Honoria

Historical scholarship

Passages quoted verbatim from public-domain reference works. They reflect the scholarship of their time, not current consensus, and may use obsolete spellings.

• 1884From the archives

  Honoria— “honourable”

  Here, too, we place that which the soldier most esteems—_honos_, or _honor_. Honor was a deity in later Rome, but no old classical names were made from him, and Honorius first appears as one of the appellations of the Spanish father of the great Theodosius; then again inherited by that imbecile being, his grandson, the last genuine Roman emperor; also by a niece, called Justa Grata Honoria, who dishonoured all her three honourable names. Yet some lingering sense of allegiance…

  Read the full historical passageShow shorter excerpt

  Here, too, we place that which the soldier most esteems—_honos_, or _honor_. Honor was a deity in later Rome, but no old classical names were made from him, and Honorius first appears as one of the appellations of the Spanish father of the great Theodosius; then again inherited by that imbecile being, his grandson, the last genuine Roman emperor; also by a niece, called Justa Grata Honoria, who dishonoured all her three honourable names. Yet some lingering sense of allegiance to the last great family that gave rulers to the empire perpetuated their names in the countries where they had reigned; and the Welsh Ynyr long remained as a relic of Honorius, in Wales. Honorine was a Neustrian maiden, slain in a Danish invasion, and regarded as a martyr; so that Honorine prevails in France and Germany, and one of the favourite modern Irish names, is Onora, Honor, or in common usage, Norah.

  Yonge, History of Christian Names (1884), Part IV, Chapter VI (Modern Names From The Latin), Section VIII (Military Names) · Public domain (Project Gutenberg)