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Converting Names from English to Greek

Posted: September 28th, 2011, 2:10 am
by Rita Ho
Dear All,

I am a Greek beginner from the Alliance Bible Seminary. Could any of you convert the following names from English to Greek, please:

1. Jady
2. Rita
3. Coby
4. Raymond
5. Irene
6. Mavis
7. Ricky

I tried to find them out from the world wide web via "Google"'s search engine but in vain.

Thank you.

Regards,
LaChaSha

Re: Converting Names from English to Greek

Posted: September 28th, 2011, 11:28 am
by Jonathan Robie
The names in one language don't translate directly into the names of another language. How do you convert the Chinese name Mei to English? Or Hui Zhong?

Irene comes from the Greek word εἰρήνη (eiréné), which means "peace". It appears as the name of a goddess and as the name of a daughter of Poseidon.

I don't recognize any of these others as Greek names.

Re: Converting Names from English to Greek

Posted: September 28th, 2011, 9:02 pm
by Louis L Sorenson
There are several ways to deal with non-Greek names:
1) Find the meaning and translate it into Greek. e.g. Jade is from French 'loin stone' which was an aid in healing kidney stones. Modern Greek uses the word νεφρίτης > O.G. νεφροί liver. So you could use that word as a base and feminize it, or use the feminine of the Egyptian name Nephri (=Νεφρά or Νεφρία? or fem. Νεφρίτις?)
2) Use the modern Greek form of the name - not sure what that is.
3) Greacize the name. Jady = Ἰαδή. This would appear to be declineable.
4). Treat the name as an indeclineable: Ἰαδί

I like using declineable names in class because it lets people use and learn noun formations for other words.

Re: Converting Names from English to Greek

Posted: September 29th, 2011, 10:43 pm
by Lee Knutson
LaChaSha, I took a look around for some ideas about your list of names, and keeping in mind what Jonathan & Louis have already suggested, maybe some of this will help you:

1. Jady - Jade [see Louis' notes]

2. Rita - usu. nickname from Margarita = Margaret; orig. Greek, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_(name)

3. Coby - poss. nickname from Jacob ? Google Translate can handle this.

4. Raymond - orig. Germanic, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond
meaning counselor & protector, maybe "hand of counsel"?

5. Irene (Greek)

6. Mavis - Celtic: Thrush (bird) Google Translate can handle this.

7. Ricky = nickname from Richard, orig. Germanic, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard
meaning "powerful leader" so why not http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basil_(name) ?

& last but not least!
LaChaSha
see http://www.chabad.org/library/article_c ... e-from.htm
"Apparently this name was derived from the (male) name Chasa which is mentioned in the Talmud. In Aramaic, the word chasia means 'mercy' or 'merciful'."
... sounds to me like you could just use the transliteration Χάσια ?

Re: Converting Names from English to Greek

Posted: October 1st, 2011, 2:40 am
by Rita Ho
Dear Jonathan, Louis and Lee,

Thank you so much for your thoughtful replies. They are so encouraging and address some of my doubts behind the conversion of names into Greek. All enqiries come from my colleagues at the workplace who are so interested in asking me about their transliteratioin with Greek and the Greek pronounciation of their names. Despite so, their curiosity is a stimulation for my study in biblical Greek.

Thanks once again.

Regards,
LaChaSha