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I was reading a list of the oldest people in Italy on the Italian Wikipedia. Most of them had names that were familiar to me, but one of the women had a name that I had never heard of before:
http://corrierealpi.gelocal.it/cronaca/2011/12/07/news/erpalice-gandin-ha-spento-109-candeline-1.2839827
This woman, who turned 109 in December, is named Erpalice. I have no idea what her name means, and I cannot find any information on it. All I am sure of is that it is probably a very rare name.
Does anyone have an idea where Erpalice comes from?
http://corrierealpi.gelocal.it/cronaca/2011/12/07/news/erpalice-gandin-ha-spento-109-candeline-1.2839827
This woman, who turned 109 in December, is named Erpalice. I have no idea what her name means, and I cannot find any information on it. All I am sure of is that it is probably a very rare name.
Does anyone have an idea where Erpalice comes from?
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Replies
There was an 18th-century English poem that had a "Herpalice" in it.
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Looking at the name, I got the feeling that a letter was omitted at the beginning of the name - namely, a 'h'. Italians tend to not to pronounce the 'h', so names like Hermes and Hector become Ermes and Ettore in Italian.
As such, I googled for Herpalice and got a few hits, indicating that the name - however rare - was already in use in the 19th century.
If the original form is indeed Herpalice and Erpalice its Italian form, then perhaps the name may be of Greek origin. The first element of the name may then be etymologically related to the name of the disease herpes (which is ultimately derived from Greek herpein "to creep"). I don't know what the second element could have been derived from, but it probably would have been spelled as like in original Greek (as lice would be a latinization). Compare names like Berenice and Eurydice for that.
That is all I can offer, I am afraid. Good luck with your quest of searching for the name's meaning and origin. :)
As such, I googled for Herpalice and got a few hits, indicating that the name - however rare - was already in use in the 19th century.
If the original form is indeed Herpalice and Erpalice its Italian form, then perhaps the name may be of Greek origin. The first element of the name may then be etymologically related to the name of the disease herpes (which is ultimately derived from Greek herpein "to creep"). I don't know what the second element could have been derived from, but it probably would have been spelled as like in original Greek (as lice would be a latinization). Compare names like Berenice and Eurydice for that.
That is all I can offer, I am afraid. Good luck with your quest of searching for the name's meaning and origin. :)
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Actually, I found your information pretty helpful. Thank you very much!
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