# Origin of the name Antonia/Antonio



## Tanyara

Hi, my name is Antonia and I have always been interested in the meaning of my name. The only information I have been able to get my hands on is that the name is of an unknown Etruscan origin and that it means "priceless" or "invaluable". I am also aware that in the past the name has been falsely associated with the greek word "anthonos"(flower).

Just some days ago I watched a documentary about old cities when the narrator mentioned a city named Tartessos which was ruled by a king named Arganthonios. The similarities of the names struck me almost immediately and I started thinking if it might be a possibility for Arganthonios to be the origin for the names Antonius/Antonia. 

It just so happens that the ancient city of Tartessos was situated in Spain(not too far from Etruscan regions) and that the city was famous for its wealth in precious metals such as silver and gold. The king was therefore named after the wealth of silver(latin argentum) and the name Arganthonios is thought to mean "treasurer" or "wealth of silver".

Is this a possible origin of the names Antonius/Antonia or do you think it pure coincidence?

//Antonia


----------



## sotos

Hi. Antonios, as such, is not a classical Greek name, but the suffix -ios is Gr. and gives the meaning "of Anton". There is an Anton (Άντων) son of Hercules, I think mentioned by Plutarch. 
This Arganthonios may be a Hellenized foreign name, adapted to the Gr. word "anthos" (flower). There was also the god Adonis, of eastern origin  and the Gr. verb _antono_ (αντώνω) having the sense of "to resist, to push back a force". 
  It seems that a kind of folk etymology mixed all these meanings and words and made the name popular during the Roman period.


----------



## mataripis

Hi antonia!  Just an opinion. Your name  sounds " Tons of weight' but the prefix " a" make it sounds negative (in Greek)  .You may change it into " Nathanios"/Nathania ( i am not sure what it means). Good day/kalihmera/Magandang Araw!


----------



## berndf

sotos said:


> Hi. Antonios, as such, is not a classical Greek name


Of course not, the name is originally Latin.





sotos said:


> ...but the suffix -ios is Gr. and gives the meaning "of Anton".


In this case, for once, the original is _-ius_ and the Greek _-ios_ is a Hellenization of a Latin word and not the other way round. _Antonius _is a Roman _nomen generis_ (clan/family name).


sotos said:


> There is an Anton (Άντων) son of Hercules, I think mentioned by Plutarch.


It was the legend of the clan was that they claimed to be decedent from the son of Hercules. The most famous member of the clan, the triumvir Marc Anthony, is reported to have made this claim.


----------



## Ben Jamin

Tanyara said:


> The only information I have been able to get my hands on is that the name *is of an unknown Etruscan origin *and *that it means "priceless" or "invaluable*". I am also aware that in the past the name has been falsely associated with the greek word "anthonos"(flower).
> 
> 
> //Antonia



How is it possible that the name is of an unknown origin, and at the same time it is of Etruscan origin, and that you nevertheless know  the meaning of it?


----------



## aruniyan

> Just some days ago I watched a documentary about old cities when the  narrator mentioned a city named Tartessos which was ruled by a king  named Arganthonios. The similarities of the names struck me almost  immediately and I started thinking if it might be a possibility for  Arganthonios to be the origin for the names Antonius/Antonia.



If you need an Indian connection 

The king's name sounds like Anthanan (Arahant) meaning noble, (anthi or anth means _end_ or _on the other side_)


----------



## Tanyara

Ben Jamin said:


> How is it possible that the name is of an unknown origin, and at the same time it is of Etruscan origin, and that you nevertheless know  the meaning of it?



It was actually a quotation from a name-research site, though they did not give any explanation as to why they thought it was Etruscan. I thought it sounded a bit weird but I guess they meant that it possibly is Etruscan, perhaps that some etruscan word sounds very much like "Antonia/Antonio"? All I have found out is that it is most likely of etruscan/latin origin and that the name probably means priceless or invaluable. 

I haven't been able to find a single source that states WHY it is of possible Etruscan origin, or how/why they could exclude that the name wasn't greek. Just though anyone might have an idea or heard another theory about the name.


----------



## Giorgio Spizzi

Quite a few _Antonius_ in ancient Rome belonged to noble families, descending from the powerful family of "the Antonii", among which one of the most illustrious was _Marc'Antonio_ (Marc Antony), supporter of  Julius Caesar and opponent of _Octavian_ (Ottaviano).
"Antonio" is most probably  an Etruscan name , but its ultimate origin is the Greek verb "antéko", meaning "to resist", therefore the name "Antonio" means "He who resists".   

Regards.

