself. I'd surmise the connection was somewhat indirect; the root "agathe" only serving as an influence on the pronunciation/spelling of the stone's name, whereas it is the basis of the name Agatha. However, this does tend to remind me of the Margaret/Daisy model, and I'd surmise that people would be named such because of the stone.
I'm no expert, so I would like to see if any one better versed in this would care to correct/clarify this for me as well.
This message was edited 7/21/2007, 4:42 PM
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Thank you for the information though!
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