Comments (Meaning / History Only)
This name derives from the Greek roots: ΠΗΝΕΛ-ΟΠΗ=vale-face, sight. We have the same compound OP in the name EUROPE which means:wide face, wide sight, (ev. indicating the moon). [noted -ed]
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I just thought of something! Ducks have webbed feet! So maybe the Greek name for a (type of) duck (Penelops) actually came from web or weaving? Etymologists?
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Penelope does not mean weaver. Penelope means duck, but it got weaver associated with it because Odysseus's wife, Penelope, was a weaver herself.
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Sorry, Rama, if that's what you think; please see my comment above (best viewed with Encoding set to Greek (Windows)), as well as those posted by Etymomaniac and VictoriaCalledTori. Though it's true that Penelope was a weaver, that doesn't lend much weight to your argument. The name being similar to the word for "duck" doesn't mean that it means "duck", though both are from the same language. It might be that the situation resembles a situation in Chinese where two words have the same pronunciation but different meanings; the same goes for a situation in which one Chinese word has two different pronunciations and meanings.
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Means "Weaver" not "Duck", as Penelope fended off persistant suitors (see previous comments) by insisting that she could not marry before finishing her father's (father in law's?) burial shroud. She would weave it each day and unweave it each night as the suitors slept. Eventually though, a maid in her household who was sleeping with one of the suitors betrayed Penelope, and thus she was forced to choose one of them.
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Although the origin of the name "Penelope" is defined as being derived from the Greek word for "duck", most other baby-name sites state the meaning to be "weaver". This definition is supported by Wikipedia's entry that states that the mythological character's name is "close to the Greek word for duck but is usually understood to be a combination of the Greek word for web or woof (ðçíç) and the word for eye or face (ùø), very appropriate for a weaver of cunning whose motivation is hard to decipher".
In addition, Odysseus was the king of Ithaca in the Odyssey, making Penelope his queen. She had to wait twenty years for his return because Odysseus did not come home directly after the battle at Troy (which took ten years), but had to brave many adventures on his way home. The journey back to Ithaca took another decade.
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In addition, Odysseus was the king of Ithaca in the Odyssey, making Penelope his queen. She had to wait twenty years for his return because Odysseus did not come home directly after the battle at Troy (which took ten years), but had to brave many adventures on his way home. The journey back to Ithaca took another decade.
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I would like to apologise for the similarity of the first part of my comment to that of Etymomaniac's comment that was left on 6/9/2005; I hadn't seen it before posting. I also apologise for the fact that the Greek letters didn't show up in my earlier comment.
However, no offence to Etymomaniac, but I would like to point out to him/her that Ulysses - or Ulisses as he/she spelt it - is the Roman-myth form of Odysseus's name.
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However, no offence to Etymomaniac, but I would like to point out to him/her that Ulysses - or Ulisses as he/she spelt it - is the Roman-myth form of Odysseus's name.
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The literal meaning of the name is "weaver[ess]". It thus agrees with the legend of Ulisses's wife, who was weaving the same piece of cloth for twenty years, waiting for her husband's return from Troy. It is an archaic compound noun, from the Greek noun "pene" (=thread) and the Greek verb "lepo" (=to unroll). It has nothing to do with the archaic Greek word "penelops", meaning "duck".
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