Subject: (urth) Onomastics Again

From: Jim Henley <jlhenley at erols.com>
Date: Sat, 11 Sep 1999 18:04:04 +0000

I'd appreciate it if someone could tell me what the names Odilo, Thais and
um, what'shername mean - you know, the other one.

Best,

Jim
 *****************************************
"These are the days of empty kitchens"
              -- Sheryl Crow

*More Wolfe info & archive of this list at http://www.urth.net/urth/

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From: Michael Andre-Driussi <mantis at sirius.com>
Date: Sat, 11 Sep 1999 20:34:19 +0000

>um, what'shername mean - you know, the other one.

Odilo--tenth century Abbot of Cluny who established All Souls's Day. A
Teutonic name, meaning "rich."

Pega--Saint Pega (died 719) was reputed to have cured a man of blindness.

Thais--Saint Thais is penitent, saint, patron of fallen women or courtesans
in 4th-century Christian legend. A Greek name meaning "beloved."

I hope that helps.

=mantis=

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From: Jim Henley <jlhenley at erols.com>
Date: Sun, 12 Sep 1999 09:55:57 +0000

> -----Original Message-----
> From: urth-errors at lists.best.com [mailto:urth-errors at lists.best.com]On
> Behalf Of Michael Andre-Driussi
>

That's at least two out of three, so you bet it helps. Now, if I get the
LEXICON for my birthday like I asked, these kinds of things will get much
simpler!

Do you suppose "Pega" might be yet another Italianate diminutive of
"Patricia?"

Best,

Jim
 *****************************************
"We can't be certain who the villains are
cause everyone's so pretty"
              -- Sheryl Crow

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From: Alex David Groce <alex_groce at gs246.sp.cs.cmu.edu>
Date: Mon, 13 Sep 1999 11:55:52 +0000

There's also Anatole France's THAIS.  About said courtesan, I believe,
and a stylite.  (I haven't actually read it myself.)

"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free." John 8:32
--
Alex David Groce (agroce+ at cs.cmu.edu)
Ph.D. Student, Carnegie Mellon University - Computer Science Department
8112 Wean Hall (412)-268-3066
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~agroce

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From: Tony Ellis <tony.ellis at futurenet.co.uk>
Date: Mon, 13 Sep 1999 11:30:08 +0000

> um, what'shername mean - you know, the other one.

Well, I can do Thais: traditionally, that's the name of the Athenian
slave\courtesan who encouraged my hero Alexander the Great to torch beautiful
Persepolis at the height of a boozy three-day victory celebration. One of those
incidents that his critics use to portray him as a drunken barbarian, but you can
see how it could have seemed like a really good idea at the time...