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Help[Facts] Re: Atreyu
in reply to a message by Anneza
You mean this user-submitted name entry:
http://www.behindthename.com/submit/name/atreyu
I checked German websites about the name, as the original book was written in German. Several say that the author Michael Ende wanted that Atréju alludes to Atreus, the name of this mythological king:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atreus
...because the name of the king means "fearless", so they say, and in this way the boy in the story should be understood to be fearless as well. Here a link to one of those websites (in German):
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Figuren_und_magische_Gegenstände_in_der_unendlichen_Geschichte#Atr.C3.A9ju
But we are in very muddy waters here, if you ask me: I was not able to find a statement of the author itself, so the story about alluding to Atreus seems hard to verify. And about Atreus meaning "fearless": The web is full of references to this meaning because the German Wikipedia page about the king states this meaning, but again, an Old Greek word "atreus" meaning "fearless" or a word "treus" having something to do with "fear" is nowhere to be found, as far as I could see.
PS: Just now remembered to check, and of course this name was discussed before on this board, without conclusive results it seems:
http://www.behindthename.com/bb/dosearch.php?board=fact&terms=Atreyu&operator=OR&in_subject=1&in_message=1&search_fact=1&when=all
http://www.behindthename.com/submit/name/atreyu
I checked German websites about the name, as the original book was written in German. Several say that the author Michael Ende wanted that Atréju alludes to Atreus, the name of this mythological king:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atreus
...because the name of the king means "fearless", so they say, and in this way the boy in the story should be understood to be fearless as well. Here a link to one of those websites (in German):
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Figuren_und_magische_Gegenstände_in_der_unendlichen_Geschichte#Atr.C3.A9ju
But we are in very muddy waters here, if you ask me: I was not able to find a statement of the author itself, so the story about alluding to Atreus seems hard to verify. And about Atreus meaning "fearless": The web is full of references to this meaning because the German Wikipedia page about the king states this meaning, but again, an Old Greek word "atreus" meaning "fearless" or a word "treus" having something to do with "fear" is nowhere to be found, as far as I could see.
PS: Just now remembered to check, and of course this name was discussed before on this board, without conclusive results it seems:
http://www.behindthename.com/bb/dosearch.php?board=fact&terms=Atreyu&operator=OR&in_subject=1&in_message=1&search_fact=1&when=all
This message was edited 4/11/2013, 10:42 PM
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