For Parents-To-Be

Rasp

Senior Editor
[From: The Odinist, no. 7 (1973)]


FOR PARENTS-TO-BE


Because of the great influence Christianity has had on our civilization and the practice of naming children at the same time they are christened i.e. taken into the Christian community, it has been common for parents to seek out biblical names for the babies; and many John's, Mary's, Ruth's and David's today work our fields, produce our goods and operate our machines.

However, as the importance of Christianity diminishes and our old ancestral heritage comes to the fore, it seems proper to suggest that parents-to-be explore the cultural treasures of our Western nations when considering names for the little new additions to the family.

This may well be a problem as to our knowledge there never has been compiled a list of boy's and girl's names with old Nordic or Indo-European origins. As most names from pre-Christian times are derived from the same sources, it does not matter much from which of the present Western countries such name lists come since, with only small variations, a great number of them are common to all Northern European languages.

Let us for example take the name Albert; originally the first part of it was Adel- meaning noble, in German it still has that meaning and is the origin to names like Adelbert and Adelhart; this was shortened to Al-; Albert therefore means 'of noble birth'. Edel- has the same meaning - noble, pure, giving rise to names like Elbert, Elmar or Elmer; Elfriede was in times past Edelfrith, the first part of which we now recognize as
'noble' or 'pure', the second part has in Old Anglo-Saxon the meaning of peace or protection, but is now only used in British dialects about a small wooden area, which probably at one time meant peace and some form of protection. Atheling (Adeling) or Etheling can still be found in Webster's dictionary and means a person of noble birth; the Name Ethel derives from it.

Another short form for 'Adel' or rather 'Edel' is Ed- as in Edward; the last part -ward means defender, i.e. someone who is good at warding off intruders; Edward therefore means defender, but it is not clear whether the defender himself is of noble birth or those he defends are. Of course Edgar was originally Edelguard.

Harald (or Harold) is an old Nordic name; the first part Har- most likely comes from 'heer' which in both German and Scandinavian means an army; the last part -ald or -old is thought to derive from -wald or walt which is an old Indo-European word meaning to rule, master; - Harald freely translated thus means 'commander of the army'.

Norman of course is 'the man from the North'; Norbert - 'born in the North'; - Norma seems also to derive from 'north', although the last part of the name is not clear.

'Rich' in Old Anglo-Saxon meant not only to own wealth but also to be powerful and influential, so in Richard (Richguard) we again have an old name with the proud meaning 'influential defender'.

Other names with origins from our forgotten past are: For boys – Arne, Bjarne, Charles , Detmar, Donald, Erik (Eric, Erich), Frank, Frode, Karl (Carl), Otto, Thor, Waldemar, Walter, Werner; - for girls: Astrid:, Ebba, Erna, Frieda, Gertrud, Gudrun, Helga, Ida, Ingrid, Karia, Ragna (Ragnhild), Sigrid, Thora, Wilma.

Here as well as in many other fields, the experts do not all agree, and some linguists may question our explanations.

Nevertheless, there are many beautiful names reaching back into antiquity, and we are depriving ourselves of an important part of our ancestral heritage, if we disregard this fountain of inspiration.

[E.]
 
I suppose this means "$hit-squisha" is still a reserved nigger name...
 
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