Chapter LI: Section III: Anēr, Andros

We come to the names derived from ἀνήρ, gen. ἀνδρός (anēr, andros), a man. The word itself has connections in the Sanscrit _nara_, and Zend _ner_; but its compounds are all from its oblique cases.

The most interesting of these is formed by the corrupt Greek dialect used in Syria, namely, that which fell to Ανδρέας (Andreas), the Galilean fisherman, whom the Church Universal reveres as one of the foremost in the Glorious Company of the Apostles. The saint was martyred at Patras in Achaia, whence some of his relics were carried in the fourth century to Scotland, and were thus the occasion of St. Andrew’s becoming the Metropolitan see. Shortly after, the vision of Hungus, King of the Picts, of St. Andrew’s Cross, promising him victory, rendered the white saltire the national ensign, and St. Andrew became not only the patron saint, but in due time the knightly champion of Scotland, and made Andrew one of the most universal of names, and the patronymic Anderson very common. The other relics went first to Constantinople, and after the taking of that city, were dispersed through Europe. Philip the Good, of Burgundy, obtained some of them, and made St. Andrew the patron of the order of the Golden Fleece, and Andreas became a frequent Flemish and Dutch name. It has a feminine in the countries where it is most popular, and its variations are as follows:—

┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ Scotch. │ Dutch. │ Danish. │
│Andrew │Andrew │Andreas │Anders │
│Andy │Dandie │Andries │ │
│ │ │Andries │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ French. │ German. │ Italian. │ Spanish. │
│André │Andreas │Andrea │Andres │
│Andrien │ │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Russian. │ Slavonic. │ Polish. │ Bohemian. │
│Andrej │Andrej │Andrezej │Ondrej │
│ │Andias │Jedrzej │ │
│ │Necek │ │ │
│ │Andrejeek │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Lusatian. │ Esthonian. │ Hungarian. │ Lapland. │
│Handrej │Andras │Andras │Anta │
│Rajka │Andrus │Bandi │Attok │
│Hendrijshka │ │ │Ats │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘

The feminines are the French Andrée and Italian Andreana. The Russians use Andrean as an equivalent for Henry!

Andronicus, man’s victory, was a great favourite, and occurs in St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, probably having belonged to a Corinthian who had gone from the busy city of traffic on the Isthmus to the great Capital of the world. The name continued among the Greeks, and belonged to numerous emperors, but has not been subsequently in much favour.