Meanings of Names: Ever hear of Homophony?
By K. M. Sheard, of NookofNames
There’s an old method of naming first recorded in use in the Old Testament.
It’s called homophony, and basically is the principle of choosing a name because it sounds like something which the bestower wants to commemorate. Or, putting it another way, the choice of name was inspired by something, which, in most cases is entirely unrelated to the name.
It works in all languages; amongst the Biblical Hebrews, for instance, there was a period when names which had become long-established were chosen because of their resemblance to a word or words which suggested themselves during pregnancy or labor.
This is partly why the meaning of so many Biblical names have gotten so muddled. It’s common in the OT for the mother to make some explanation as to why she’s naming a newborn such-and-such, and this explanation was often interpreted in the past as being the meaning of the name, when, in many cases, it’s actually homophony going on.
Take Eve for instance — transliterated from the Hebrew as Chawwah (Chava or Hava in Modern Hebrew) Eve is always universally glossed as meaning “life.” But the Hebrew word for “life” isn’t chawwah. The word for “to breathe” is chawah, related to the verb “to live” chayah. That the name Chawwah had been linked with chayah since at least the time the Old Testament was first written down is clear from an unambiguous line in Genesis:
“Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living.”
The truth of the matter is what the real origin of Chawwah was is unknown. A root from which it might have come has not survived in Hebrew, but there is a contender in Arabic meaning “to gather.” The point is that Eve demonstrates the use of homophony in the selection a name right from the start of the OT.
So for those wanting to honor someone or something in some way, while still using a “traditional” or “established” name, homophony opens up a whole host of options, especially if you don’t stick to just English to aid your search.
Meanwhile, between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries in Ireland and Scotland, it became common for native names in Irish and Gaelic to be “translated” into English by adopting “English” names which resembled the native name — another example of homophony in use in the world of names.
So, for instance, Gráinne became Grace, Lorcán became Laurence, Mór became Mary, Tadhg became Terrence — and Aoife became Eva and Eve.
The fact that the names had nothing whatsoever in common except for the fact they sounded a bit similar was not remotely relevant — homophony can be applied to foreign words with a particular meaning as well as English words to produce a glittering onomasticon of options on one chosen theme…
Here are just some of the traditional/established names which leap out from the suggestions made there, using words with stormy meanings:
Inspired direct from the English:
Blast:Blaise
Blow: Bláth
Bolt: Baldwin
Cyclone: Cecilia, Cecil, Clymene
Flurry: Florence
Lightning: Lena
Monsoon: Melisande, Melusina, Monica
Sleet: Sláine
Surge: Sergey
Tempest: Tempe, Temperence
Torrent: Terrence, Terry, Torquil
Inspired by stormy-meaning words in other languages:
Angin: Angela
Asterope: Esther
Boreas: Boris
Broche: Brooke
Bronte: Bronwen, Brenda, Brendan
Chimon: Kim
Chion: Chloe
Corwynt: Cora
Dilyw: Dilys
Elur: Elinor
Euri: Yuri
Grad: Grady
Guntur: Günther
Haize: Hazel
Hyeteria: Hypatia
Lailaps: Laila
Lauso: Laurence
Lietus: Lita
Lluvia: Louisa
Molinya: Molly
Ondée: India
Pagi: Peggy
Petir: Peter
Pluie: Polly
Prester: Preston
Procella: Priscilla
Rafal, Rafale: Raphael, Raphaella
Rahe: Ray
Rhyax: Rhys
Thyella: Floella
Trovão: Trevor
Tymestl: Thomas
Umeme: Uma
Vetra: Vera
Villám: William
Xita: Zita
So if you’re stuck for a name — why not play around with homophony? You might be amazed what you come up with, and you will be participating in a method of naming that’s been practised for at least two and a half thousand years.
This blog appeared previously on the author’s website.
A graduate of the University of Cambridge, K. M. Sheard is the author of the encyclopedic reference Llewellyn’s Complete Book of Names, and writes Nook of Names, a blog on all things onomastic.