Everyday LifeGreek → English
Aspasia
/æˈspeɪʒə/noun
A Greek woman's name, borne by the Milesian companion of Pericles.
The Greek roots
ἀσπάσιος
aspásios
welcome, gladly received
Literally: “welcome one”
Follow a root:ἀσπάσιος1 word
The story of the word
Built on ἀσπάζομαι, to greet or embrace, so the name means something close to welcome. It belonged to a woman from Miletus who lived with Pericles, was attacked by comic poets for it, and appears in Plato's Menexenus composing a funeral oration. Athens allowed her no citizenship, no property and no vote; the name is what survived.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → English
In a sentence
They named their daughter Aspasia after her great-grandmother.