An Interesting Footnote

[jade-sabre-301.livejournal.com]

I don't know if this has been discussed, but I found it while reading The Wife of Bath's Tale for the [insert horrifically large number here]th time.

In reference to the line "Of Livia he told me and of Lucy," where the Wife is listing some of the bad wives her fifth husband used to tell her about in order to keep her in line (which failed miserably):

"Livia was either Augustus's wife, who poisoned several prominent Romans (including her own husband) for political gain, or Livilla, Livia's granddaughter, who poisoned her husband at the instigation of her lover Sejanus."

Intruiged, I went to Wikipedia and read this article.

Feel free to discuss the implications of this, but I also wanted to ask if anyone thought there was anything specific in the characters' names.  We already know that at least Attolia (and Eddis, if you buy into that whole "Helen" thing which I do not :-b) has an ironic name (potentially chosen for its irony?), and we know that "Eugenides" means "well-born," and of course there's dear wise Sophos, but what about people like Philologos ("lover of truth" or "word," etc)?  Would anyone happen to know what any of the other characters' names mean?

Comments

[rowana.livejournal.com]

I think someone mentioned Sejanus on a similar thread a while ago, didn't they? Something about Janus, a god with two faces.

It's an interesting topic.

[rowana.livejournal.com]

And I, rather idiotically, posted that comment before reading the wiki article. What an interesting find. *goes back to read*

[avian-xj.livejournal.com]

that's crazy... all the names keep jumping out at me, but i can't remember where i've heard them. This is why i need to pay more attention to names. Maybe then i could remember them, and maybe then their meanings would be easier to see

[karatelunch.livejournal.com]

"Ambiades"' similarity to "ambivalence" (strong attachmenst to two opposing sides, anyone?) is the only name that comes immediately to mind. I don't have my books with me, shamefully enough, and can't go combing.

[philia-fan.livejournal.com]

I saw "I,Claudius" on Tv years ago, and at first whenever I read "Sejanus" I thought of Patrick Stewart, with CURLY HAIR. Some men were really meant to be bald...
Apropos of the other discussion, the implications of "Agape (brotherly love)" and "Heiro" are fairly obvious.

[sprite6.livejournal.com]

I picked up on "agape" when I was reading, but what does "heiro" mean?

[philia-fan.livejournal.com]

Well, actually, I meant the obvious thing it sounds like -- "hero." Which may be what it means, though with this spelling it may have a different origin. It's amusingly close to a word meaning "dissembler" but that's without the rough breathing (the H). Since the alphabet's different I'll assume it really does mean "hero" unless someone else here knows more than Liddell and Scott.

Liddell and Scott

[peggy-2.livejournal.com]

Liddell and Scott !

Have you read Tam Lin by Pamela Dean? Liddell and Scott is featured rather prominently, and I didn't realize it was a real text book beloved of Classics Majors. What fun to see you reference it!

*Thinks, in retrospect, dropping the 2nd major in classics was an error on my part*

Re: Liddell and Scott

[philia-fan.livejournal.com]

It's a dictionary, actually.

Other Liddell and Scott trivia: Alice Liddell (for whom Lewis Carroll wrote you-know-what) is from the same family.

Actually, I ended up dropping the Classics major myself! But not before I'd taken seven years of Latin and six of Greek.

[crazyviolin.livejournal.com]

Isn't Agape the name of the Angel of Christian Charity? I seem to remember it being mentioned in 'The Book of General Ignorance'. Fantastic book btw.

It seems to me like there are more 'real' names in Attolia than Eddis- Irene, Chloe, Sejanus etc. Perhaps that would be something to do with Eddis keeping their religion and culture and Attolia and Sounis being influenced by the continent.

[crazyviolin.livejournal.com]

And on a completely different note, why is it that everyone seems to be writing in the early hours of the morning!!! How are you all awake!!!

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

I believe the times are all in Rowana-time, i.e., England. Those of us in the states are merrily typing away when you all are sleeping.

[emerald-happy.livejournal.com]

Timezones don't exist. They're all vampires and zombies who don't need to sleep.

[emerald-happy.livejournal.com]

They're all vampires and zombies who don't need to sleep. I mean the people in other timezones to you and me, not the timezones themselves

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

Now you know our secret.

[sprite6.livejournal.com]

Eddis's physician, Galen, also has a real-life counterpart:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galen

[jade-sabre-301.livejournal.com]

Galen!

one of my favorite lines in KoA is when Gen says "I didn't leave that torturing bastard Galen in the mountains."

For some reason, the sound of the words "torturing bastard Galen" really appeal to me--the harsh "r"s in "torturing" and then the glee that is the word "bastard" and then the connotations of the word "Galen" (how he's not really that bad) are just...I dunno.

but "torturing bastard" is a wonderful phrase. ^_^

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

Would anyone happen to know what any of the other characters' names mean?

This should go on the next List of 27 questions. :)

[philia-fan.livejournal.com]

Except that, you know, we can easily look all this stuff up ourselves, so we should save the questions for Something Big.