Everyday LifeGreek → English
Ambrose
/ˈæmbroʊz/noun
A male given name, borne most famously by the fourth-century bishop of Milan.
The Greek roots
ἀμβρόσιος
ambrósios
immortal, divine
βροτός
brotós
mortal, a mortal man
Literally: “belonging to the undying”
The story of the word
Strip the name down and you get ἀ- plus βροτός, not-mortal, the same build as ambrosia, the food that kept the gods from dying. βροτός itself is a worn-down cousin of Latin mortalis, both from an old root for death. The bishop of Milan was a provincial governor with no theological training when the crowd acclaimed him; he was baptised and consecrated within a week.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → English
Same family
ambrosiaambrosial
In a sentence
Ambrose signed the register in a hand nobody could read.