--- Philip Hart <philiph at slac.stanford.edu> wrote: > > > On Fri, 23 Jul 2004, lazarus wrote: > > > On Fri, 23 Jul 2004 14:26:25 -0400, someone wrote: > > > > >> > > >> Somewhat off-topic here: > > >> > > >> How did the name Hector, originally that of a Trojan hero in a > Greek > > >> epic, become popular in the Hispanic culture? > > > > > >http://www.hispanicnames.com/history.asp > > > > > > > Thank you! My wife had theorised that was the case, but I wasn't > > sure. The Romans had this myth that they were descended from Aeneas and other Trojans. This made the Homeric Trojans more popular in Europe--in fact, I believe it was a popular sport to trace one's descent from, sort of the way it was in the 19th century to prove that one's ethnic group was the real Aryans. As the noblest Trojan was Hector, that name become popular. It's unusual among Spanish names in that there didn't seem to be a Saint Hector until 1999. > "The Basques gave themselves names like, Guzman (good man), Esquivel > (behind a rock), Chapa (oak tree), Zavala (width)." Maybe some Basques gave themselves the names Guzman, but its origin obviously Germanic, specifically Gothic. I was under the impression it meant "God's man", but I could be wrong. > I can understand the name Petros/Pedro/Peter/ - "rock" - but "behind a > rock"? (Ok, "beneath a rock" would be worse.) Probably "rock" in the British sense--a stone that's to big to lift. Mr. Esquivel would have lived in a house behind one. > And Mr. Width strikes me as odd. In addition to (or in harmony with) rone's suggestion, cf. Philip Dick, or "Horselover Fat" in English. Jerry Friedman __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? New and Improved Yahoo! Mail - 100MB free storage! http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail