Everyday LifeGreek → English
Xanthe
/ˈzænθi/proper noun
A woman's name of Greek origin, given to several minor figures in myth.
The Greek roots
ξανθή
xanthḗ
golden, fair-haired
Literally: “the golden one”
Follow a root:ξανθή1 word
The story of the word
Ξανθή is the feminine of ξανθός, the colour Homer gives to Menelaus's hair and to Achilles's immortal horse Xanthos. Chemists took the same root for xanthine and for xanthophyll, the yellow pigment that shows in autumn leaves once the chlorophyll drains away. Socrates's wife carried it too: Xanthippe, golden horse.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → English
Same family
xanthophyllxanthineXanthippe
In a sentence
Xanthe kept her grandmother's name and spent a lifetime spelling it out over the phone.