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ArchivesRe: Questions about some old "word" names
in reply to a message by Caitlin
I would assume that Icy, Tiny, Fate, and Lemon are probably just from the words...Tiny could be a nn, or just a name based on the fact that she was small at birth, but then was given as an official name.
For the medieval names, my guess is that Mare is a variation of Mary, and Cyan a variation of Cian (KEE-an). Of course it depends on where they are from, but since spelling was MUCH more flexible up until...oh, the 1700s at least (Shakespeare spelled his name over 20 different ways).
Mace has been used as the name of the spice which comes from the nutmeg tree since at least the 1200s. It comes from Latin, originally. A mace is also a kind of weapon, and in that sense it has been around at least since the 1300s. Again, this meaning comes from Latin but from a different etymology.
Wikipedia says that Gentian "appears to derive from PIE *g'en- "to beget", cognate to Latin gens, gentis "kin, clan, race"." However, it doesn't cite any sources. The Oxford English Dictionary backs up the Latin and PIE (proto-Indo-European) words, but that doesn't necessarily mean that that's where the name comes from -- although it would make sense to have a king's name with that meaning.
~ Caitlín
For the medieval names, my guess is that Mare is a variation of Mary, and Cyan a variation of Cian (KEE-an). Of course it depends on where they are from, but since spelling was MUCH more flexible up until...oh, the 1700s at least (Shakespeare spelled his name over 20 different ways).
Mace has been used as the name of the spice which comes from the nutmeg tree since at least the 1200s. It comes from Latin, originally. A mace is also a kind of weapon, and in that sense it has been around at least since the 1300s. Again, this meaning comes from Latin but from a different etymology.
Wikipedia says that Gentian "appears to derive from PIE *g'en- "to beget", cognate to Latin gens, gentis "kin, clan, race"." However, it doesn't cite any sources. The Oxford English Dictionary backs up the Latin and PIE (proto-Indo-European) words, but that doesn't necessarily mean that that's where the name comes from -- although it would make sense to have a king's name with that meaning.
~ Caitlín
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