Naked Science Forum
General Discussion & Feedback => Just Chat! => Topic started by: varsigma on 20/12/2023 19:56:02
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Seriously.
Dick is a nickname for Richard, which starts with Ric. This Old-Germanic word, 'rik' means leader or ruler. The word rich used to mean wealth in the sense of land, a rich was a kingdom or earldom or what have you. We also today have the old meaning of a reach of land, and so on,
Anyways, the name Richard used to mean strong ruler or leader. Henry, another common regal name, is from Heinrich and guess what? The name means one leader. The German reich is cognate with the old meaning of land as a kingdom.
Derek, is from Theodoric, Frederic means peaceful leader. There are most likely a lot more.
But if you are a Dick, it means you have a modified version of Theodoric as a substitute for what your actual name means, as above.
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Off Topic Query...
I wanted to ask this before, but forgot.
What is the Meaning of your Nickname..." varsigma " ?
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The meaning of varsigma is that it's an alternative way to write the greek symbol for sigma.
Alphabetic variation is quite common across human languages.
The Latin VV for instance which became W.
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The phoneme used in the various forms of names, especially the male ones, which is 'ric' or 'rik', appears to have survived well.
I believe it was common during the Celtic period, before the Greeks or the Romans. One tidbit of evidence there is its appearance in Ireland, Wales and Scotland today, it's use by the Saxons (back then) and that it appears in Old French.
So it means leader or ruler. I haven't yet done much background research on female names with this sound in them or a modified version. There are a few names that don't have the same provenance but still have that 'rik' syllable, from Hebrew and Arabic for instance. Most likely the adoption of names from different cultures is responsible for them falling into line, so to speak, at a colloquial level.
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The meaning of varsigma is that it's an alternative way to write the greek symbol for sigma.
I'm disappointed. I thought it was a subtle mathematical pun on variance = σ2.
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Just a last note on the origin of those 'ric' names and the connection to land and the English word 'rich'.
There are a handful of names that were used to name geographical features, such as islands (Aaric, Eric), but as a male first name mean lone ruler. Another example is Broderick. Broder usually means brother in German, but Broderick used to mean a broad ridge, i.e. a strong defensive position.
But, maybe it isn't the German for brother, instead we get a modern pair of words "broad" ( "brode") and "ridge" from an old name for that particular feature on your land. Hence "rick" (ruler) becomes "rich" (land/wealth/position) becomes "ridge", (perhaps).
And there is Kendrick, which is a high hill or a man's name that means strong or powerful ruler/leader.
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@Var
Wiki has the Info, but i thought I'd ask, at times Members have a different expression for their Nicknames.
Thou, Thanks for Answering!
I mostly ask Everyone, some Respond & Others choose to Ignore.
ps - a lil itsy bitsy trivia for anyone interested...
I once asked a User nicknamed
' syhprum ' what it meant.
Any Guesses?
: )