# Genre of St. Anastasius?



## joticajulian

Hello, I know that Anastasius is male, but could be this name female gender?

Thank you.


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## Agró

Anastasius/Anastasia.
No entiendo tu pregunta. ¿Podrías reformularla?


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## Cagey

The usual feminine version would be _Anastasia_.

Is there something that makes you think that in this case St Anastasius was a woman?

(Cross-posted.)


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## joticajulian

I'm asking this because I am reading a old book. I have two versions of the same author: one in french and one in english (look the attached file).

In the french version it reads: Sainte Anastase... and sainte means girl.
But in the english version it reads: St. Anastasius.

And so I'm confused.

Thank you.


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## Cagey

I wonder whether in the French version, the author confused it with the Cathedral of St. Anastasia in Zadar, Coratia. (See Wiki article:  Zadar Cathedral. )

Was the author a native speaker of French, or of English?


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## joticajulian

His name is Wolfred Nelson, Canadian, but he is different to the one in wikipedia because he died in 1913.

I found that the French version is a translation by Henry La Luberne from the english. But it is weird because the french version has 18 chapters and a report, and the english version has 25 chapters.

Maybe it is a mistake in the translation, I don't know.


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## exgerman

If you google "Panama old cathedral Anastasius" you'll get a lot of hits.

Remember that in French, the final T of saint is pronounced if the next word begins with a vowel, so saint and sainte are pronounced exactly the same in this case. The French caption is probably a simple typo.


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## Schiavono

To my understanding it should be of course
'Ste. Anastas*ie*' in Frecnh, 'St. Anastasia' in English if it's female
And 
'St. Anstase' in French, 'St. Anastasius' in English if it's  male

There are lots of cathedrals dedicated to Santa Anstasia.

Here's a postcard scan where it says directly on the postcard 'St. Anastasius' - of course it's not a guaranteeof truth  but still..  probably there's just a misprint in French edition 

http://www.delcampe.net/items?langu...sDefault=N&sortByForm[sort]=price_present_ASC

On the other hand dedication to Santa Anstasia is much more often than to St. Anastasius in Catholic church. 
I think it's the least probable that a Cathedral in Panama could be dedicated to St. Anastisius...  but I cannot say for sure of course.
So maybe the mistake is in the English version coming from the post card incription...


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## wtrmute

Schiavono said:


> On the other hand dedication to Santa Anstasia is much more often than to St. Anastasius in Catholic church.
> I think it's the least probable that a Cathedral in Panama could be dedicated to St. Anastisius...  but I cannot say for sure of course.
> So maybe the mistake is in the English version coming from the post card incription...



All sources I can identify on the dedication of the Cathedral (in Spanish, from Panama) mention St Anastasius (es:_San Anastasio_) and not St Anastasia (es:_Santa Anastasia_).  So it's la:_Sanctus Anastasius_.


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## Scholiast

salvete!

The online _Catholic Encyclopaedia_ (www.catholic.org/search/?q=St) declares several canonized "Anastasii", and at least two "Anastasiae".

Superfetation of hagiography has been an enduring habit of the Vatican. Time for prosopography.

Σ


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## Cagey

The original question was a language question: could the name _Anastasius _refer to a female saint?


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## Scholiast

salvete omnes!


Cagey said:


> The original question was a language question: could the name _Anastasius _refer to a female saint?


Good one, Cagey. Yes, ἀναστάσιος (_anastasios_), as a compound Greek adjective, would have the same masc. and fem. forms. But once (a) adopted as a personal name; and (b) transliterated into a Latin form, I frankly doubt it. Can you produce a parallel?

Σ


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## Cagey

Words like _quercus_ surprise us when we are learning Latin by being a feminine though they end in _-us_, but they are fourth declension. 

It is exceedingly unlikely that this is the case with _Anastasius_, though if it had turned out that the patron saint of the cathedral in question was a woman, we might have had to resort to this explanation, or to the one you propose above.


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## Scholiast

redintegrando!


Cagey said:


> It is exceedingly unlikely that this is the case with _Anastasius_


Quite so - not least because (a) there are no Latin adjectives, whether native or adopted/adapted from Greek, which follow the fourth-declension system; and (b) there are no personal names in Latin that follow the fourth declension.

And _quercus_ is a tree. Trees (_ulmus_, _ilex_,_ fraxinus_ &c.), including _arbor_, are always feminine.

Σ


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