Does anyone have a source for
Alexis meaning "helper, defender"? It appears to be derived from Ancient Greek ἄλεξις, which the Liddle-Scott-Jones Online Dictionary defines as the abstract noun "help" (
https://lsj.gr/wiki/%E1%BC%84%CE%BB%CE%B5%CE%BE%CE%B9%CF%82). This definition makes more sense to me - although I'm not an expert on Ancient Greek, it looks like ἀλέξω + -σῐς, which forms abstract nouns of action, process, or result (and is not an agentive suffix) according to
Herbert Weir Smythe (
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0007:smythp=840).
If I'm wrong about this, please let me know!
"The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it." -
Terry Pratchett