Everyday LifeGreek → English
Agnes
/ˈæɡnɪs/noun
A woman's given name, common in Europe since the Middle Ages.
The Greek roots
ἁγνή
hagnḗ
pure, chaste, holy
Literally: “the pure one”
Follow a root:ἁγνή1 word
The story of the word
ἁγνός is the purity word of Greek cult, used of untouched things and of gods who require clean hands. Agnes of Rome was killed as a girl in the early fourth century, and Latin speakers heard her name as agnus, lamb, a false connection that stuck so hard it became iconography: she is painted holding a lamb, and lambs are still blessed at her Roman church on her feast day. Folk etymology rarely leaves a clearer fingerprint.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → Old French → English
Same family
hagiographyInezhagiology
In a sentence
Agnes signed the register in a hand that had not changed since 1948.
Two of the four girls in the class were called Agnes.