View Message

[Facts] Any info on the name Partheny?
I found a female ancestor with this name while researching my family tree. She was American, as was the rest of her family as far back as I have gone.
vote up1vote down

Replies

Wow, thank you very much you guys :) Very interesting
vote up1vote down
Partheny comes from the Latin Parthenia, femenine form of Parthenius, adaptation from the Greek ÐáñèÝíéïò, derivated from ðáñèÝíïò, "celibate, single".
vote up1vote down
The word Parthenos actually means virgin.
vote up1vote down
Yes, you are right. I don't know if Roberto Faure (the information's author) extended the original meaning according the possible interpretation in the age of use of the name, which would be highly unusual with this author, or if in Ancient Greek the word had two different, but related, meanings or even if the original meaning "single" evolved to "virgin". According to some researches in Google, it seems that the word ðáñèÝíïò meant "virgin" and "maiden, unmarried". And I found a very interesting paper about the original meaning of the word, by Domenico Lembo (professor of the Department of Classical Philology from the University of Naples), pointing exactly in the third possibility:http://www.klaxo.net/tcoto/rel/PARTHEN1.htm
vote up1vote down
Well, you are kinda right. The meaning "maiden" evolved later. The reason is because a woman would lose her virginity only when she would be married. This is the general rule of course, since there were prostitutes too. Nevertheless, the actual meaning of the word is virgin,more enforced by Virgin Mary, "Maria hē Parthenos".*Excuse my latinizations; my mobile doesn't support Greek.
vote up1vote down