Message: "Re: Morenike" - Behind the Name

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[Facts] Re: Morenike

by Mrs Claire (Miss Claire)

3/13/2008, 7:38 AM

Interesting.
Morenica is the name of the heroine of a Judeo-Spanish song. It means "little brown one".

~~ Claire ~~

My ! are Alia, Eidel, Enola, Israel, Dudel, Yuri, Lina, Lorelei, Leilani, Owen, Julian, Glorinda, Mirinda
My ? are Hillel, Meshullam, Johnny, Ginny, Cordelia, Fiammetta, Yocheved
My ~ are Tehila, Tilda, Hailey, Gillian, Huldah
My / are Aglaia and July

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- Lethe (reniannen17) +2

3/13/2008, 12:40 PM

Thanks that's interesting. Funny they're so similar but I don't think it's the same name as Morenike, the people I saw with the name on myspace etc were definitely of African origin.

- Anneza +1

3/13/2008, 11:08 PM

Well, Africa's big and includes the Mediterranean countries - whose inhabitants, once they became Muslims and invaded Spain, were known as Moors. So that'll be where Mme Claire's song came from. I think it's too far North to have influenced Yoruba, especially since the meaning is so different.

- Lumia

3/14/2008, 12:44 AM

Morenica is a Ladino word used as first name (it is very usual among 12th c.-15th c. Sephardic Jews). It comes from morena, "dark (haired or skinned)", with the diminutive suffix -ica. And it is the same in the actual Spanish (the use of the suffix -ico/-ica is very usual in Murcia, e.g., whereas in other dialects other suffixes are used: -uco/-uca, -illo/illa...).

The formal coincidence with the Yoruba Morenike is just that, a formal coincidence.

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