Etymology în onomastic studies

It is not known when humans began using names though the practice is certainly very old, probably extending far into prehistory. Although all cultures use names, naming customs vary greatly from people to people. In some cases they are very simple, such as those of many Indonesians who use just a single name.

On the other hand, Chinese naming practices are very complex. Chinese males are given different names at various points in their lives, in addition to a surname and sometimes a generation name.

an attempt to point out the roots and meanings of names such as the present work aims at showing the correspondences between social, historical or cultural, in a word objective circumstances and the individual as part of them. Seen from this point of view names are a way in which the individual relates to the world around. Apart from being indispensable as a means of identifying people, names express ideas, attitudes, mentalities which often belong to an entire community, nation or even to the universal patrimony. History has probably had the greatest impact upon naming, either global or national. The fame of some historical figures can extend far beyond the borders of a country and reach the hearts and minds of millions of people all over the globe. When we speak of history we do not refer only to its prominent figures, but also to events such as invasions which have considerably shaped naming systems, this being the case of the English one.

The present work studies more than 150 traditional names and about 140 modern names, its basic purpose being to reveal where they come from, how they have evolved semantically and which are the cotemporary trends in naming. It is structured into three chapters: Chapter one looks into the historical circumstances in which the English language was born, the invasions and their influence.

The historical background is interesting to see because almost all waves of invaders have imprinted their special features upon the English names, and by features we do not mean only linguistic characteristics but also attitudes and mentalities. Chapter two deals with a brief history of personal names and offers an insight into various patterns of naming and also into the development of family names.

The first subchapter points out the importance of etymological studies within the area of linguistic studies; the second deals with the science of personal names; the third traces the general evolution of first names; the fourth presents various patterns of naming belonging to languages other than the European ones and the fifth presents patterns of naming originating in the Indo-European system with a brief presentation of the evolution of last names.

Chapter three is a survey of the most important languages that have influenced and enriched the English naming system: the Germanic languages, Latin, Greek, French, and the languages that have developed on the British Isle. The study is based on etymological ...

BAUGH ALBERT C. - "A HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE" - SECOND EDITION, LONDON, ROUTLEDGE & KEGAN PAUL LTD. , 1959

BAUGH ALBERT C. , THOMAS CABLE - "A HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE" - THIRD EDITION, LONDON, ROUTLEDGE & KEGAN PAUL LTD. , 1989

BERNDT ROLF - "A HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE" - LEIPZIG, VEB VERLAG ENZYKLOPADIE, 1982

BLOOMFIELD MORTON W. , LEONARD NEWMARK - "A LINGUISTIC INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH" - NEW YORK, ALFRED A. KNOPF INC. , 1965

BROOK G. L. - "A HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE" - LONDON, COX & WYMAN LTD. , 1960

CRYSTAL DAVID - "THE CAMBRIDGE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE" - NEW YORK, CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS, 1995

CRYSTAL DAVID - "LINGUISTICS" - SECOND EDITION, LONDON, PENGUIN BOOKS, 1985

GABRILIU E. - "LECTURES IN ENGLISH LITERATURE I, FROM ANGLO SAXON TO ELIZABETHAN" - GALATI, UNIVERSITATEA "DUNAREA DE JOS", 2000

GRAUR AL. - "NUME DE PERSOANE" - BUCURESTI, EDITURA STIINTIFICA, 1965

IAROVICI EDITH - "A HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE" - BUCURESTI, EDITURA DIDACTICA SI PEDAGOGICA, 1973

KOLATCH ALFRED J. - "THE NAME DICTIONARY. ENGLISH AND HEBREW NAMES" - NEW YORK, JONATHAN DAVID PUBLISHERS, 1979

LASS ROGER - "THE SHAPE OF ENGLISH. STRUCTURE AND HISTORY" - LONDON, J. M. DENT & SONS LTD, 1987

LEVITCHI LEON - "LITERATURA ENGLEZA DE LA INCEPUTURI PANA LA 1648" - VOL. I, EDITIA A 2 - A REVIZUITA, BUCURESTI, UNIVERSITATEA BUCURESTI, INSTITUTUL DE LIMBI SI LITERATURI STRAINE, 1977

LEVITCHI LEON - "LIMBA ENGLEZA CONTEMPORANA. LEXICOLOGIE" - BUCURESTI, EDITURA DIDACTICA SI PEDAGOGICA, 1970

MCDOWALL DAVID - "AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF BRITAIN" - LONDON, LONGMAN, 1989

PORUCIUC A. - "A CONCISE HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE" - BUCURESTI, TIMS, 1992

PORUCIUC A. - "ISTORIE SCRISA IN ENGLEZA VECHE" - IASI, EDITURA MOLDOVA, 1995

PORUCIUC A. - "LIMBA SI ISTORIE ENGLEZA INTRE WILLIAM CUCERITORUL SI WILLIAM CANTON" - IASI, POLIROM, 1999