Everyday LifeGreek → English
Theron
/ˈθɪərɒn/noun
A male given name of Greek origin meaning hunter.
The Greek roots
θήρ
thḗr
wild beast
θηρᾶν
thērân
to hunt
Literally: “hunter”
The story of the word
Θήρων is built on θήρ, a wild animal, and means the man who goes after them. Its best known holder ruled Akragas in Sicily in the 480s BC, took the chariot prize at Olympia and got two odes from Pindar for it. The same root gives treacle, by a long road: θηριακή was the antidote against the bite of wild beasts, then any medicinal syrup, then the sugar. The surname Theron, as in Charlize, is Huguenot French and unrelated.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → English
Same family
theropodtreaclemegatheriumtheriac
In a sentence
Theron was his grandfather's name and he uses it on legal papers only.
There are three boys called Theron in the parish register for 1841.