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I heard this unusual name a while back. It seems to be best known as the name of Joseph Stalin's father. I'm guessing that it's Russian, or possibly Georgian (Stalin was Georgian). I don't have any idea what it means, though. Does anyone have any idea?
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Hello Buneary,
Joseph Stalin's father's full first name was actually Besarion, which was often abbreviated to Beso.
Besarion seems to be the Georgian form of the name Bessarion, which as the -ion suffix already indicates, is a Greek name. Bessarion (also Bissarion) seems to be an older Greek form, as the more modern Greek form is Vissarion (as B in ancient Greek becomes V in modern Greek). Vissarion is also the Russian form of the name, having been adopted into Russian straight from modern Greek.
The name is derived from Greek βῆσσα (bēssa), which is vissa in modern Greek. It means "wooded valley, wooded combe, glen". βᾶσσα (bassa) is the Doric Greek form of the word.
Do take note of the fact, though, that some sources consider this to be a Coptic name and claim that it is derived from the name of an Egyptian god. I find those claims quite doubtful, but I thought I would mention it here, just in case.
Finally, various spellings or transcriptions for this name exist, so here follows a list of the possible spellings and forms:
Basarion
Bassarion
Besarion
Bessarion
Bisarion
Bissarion
Vasarion
Vassarion
Vesarion
Vessarion
Visarion
Vissarion
Okay, that's all - I hope that helped. :)
Joseph Stalin's father's full first name was actually Besarion, which was often abbreviated to Beso.
Besarion seems to be the Georgian form of the name Bessarion, which as the -ion suffix already indicates, is a Greek name. Bessarion (also Bissarion) seems to be an older Greek form, as the more modern Greek form is Vissarion (as B in ancient Greek becomes V in modern Greek). Vissarion is also the Russian form of the name, having been adopted into Russian straight from modern Greek.
The name is derived from Greek βῆσσα (bēssa), which is vissa in modern Greek. It means "wooded valley, wooded combe, glen". βᾶσσα (bassa) is the Doric Greek form of the word.
Do take note of the fact, though, that some sources consider this to be a Coptic name and claim that it is derived from the name of an Egyptian god. I find those claims quite doubtful, but I thought I would mention it here, just in case.
Finally, various spellings or transcriptions for this name exist, so here follows a list of the possible spellings and forms:
Basarion
Bassarion
Besarion
Bessarion
Bisarion
Bissarion
Vasarion
Vassarion
Vesarion
Vessarion
Visarion
Vissarion
Okay, that's all - I hope that helped. :)
This message was edited 2/20/2013, 12:51 PM
1
Thank you!
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