Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2009 September 5

= September 5 =

Latin names
I'm searching for the Latin translation of some given names: Absalom, Jael, Ruben, Boris, Igor, Bruno, Florestan, Fulk, Geoffrey, Hubert, Hildebrand, Reinhard, William, Adelaide, Bridget, Deborah, Gwendoline, Isolde, Louise. For example: Charles>Carolus, Lawrence>Laurentius, Lewis>Ludovicus, Derek>Theodoricus, Vladimir>Vladimirus. I know that some names like Boris may not have Classical translations, but Latin was an important language for Europe for all Middle Ages and beyond, and it was a normal custom to latinizate given names (for example: Franciscus Patricius, Gerardus Mercator, Carolus Linnaeus). --151.51.9.229 (talk) 17:05, 5 September 2009 (UTC)
 * Well William was Guglielmus (I think that's the spelling), and I believe Louise Latinised to Louisa. --TammyMoet (talk) 18:20, 5 September 2009 (UTC)
 * Or Guglielmo in Italian, or Guillermo in Spanish, or Guillaume in French, and so on, as per the article on William (name). It seems to have been retrofitted from "Wilhelm". The name "William" naturally appears frequently in the Bayeux Tapestry, although it seems they weren't quite sure how to render it in Latin in the late 11th century. Some of these variants I'm sure have to do with "case", but anyway the name appears as "WILLEM", "WILLELM", "WILLELMI", "WILELMI", "WILLELMO", "WILGELMVM", "WILGELM", and "WILEI". These all seem to be attempts at rendering "WILHELM" before "GUGLIELMUS" was invented. Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots 18:56, 5 September 2009 (UTC)
 * Louis (given name) is another German-rooted name (Ludwig) that appears to have been retrofitted from the French to Luis (fem. Luisa) in Spanish, Luigi (fem. Luisa) in Italian, and Ludovicus (no fem. given) in Latin. Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots 19:01, 5 September 2009 (UTC)
 * Boris (first name) does not give any Romance Language equivalents, so I would guess there are none. I would encourage the OP to read the articles on the given names, as part of his quest. Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots 19:03, 5 September 2009 (UTC)
 * Absalom is the same in Latin . Deborah seems to be the same, except no 'h', and 2 'b's Debbora. Ruben is the same Wrad (talk) 19:04, 5 September 2009 (UTC)
 * Jael or Yael (Book of Judges, 4:17-22, 5:6) is "Iahel" (IAHEL) in the Vulgate. See http://www.latinvulgate.com/verse.aspx?t=0&b=7&c=4 You can also see Deborah, Reuben and Jael in Chapter 5 —— Shakescene (talk) 19:32, 5 September 2009 (UTC)
 * The Latin version of William usually depends on where the person was from and how they pronounced it in their native non-Latin language; Guglielmus is more Italian, Willelmus is more German, Guillelmus is more French, etc. For Hebrew names they are often left simply transliterated, and not Latinized, so Absalom, Ruben, Deborah, etc remain the same, and even when they do become Latin names, they are still left alone in the Bible (Iacob is the Biblical form although there was a Latinized form Iacobus as well). "Fulk" has two forms, Fulco (third declension) and the longer Fulcherius (which becomes Fulcher or Foucher in French). Geoffrey also has numerous forms, and is sometimes confused with Godfrey, so you might see Goffridus or Godfridus or something similar. "Hubert" comes from "Humbert" I think, so "Humbertus" in Latin (or "Umbertus"); Hildebrand is the same, Hildebrandus; "Reinhard" can be "Reinhardus" or the extended form "Reginhardus" (or both without the H), "Adelaide" has many many forms, as female names often do, but one common form is "Adalaiza". I guess you could feminize "Lodovicus" as "Lodovica" for "Louisa" but there may be another form. I'm not sure about Celtic names like Gewendolin or Isolde, or the Slavic ones. This is a very small list though, there are many different forms for names like these, as they were common for many centuries in many different areas. People sometimes spelled their own names different ways in the same document; they weren't as concerned with "proper" spelling as we are. Adam Bishop (talk) 19:09, 5 September 2009 (UTC)


 * Here's a handy list I Googled with "Latin name translation", although it gives the English translations of Latin first (Christian) names in Irish parish records English names in Latin©Dr. Jane Lyons —— Shakescene (talk) 19:43, 5 September 2009 (UTC)