Anthony as Greek?

[David L. White]

> Let me apologize, but it is escaping me why "Anthony" cannot come from Gk
> <anthos> or <antho:n>.   Aeschylus before 400BC already uses the term to
> also denote "pride", "honor" and "height of achievement".  It was also used
> to connote "brightness" or "brilliance."  Parallel the name with Gk
> <stephanos>, garland, and the fact that <Stephanus> appears as a Roman name
> at least by the first century BC.

> Is there a clear reason why Ant[h]onius cannot be Greek?

        Not an overwhelmingly clear reason, perhaps, but "Antonius", sans
"h", is a Roman family name presumably of some ancientry (since Roman
families were not made up anew, not that I ever heard of anyway).
"Stephanus", by contrast, is a given or personal name, so the analogy is not
quite exact.  But since Roman family names were (I vaguely recall) fairly
often of Etruscan origin, and the Etruscans probably came from the Eastern
Mediterranean, is seems within the range of possibility the Roman name could
ultimately go back to the same source, perhaps one of those Mediterranean
words like "olive".    I am not aware of any evidence that the word is
legitimately IE, though it may be.

Dr. David L. White