minimal pairs

[Brian M. Scott]

On Friday, 22 December, 2000, at 07:50:13, Eduard Selleslagh wrote:

ES> From: "Anton Sherwood" <bronto at pobox.com> Sent: Wednesday,
ES> December 20, 2000 5:34 AM

>> <Anthony> was misderived from Greek <anthos> `flower'.

ES> I have never heard that one. It looks very implausible to me,
ES> since English writers were undoubtedly more familiar with Latin
ES> than with ancient or any other kind of Greek, and in Latin texts,
ES> classic and later, the name Antonius is very common.

I don't know whether the misapprehension was responsible for
establishing the <th> spelling, but it certainly existed. William
Camden's _Remains Concerning Britain_ (1605) includes a chapter on
'Usuall Christian Names'. Of <Anthonie> he writes: '_Gre._ as
_Antheros_, Flourishing, from the Greeke _Anthos_ a floure, as
_Florens_ and _Florentius_ with the Latines, and _Thales_, _Euthalius_
with the Greekes. There are yet some that drawe it from _Anton_ a
companion of _Hercules_.'

ES> I don't know the origin of the name 'Antonius'. Does anybody?

Emidio De Felice's _dizionario dei nomi italiani_ s.n. <Antonio> says
(unfortunately without citation) that the name is probably of Etruscan
origin, though the etymology is unknown. He adds that in the
Renaissance it was arbitrarily associated with Gk. <a'nthos> 'flower',
so the connection isn't solely English. In this connection it may be
worth noting that in general <th> spellings become common in much of
Europe in the 15th and 16th c.  E.g., in notarial documents from
Bordeaux ca.1500 the name appears consistently with <th>
(<Anthoin(n)e>, <Anthoyne>, <Anthony>, <Anthoni>, <Anthonio>), and
<th> spellings seem to have been usual in Sweden and the Low Countries
even a bit earlier.

Brian M. Scott