Arthur is a masculine given name of uncertain etymology. Its popularity derives from it being the name of the legendary heroKing Arthur.
A common spelling variant used in many Slavic, Romance, and Germanic languages isArtur. In Spanish and Italian, a common spelling variant used isArturo.
The earliest attestation of the name Arthur is in the early 9th century Welsh-Latin textHistoria Brittonum, where it refers to a circa 5th century Romano-British general who fought against the invadingSaxons, and who later gave rise to the famousKing Arthur of medieval legend and literature. A possible earlier mention of the same man is to be found in the epic Welsh poemY Gododdin byAneirin, which some scholars assign to the late 6th century, though this is still a matter of debate and the poem only survives in a late 13th century manuscript entitled theBook of Aneirin.[2][3] A 9th-centuryBreton landowner named Arthur witnessed several charters collected in theCartulary of Redon.[4]
The exact origins of the name Arthur remains a matter of debate. Some claim that it derives from the Romannomen gentile (family name)Artorius.[3] Artorius itself is of obscure and contested etymology;[7] some have proposed aMessapic[8][9][10] orEtruscan origin.[11][12][13] Nevertheless, according to etymologistKemp Malone "the theory that derives Arthur from Artorius is left unsupported by any evidence worthy of the name".[7]
According to the linguist andCelticist Stefan Zimmer, it is possible that Artorius has a Celtic origin, being aLatinization of the hypothetical name*Artorījos, derived from thepatronym*Arto-rīg-ios, meaning "Son of the Bear/Warrior-King".*Arto-rīg-ios is unattested, but the root,*arto-rīg, "bear/warrior-king", is the source of the Old Irish personal nameArtrí, while the similar*Arto-maglos, "bear-prince", produced names in several Brittonic languages. According to Zimmer's etymology, the Celtic short compositional vowel -o- was lengthened and the long -ī- in the second element of the compound-rījos was shortened by Latin speakers, under the influence of Latin agent nouns ending in-tōr (and their derivatives in-tōrius).[14] Some scholars have noted that the legendaryKing Arthur's name only appears asArthur,Arthurus, orArturus in early Latin Arthurian texts, never asArtōrius (although the Classical LatinArtōrius becameArturius in some Vulgar Latin dialects). However, this may not say anything about the origin of the nameArthur, asArtōrius would regularly becomeArt(h)ur when borrowed intoWelsh.[15]
The commonly proposed derivation from Welsharth "bear" + (g)wr "man" (earlier*Arto-uiros in Brittonic) is not possible forphonological andorthographic reasons; notably that a Brittonic compound name*Arto-uiros should produce Old Welsh*Artgur (where -u- represents the short vowel /u/) and Middle/Modern Welsh*Arthwr and notArthur (where -u- is a long vowel /ʉː/) In Welsh poetry the name is always spelledArthur and is exclusively rhymed with words ending in-ur—never words ending in-wr—which confirms that the second element cannot be[g]wr "man").[16][17]
An alternative theory, which has gained limited acceptance among scholars,[18][19][20][21][22][23] derives the name Arthur from theLatinArcturus (the brightest star in the constellationBoötes, nearUrsa Major or the Great Bear[24]), which is thelatinisation of theGreek Ἀρκτοῦρος (Arktouros)[25] and meansBear Guardian from ἄρκτος (arktos"bear")[26] and οὖρος (ouros"watcher/guardian").[27] This form,Arcturus would have becomeArt(h)ur when borrowed into Welsh, and its brightness and position in the sky led people to regard it as the "guardian of the bear" and the "leader" of the other stars in Boötes.[28]
Arthur D Lawrence, a character in the video gameRune Factory 4 andRune Factory 4 special who is a marriage candidate to female protagonist and act as a merchant and a prince of Norad
^Koch, John T., The Gododdin of Aneirin, University of Wales Press, 1997, pp. xi, xxii, 22, 147, 148.
^abcKoch, John T, ed. (2006).Celtic culture: A historical encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO. pp. 121–122.ISBN1-85109-440-7.
^de Courson, A. (ed.), Cartulaire de Redon, Paris, 1863, pp. 19, 42, 60, 76, 183.
