[Opinions] Frederuna
I'm totally enchanted by this antique oddity of a name borne by a Frankish queen in the 10th century: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederuna
According to BtN, it's a variant of Friderun, which combines the Old High German for "peace" and the Gothic for "secret." I love that it's an amalgam of two languages, and "peace secret" is such an alluring meaning. Does anyone else appreciate this name's beauty, or am I alone?
Here are some combos:
Frederuna Agnes
Frederuna Alice
Frederuna Alix
Frederuna Beatrice
Frederuna Cecile
Frederuna Cecily
Frederuna Charlotte
Frederuna Cicely
Frederuna Clare
Frederuna Clothilde
Frederuna Constance
Frederuna Eloise
Frederuna Esther
Frederuna Harriet
Frederuna Heloise
Frederuna Ingrid
Frederuna Isabel
Frederuna Margaret
Frederuna Margery / Marjorie
Frederuna Mary
Frederuna Millicent
Frederuna Sibyl
Frederuna Violet
According to BtN, it's a variant of Friderun, which combines the Old High German for "peace" and the Gothic for "secret." I love that it's an amalgam of two languages, and "peace secret" is such an alluring meaning. Does anyone else appreciate this name's beauty, or am I alone?
Here are some combos:
Frederuna Agnes
Frederuna Alice
Frederuna Alix
Frederuna Beatrice
Frederuna Cecile
Frederuna Cecily
Frederuna Charlotte
Frederuna Cicely
Frederuna Clare
Frederuna Clothilde
Frederuna Constance
Frederuna Eloise
Frederuna Esther
Frederuna Harriet
Frederuna Heloise
Frederuna Ingrid
Frederuna Isabel
Frederuna Margaret
Frederuna Margery / Marjorie
Frederuna Mary
Frederuna Millicent
Frederuna Sibyl
Frederuna Violet
This message was edited 9/12/2017, 9:57 AM
Replies
It's not an amalgam of two languages, it's just Frankish, which is neither High German nor Gothic. Frede is the Frankish equivalent of High German Frida, runa is probably a declined form (e.g. the equivalent English run is declined rune, runa, runum), quite common for records of female names where they are mentioned in relation to someone else (e.g. a father, husband or son). The senses are not quite right though. In Frankish Frede means "affection", not "peace", cognate with Gothic Friathwa "affection, love". There is a tendency of course for it to be treated as the feminine of masculine Fridu "peace", even in prosaic use. Thus in Old English we have native freothu (f.) originally the equivalent of Gothic friathwa which has become a feminine equivalent of frith (m.), as well as the cognate freod (f.) borrowed from Frankish frede with the sense "affection, good will", but which latterly also acquired a sense of "peace" by association with freothu and frith. The primary sense of Run/rune/runa is "whisper", with derived senses of "something whispered", depending on the context a secret, confidence, counsel, mystery.
This message was edited 9/13/2017, 7:50 AM
Oh, wow! Thanks for the enlightenment. I'm a little ashamed of my uncritical acceptance of the BtN submission -- I majored in Latin and Ancient Greek in college and dabbled in comparative linguistics, so I should know better!
I know this is weird, but to me is sounds like 80s surfer slang, like "cowabunga" or "tubular". I have no idea why my mind is going there.
I really like it. I definitely see the appeal of Frederuna and Frideruna.
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