Section II.—Æmilius.
Almost inextricable confusion attends the development of the title of one of the oldest and most respectable of the plebeian gentes, namely the Æmilian, anciently written Aimilian. The family was Sabine, and the word is, therefore, probably Oscan; but the bearers were by no means agreed upon its origin, some declaring that it was αἵμυλος (flattering or witty), and called it a surname of their founder, Mamercus, whom some called the son of Pythagoras, others of Numa. The later Æmilii, again, claimed to descend from Aemylos, a son of Ascanius; and others of them, less aspiring, contented themselves with Amulius, the granduncle of Romulus. Can this most intangible Amulius be, after all, a remnant of the Teutonic element in the Roman race, and be the same with the mythical Amal, whence the Gothic Amaler traced their descent? It is curious that maal or âmal means work in Hebrew, while aml is work, likewise, in old Norse, as our moil is in English, though in Sanscrit amala is spotless. Altogether, it seems most probable that the word mal (a spot or stroke) may underlie all these forms, just as it does the German mal (time); that Amal was, in truth, the dimly remembered forefather; and that thus the proud Æmilii of Rome, and the wild Amaler of the forests, bore in their designations the tokens of a common stock.
Several obscure saints bore the name of Æmilius or Æmilianus; and Emilij has always been a prevailing masculine name in Russia. In Spain, a hermit, Saint Æmilianus, is always known as St. Milhan. Emilio was of old-standing in Italy; but the great prevalence in France of Émile, of late, was owing to Rousseau’s educational work, the hero of which had numerous namesakes among the children born in the years preceding the Revolution.
The feminine had been forgotten until Boccaccio wrote his Teseide, and called the heroine Emilia. It was at once translated or imitated in all languages, and became mixed up with the Amalie already existing in Germany. Amalie of Mansfeld lived in 1493; Amalie of Wurtemburg, in 1550; and thence the name spread throughout Germany, whence the daughter of George II. brought it to England, and though she wrote herself Amelia, was called Princess Emily. Both forms are recognized in most European countries, though often confounded together, and still worse, with Amy and Emma.
| English. | French. | Italian. | Slovak. | Lusatian. |
| Emily | Émilie | Emilia | Emilija | Mila |
| Emilia | Milica | Milka |
Section III.—Antonius.
Two gentes were called Antonius, a word that is not easy to trace. Some explain it as inestimable, but the Triumvir himself chose to deduce it from Antius, a son of Hercules. One of these clans was patrician, with the cognomen Merenda; the other plebeian, without any third name, and it was to the latter that the avenger of Cæsar and lover of Cleopatra belonged—Mark Anthony, Marc Antoine, or Marcantonio, as modern tongues have clipped his Marcus Antonius. The clipping had, however, been already performed before the resuscitation of his evil fame in the fifteenth century, for both his names had become separately saintly, and therefore mutilated; Mark in the person of the Evangelist, Antonius in that of the great hermit of the fourth century—the first to practise the asceticism which resulted in the monastic system. Of Egyptian birth, his devotions, his privations, and his conflicts with Satan, were equally admired in the Eastern and Western Churches, and Antonios has been as common among the Greeks as Antonius among the Latin Christians.
St. Antony was already very popular when St. Antonio of Padua further increased the Italian devotion to the name, and Antonio has ever since been exceedingly common in Italy and Spain. Classical pedantry made Antonio Paleario turn it into Aonio in honour of the Aonian choir; but whatever he chose to call himself he made glorious by his life and death.
The Dutch seem to have needlessly added the silent h, and we probably learnt it from them. The popularity of Antony has much diminished since the Reformation in England, where perhaps it is less used than in any other country.
| English. | French. | Provençal. | Italian. |
| Antony | Antoine | Antoni | Antonio |
| Anthony | Tonio | ||
| Tony | Tonetto | ||
| Antholin | |||
| German. | Frisian. | Dutch. | Swiss. |
| Antonius | Tönnes | Anthonius | Antoni |
| Tenton | Tonjes | Theunis | Toni |
| Tony | Toontje | ||
| Tool | |||
| Antoonije | |||
| Russian. | Polish. | Slovak. | Servian. |
| Antonij | Antoni | Anton | Antun |
| Anton | Antek | Tone | Antonija |
| Antos | Tonek | ||
| Lusatian. | Lett. | Esthonian. | Hungarian. |
| Anto | Antons | Tönnis | Antal |
| Hanto | Tennis | Tonnio | |
| Tonisch | Tanne | ||
| Tonk |