A great race of Christian names were fabricated, in Latin, after the
pattern of the Greek Theophilus, Theophorus, &c., though hardly with
equal felicity, and chiefly in the remoter provinces of the West, where
Latin was, probably, a matter of scholarship. Thus, in the province of
Africa, we find, just before the Vandal invasion, Quodvultdeus (what God
wills) and Deogratias (thank God), neither of which had much chance of
surviving. Deusvult (God wills), Deusdedit (God gave), and Adeodatus,
lived nearer to Italy; indeed, Deusdedit was a pope. Adeodatus or
Deodatus (God given) was a Gallic saint, called, commonly, St. Die, and
with the other form, Donum Dei, continued in use for children whose
birth was hailed with special joy. When Louis VII. of France at length
had a son, after being “afflicted with a multitude of daughters,” he
called him Philippe Dieudonné; but this grateful name was discarded in
favour of the imperial Auguste, by which he is distinguished. Deodati di
Gozo, the Knight of Rhodes who slew the dragon, better kept his
baptismal name, and it often occurs in Italian history, and is an
Italian surname. Deodatus is an occasional name only found in England.
The old French knightly name, Dudon, called in Italian romantic poetry
Dudone, is, probably, a contraction of Dieudonné, as the surnames
Donnedieu, Dondey, Dieudé, can hardly fail to be. Deicola (a worshipper
of God) was invented for a pupil of St. Columbanus, who followed his
master to France, lived as a hermit, and became the patron-saint of
Franche Comté, where boys are still called, after him, Diel or Diez, and
girls, Dielle. There is likewise an Italian name Diotisalvi, or God save
thee, only to be paralleled by some of our Puritan devices.
To these may be added Donatus (given), which evidently was bestowed in
the same spirit, though not mentioning the giver. It occurs, like most
of this class, in the African province, and belonged to the bishop of
Numidia, whose rigour against the penitent lapsed made him the founder
of the exclusive schismatical church named after him. Another Donatus
was St. Jerome’s tutor; and, before his time, several martyrs had been
canonized by his name, and it seems to have prevailed in Gaul and
Britain. In Wales it was pronounced Dynawd; and, by the time St.
Augustine came to England and disputed with the Cymric clergy, the
history of the word had been so far forgotten that Dynawd, abbot of
Bangor-Iscoed, was Latinized into Dionothius. Donat, or Donath, is found
in Ireland, but it was probably there adopted for the sake of its
resemblance to the native Gaelic Don, meaning brown-haired. Donato,
likewise, at one time prevailed in Italy, and produced the frequent
surname, Donati. Donnet was a feminine in Cornwall in 1755.
Desiderius, or Desideratus, was of the same date, and given, in like
manner, to express the longing desire or love of the parents towards the
child. In fact the word _desiderium_, in Latin, more properly means
affection than wish, as we explain its derivatives in modern languages.
The Desiderius of history was a brother of Magnentius, the opponent of
Constantine, and the Desiderius of the calendar was a bishop of Bourges,
in the seventh century; but, in the mean time, the last Lombard king of
Italy either had become so Italianized as to adopt it, or else used it
as a translation of one of the many Teuton forms of Leofric, Leofwin,
&c., for he was known to Italy as Desiderio, to France as Didier; and
his daughter, whom Charlemagne treated so shamefully, was Desiderata,
Desirata, or Desirée. The latter has continued in use in France, as well
as Didier and Didiere; and the masculine likewise appears in the
Slavonic countries as Zljeko, and among the Lithuanians as Didders or
Sidders.
The most learned men were not perfect philologists in the sixteenth
century, when they played the most curious tricks with their names.
Erasmus began life as Gerhard Gerhardson, signifying, in fact, firm
spear, a meaning little suited to his gentle, timid nature. He was
better pleased to imagine _ger_ to be the German all, and _ard_ to be
_erd_ (earth or nature); of this all-nature he made out that affection
embraced all, therefore he called himself Desiderius, and then, wanting
another equally sounding epithet, he borrowed Erasmus from the Greek,
where it had named an ancient bishop. It came from ἐράω (to love); and
thus Desiderius Erasmus, the appellation by which he has come down to
posterity, was an ingenious manufacture out of the simple Gerard.[78]
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Footnote 78:
Pott; Butler; Sismondi; _Life of Erasmus_.