^* Jaski, Bart, Early Irish examples of the name Arthur, Z.C.P. band 56, 2004.
^Adomnán, I, 8–9 and translator's note 81; Bannerman, pp. 82–83. Bannerman, pp. 90–91, notes that Artúr is the son of Conaing, son of Áedán in theSenchus fer n-Alban.
^Marcella Chelotti, Vincenza Morizio, Marina Silvestrini, Le epigrafi romane di Canosa, Volume 1, Edipuglia srl, 1990, pg. 261, 264.
^Ciro Santoro, "Per la nuova iscrizione messapica di Oria", La Zagaglia, A. VII, n. 27, 1965, P. 271-293.
^Ciro Santoro, La Nuova Epigrafe Messapica "IM 4. 16, I-III" di Ostuni ed nomi in Art-, Ricerche e Studi, Volume 12, 1979, p. 45-60
^Wilhelm Schulze, Zur Geschichte lateinischer Eigennamen (Volume 5, Issue 2 of Abhandlungen der Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen, Philologisch-Historische Klasse, Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften Göttingen Philologisch-Historische Klasse), 2nd Edition, Weidmann, 1966, p. 72, pp. 333–338
^Olli Salomies: Die römischen Vornamen. Studien zur römischen Namengebung. Helsinki 1987, p. 68
^Herbig, Gust., "Falisca", Glotta, Band II, Göttingen, 1910, p. 98
^Bromwich, Rachel, Trioedd ynys Prydein: the Welsh triads, University of Wales Press, 1978, p. 544
^Zimmer, Stefan, Die keltischen Wurzeln der Artussage: mit einer vollständigen Übersetzung der ältesten Artuserzählung Culhwch und Olwen, Winter, 2006, p. 37
^Zimmer, Stefan, "The Name of Arthur – A New Etymology ", Journal of Celtic Linguistics, Volume 13, Number 1, March 2009, University of Wales Press, pp. 131–136.
^Walter, Philippe, Faccia M. (trans.), Artù. L'orso e il re, Edizioni Arkeios, 2005, p. 74.
^Johnson, Flint, The British sources of the abduction and Grail romances, University Press of America, 2002, pp. 38–39.
^Chambers, Edmund Kerchever, Arthur of Britain, Speculum Historiale, 1964, p. 170
^arctūrus, Charlton T. Lewis, Charles Short,A Latin Dictionary, on Perseus
^[1], Henry George Liddell. Robert Scott. A Greek-English Lexicon.
^[2], Henry George Liddell. Robert Scott. A Greek-English Lexicon.
^[3], Henry George Liddell. Robert Scott. A Greek-English Lexicon.
Anderson, Graham (2004),King Arthur in Antiquity, London: Routledge,ISBN978-0-415-31714-6.
Barber, Richard (1986),King Arthur: Hero and Legend, Woodbridge, UK: Boydell Press,ISBN0-85115-254-6.
Green, Thomas (August 2007a), "Tom Thumb and Jack the Giant Killer: Two Arthurian Fairytales?",Folklore,118 (2):123–40,doi:10.1080/00155870701337296,S2CID161588264. (EBSCO subscription required for online access.)
Higham, N. J. (2002),King Arthur, Myth-Making and History, London: Routledge,ISBN978-0-415-21305-9.
Koch, John T. (1996), "The Celtic Lands", in Lacy, Norris J. (ed.),Medieval Arthurian Literature: A Guide to Recent Research, New York: Garland, pp. 239–322,ISBN978-0-8153-2160-6.
Koch, John T. (1994),Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia, Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO,ISBN1851094407
Koch, John T.; Carey, John (1994),The Celtic Heroic Age: Literary Sources for Ancient Celtic Europe and Early Ireland and Wales, Malden, MA: Celtic Studies Publications,ISBN978-0-9642446-2-7.
Jaski, Bart,Early Irish examples of the name Arthur,Z.C.P. band 56, 2004
Zimmer, Stefan (2009), "The Name of Arthur — A New Etymology",Journal of Celtic Linguistics,13 (1), University of Wales Press:131–136
Name list
This page or section lists people that share the samegiven name. If aninternal link led you here, you may wish to change that link to point directly to the intended article.
