New Post
Search
Help
ArchivesAssistance on the usage of Eulampius, please?
A while ago while browsing Russian name sites I encountered the name Евлампия (Evlampiya). I wanted to add it to the user-submitted names database but couldn't find enough information about the name, although it resembled a name of Ancient Greek origin because of the "ev" part. I recently found out that Eulampius and Eulampia are saint's names, often mentioned together. It seems Eulampios is the original form. I added the names as well as Evlampiya, Evlampiy, Eulampe and Eulampie. There are probably more forms of the name.
What I'm not sure about is whether to categorise Eulampius as Ancient Roman or Ancient Greek (Latinised). I'm a British teenager with Google so my researching powers are kind of limited. I'm not sure about the conditions surrounding the saints, whether they are semi-legendary or not, and whether it's accurate to say that Eulampius (and Eulampia, by extension) was actually used in Ancient Rome.
As an aside, any further information on Syncletica? I added it to the database a while ago after finding the Russian form Синклитикия (Sinklitikiya) along with Sinklitikiya itself and Synclétique. I can only find that it means "senator" but I think there might be more to it. Is there a masculine form it's related to?
Thank you for your time.
What I'm not sure about is whether to categorise Eulampius as Ancient Roman or Ancient Greek (Latinised). I'm a British teenager with Google so my researching powers are kind of limited. I'm not sure about the conditions surrounding the saints, whether they are semi-legendary or not, and whether it's accurate to say that Eulampius (and Eulampia, by extension) was actually used in Ancient Rome.
As an aside, any further information on Syncletica? I added it to the database a while ago after finding the Russian form Синклитикия (Sinklitikiya) along with Sinklitikiya itself and Synclétique. I can only find that it means "senator" but I think there might be more to it. Is there a masculine form it's related to?
Thank you for your time.
1
Replies
About Syncletica....
To me, it strongly looks like Syncletica is of Greek origin. Just the -cleti- part alone seems like a dead giveaway to me. Just compare Cletus, Clitus and Cleitus (all latinized, but ultimately Greek in origin). Keeping in mind the latinization examples from my previous post, I would say that the original Greek form of Syncletica is Synkletika. A masculine form (if one even exists!) should then be Synkletikos (which would be Syncleticus in Latin).
My guess would be that the name is derived from Greek σύν (syn) "beside, with, together" (think of the English word 'synergy') combined with Greek κλεος (kleos) "glory".
....Hmm.... wait.... I just did some more searching and discovered that the original Greek spelling of the name is Συγκλητική. As you can see, the name does not end in an α (alpha) originally, but in an η (eta). As such, the original Greek form of Syncletica should actually be Synkletike (which would be Synklitiki in modern Greek).
According to this Russian website, the name is derived from Greek σύγκλητος (synkletos) meaning "senate, council, assembly":
- http://kurufin.ru/html/Translate/Syncletica.html (in Russian)
This seems to check out, although it appears that the original spelling of this word was actually sugkletos. The word is originally said to mean "called together, summoned":
- www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=su%2Fgklhtos&la=greek&can=su%2Fgklhtos0 (alter the Greek display by selecting "Latin transliteration" and pressing "Update preferences")
The later meaning of "senate" might possibly be in reference to the Byzantine Senate: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_Senate (in English)
To me, it strongly looks like Syncletica is of Greek origin. Just the -cleti- part alone seems like a dead giveaway to me. Just compare Cletus, Clitus and Cleitus (all latinized, but ultimately Greek in origin). Keeping in mind the latinization examples from my previous post, I would say that the original Greek form of Syncletica is Synkletika. A masculine form (if one even exists!) should then be Synkletikos (which would be Syncleticus in Latin).
My guess would be that the name is derived from Greek σύν (syn) "beside, with, together" (think of the English word 'synergy') combined with Greek κλεος (kleos) "glory".
....Hmm.... wait.... I just did some more searching and discovered that the original Greek spelling of the name is Συγκλητική. As you can see, the name does not end in an α (alpha) originally, but in an η (eta). As such, the original Greek form of Syncletica should actually be Synkletike (which would be Synklitiki in modern Greek).
According to this Russian website, the name is derived from Greek σύγκλητος (synkletos) meaning "senate, council, assembly":
- http://kurufin.ru/html/Translate/Syncletica.html (in Russian)
This seems to check out, although it appears that the original spelling of this word was actually sugkletos. The word is originally said to mean "called together, summoned":
- www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=su%2Fgklhtos&la=greek&can=su%2Fgklhtos0 (alter the Greek display by selecting "Latin transliteration" and pressing "Update preferences")
The later meaning of "senate" might possibly be in reference to the Byzantine Senate: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_Senate (in English)
1
Hello Ambiversion,
The given names Eulampius and Eulampia are most definitely of Greek origin. Your immediate instinct was correct there! This also goes for the etymology that you provided in your entries for them.
