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Help[Facts] Re: What do the names Felisberto and Felisberta mean?
in reply to a message by I like old names
Probably Felix + Berto (Roberto, Alberto, etc)
masculine list: https://www.behindthename.com/pnl/191050/124079
feminine list: https://www.behindthename.com/pnl/191050/124080
masculine list: https://www.behindthename.com/pnl/191050/124079
feminine list: https://www.behindthename.com/pnl/191050/124080
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Replies
Thanks! Does this mean that Felixberto and Felixberta are cognates?
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I agree, a rare but not unprecedented combination of a Latin prototheme (i.e. taken from prosaic Latin speech, not used a prototheme in Latin names which are unusual in not retaining the Indo-European name traditions found everywhere else from Spain to India) and a Germanic deuterotheme. /s/ for Latin /ks/ is unusual but is recorded in some Italian dialects. The dominant sense of Felix is fortunate, happy, a popular category of Indo-European name themes; berto/berta are the declined forms of -bert, "bright", the inference is "glory". While it's tempting to construct a combined meaning these would be selected as potential themes independently, and the combinations then chosen for a variety of reasons that may result in contradictory themes being combined (e.g. "dark bright", "battle peace").
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Well, the age of dithematic names is long ago, and Felisberto looks like a new coinage. It could be as well e folk etymological reinterpretation of Filiberto (a real dithematic name from the medieval age).
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Seems you're right, Felisberto and Felisberta, and probably Felixberto/Felixberta seem to be scribal variations of Filiberto/Filiberta, but these as well are 15 C. and the Fili- theme seems to be borrowed from Filippus, Greek Φίλιππος (in which case the theme is mis-analyzed, as the Greek theme is Φίλ-, not Φίλι-). The Germanic cognate is Bil-/Bel- "kind, good, merciful", rare enough in prosaic use the theme is usually interpreted as bil "machete, single-edged sword"
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The usual etymology for Filibert assumes a purely Germanic origin and identifies the prototheme Fili with Modern High German viel "much, many". But there is a connection between Filibert and Phillip, and Filibert is seen as a door-opener for the foreign name Phillip that was one of the first foreign names to be adopted by people in Germany. A similar relation is assumed for Sigmund and Simon.
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At some point in history (Ostrogothic Kingdom at Verona, Italy), East Germanic and Bavarian were geographically adjacent, and there are some Gothic loan words in German, and some Greek words transmitted via Gothic. So such kind of connection is not too far fetched.
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