Back to Attila

[Laurence Urdang]

I might have been the culprit who wrote that Attila meant 'little father,' without identifying the language.  (I didn't say, "German," in any event.)  As I recall, it is East Gothic.
  L. Urdang
  Old Lyme

Jim Parish <jparish at SIUE.EDU> wrote:
  ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Jim Parish
Subject: Re: Back to Attila
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Your Name wrote:
> At one point in this thread, someone said:
>
>
> <<"Attila", I am told, is German for "little father" and may be a title
> rather than his name.
> >>
>
>
>
> I asked a native German speaker. His reply:
> << nope, i've never heard that word.. >>

My understanding is that it's Gothic, not German: "atta" ("father"), plus a
diminutive.

Jim Parish

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