The name Leocadia, a Spanish maiden martyred by the Moors, had probably some connection with a lion; but it cannot be traced in the corrupted state of the language. Léocadie has travelled into France.
The Slavonians have Lavoslav (lion-glory), which they make the equivalent of the Teutonic Liutpold or Leopold, really meaning the people’s prince.
Löwenhard (the stern lion, or lion strong), was a Frank noble, who was converted at the same time as his sovereign, Clovis, and became a hermit near Limoges. Many miracles were imputed to him, and St. Leonard became a peculiarly popular saint both in France and England. Leonard is a favourite name in France; and has some popularity in England, chiefly, it is said, in the north, and in the Isle of Wight. Lionardo is Italian, witness Lionardo da Vinci; and, according to Gil Blas, Leonarda is a Spanish feminine; Germany has in surnames Lenhardt, Lehnart, Leinhardt, Lowen; Italy invented the formidable Christian name, Brancalleone (Brachium leonis), or arm of a lion; and Bavaria has Lowenclo (lion-claw).
| English. | French. | German. | Swiss. | Italian. |
| Leonard | Léonard | Leonhard | Liert | Lionardo |
| Leunairs | Lienhard | Liertli | ||
| Launart | Lienl | Lienzel |
Section II.—The Horse.
The horse is as great a favourite as the lion, and is prominent in many a myth from the Caspian to the Frozen Ocean. His name in Sanscrit açva, in Zendish esp or asp, comes forth in the Greek ἵππος or ἵkkoς, showing its identity with the Latin equus, the Gaelic each, and it may be with the Teutonic hengst.
Among these various races it is the Persian, the Greek, and the Gael who have chiefly used the term for this noble animal in their nomenclature.
The Persian feminine Damaspia is said exactly to answer to the Greek Hippodameia, the female of Hippodamus (horse-tamer), and Hippos forms part of far too many Greek names to be here enumerated, except where they have become popular elsewhere.
One would have imagined that Hippos and λύω (to destroy) must have suggested the name of Hippolytus, the son of Theseus, who was destroyed by his own horse, terrified by a sea monster; but, on the other hand, he appears to have been named after his mother Hippolita, the beautiful queen of the Amazons, whom Shakespeare has shown us hunting in his wondrous Attic forest. However this may be, Hippolytus has many namesakes; among them an early Christian writer, and also a priest at Rome, who in the year 252 was condemned by the persecuting judge to die the death his name suggested. The Christians buried him in a catacomb, which bears his name. Sant’Ippolito became a parish church at Rome, and of course gave a title to one of the cardinals, and Ippolito and Ippolita have always been fashionable Italian names. He was also the patron of horsemen and horses, and the latter were solemnly blessed in his name. Xanthippe’s name is feminine of Xanthippus (a yellow horse!) What a pity it was not a grey one!
The Persian Aspamitras (horse-lover) exactly corresponds to the Greek Φίλιππoς (loving horses). Thus were named many obscure kings of Macedon, before that sagacious prince who prepared the future glories of his son by disciplining his army, and crushing Greece in spite of those indignant orations of Demosthenes, which have made Philippics the generic term for vehement individual censure.