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ArchivesRe: meaning
in reply to a message by cath
To start off, I do not know. I am merely posting an uninformed speculation under the assumption that it is a name from the South Indian Christian community: a very old (some say back to 3rd century AD, certainly not later by more than a few centuries after that) Christian community called Syrian Christians. They have maintained (or absorbed, I do not know which) a large amount of social practices from the local religion (usually called Hinduism). The local languages are of the Dravidian group with large borrowings, especially of names and religious terminology, from Sanskrit and its Indoaryan daughters.
There is a Sanskrit verbal root R meaning to go towards or rise (cognate Indoeuropean roots mean things like to row or plough), whose causative stem arp(i)- is far more common in later languages and means (originally) to insert, entrust, deliver, or offer. Its past participle is arpita which, in later language, is better translated as dedicated.
In many South Indian languages, the -i- sound becomes -u- (as in put) in this context, and th is the preferred South Indian orthography of this dental unaspirated consonant (to distinguish from the retroflex variety: North Indians translitaeration likes to maintain the discrimination along the aspirated/unaspirated axis instead). Thus, we get the element Arputha.
Mary is the form of the Hebrew Miriam which is common in India (though I do not know whether that is true of the Syrian Christian community historically). I also do not know much about Semitic or Egyptian, so look it up on the database, it may originate in Egyptian to mean something like loved or beloved.
And this whole long post might turn out to be completely wrong!
There is a Sanskrit verbal root R meaning to go towards or rise (cognate Indoeuropean roots mean things like to row or plough), whose causative stem arp(i)- is far more common in later languages and means (originally) to insert, entrust, deliver, or offer. Its past participle is arpita which, in later language, is better translated as dedicated.
In many South Indian languages, the -i- sound becomes -u- (as in put) in this context, and th is the preferred South Indian orthography of this dental unaspirated consonant (to distinguish from the retroflex variety: North Indians translitaeration likes to maintain the discrimination along the aspirated/unaspirated axis instead). Thus, we get the element Arputha.
Mary is the form of the Hebrew Miriam which is common in India (though I do not know whether that is true of the Syrian Christian community historically). I also do not know much about Semitic or Egyptian, so look it up on the database, it may originate in Egyptian to mean something like loved or beloved.
And this whole long post might turn out to be completely wrong!
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Replies
Tradition isn't etymology
It's true that sacred scrolls would probably have a vested interest in name meanings for obvious reasons, but at the same time they're more focused on telling the sacred story than recording the etymological origins of names. Thus, name meanings can sometimes be suspect.
Tradition is just that: tradition. Folk etymology is very common--such as Brendan's false meaning of "smelly hair"--and may easily be mistaken for true fact if nothing comes along to contradict it. Miriam's meaning is probably truly unknown for sure (though, of course, it does have a meaning; we just don't know what it could be!), and I bet folk etymology came along to fill in that gap of ignorance with a plausible origin or two. It could be correct, of course, but we have absolutely no idea whether it is or isn't.
In short, holy texts may or may not be reliable, and pious folk etymology shouldn't be blindly considered (pardon the pun) gospel.
Miranda
"Multiple exclamation marks are a sure sign of diseased mind" -- Terry Pratchett
Proud adopter of 15 punctuation marks. Check my profile for their names.
It's true that sacred scrolls would probably have a vested interest in name meanings for obvious reasons, but at the same time they're more focused on telling the sacred story than recording the etymological origins of names. Thus, name meanings can sometimes be suspect.
Tradition is just that: tradition. Folk etymology is very common--such as Brendan's false meaning of "smelly hair"--and may easily be mistaken for true fact if nothing comes along to contradict it. Miriam's meaning is probably truly unknown for sure (though, of course, it does have a meaning; we just don't know what it could be!), and I bet folk etymology came along to fill in that gap of ignorance with a plausible origin or two. It could be correct, of course, but we have absolutely no idea whether it is or isn't.
In short, holy texts may or may not be reliable, and pious folk etymology shouldn't be blindly considered (pardon the pun) gospel.
"Multiple exclamation marks are a sure sign of diseased mind" -- Terry Pratchett
Proud adopter of 15 punctuation marks. Check my profile for their names.
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Tradition often turns out to be true, or close to truth, be it popular tradition or even "just" family tradition. Thanks to internet I've been able to check many family traditions and most weren't even exagerated.
So to me it's better than saying that we don't know the meaning (especially since Jews have always been into names, words, etymologies... my love of names is a family tradition too lol).
Just my opinion. :)
~~ Claire ~~
So to me it's better than saying that we don't know the meaning (especially since Jews have always been into names, words, etymologies... my love of names is a family tradition too lol).
Just my opinion. :)
~~ Claire ~~
This message was edited 4/9/2005, 8:27 PM
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Sorry, I should have mentioned that the Syrian Christian tradition claims to descend from St. Thomas in 52 AD. See http://www.malankarachurch.org/malankara/MalankaraChurch2.htm
And the third century I wrote seems like the product of a confused or deluded mind: I must have misremembered 4th century as 3rd. I apologize for taking up board space with incorrect information.
And the third century I wrote seems like the product of a confused or deluded mind: I must have misremembered 4th century as 3rd. I apologize for taking up board space with incorrect information.
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