Everyday LifeGreek → English
Theodora
/ˌθiːəˈdɔːrə/noun
A woman's given name of Byzantine pedigree.
The Greek roots
θεός
theós
god
δῶρον
dôron
gift
Literally: “gift of god”
The story of the word
The same two pieces in the other order give Dorothea, so Theodora and Dorothy are one name reversed. The empress Theodora, who had worked as an actress before marrying Justinian in the sixth century, made it imperial; Procopius wrote one official history praising her and a secret one demolishing her, and historians have argued about both ever since. Theodore, Dorothy and Isidore, gift of Isis, are all in the same family.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → English
Same family
TheodoreDorothyIsidoretheology
In a sentence
Theodora went by Thea from the age of six.
The mosaic of Theodora at Ravenna still has its original gold.