Everyday LifeGreek → English
Nicodemus
/ˌnɪkəˈdiːməs/noun
A male given name, from the Pharisee in John's gospel who visited Jesus after dark.
The Greek roots
νίκη
níkē
victory
δῆμος
dêmos
the people
Literally: “victory of the people”
The story of the word
The two halves are ordinary Greek politics, νίκη and δῆμος, the same pair behind Nike and democracy, and the name was common among Greek-speaking Jews. His night visit gave the language a nickname with teeth: Calvin coined Nicodemite in the 1540s for Protestants who kept their beliefs private and went on attending Catholic mass. It was not meant kindly.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → English
Same family
democracyepidemicdemagogueNike
In a sentence
Nicodemus is one of those names that never quite left the church register.