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Meaning & History
Latin form of Greek Ὀλοφέρνης (Olophernes), a variant of Orophernes. In the apocryphal Book of Judith, Holofernes is an Assyrian invading general of Nebuchadnezzar who is seduced and beheaded by Judith, a beautiful Hebrew widow. In 14th-century literature, he is depicted in Dante's epic poem the Divine Comedy (1321) and in Geoffrey Chaucer's story The Monk's Tale (one of The Canterbury Tales). Shakespeare later used this name for a character (a schoolmaster) in his play Love's Labour's Lost (1594).