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As someone else said, the name of the mythological character is probably Luwian and, as you probably saw on Wikipedia, it may be related to the attested name Pari-zitis. I’m not a Luwian expert, but I’m interested in etymology. Here’s what I can find:

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Pari: I can’t find a clear answer for this, so we’ll have to go to its better-documented relative, Hittite. Again, I’m FAR from being an etymology expert, so these are uneducated guesses based on sound only.
1. *parḫu-: Fish.
2. parāi: To blow (a horn); to blow on, fan (as fire); to blow up, inflate.
3. paḫḫur: Fire; torch, torches; campfire, watchfire; embers, burning coals; fever, inflammation, burning, pain.
4. pa-aḫ-sa: To protect, guard, defend; to observe (agreements), keep (oaths, a secret), obey (commands); to seek protection with.
5. parḫūwayas: Thought to mean fish, in the genitive singular form. It’s only been documented once.

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Zitis: Means “man” in Luwian, as in an adult male or humanity as a whole, or “husband.” This seems certain.

This message was edited 11/23/2017, 7:24 AM

OK. Britannica says "Defender", but this is properly the meaning of his other name "Alexander", Trojan Alaksandu (although this appears to be a Greek name it was used by historic Trojan rulers before the Trojan war). Paris by Greek folk etymology from "pera" backpack, as the shepherd who abandoned him brought him home in a pack when he survived. The second suggestion is not take, but "letting go" πάρεσις (páresis), however the argument falls down because the reason given for the name (he survived or escaped) runs counter to its actual meaning (letting go, paralysis, overlooking, neglect) and if the name is historic, not merely made up for the epic, it may be Trojan (presumed to be a Luwian dialect), not Greek, and searching for a Greek meaning may be pointless. A Luwian expert may know whether it is Luwian or Greek (Luwian is known to borrow Greek names, and there is some known borrowing from Luwian to Greek). Then again it may predate both Greek and Luwian in Anatolia, as a number of names used by the Greeks were adopted from earlier Anatolian languages as well. That Paris is used as a name elsewhere in Greece is irrelevant, as like modern people the ancient Greeks adopted names from many neighbouring languages. Someone has suggested the meaning is "fighter", the same as one suggestion for the Gallic Parisii, but this seems to be based on recent European myth that the Celtic Galatians inhabited Anatolia from ancient times (1500 BCE) rather than settling in Anatolia in 277 BCE after earlier raiding the Balkans c.281 BCE as recorded in the historic records.

This message was edited 11/14/2017, 4:32 PM

Not at all. Paris is named for the Parisii. For one that is the Latin version of the name — although the Parisii had coinage it has no script on it to confirm the native spelling. If the Roman spelling is accurate it has been suggested it is cognate with Welsh Prydain (Britain) from Celtic *Pritani, perhaps from a Proto-Celtic *Kʷritanī, *Kʷritenī, whence Welsh Prydyn (“Picts”), Old Irish Cruthne, Cru(i)then-túath (“Picts”), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷer- (“to do”) but exactly how and what it meant is uncertain (in both Gallic and Brythonic kʷ becomes p — "Britain", and via Welsh "Brythonic", is via Latin, from the Greek Prettanía, again from Celtic *Pritani, which just illustrates why you can't necessarily trust the names used by Roman historians).