Arthur is a masculine given name possibly of BrythonicCeltic origin. Another theory is that the name is from Latin origin, derived from the Roman clan Artorius who lived in Roman Britain for centuries.[2] Its popularity derives from it being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur. It may derive from the Celtic Artos meaning “Bear”.
A common spelling variant used in many Slavic, Romance, and Germanic languages is Artur. In Spanish and Italian it is Arturo.
The earliest attestation of the name Arthur is in the early 9th century Welsh-Latin text Historia Brittonum, where it refers to a circa 5th century Romano-British general who fought against the invading Irish and Picts, and who later gave rise to the famous King Arthur of medieval legend and literature. A possible earlier mention of the same man is to be found in the epic Welsh poem Y GododdinbyAneirin, 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 the Book of Aneirin.[3][4] A 9th-century Breton landowner named Arthur witnessed several charters collected in the Cartulary of Redon.[5]
The exact origins of the name Arthur remains a matter of debate. Some claim that it derives from the Roman nomen gentile (family name) Artorius.[4] Artorius itself is of obscure and contested etymology;[8] some have proposed a Messapic[9][10][11]orEtruscan origin.[12][13][14] Nevertheless, according to etymologist Kemp Malone "the theory that derives Arthur from Artorius is left unsupported by any evidence worthy of the name".[8]
According to the linguist and Celticist Stefan Zimmer, it is possible that Artorius has a Celtic origin, being a Latinization of the hypothetical name *Artorījos, derived from the patronym*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 name Artrí, 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).[15] Some scholars have noted that the legendary King Arthur's name only appears as Arthur, Arthurus, or Arturus in early Latin Arthurian texts, never as Artōrius (although the Classical Latin Artōrius became Arturius in some Vulgar Latin dialects). However, this may not say anything about the origin of the name Arthur, as Artōrius would regularly become Art(h)ur when borrowed into Welsh.[16]
The commonly proposed derivation from Welsh arth "bear" + (g)wr "man" (earlier *Arto-uiros in Brittonic) is not possible for phonological and orthographic 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 not Arthur (where -u- is a long vowel /ʉː/) In Welsh poetry the name is always spelled Arthur 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").[17][18]
An alternative theory, which has gained limited acceptance among scholars,[19][20][21][22][23][24] derives the name Arthur from the LatinArcturus (the brightest star in the constellation Boötes, near Ursa Major or the Great Bear[25]), which is the latinisation of the Greek Ἀρκτοῦρος (Arktouros)[26] and means Bear Guardian from ἄρκτος (arktos"bear")[27] and οὖρος (ouros"watcher/guardian").[28] This form, Arcturus would have become Art(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.[29]
Avestan aṣ̌a/arta and its Vedic equivalent ṛtá both derive from Proto-Indo-Iranian*ṛtá- "truth",[30] which in turn continues Proto-Indo-European*h2r-to- "properly joined, right, true", from the root *h2ar. The word is attested in Old Persianasarta.
Sir Arthur Wellesley (1769–1852), duke of Wellington; military commander who defeated Napoleon at Waterloo; British Prime Minister 1828–1830 and briefly in 1834
Arthur Wijewardena (1887–1964), Chief Justice of Sri Lanka from 1949-1950
Arthur Wright, a character in the 1997 French-American fantasy drama movie FairyTale: A True Story
Arthur Watts, a major antagonist in the animated web series RWBY
Arthur Wayne, the son of Bruce Wayne and Talia al Ghul in the DC comic series Batman
Arthur Fox, the late father of Prince Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor, in the book Red, White & Royal Blue written by Casey McQuiston. Alternatively, the late father of Prince Henry Hanover-Stuart-Fox in the Amazon Prime movie Red, White & Royal Blue (film)
^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 the Senchus 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.
