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According to the entry for 'mausoleum' at the on-line dictionary of Merriam Webster, mausoleum is the latinized form of Greek mausōleion, which in turn is derived from the personal name Mausōlos (also seen spelled as Mausollos, Maussollos and Maussolos, by the way). The name is usually latinized to Mausolus.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mausoleum
The entry for 'mausoleum' at Wiktionary states the same, but contains a little bit more information:
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mausoleum
As we see there, the name Mausolos traces back to one specific bearer, namely a satrap of Caria from the 4th century BC. This man not only ruled Caria, but he was also born and bred in Caria, meaning that he was not of Greek origin. As such, his name is most likely not an authentic Greek first name. Mausolos must then be the hellenized form of his original Carian name. Note, though: technically there is still a chance that the name Mausolos is ultimately of Greek origin, given that the original bearer was born into a family that embraced Hellenic culture (and so his parents might have been inspired to bestow a Greek name upon their son). This is rather unlikely, however. The Perseus Digital Library at Tufts University (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/) certainly doesn't yield any Greek entries that look like they could have been the root for the name Mausolos, at any rate.
Okay, so we know that the satrap Mausolos was born and bred in Caria. The people of Caria spoke a now-extinct Anatolian language, namely the Carian language:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carian_language
It stands to reason, then, that Mausolos must ultimately have been derived from one or more words from the Carian language. The entry for Mausolus at Brill Reference does confirm this theory:
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mausoleum
The entry for 'mausoleum' at Wiktionary states the same, but contains a little bit more information:
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mausoleum
As we see there, the name Mausolos traces back to one specific bearer, namely a satrap of Caria from the 4th century BC. This man not only ruled Caria, but he was also born and bred in Caria, meaning that he was not of Greek origin. As such, his name is most likely not an authentic Greek first name. Mausolos must then be the hellenized form of his original Carian name. Note, though: technically there is still a chance that the name Mausolos is ultimately of Greek origin, given that the original bearer was born into a family that embraced Hellenic culture (and so his parents might have been inspired to bestow a Greek name upon their son). This is rather unlikely, however. The Perseus Digital Library at Tufts University (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/) certainly doesn't yield any Greek entries that look like they could have been the root for the name Mausolos, at any rate.
Okay, so we know that the satrap Mausolos was born and bred in Caria. The people of Caria spoke a now-extinct Anatolian language, namely the Carian language:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carian_language
It stands to reason, then, that Mausolos must ultimately have been derived from one or more words from the Carian language. The entry for Mausolus at Brill Reference does confirm this theory:
This message was edited 3/6/2013, 5:16 AM
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Additional information.
I found some additional information in the book "The Carian Language" written by Ignacio-Javier Adiego Lajara, namely:
- Page 3 of the book states that Mausolus and his family are native Carians. This is yet another thing that makes it more likely that the name Mausolos is merely the hellenized form of an authentic Carian name.
- Page 330 states that Maussollos (mentioned there as Μαυσσωλλος) is a compound name, so the name is derived from two elements rather than one. Unfortunately, due to the way in which that page is set up, the page is vague about what elements the name is actually derived from. I think if I understand it right, Maussollos is mentioned there because of its suffix (which is -ollos), because the group of names it is mentioned together with, all share that suffix. It seems that that suffix is actually the second element in the name, because these names are categorised under uśoλ/ωśoλ (which seems like it's an element). On page 343 in the book, this seems to be confirmed, as that page explains a little bit about an Anatolian suffix -alla- or alli-. This Anatolian suffix is apparently rendered to -oλ in Carian, which subsequently is rendered to -ωλλ in Greek (when hellenized). This is obvious in Μαυσσωλλος (Maussollos), as you can see. Page 344 also directly says that this Anatolian suffix can be traced back "in the family of uśoλ names", which is what Maussollos was listed under on the aforementioned page 330. The author then goes on to say that the meaning and origin of this Anatolian suffix is by no means clear, so evidently there is still much to be researched and debated regarding that issue.
Also, a little more about this suffix is explained on the Wikipedia article for the Carian language (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carian_language). There, it is stated that the suffix uśoλ gains an -s when it becomes an genitive ending, thus becoming uśoλ-s. Knowing this, perhaps Mausolos is the hellenized form of the genitive of the original name, as the genitive would have ended in -s.
I found some additional information in the book "The Carian Language" written by Ignacio-Javier Adiego Lajara, namely:
- Page 3 of the book states that Mausolus and his family are native Carians. This is yet another thing that makes it more likely that the name Mausolos is merely the hellenized form of an authentic Carian name.
- Page 330 states that Maussollos (mentioned there as Μαυσσωλλος) is a compound name, so the name is derived from two elements rather than one. Unfortunately, due to the way in which that page is set up, the page is vague about what elements the name is actually derived from. I think if I understand it right, Maussollos is mentioned there because of its suffix (which is -ollos), because the group of names it is mentioned together with, all share that suffix. It seems that that suffix is actually the second element in the name, because these names are categorised under uśoλ/ωśoλ (which seems like it's an element). On page 343 in the book, this seems to be confirmed, as that page explains a little bit about an Anatolian suffix -alla- or alli-. This Anatolian suffix is apparently rendered to -oλ in Carian, which subsequently is rendered to -ωλλ in Greek (when hellenized). This is obvious in Μαυσσωλλος (Maussollos), as you can see. Page 344 also directly says that this Anatolian suffix can be traced back "in the family of uśoλ names", which is what Maussollos was listed under on the aforementioned page 330. The author then goes on to say that the meaning and origin of this Anatolian suffix is by no means clear, so evidently there is still much to be researched and debated regarding that issue.
Also, a little more about this suffix is explained on the Wikipedia article for the Carian language (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carian_language). There, it is stated that the suffix uśoλ gains an -s when it becomes an genitive ending, thus becoming uśoλ-s. Knowing this, perhaps Mausolos is the hellenized form of the genitive of the original name, as the genitive would have ended in -s.
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behindthename should have a "like" button (a la facebook), and one should be able to search on most liked posts :-)
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