No, Seriously. . . What IS in a Name?

Give me a word. . . ANY word. . . and I will show you that the root of
that word. . . is GREEK!

I'll admit that when I name this blog, doing research on specific names and words was not what crossed my mind; it was more like . . .well, all the other good puns were taken. However, one thing I've noticed time again while reading these last two plays (Hamlet and The Winter's Tale) is that Shakespeare makes me look at words and their meanings in a whole new way. Unfortuneately, I was short a highlighter when some of the better examples came up, but I will look into some of the character's names as well as a few choice words from the last act, through looking up their Greek and Latin roots. (Learning briefly about them in high school seemed to help me to better guess meanings of words) So I found a couple of Greek/Latin root dictionaries online. It took all of 2 seconds. (Yay internet!).
http://www.macroevolution.net/root-word-dictionary.html and https://www.msu.edu/~defores1/gre/roots/gre_rts_afx2.htm if you're interested.
Keep in mind I think this website is mostly for scientific words so the results might be a little weird...and also, I'm just using the closest "roots" I can find.


Here are the names and words I researched:

• Leontes :
• 
• leio-  Smooth
• leon- Lion
• leo, leonis — Lion.
• Hermoine
• hemi- Half
• hem- or heme- or hemi- or hemo-  [from Greek aima blood] Denotes blood
• (Admit it. Half-blood. You're thinking about Harry Potter RIGHT NOW. Be real people. This Hermoine isn't actually a moodblood!).
• here - stick, (adhere)
• mania [from Latin mania mania, mental disorder] Mania, obsession (dipsomania).
• Florizel
• flora /FLORE-uh/ (1) the plant life, as opposed to animal life (fauna) of an era, geographic region, or biome
• -el or -ella or -elle  Little one, small (fontanelle).
• Mamillius
• mammal  A member of the vertebrate class Mammalia. Mammals nurse their young with milk.
• mille, milis — Thousand.
• Perdita
• per-Through, during
• dia — Through, by.
• dis — (1) Double, twice. (2) not
• Polixenes
• poli - city
• pel - drive, urge
• xenos — Stranger, foreigner.
• Autolycus
• auto- Self (autolysis).
• lykos — Wolf.
• lysis — Loosing, breaking up, parting, releasing.
• lacuna, lacunae — Hollow, pit, cavity, space.

So. . . not quite the huge insight I was hoping for; most of these make little or no sense (at least on the surface). . . probably because he didn't look at the greek and latin roots for every single character's name.
However, I found "self - auto" to be interesting, Autolycis being a selfish character.
Polixenes was indeed from a foreign city.
Was Leontes smooth? Maybe in a sarcastic sense (Did Shakespeare speak sarcasm?) On the other hand, it would possibly be more insightful to look up the symbolism of Lions in the Elizabethan era.
Hermoine, blood, and obsession.... somewhat make sense.
But as far as the rest of the names, they seem completely random to me.

Now let's look at some words from the last act:

• Preposterous
• Context: Clown: "Ay, ore else 'twere har luck, being in so preposterous estate as we are"
• Explanation in the book:"the clown seemed to intend prosperous but since the word preposterous brings together contraries [the before and after] it also signals an inversion by which the shepherds have become gentleman born."
• Dictionary Definition: outrageous or absurd; going very much against what is thought to be sensible or reasonable
• pre- In front of, anterior to
• post- After, behind
• ous  Abounding in, having, possessing

• Professor

• Context: Servant describing beauty of Perdita: "This is a creature, would she begin a sect, might quench the zeal of all professors else..."
• Explanation in the book: those who profess other faiths
• Dictionary Definition: (1) University teacher (2) somebody who professes a religious or other belief
• pro- Favoring, supporting, preceding
• ferous  Bearing, carrying, or producing the thing indicated by the root or prefix

Interesting. . .I am lead to conclude that Shakespeare had way too much time on his hands. I remember there being some more insightful examples, and I will post any that I stumble upon in the future.

Hamlet. . . some recurring themes

I suppose, since were already nearly done with Hamlet, that I'll just breifly touch on some of the major recurring themes I've noticed thus far, most of which were discussed in class last week.
The first is dreams. . . Hamlet brings dreams up a lot, comparing it to death; good dreams to heaven, rest, and piece, and nightmares to hell and damnation. The most prevalant example of this, of course, is in his famous "To be or not to be" speech.
 " To die: to sleep; No more; and by a sleep to say we end The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to; 'tis a consummation devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep; perchance to dream. Ay, there's the rub; for in that sleep of death what dreams may come, when we have shuffled off this mortal coil, must give us pause- there's the respect that makes calamity of so long life. For who would bear the whips and scorns of time. . . .but that the dread of something after death. . .makes us rather bear those ills we have to than to fly to others that we know not of?"
This makes me think of the mindset he must have been in at this time, with his son passing away just prior to his writing this. . . clearly, death was a subject he put much thought into.

Kenneth Branagh as Hamlet  - You might recognize him as
Professor Lockhart from Harry Potter. He's one of my
favorite actors, and reminds me a lot of Brian Vaugn, an
actor who is in many productions each year at the Utah
Shakespearean Festival. . . maybe we'll get to see him
in the Winter's Tale!

The next is daggers entering the ear. . .obviously a reference to the particular way in which Hamlet Sr. was murdered. The most curious reference I think is when Hamlets mother brings it up as he's chastising her for being so hasty to marry his Uncle. . it almost makes me wonder if she had more to do with her father's death than is apparent (even if it was just encouraging him. . . something to ponder.)
Another is the idea of Fortune as a whore. I think this is just Hamlet showing more angst against his mother, who seems to have acted as Fortune because she seems to be making most of the decisions. . .and in his eyes, a whore for being so hasty to remarry. Harsh? Maybe. Understandable that he feels that way? Completely.
Finally, probably the most common theme discussed is whether or not Hamlet is acting most of the time, and when he is and isn't. . . honestly, I have a hard time coming up with an answer; I hang out with a lot of actors, and to be perfectly honest I can't even tell when THEY are being serious. . . so that still remains a mystery to me.