reliable name origins guide?

George Thompson george.thompson at NYU.EDU
Wed Jan 17 15:32:38 UTC 2007


The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names, by E. G. Withycombe.
3d ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1977 doesn't encourage this idea.  It
traces Esther to Persian, by way of Hebrew, and Theresa to Greek.

GAT

George A. Thompson
Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern
Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much lately.

----- Original Message -----
From: Nathan Bierma <nbierm65 at CALVIN.EDU>
Date: Monday, January 15, 2007 8:05 pm
Subject: reliable name origins guide?

> There's no shortage of books and websites for baby names, but
> what's reliable?
>
>
> I got this question from a reader about a possible relation between
> the names
> 'Esther' and 'Theresa.' None of the baby-name books and sites I've
> checkedsuggest any connection, but I don't know what or whom to
> quote authoritatively.
> (Looks like OED has etymologies on a few of the most common names,
> but not
> these.)
>
> > I am doing genealogy.  Another member of my family thinks that
> Therese/Theresa, etc. is an anglicized version of Esther.  I have
> lookedin the dictionary (my only reference book at home) and to me
> that does not
> appear
> >to be the case as they appear to have different roots. Could you
> and would
> you shed some light on this for me or direct me to a good basic
> source book?
>
>
> Thanks,
>
> Nathan
>
>
> Nathan Bierma
> "On Language"
> www.nbierma.com/language
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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