Rosewen and Sentyabrina
I've seen these names here on BtN. Are they "real" names? Rosewen looks Welsh and Sentyabrina Russian. I know that Oktyabrina has been used as a girls' name, but what about Sentyabrina?Does the sea exist
Because of our longing?
My PNL
http://www.behindthename.com/pnl/3258/61573
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Sentyabrina (Сентябрина, taken from the Russian word for September / сентябрь as Oktyabrina is taken from the Russian word for October, октябрь) is a real name if very rare.
http://imenada.ru/sentyabrina/I wasn't able to find anything on Rosewen, including no recorded usage of it in Wales. I suspect it is a variation of Welsh Rhoswen, or a combination of Rose and the common Welsh name ending "wen". If not that, then it is possibly from another Brittonic language like Cornish or Breton.
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-wen is a moderately common Germanic feminine name element with a sense of "desire, belief, hope". Ros- or Rosa- is a Frisian and High German form of Saxon/Nordic hros/hross (by metathesis Old English and Frisian hors), rare as a name element, but is recorded in names such as Roselm, Roscetel, Roschil and Rosalind/Roslyn. Rosewen is conceivable then as a Germanic name.
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I don't know what Germanic language features -wen as a name element. The protogermanic form of the quoted name element is *WUNJA and it occurs in names like Wunibald as a first element. In Anglo-Saxon, it becomes wynne (with an umlaut) and later it becomes virtually indistinguishable from WIN "friend".The form -wen looks very Welsh to me where it derives from gwen "white" (feminine form). I'd read Ros(e)wen as "white Rose" with a Welsh etymology.

This message was edited 9/11/2017, 8:23 AM

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*Wunja is not "desire, belief, hope". *Wunja- (dwell/dwelling/custom — two different meanings merged in proto-Germanic), *wunjo (joy), *winiz (friend) and *weniz (desire) developed in the Indo-European stage, before proto-germanic. The latter three at least are each represented in Germanic name elements. For *Weniz OE has Wénbeorht, Wénburh, Wénflǽd, Wénheard, Wénhelm, Wulfwén, Tirwén, Oswén, Modwén, Anwén etc.; Forstemann has three columns of names for the High German form Wan- (both Forstemann and the Onomasticon Anglo-Saxonicum list the element under or refer it to the ON form Van-, which is odd as ON doesn't seem to use it onomastically).

This message was edited 9/12/2017, 4:11 PM

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Thanks for reminding me of *weniz (desire), I have completely forgotten about it (it does not leave traces in Modern German names, probably because the root word (modern High German #Wahn#) shifted its meaning towards "insanity")
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Thanks!nm
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