Humphrey
English
Etymology
Name of a 9th-century French saint, brought to England by Normans; Proto-Germanic *unnaną (“to grant, bestow”) + *friþuz (“peace”). In Ireland it has been used to Anglicize Irish Amhlaoibh (= Olaf). [1]
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈhʌmfɹi/
Proper noun
Humphrey
- A male given name.
- 1591, William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals):: Act I, Scene I:
- I never saw but Humphrey, Duke of Gloster, / Did bear him like a noble gentleman.
- 1988 Howard Engel: A Victim Must Be Found: page 70:
- "Hump?" I asked. "Humphrey, really. But everybody callls him Hump. I know a lot of people who avoid calling him by his first name. For a long time people didn't think it was quite proper. But nowadays nobody seems to mind. What's happening to the power of words, Benny? Time was I used to blush at the words scrawled on the fences, and now I hear them - everywhere. How are writers going to write books if language is going bland on them?"
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- A patronymic surname.
Derived terms
References
- Patrick Hanks and Flavia Hodges : A Dictionary of Surnames. Oxford University Press 1988.
Anagrams
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