Amalric

I haven't been able to find any evidence backing up the Germanic translation of Amal as "work", other than a reference to a Norse word "ama" (vex, trouble). That there are similar words in both Hebrew and Arabic meaning work and hope have probably confused some writers ("researchers" is probably giving them too much credit). Others have suggested meanings of "vigor" or "bravery", however the problem seems to be that the word only occurs as a name from Gothic mythology—Amal or Amala, founder of the Amalings, the Gothic (later Ostrogothic) royal family. The legend here is that the name is an epithet meaning "mighty", but again in Gothic, Amala only appears as a name, not as a documented word meaning mighty, nor is there any apparent word from which it could be derived. Amal- or Amala- appears subsequently in many royal names of Gothic origin—Amalafrida (Amalfrith), Amalric, Amalasuntha (Amalswith) etc. Thanks to Amalric in particular, Amal-/Amel- spread further afield, and in Old English the names Amalbeorht, Amalbeald, Amalheard, Amalgaer, Amalhere and Amalthryth are known.