Etymology
Max Vasmer in his Etymological Dictionary of Russian Language explains the name as meaning "regal". Folk etymology interprets the meaning as "person of the people" or "the one with peace on one side". This confusion is introduced by other meanings of the Slavic word "Mir" or "Myr" – peace, people/community, and the world. There was no ambiguity prior to reforms of Russian orthography in 1918. The spelling of the two words was миръ (peace) and мiръ (the Universe), and the name was spelled the third way, Владимѣръ, of Gothic -mērs (great), meaning "Great in His Power" (compare: Theodemir, Valamir). but Russian speakers understood and understand the meaning as "Peace Rules" or "World Peace".
- In Old Church Slavonic tradition, preserved in Russian, Bulgarian, Serbian and later borrowed into Slovenian, Croatian, the name is spelled Vladimir. In Czech and Slovak, the name is spelled Vladimír. In Polish the name is spelled Włodzimierz.
- In Old East Slavic tradition, preserved in Ukrainian, the name is spelled Volodimir, Volodimer, or more commonly as Volodymyr (Володимир).
- In Belarusian the name is spelled Uladzimir (Uładzimir, Уладзімір) or Uladzimier (Uładzimier, Уладзімер).
- In Germanic languages, the name is spelled Waldemar or Valdemar. ("wald": rule, "meri": famous)
- Romanian derivations are Vlad and Vlăduţ.
- In East Slavic languages, short versions of the name are Vova, Volodka, Volodya. In other West and South Slavic countries, other pet or boy versions are used: e.g., Vladi, Vlada, Vlado, Vladko, Vlatko, Vladik, Wladik, Wladek, Wlodik and Wlodek.
- In Latin-Romance languages such as Spanish, the version is "Bladimir".
Read more about this topic: Vladimir (name)
Famous quotes containing the word etymology:
“The universal principle of etymology in all languages: words are carried over from bodies and from the properties of bodies to express the things of the mind and spirit. The order of ideas must follow the order of things.”
—Giambattista Vico (1688–1744)
“Semantically, taste is rich and confusing, its etymology as odd and interesting as that of “style.” But while style—deriving from the stylus or pointed rod which Roman scribes used to make marks on wax tablets—suggests activity, taste is more passive.... Etymologically, the word we use derives from the Old French, meaning touch or feel, a sense that is preserved in the current Italian word for a keyboard, tastiera.”
—Stephen Bayley, British historian, art critic. “Taste: The Story of an Idea,” Taste: The Secret Meaning of Things, Random House (1991)