Everyday LifeGreek → English
Corinna
/kəˈrɪnə/proper noun
A female given name, borne by a Greek lyric poet from Boeotia.
The Greek roots
Κόριννα
Kórinna
little maiden
κόρη
kórē
girl, maiden
Literally: “little maiden”
The story of the word
Corinna of Tanagra was remembered for beating Pindar in competition and for telling him to sow with the hand and not the whole sack, meaning he should ration his mythology. Only fragments survive, and even her dates are disputed by several centuries. Ovid gave the name to the woman of the Amores, and English poets took it from him, which is how Herrick came to write Corinna's going a-Maying. κόρη also names the pupil of the eye, from the small figure you see reflected in it, exactly the idea behind Latin pupilla.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → English
In a sentence
They named the second daughter Corinna after a great-grandmother from Thebes.