Virgil was highly regarded in medieval Wales and in Welsh his name comes out as 'Pheryllt' or 'fferyll' and variants. However, the first vowel always seems to be 'e', though an 'i' is possible in Welsh.
I imagine names were often recorded as heard, rather than as read, which could account for both variants of the spelling of 'Virgil' as well, perhaps, for the dropping of Maro. I used to live near a place written 'Blackshire' on the map and called 'Blackshaw' by the local inhabitants. I suspect the mapmakers had recorded what they thought they heard. A storyteller would, perhaps, find it easier to remember one word like Virgil, Homer, Taliesin etc. Maybe 'Virgil' was just the easiest, or most striking, name to remember. Virgil in Welsh history is, btw, a fascinating topic. There's some interesting stuff about it here: http://www.digitalmedievalist.com/faqs/pheryllt.html Patrick Roper > This one isn't quite so obscure. I believe that the "i" spelling > came to be in > the 5th century AD (http://www.bartleby.com/65/ve/Vergil.html), > when the Aeneid > was used as a sort of magic 8-ball. People would randomly open > the Aeneid and > interpret the first line upon which their eyes fell. The > connection here is > with the "virga" or wand, which was somehow used in this > practice. Also, it > was a symbol of the magician. In my opinion, the "e" is > preferrable, being > that it is closer to his actual name. For a better explaination, > see Pharr's > books 1-6 of the Aeneid, Introduction. > > The interesting question, which Emma posed, is why we don't use > his cognomen. > > Sam Cole > Sophomore, Classics, Reed College > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- > To leave the Mantovano mailing list at any time, do NOT hit reply. > Instead, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message > "unsubscribe mantovano" in the body (omitting the quotation marks). You > can also unsubscribe at http://virgil.org/mantovano/mantovano.htm#unsub > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- To leave the Mantovano mailing list at any time, do NOT hit reply. Instead, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message "unsubscribe mantovano" in the body (omitting the quotation marks). You can also unsubscribe at http://virgil.org/mantovano/mantovano.htm#unsub
