My Names

[poliphilo]

I've never used a pseudonym before. And I wouldn't have done so here on LJ if it hadn't been the etiquette (so to speak.) I don't mind people knowing who I really am- and if you want to be told I'll tell you, no qualms.

But I like my adopted name. I've started to identify with it. It's more elegant and eloquent than the real thing.

But what's with this "reality" business anyway? Which is more real- the name my parents gave me or the one I have given myself?

My real first name derives from an ancient Roman family, the most famous member of which has a leading role in Shakespeare. It's further identified with the guy who set the early Christian fashion for going out into the Egyptian desert and hallucinating (otherwise known as monasticism.)

Wanna have a guess? No prizes I'm afraid.

And my last name is an odd little monosyllable of uncertain derivation. It might mean "grey" or it might have something to do with milling.

But Poliphilo- he's this Italian Renaissance Alice who scuttles through Wonderland (in search of his girlfriend) oohing and aahing at the architecture and furnishings. I didn't spend a whole lot of time choosing the name, but I find it fits very comfortably. Lover of Many Things is what it means.

I want it on my tombstone.

Comments

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

Lover of Many Things fits you perfectly.

I never know what new idea you are going to offer for me to think about.

Today, just because, I am thinking about the Carboniferous period, and the fossils on your window sill.

The Carboniferous period, a Google source says, was when maximum coal formation was made from swampy forests. By then, there were insects, amphibians, reptiles, fishes, clams, and crustaceans.

The Ordovician (Latin Ordovices, people of early Britain--did you know? I didn't) was, to me, more exciting because the world would have been so--bland, and different. Shallow seas full of shells. No animals walking around the shores. No trees. Brown land, blue sea. And no one to look around at it.

I'm glad you are Poliphilo, who loves all things. Even better, you respond most openly to all things and get immediately engaged and interested.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

And now I'm going to wonder why the Ordovices got to give their name to a geological era.

Quaint.

I like to think of Britain divided up into tribal areas. My Bumper Fun Book of Roman Britain (sorry- The Oxford Illustrated History of Roman Britain) tells me that the Ordovices occupied central Wales. And that my own bit of Britain (Cheshire, Lancashire, Cumbria) belonged to the Brigantes.