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ArchivesRe: Vanecia
in reply to a message by Roxane
Okay, first off, "The Great Australian & New Zealand Book of Baby Names" kind of made me giggle. Does the 'great' refer to the Greater Australian area or to the quality of the book? I would be interested in your appraisal of its local usefulness.
Anyway, Venetia is an area that was settled by the Veneti tribes circa 1000 B.C., roughly equaling the modern Veneto region. Venezia is the Italian name of the city we call Venice, the natural center and well protected capitol of its city state. All of this is readily available information.
Now, this Gwyneth-Venetia connection is news to me, as I generally don't study Welsh at all. But I can speak with regards to Irish-Gaelic. In that language, when words need to be Latinized they use a process of "equivications" (such as Anluan-Alphonsus, Seachnall-Secundus, Caoimhín-Pulcherius, Fiacha-Festus) in equal proportion to the creation of new Latin names.
This is just presumption, but the Gwyneth-Venetia translation smacks of "equivication" to Latin, and by someone who understood a thing or two. In Welsh 'Gw' morphs into 'W' in some tenses. Of course, Latin does not use the letter 'w,' but usually translates foreign names with a 'w' into a 'gu' or 'v.' One might surmise the 'gu' translation is more apt but when one finds a perfectly matching name in all other regards, our "Venetia," it makes sense to used the established name. Further, the 'y' becomes 'e' and the 'th' becomes 't' as is appropriate for Latin, and the '-ia' suffix cements a feminine usage.
I would yet assume that "Venetia" was never a very common given name, and that this reappropriation was without serious repercussion.
If I was to guess at a source of translation it would either be the Norman-French influence on Britain leaving a Latin translation for the Gwynedd region of Wales or the Catholic church Latinizing the name of a saint.
Anyway, Venetia is an area that was settled by the Veneti tribes circa 1000 B.C., roughly equaling the modern Veneto region. Venezia is the Italian name of the city we call Venice, the natural center and well protected capitol of its city state. All of this is readily available information.
Now, this Gwyneth-Venetia connection is news to me, as I generally don't study Welsh at all. But I can speak with regards to Irish-Gaelic. In that language, when words need to be Latinized they use a process of "equivications" (such as Anluan-Alphonsus, Seachnall-Secundus, Caoimhín-Pulcherius, Fiacha-Festus) in equal proportion to the creation of new Latin names.
This is just presumption, but the Gwyneth-Venetia translation smacks of "equivication" to Latin, and by someone who understood a thing or two. In Welsh 'Gw' morphs into 'W' in some tenses. Of course, Latin does not use the letter 'w,' but usually translates foreign names with a 'w' into a 'gu' or 'v.' One might surmise the 'gu' translation is more apt but when one finds a perfectly matching name in all other regards, our "Venetia," it makes sense to used the established name. Further, the 'y' becomes 'e' and the 'th' becomes 't' as is appropriate for Latin, and the '-ia' suffix cements a feminine usage.
I would yet assume that "Venetia" was never a very common given name, and that this reappropriation was without serious repercussion.
If I was to guess at a source of translation it would either be the Norman-French influence on Britain leaving a Latin translation for the Gwynedd region of Wales or the Catholic church Latinizing the name of a saint.
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