Anthony as Greek?

[Brian M. Scott]

On Friday, 29 December, 2000, at 11:58:02, Steve Long wrote:

SL> Let me apologize, but it is escaping me why "Anthony" cannot come
SL> from Gk <anthos> or <antho:n>.  [...] Is there a clear reason why
SL> Ant[h]onius cannot be Greek?

Roman (as distinct from medieval) <Antonius> and its derivatives
rather consistently appear with <t>, not the <th> that one would
expect in a borrowing of Gk <anth->. And it seems to be borrowed into
Greek with tau, not theta: according to Morlet (Les noms de personne
sur le territoire de l'ancienne Gaule du VIe au XIIe siècle, I:20a),
H. Dessau (Inscriptiones latinae selectae) cites two Greek
transcriptions of <Antoninus>, both with <'Anto:->, and Russian
<Anton(ij)> is apparently from Greek <Anto:nios>.

Brian M. Scott