Words & WritingGreek → English
Matronymic
/ˌmatrəˈnɪmɪk/noun
A name derived from that of a mother or female ancestor.
The Greek roots
ὄνυμα
ónyma
name
Literally: “mother-name”
Follow a root:ὄνυμα11 words
The story of the word
A hybrid built to match patronymic, with Latin mater supplying the first half and Greek the second; the fully Greek version, metronymic, exists and lost. Medieval English records show a scattering of them, usually where the mother held the property or the father was absent, giving surnames such as Marriott and Ibbotson. Iceland now allows a child to take a matronymic, so Björnsdóttir may be answered by Sigríðardóttir.
- How it travelled
- Latin and Ancient Greek → English coinage
- First recorded
- 19th century
Same family
patronymicmetronymicsynonymanonymous
In a sentence
The parish register throws up the occasional matronymic where the father is unnamed.
She chose a matronymic for her son and spent a decade explaining it.