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Help[Facts] Re: new feature
in reply to a message by Mike C
In Greece, too, namedays are of more significance than birthdays (not in my book!). Here’s a list of Greek orthodox namedays:
http://www.in2greece.com/english/factstrivia/facts/namedays.htm
And for a more comprehensive list:
http://www.sfakia-crete.com/sfakia-crete/greeknamedays.html
The latter site may be confusing, because name are expressed in a grammatical form meaning “(nameday) -of” (darn I cant remember the correct grammatical name for this).
For example,
August 7 – Asteriou, means “of Asterios,” and
June 8 – Kalliopis, means “of Kalliope”
If you’s like I could help you decipher these, particularly completing the contemporary Greek names section in BtN. It is interesting to see how many ancient Greek names made their way into the Orthodox Church; the refusal of the Orthodox Church to allow classical Greek names with now saintly namesakes has, unfortunately, caused an onomastic poverty in contemporary Greece :(
I will try to find a resource with namedays of pre-christian Greek names…
http://www.in2greece.com/english/factstrivia/facts/namedays.htm
And for a more comprehensive list:
http://www.sfakia-crete.com/sfakia-crete/greeknamedays.html
The latter site may be confusing, because name are expressed in a grammatical form meaning “(nameday) -of” (darn I cant remember the correct grammatical name for this).
For example,
August 7 – Asteriou, means “of Asterios,” and
June 8 – Kalliopis, means “of Kalliope”
If you’s like I could help you decipher these, particularly completing the contemporary Greek names section in BtN. It is interesting to see how many ancient Greek names made their way into the Orthodox Church; the refusal of the Orthodox Church to allow classical Greek names with now saintly namesakes has, unfortunately, caused an onomastic poverty in contemporary Greece :(
I will try to find a resource with namedays of pre-christian Greek names…
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Replies
Yay! Cool links, Pavlos. Most name-days are the same as in Bulgaria (which is hardly surprising, given that both countries are orthodoxal :).
I was surprised to learn that Greek people connect Zacharias to "sugar" as they do in Bulgaria :). Is the word "zahar" (sugar) Greek? I always thought it came from Turkish...
And... oh well... now I must admit that my father (Evgeni) was right to celebrate his name-day on the day before Christmas. I thought he was making it up to get one more present :)))
I was surprised to learn that Greek people connect Zacharias to "sugar" as they do in Bulgaria :). Is the word "zahar" (sugar) Greek? I always thought it came from Turkish...
And... oh well... now I must admit that my father (Evgeni) was right to celebrate his name-day on the day before Christmas. I thought he was making it up to get one more present :)))
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Thanks Pavlos,
I had been looking at that second list (or one derived from it) previously but I thought the names looked a little strange. Now that you've explained it I understand why - the names are in the genitive.
Yes, I will need some help changing the names to the nominative case. I know that an -ou ending becomes -os, so you can skip those. However I am unsure of the rules for the other types.
I had been looking at that second list (or one derived from it) previously but I thought the names looked a little strange. Now that you've explained it I understand why - the names are in the genitive.
Yes, I will need some help changing the names to the nominative case. I know that an -ou ending becomes -os, so you can skip those. However I am unsure of the rules for the other types.
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Typo: "no saintly" instead of "now saintly"
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