Anthony
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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English [edit]
Alternative forms [edit]
Etymology [edit]
From Latin Antonius, name of a Roman gens (with excrescent -h- suggested by an unetymological assoication with Greek ἄνθος (“flower”)). The Roman clan name is of uncertain etymology, but is not Greek or Hebrew; most likely of Etruscan origin.
The reference to "Antonius" - swineherd patron and to pigs is especially noteworthy in Anthony from the "Online Etymology Dictionary":
- "[...] St. Anthony (4c.), Egyptian hermit, patron saint of swineherds, to whom one of each litter was usually vowed, hence Anthony for "smallest pig of the litter (1660s; in condensed form tantony pig from 1590s)[...]"
Pronunciation [edit]
Proper noun [edit]
Anthony
- A male given name, in regular use since the Middle Ages.
- 1922 F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Beautiful and Damned:
- "...Think you've got the best name I've heard," she was saying. - - "Anthony Patch. Only you ought to look sort of like a horse, with a long narrow face - and you ought to be in tatters." "That's the Patch part though. How should Anthony look?" "You look like Anthony," she assured him seriously - he thought she had scarcely seen him - "rather majestic," she continued, " and solemn."
- 1952 Thomas Pyles, Words and Ways of American English, Random House, page 245:
- It is doubtless true that American English lacks a tradition for the pronunciation of Anthony, a name which was not often bestowed upon American males until the comparatively recent craze for supposedly swank "British" Christian names, like Stephen, Peter, Michael, etc., in this country.
- 1955 Joseph Heller, Catch-22, Chapter Five:
- She was built like a dream and wore a chain around her neck with a medal of Saint Anthony hanging down inside the most beautiful bosom I never saw. "It must be a terrible temptation for Saint Anthony," I joked - just to put her at ease, you know. "Saint Anthony?" her husband said. "Who's Saint Anthony?"
- 1922 F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Beautiful and Damned:
- A patronymic surname.
Related terms [edit]
- (pet forms) Tony, Ant
- (variants) Antonio, Antoine, Anton
- (feminine names) Antonia, Antoinette, Toni, Tonia, Tonya
Translations [edit]
given name
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