Everyday LifeGreek → English
Rhoda
/ˈroʊdə/proper noun
A woman's name meaning rose, carried into English from the New Testament.
The Greek roots
ῥόδον
rhódon
rose
Literally: “rose”
Follow a root:ῥόδον4 words
The story of the word
Rhoda appears once in Acts, as the servant girl who hears Peter knocking at the gate, recognises his voice and is so delighted she runs off to tell the household while he is still standing outside. The Greek word for rose is itself probably an eastern import, related to the Iranian form that also stands behind Latin rosa, so Rhoda and Rose are cousins by two separate roads. Whether the island of Rhodes is named for the flower has never been settled.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → English
- First recorded
- 17th century
Same family
rhododendronrhodiumrhodochrosite
In a sentence
Rhoda kept her mother's name and gave her daughter a new one.
There is a Rhoda in every second Victorian novel.