However, these names are not ancient Greek names, but rather, late Greek names. Late Greek names are Greek names that came into being after the advent of Christianity. In turn, ancient Greek names are names that were in use in Greece long before the birth of Christianity. As such, I changed the usage to "Late Greek" in your entries.
To answer your question: if a masculine name is decidedly of Greek origin but yet ends in -us, the name is almost always latinized. The amount of Greek masculine names that end in -us in the Greek language itself is quite small, at least when compared to Greek masculine names ending in -es, -ios and -os. At least, that is what my experience has been so far. Off the top of my head, I can only think of Odysseus, Orpheus, Perseus and Zeus as examples of Greek masculine names that aren't latinized and actually do end in -us in the Greek language. Coincidentally (or not?), these all happen to be names from Greek mythology, rather than names that were borne by ordinary ancient Greek men.
Either way, here is a small list of things that in the future will hopefully make it easier for you to determine whether a Greek masculine name was latinized:
* -aios in Greek is always latinized to -aeus (which itself will then sometimes be variantly spelled as -eus). Example: Aristaios becomes Aristaeus in Latin.
* -andros in Greek is always latinized to -ander. Example: Alexandros becomes Alexander in Latin.
* -aos in Greek is always latinized to -aus. Example: Menelaos becomes Menelaus in Latin.
The given names Eulampius and Eulampia are most definitely of Greek origin. Your immediate instinct was correct there! This also goes for the etymology that you provided in your entries for them.
However, these names are not ancient Greek names, but rather, late Greek names. Late Greek names are Greek names that came into being after the advent of Christianity. In turn, ancient Greek names are names that were in use in Greece long before the birth of Christianity. As such, I changed the usage to "Late Greek" in your entries.
To answer your question: if a masculine name is decidedly of Greek origin but yet ends in -us, the name is almost always latinized. The amount of Greek masculine names that end in -us in the Greek language itself is quite small, at least when compared to Greek masculine names ending in -es, -ios and -os. At least, that is what my experience has been so far. Off the top of my head, I can only think of Odysseus, Orpheus, Perseus and Zeus as examples of Greek masculine names that aren't latinized and actually do end in -us in the Greek language. Coincidentally (or not?), these all happen to be names from Greek mythology, rather than names that were borne by ordinary ancient Greek men.
Either way, here is a small list of things that in the future will hopefully make it easier for you to determine whether a Greek masculine name was latinized:
* -aios in Greek is always latinized to -aeus (which itself will then sometimes be variantly spelled as -eus). Example: Aristaios becomes Aristaeus in Latin.
* -andros in Greek is always latinized to -ander. Example: Alexandros becomes Alexander in Latin.
* -aos in Greek is always latinized to -aus. Example: Menelaos becomes Menelaus in Latin.
1
Thanks much! I'll use this and searches to find out how a name has been adapted. And thanks for the information on Syncletica! ^_^
1
Well said Dorchadas.
I am going to add that the name can be found in the Lexicon of Greek Personal Names ( http://www.lgpn.ox.ac.uk/publications/index.html ) although it seems to be rare. If it exists in that database then it almost certainly belonged to a real person. That resource covers people up to the year 600, and unfortunately there is no way to tell when the people in question were born, whether they were pagan or Christian, etc.
I also wanted to add that all Greek names written in Latin script are Latinized in a sense. However, the standard way we transcribe Greek on this site is to write κ as k (not c as the Romans might have done), the masculine nominative ending -ος as -os (not -us), and final -η as -e (not -a). If it is written using that scheme, then it can be labelled simply Ancient Greek or Late Greek. If it is instead written using a Roman scheme, then we label it Ancient Greek (Latinized) or Late Greek (Latinized).
Hope that helps!
I am going to add that the name can be found in the Lexicon of Greek Personal Names ( http://www.lgpn.ox.ac.uk/publications/index.html ) although it seems to be rare. If it exists in that database then it almost certainly belonged to a real person. That resource covers people up to the year 600, and unfortunately there is no way to tell when the people in question were born, whether they were pagan or Christian, etc.
I also wanted to add that all Greek names written in Latin script are Latinized in a sense. However, the standard way we transcribe Greek on this site is to write κ as k (not c as the Romans might have done), the masculine nominative ending -ος as -os (not -us), and final -η as -e (not -a). If it is written using that scheme, then it can be labelled simply Ancient Greek or Late Greek. If it is instead written using a Roman scheme, then we label it Ancient Greek (Latinized) or Late Greek (Latinized).
Hope that helps!
1