GS


----------



## berndf

Giorgio Spizzi said:


> ..., but its ultimate origin is the Greek verb "antéko", meaning "to resist"


How would we know this, given how little we know about Etruscan?


----------



## apmoy70

Giorgio Spizzi said:


> "Antonio" is most probably  an Etruscan name , but its ultimate origin is the Greek verb "antéko", meaning "to resist", therefore the name "Antonio" means "He who resists"
> 
> Regards.
> 
> GS


The Greek verb is «ἀντέχω» (ăn'tĕxō, /an'dexo/ in modern pronunciation), with a much earlier form «ἀντίσχω» (ăn'tīsxō)--> _to hold against, resist_. I'm afraid there's no Greek verb "antéko".
Is it plausible the name to be an Egyptian original? The name Antonios was very-very common in Christian Egypt of 2nd - 3rd c. CE --> Ⲁⲛⲧⲱⲛⲓ


----------



## berndf

apmoy70 said:


> Is it plausible the name to be an Egyptian original? The name Antonios was very-very common in Christian Egypt of 2nd - 3rd c. CE --> Ⲁⲛⲧⲱⲛⲓ


That was much, much later. The Antonians were a very old Roman gens (clan). St Anthony is the most important Saint of the Coptic church and before him, the name Anthony was probably so popular in Egypt because of Marc Anthony who, as the ruler of the Eastern Roman empire, wanted the restore the Ptolemaic kingdom to its former glory (which didn't happen because, as we all know, Marc Anthony lost the war against Octavian).


----------



## Giorgio Spizzi

Hullo, ap.

Sorry for my poor transliteration of the word. It should've been "antékho". 

GS


----------



## apmoy70

Giorgio Spizzi said:


> Hullo, ap.
> 
> Sorry for my poor transliteration of the word. It should've been "antékho".
> 
> GS


Ciao Giorgio nessun problema



berndf said:


> That was much, much later. The Antonians were a very old Roman gens (clan). St Anthony is the most important Saint of the Coptic church and before him, the name Anthony was probably so popular in Egypt because of Marc Anthony who, as the ruler of the Eastern Roman empire, wanted the restore the Ptolemaic kingdom to its former glory (which didn't happen because, as we all know, Marc Anthony lost the war against Octavian).



Thanks Bernd, you are probably right. 
However, what I find intriguing is the omega in the Greek version of the name (which probably is the result of paretymology or folk etymology). But what if it's not? Let me explain: 
In Latin we have the Greek loan word "antonomasia" (original, «ἀντ*ω*νομασία») which - according to Maurus Servius Honoratus, the famous grammarian - _...est, non epitheton; quæ fit quotiens pro proprio nomine ponitur quod potest esse cum proprio nomine et epitheton dici_. 
What if Antonius was the «ἀντωνομασθείς», the one who has changed his old (ethnic perhaps?) name and is now called by a new Roman name? 
Here's my fiction story: An Egyptian slave is freed and he is now a Rome resident, under the name Antonius Libertus (an emancipated person). He's a freedman with a changed (Antonius) Roman name.

PS: We all know that the previous scenario of mine with the Caracalla's decree became Roman Law: It raised provincial populations of Roman colonies to equal status with the city of Rome itself, thus anyone could take up a Roman name, irrelevent of ethnicity (that's why we have a Greek historian named Flavius Arrianus and a Jew historian named Flavius Josephus).


----------



## berndf

apmoy70 said:


> However, what I find intriguing is the omega in the Greek version of the name...


Why would this surprise you? Would Omega be the normal transliteration for a long Latin "o"?


----------



## apmoy70

berndf said:


> Why would this surprise you? Would Omega be the normal transliteration for a long Latin "o"?


Of course it would.
Any suggestions for the macron ō in the Latin Antōnius (that was my clumpsy previous attempt; I was trying to explain the ω and ō in both languages; the word could be a reloan, which explains both the omega and the long o)


----------



## berndf

apmoy70 said:


> Of course it would.
> Any suggestions for the macron ō in the Latin Antōnius (that was my clumpsy previous attempt; I was trying to explain the ω and ō in both languages; the word could be a reloan, which explains both the omega and the long o)


Ok, I see. But you realize, that you mix up time scales in your story, don't you?
First, Titus Flavius Josephus lived about a century before Caracalla and he carried, like every slave, nomen and nomen generis of his owner (Titus Flavius Vespasianus).
Second, the oldest known member of the gens Antonia was Titus Antonius Merenda who was decemvir in 450BC, 400 years before Marc Anthony's restoration of the Ptolemaic Empire, 650 years before the reign of Caracalla and 800 years before the death of St. Anthony.


----------

