New Post
Search
Help
ArchivesRe: Does Isadora even mean gift of Isis?
in reply to a message by RuralRuna
It's reasonably *assumed* to be a variant of Isidora.
Two of my pet issues coincide right here: Isadora vs Isidora, and facts vs expert consensus.
The etymological meaning of a modern usage depends on what you accept as evidence of etymology.
Etymology, being history and not science, does not always have facts. It has information that is judged to be more or less useful, and consensus about the judgment. We generally appeal to people who study etymology, for their judgment, and consensus on it. That is usually the best way to decide and to agree on "facts." But it doesn't make our information more *factually* true, just because experts agree.
There does not appear to be any evidence demonstrating directly that the name Isadora originated, in fact, as a variant or misspelling of Isidora. It's a judgment of what seems most reasonable and likely.
(If anyone knows of historical evidence of an "originating" usage of Isadora, that was meant as a variant of Isidora, they could contradict me)
So no one knows for sure whether the original usage(s) of Isadora was meant to be the same name as Isidora, and only the spelling was changed; or whether the giver of the name intended to combine, say, Isabella and Theodora, that happened to coincide closely with Isidora. If it happened to be the latter, nobody today would know.
(my opinion: it seems most likely to me, personally, that the name was probably supposed to be taken to be Isidora, and the spelling was influenced by Isabella. I don't think people just decided to fancifully put an 'a' there, because Isidore was a saint name. I think the existence and popularity of the name Isabella probably made it seem more legit to change Isidora to Isadora. It's possible also, that Isidore/a had some kind of cultural connotations that Isadora-namers wanted to distance themselves from, and changing it to be more like Isabella, seemed to do the trick.)
If someone today wanted to name a child Isadora, they could say that it was a variant of Isidora and cite Behind the Name as the "fact check" demonstrating that it "really IS" a variant of Isidora.
That's not really a fact check, though, it's a consensus check, an appeal to the authority of experts. It's the best we can do, but it's not a fact based on the same quality of information we have, when we say that "Isidora means 'gift of Isis."
A parent naming a child Isadora today could also say that, in the case of their child at least, it was a combination of Isabella and Theodora - and they could not be technically wrong about that. But they'd have a hard time arguing with people who insisted that it was a variant of Isidora.
- mirfak
Two of my pet issues coincide right here: Isadora vs Isidora, and facts vs expert consensus.
The etymological meaning of a modern usage depends on what you accept as evidence of etymology.
Etymology, being history and not science, does not always have facts. It has information that is judged to be more or less useful, and consensus about the judgment. We generally appeal to people who study etymology, for their judgment, and consensus on it. That is usually the best way to decide and to agree on "facts." But it doesn't make our information more *factually* true, just because experts agree.
There does not appear to be any evidence demonstrating directly that the name Isadora originated, in fact, as a variant or misspelling of Isidora. It's a judgment of what seems most reasonable and likely.
(If anyone knows of historical evidence of an "originating" usage of Isadora, that was meant as a variant of Isidora, they could contradict me)
So no one knows for sure whether the original usage(s) of Isadora was meant to be the same name as Isidora, and only the spelling was changed; or whether the giver of the name intended to combine, say, Isabella and Theodora, that happened to coincide closely with Isidora. If it happened to be the latter, nobody today would know.
(my opinion: it seems most likely to me, personally, that the name was probably supposed to be taken to be Isidora, and the spelling was influenced by Isabella. I don't think people just decided to fancifully put an 'a' there, because Isidore was a saint name. I think the existence and popularity of the name Isabella probably made it seem more legit to change Isidora to Isadora. It's possible also, that Isidore/a had some kind of cultural connotations that Isadora-namers wanted to distance themselves from, and changing it to be more like Isabella, seemed to do the trick.)
If someone today wanted to name a child Isadora, they could say that it was a variant of Isidora and cite Behind the Name as the "fact check" demonstrating that it "really IS" a variant of Isidora.
That's not really a fact check, though, it's a consensus check, an appeal to the authority of experts. It's the best we can do, but it's not a fact based on the same quality of information we have, when we say that "Isidora means 'gift of Isis."
A parent naming a child Isadora today could also say that, in the case of their child at least, it was a combination of Isabella and Theodora - and they could not be technically wrong about that. But they'd have a hard time arguing with people who insisted that it was a variant of Isidora.
- mirfak
3