The old verb _beo_ (to make happy or bless) formed the participle
_beatus_ (happy or blessed), which was applied by the Church to her
departed members, and in time was bestowed on the living. Indeed, in
France, _béate_ was so often applied to persons who lived in the
profession of great sanctity, that _une vieille béate_ has now come to
be used in the sense of a hypocritical pretender.
St. Beatus, or Béat, was an anchorite near Vendôme, in the fifth
century; but we do not find instances of his patronage having been
sought for men, though in England Beata is a prevailing female name in
old registers and on tombstones up to the seventeenth century, when it
dies away, having, I strongly suspect, been basely confounded with
Betty. Beata and Bettrys are however still used in Wales. This last
stands for Beatrice (a blesser), which seems to have been first brought
into this island as a substitute for the Gaelic Bethoc (life), of which
more in its place.
The original Beatrix, the feminine of Beator (a blesser), is said to
have been first borne by a Christian maiden, who, in Diocletian’s
persecution, drew the bodies of her martyred brothers from the Tiber,
and buried them: afterwards she shared their fate, and her relics were
enshrined in a church at Rome, whence her fame spread to all adjacent
countries; and her name was already frequent when Dante made the love of
his youth, Beatrice Portinari, the theme of his _Vita Nuova_, and his
guide through Paradise. Thus it was a truly national name at Florence;
and Shakespeare used the Italian spelling for his high-spirited heroine,
thus leading us to discard the old Latin _x_. It has been a queenly name
in Spain, but less common here than it deserves.
┌────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┐
│ English. │ Welsh. │ French. │ Italian. │ Spanish. │
│Beatrix │Bettrys │Béatrix │Beatrice │Beatriz │
│Trix │ │ │Bice │ │
│Beatrice │ │ │ │ │
├────────────┼────────────┼────────────┼────────────┼────────────┤
│Portuguese. │ German. │ Russian. │ Slavonic. │ │
│Beatrix │Beatrix │Beatriks │Beatrica │ │
└────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┘
This same _beo_ is said to be the source of _benus_, the old form of
_bonus_, which survives in the adverb _benè_. Both adjective and adverb
are familiar in their many derivatives in the southern tongues, as well
as in the _bonnie_ and _bien_ that testify to the close connection of
France and Scotland when both alike were the foes of England.
The feminine Bona, or Bonne, was probably first invented as a
translation of the old German Gutha; for we find a lady, in 1315,
designated as Bona, or Gutha, of Göttingen. Bona was used by the
daughters of the Counts of Savoy, and in the House of Luxemburg, and
came to the crown of France with the daughter of the chivalrous Johann
of Luxemburg, the blind King of Bohemia.
St. Benignus, whose name is from the same source, was a disciple of St.
Polycarp, and is reckoned as the apostle of Burgundy, where he was
martyred, and has been since commemorated by the splendid abbey of St.
Benigne, at Dijon, whence it happens that Benin has been common among
the peasantry in that part of France, and Benigne is to be found among
the string of Christian names borne by the French gentry of the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Servia has the feminine form,
Benyma, shortening it into Bine.
_Benedico_ (to speak well) came to have the technical sense of to bless;
and the patriarch of the Western monks rendered Benedictus (blessed) so
universally known that different forms of it prevail in all countries,
lesser luminaries adding to its saintly lustre.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ Breton. │ Italian. │
│Benedict │Benoît │Bennéad │Benedetto │
│Bennet │ │Bennéged │Betto │
│ │ │ │Bettino │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Spanish. │ Portuguese. │ German. │ Swedish. │
│Benedicto │Benedicto │Benedikt │Bengt │
│Benito │Bento │Dix │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Norse. │ Swiss. │ Russian. │ Polish. │
│Benedik │Benzel │Venedict │Benedykt │
│Benike │Benzli │ │ │
│Bent │ │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Slavonic and │ Lusatian. │ Lithuanian. │ Lapp. │
│ Illyrian. │ │ │ │
│Benedikt │Beniesch │Bendzus │Pent │
│Benedit │ │Bendikkas │Penta │
│Benko │ ———————— │ ———————— │Pint │
│ │Lett. │Hungarian. │Pinna │
│ │Bindus │Benedik │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
There was a Visigothic nun in Spain canonized as Benedicta, but most of
the feminines were meant in devotion to the original founder of the
Benedictine rule. Indeed, in France, Benedicte must have been far more
often assigned on the profession of a nun than have been given in
baptism, except when the child was destined from her birth to a
conventual life.
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ French. │ Italian. │ Spanish. │ German. │
│Benoîte │Benedetta │Benita. │Benedikta │
│ │Betta │ │Benedictine │
│ │Bettina │ │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
How the localities of these feminines mark the extent of monasticism in
modern times!
The sister of St. Benedict bore the strange name of Scholastica, a
scholar, from _schola_ (school). Monasticism spread the name, but it was
never much in vogue, though England shows a Scholastica Conyers, in
1299.
Bonifacius (good-worker) was the name of a martyr; then of a pope; and
next was assumed by our Saxon Wilfred, when in the sixth century he set
out to convert his continental brethren. Perhaps, if he had kept his
native name, it would have been more followed, both at home and in
Germany; but in both, Boniface has withered away out of use, though
Bonchurch, in the Isle of Wight, is a contraction of the Church of St.
Boniface, that having probably been the last English ground beheld by
the saint when he sailed on his mission. In Italy, however, Bonifacius
was a papal name. Bonifazio prevailed among the Alpine lords of
Monferrat, and thus is still found in Italy. It has become one of the
stock names for the host of an inn, and has named the straits between
Sardinia and Corsica.
┌────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┐
│ English. │ Italian. │ Russian. │ Polish. │ Bohemian. │
│Boniface │Bonifacio │Bonifacij │Bonifacij │Bonifac │
│ │Facio │ │ │ │
│ │Bonifazio │ │ │ │
│ │Fazio │ │ │ │
└────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┘
Of modern Italian date and construction is Bonaventura. Its origin was
the exclamation of St. Francis on meeting Giovanni de Fidenza, the son
of a dear friend: _O buona ventura_ (happy meeting). These words became
the usual appellation of young Fidenza, and as he afterwards was
distinguished for holiness and learning, and was called the seraphic
doctor, he was canonized as San Bonaventura, and has had sundry
namesakes in Italy and France; in the latter country being called
Bonaventure. Benvenuto Cellini may perhaps be reckoned as one, unless
his name be intended to mean welcome without reference to the saint.