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A ROSE BY ANY OTHER -
by Jean Chapman SnowI found a jawbreaker of a name in a listing of Otsego County (NY) cemetery inscriptions. It belonged to the wife of a Revolutionary soldier. The name? Mnetriphantheaum.
By the time she was called to breakfast, breakfast would have been over! It sure sounded like Greek to me.
Did such an unusual name come from Greek mythology? Did it have a meaning? The 1700's had a leaning toward classical names for towns and people.
Mythology revealed only one name beginning with Mne: Mnemosyne, the Greek goddess of memory. She might help, with spelling, for in the D.A.R. Patriot Index* it is spelled Mnetriphantham.
That resource says "Mnettie's" husband Amasa was from Connecticut, so chances are she was also. Perhaps the Greek connection came through an East coast seaport?
I was curious enough to ask Dr. David Lupher of the University of Puget Sound's classics department. Her's is not a Greek name, he wrote. Nothing resembling it can be found in mythology or history. It is undoubtedly a made-up name, coined perhaps by a school teacher or minister father. Dr. Lupher gave me a wealth of information, distilled as follows:
Mne- root of the verb remind, remember.Triph- based on tryph- delicacy, daintiness.
Antheum- from anthos, flower.
Perhaps her name means remembering a delicate flower. Did her mother die giving birth to her? Or, as Dr. Lupher's wife suggested, was she named in remembrance of a sibling who died before Mnetriphantheaum was born?
Suddenly an unknown name from a dusty book came alive. I was reminded of the ending of a poem about knowing bird names (Brendan Galvin: One for the Life List, The Atlantic Monthly, June 1991):
not to say their names,
and the shadow of death passes
across our tongues.Isn't that why we pursue genealogy? To say their names and remember?
Unfortunately for genealogical research, women usually lost their maiden names (and middle, if they had them) upon marriage, so women's lines are hard to trace. I began my singing career as Jean Chapman Snow. A bit cumbersome, so I continued as Jean Snow. How about Julie Cadwallader (I made that up) Andrews? No. Julie Andrews. Maria Callas. Barbara Streisand. Easier to say and remember.
Though taking a husband's name is customary, it is not law everywhere. My married daughters didn't even hyphenate their husband's with their maiden names, as do some women. They just kept Snow.
E-mail brings new name changes. I'm JeanS or SnowStar@****.com. Short. Simple. Pity the poor folk who end up with 075438.####@compuserve.com. Wouldn't you think with a long last name like compuserve.com the company would use nicknames or maybe only six numbers?
My husband would have quipped "Call me anything but late for breakfast."
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