Name origin: Unknown. There is a 19th century comic opera, Haydée, featuring the titular character as a slave girl who is really a princess and ultimately marries her beloved. A Haidee was also associated with the fictional libertine Don Juan, and a Haydée appears in The Count of Monte Cristo by Dumas père.
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Name origin: Bernardine Eugénie Désirée Clary (1777-1860), Queen of Sweden and Norway from 1818 to 1844 as the wife of King Charles XIV John. Her name was officially changed to Desideria in Sweden, and she initially travelled there as crown princess. Unhappy in her new home and finding the change of etiquette difficult, she returned to Paris ostensibly for health reasons and lived incognito.
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Name origin: Bavaria, a state in the south-east of Germany and the largest by land area. Its capital city is Munich. The region has been inhabited since the Paleolithic era, with Celtic tribes such the Boii being the first recorded settlers of the Bavarian Alps.
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Sapientia is Latin for “wisdom”. The corresponding Ancient Greek term (Sophia) variously translates to “clever, skillful, intelligent, wise”; it also implies “skill in handicraft and art” in Homeric usage, which has been applied to both Hephaistos and Athene.
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Name origin: Roman goddess of justice. Justice was one of the virtues celebrated by Roman emperor Augustus, and a temple of Iustitia was established in Rome by his successor Tiberius.
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Name origin: Cleopatra, queen of Egypt from about 50 BCE to her death in 30 BCE. Realising she needed Rome’s help to sustain her nation, she became the lover of Julius Caesar and, later, the wife of Mark Antony. However, during the war between Antony and Octavian (Augustus), Antony was defeated and Cleopatra’s kingdom was finally annexed by Rome.
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‘Possibly’ named for the Irish princess Iseult in Celtic myth, though some other characters bear that name. Iseult is to marry Tristan’s uncle, King Mark of Cornwall, and on the voyage there Tristan and Iseult accidentally drink a love potion meant for the engaged couple, and fall hopelessly in love.
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Name origin: Greek; food of the gods. The word ambrosia means immortality, and is often said to have either that effect or longevity on whoever consumes it. The term may not originally have been distinguished from nectar, the other food of the gods.
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Baukis and Philemon were a poor elderly couple who were blessed by Zeus and Hermes after showing them hospitality while disguised as peasants. Richer folk in the town had turned the gods away. In consequence, Zeus flooded the rest of the town and turned the simple cottage into an ornate temple.
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Named after the Sibyls, oracles in ancient Greece. Originally there may have been just one Sibyl at a time, but the number eventually increased to nine or ten. Bases included Delphi, Samos, Delos and Clarus. The etymology of the term’s source is unknown.
Focus On: (168) Sibylla Read Post »
