Questions tagged [names]
For questions about the names of people, creatures, deities and beings, and how they influence mythology.
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What Ionia does Solinus say is named after Ione, daughter of Aulochus?
It may seem straight forward, Ionia is named after Ione, but Ionia is in Asia Minor and in context, he's listing places in Italy
However, lest it appear as though I have left Italy entirely
untouched,...
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Besides Apollo, no main Roman god shared the name of its Greek version -- why?
Was this deliberate or is it more than we decided upon the correspondence and the Romans did not see them necessarily as the exact same god?
If deliberate, did the Romans want to separate their ...
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Why does the witch invoke "Zachiel" in "Jorinde and Joringel"?
In the Grimm Brothers' fairy tale "Jorinde and Joringel", the witch who has captured Jorinde and Joringel seems to cast a magic spell, as seen in the following excerpt:
Joringel could ...
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Name for the "soul-mates" in Plato's "The Symposium"?
In Plato's The Symposium, Aristophanes tells the tale of the "soulmate", which was the description of humans that had two pairs of arms and legs, one head with two faces upon it, and three ...
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Is there any evidence of a Jewish demon named Khoyzek?
The Yiddish term khoyzek refers a "mockery" of something else. According to Dov Sadan (cited here) this word derives from Khoyzek a demon in Jewish folklore. I looked high and low and could ...
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Greek female name associated with gifts, a tool, a weapon, or a lie - must sound relatively 'normal' for a modern name
I'm writing a story, and the beginning of the story has a woman in it that doesn't actually exist - she's a figment of some mental manipulation upon the protagonist by a magical Greek cult.
I've done ...
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Why did the Romans name the planets after their gods?
Why did the Romans name the planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn after their gods? Or did they consider these planets those gods?
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A monster made of many insects
The concept of a monster that presents as a single entity, but is composed of a multitude of worms, bugs, or insects can be found in many media. Examples of this type of monster include The Nightmare ...
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Why was one of the Hecatoncheires known by a different name by men and the gods?
It is said in the Iliad that one of the Hundred Handers was known by two names, one for the gods to call him and one for men to call him. His name by the gods was Briareus but men called him Aegaeon.
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How many Ancient Greek names got their English names from French or nativised in English?
The majority of Ancient Greek people (be it mythological or real) or places got their English names from their Latinized Greek names (Uranus, Achilles, etc.), except for a select few that got their ...
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What is the origin of the akhlut's name?
The akhlut is a creature from Inuit myth, a monstrous wolf that can take the shape of an orca. However, I haven't been able to find this word in any reliable Inuktitut dictionaries (looking for akhlut,...
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Is Phoebus an alternate name for Apollo or is a description of Apollo?
Is Phoebus an alternate name for Apollo or is a description of Apollo?
In other words, I want to know if Phoebus is a name or simply a common noun that means "light" or "brightness". There was also a ...
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Which cultures have the concept of a "true" or "secret name?"
A true name, to my limited understanding, is a concept of a name(s)/phrase specific to one person/being that gives the speaker power over the person the true name belongs to. It is a semi-popular ...
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Hoenir in Tolkien's writing
The Norse god Hoenir is very confused from what I can tell, but my question is about his mention in the book The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun by J.R.R. Tolkien. In I.1, he writes
at [Odin's] right ...
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Is there a god called Iob/Job/Yov?
R. Simon Ashenburg in Debek Tob reconciles a contradiction in the Bible regarding the name of Issachar's son which is given as Yov (יוב) in Genesis 46:13 and elsewhere as Yashuv (ישוב) in Numbers 26:...
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Did the word "fairies" originate after the creation of stories about fairies?
From Wiktionary: Fairy : Etymology
From Middle English fairie, from Old French faerie, the -erie abstract of fae, from Vulgar Latin Fāta (“goddess of fate”), from Latin fātum (“fate”)
This seems ...
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What were the original names of Mochdref, Mochtref, Mochnant and Mochtref?
In the fourth branch of the Mabinogion, Gwydion and company move through the areas surrounding the court of Dryfed after receiving pigs from Pryderi:
That night they made it as far as the uplands ...
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Is there a deeper meaning to Utgard-Loki, Loki, and Logi?
In the myth of Utgard-Loki, Thor and friends visit the castle Utgard, where several beings have nearly identical names:
Utgard-Loki, a giant and the ruler of Utgard
Loki, an Aesir and the half-...
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