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Help[Facts] Latinize the name Napoleon Bonaparte, and Lestat de Lioncourt
As always thank you to whomever is able to help me with this, as Napoleon Bonaparte being one of my favorite historical figures, and Lestat de Lioncourt being one of my favorite vampires, I keep wondering how would their names look in a latinized form. So any help is appreciated, so again thank in advance to anyone who can help me.
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Acording to Vicipædia, Napoleon Bonaparte is usually latinised as Napoleo Bonapars.
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Just a note - I'm a hobby-Latinist still in grammar school, not professional whatsoever. These are just my ideas, don't take them as truth.
Napoleon could have something to do with the city of Naples (Neapolis in Latin). So if you'd want something like "citizen of Naples" you could use Neapolitanus. Another possibility is changing the last part (Leon) which is an Ancient Greek name, to the Late Roman form (see forms of Leon here: http://www.behindthename.com/name/leon/related) Leo or Leonius - so you'd get Napoleo or Napoleonius. Do note that this would be a Late Roman form.
But I think Napoleon is acceptable in Latin as it is. Some Greek names ending in -on (Kleon, Timon, Herodion, Mnason) are the same in Latin (though some are changed slightly, like Kleon --> Cleon), especially Biblical names.
Bonaparte sounds very Latin already; it's the ablative form of "bona pars", meaning "good part". The only problem I have with it is that Latin nomina (family names) usually end in the masculine -us, and "pars" is feminine.
Lestat could mean two things (as stated on its page on BtN): "state"/"status", or it could be derived from Stan. If we accept the first theory then Status could be a Latin form of Lestat, since status is a Latin word, too.
If we accept the second then we'd have to translate Stan to Latin. Stan means "stone", and a possible translation of "stone" in Latin is "saxum". I suppose Saxum could be a possibility.
"de Lioncourt" obviously means "of the lion's court". I think the best translation of "court" would be "atrium". "Lion's court" would be "atrium leonis"; if you'd want to translate it to "of the lion's court" then "atrii leonis" would be the correct form, but that wouldn't make a nice nomen, I think. I'd like some other opinions on this...
Napoleon could have something to do with the city of Naples (Neapolis in Latin). So if you'd want something like "citizen of Naples" you could use Neapolitanus. Another possibility is changing the last part (Leon) which is an Ancient Greek name, to the Late Roman form (see forms of Leon here: http://www.behindthename.com/name/leon/related) Leo or Leonius - so you'd get Napoleo or Napoleonius. Do note that this would be a Late Roman form.
But I think Napoleon is acceptable in Latin as it is. Some Greek names ending in -on (Kleon, Timon, Herodion, Mnason) are the same in Latin (though some are changed slightly, like Kleon --> Cleon), especially Biblical names.
Bonaparte sounds very Latin already; it's the ablative form of "bona pars", meaning "good part". The only problem I have with it is that Latin nomina (family names) usually end in the masculine -us, and "pars" is feminine.
Lestat could mean two things (as stated on its page on BtN): "state"/"status", or it could be derived from Stan. If we accept the first theory then Status could be a Latin form of Lestat, since status is a Latin word, too.
If we accept the second then we'd have to translate Stan to Latin. Stan means "stone", and a possible translation of "stone" in Latin is "saxum". I suppose Saxum could be a possibility.
"de Lioncourt" obviously means "of the lion's court". I think the best translation of "court" would be "atrium". "Lion's court" would be "atrium leonis"; if you'd want to translate it to "of the lion's court" then "atrii leonis" would be the correct form, but that wouldn't make a nice nomen, I think. I'd like some other opinions on this...
This message was edited 1/7/2015, 9:20 AM
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I also found something related to the name napoleon that is quite interesting from a random website, which might confirm about something you said about the name Napoleon, here the quote form it,"In French the meaning of the name Napoleon is: Man from Naples. Italian Meaning: The name Napoleon is an Italian baby name. In Italian the meaning of the name Napoleon is: Lion of Naples." what do you think?
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Could Bonuspars be the latinization of Bonaparte?
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