Arthur – What Means the Name?

When we go that far back into history where written records become scarce or non-existent and all that is left are oral traditions, names get lost and forgotten. As I dug through books and scholarly attempts to unearth a historical Arthur, one thing became clear. This was not a man’s name, but his title. In fact, nearly everyone from that period is known by a title, not a name. Take for instance, Gwenevere, or Genivieve or the modern, Jennifer. It comes from the Welsh, Gwenhwyfar: Gwen, meaning White, and hwyfar, meaning Priestess. In its simplest form, it means “Fair one” or “White One.”

I was at some Arthurian exhibit years ago – wish I could remember where – but in the exhibit, they pointed out that Arthur had three wives and they were all named Gwenevere, or , Gwenhwyfar. In Norma Goodrich’s book, “Guinevere,” she makes a compelling case that the name Lancelot is a French corruption of L’Ancelot, taken from the Latin, Anguselus, or, in modern English, “The Angus,” a Scottish title which exists today. Even Merlin appears to be more a title than a name. We’ll get to him later.

Apparently, anciently, persons of note were not called by their given names, but by their titles. So perhaps the name Arthur is a title. If so, it explains why no historian has been able to locate the man.

So what could Arthur mean? Well, let’s look at thinkbabynames.com. Here is their definition of Arthur:

It is of Celtic origin. King Arthur of Britain (sixth century) and his Round Table of knights have become legendary figures. His name was first found in the Latin form Artorius, which is of obscure origin. Other possible sources include "artos", the Celtic word for "bear"; an Irish Gaelic word meaning "stone";

I had read of Celtic, “Bear” and Irish Gaelic, “stone,” before, so this was nothing new, but years ago I read that Arthur may have been derived from Arturus – or Artorius as listed above, which, according to the forgotten author, was a Latin form for the word, “father.” In an effort to be factual, I went looking on-line to find out if that were so. Nowhere could I find a definition of Arturus related to Father. All I found was a reference to Arcturus, a star found in “The Bear” constellation. That fits with what we already know, but by now, my theory about the title Arthur was in grave jeopardy. However, I did find this in wiktionary.org.

From Old Irish aite (“foster father”) < Proto-Indo-European *átta.

Now we’re getting somewhere. I may be stretching some here. Ok, I’m stretching a lot, but look at this: átta – aite – art – artos – Arthur. That Arthur could be a corrupted form of the word Father makes sense as a title. I will try to explain.

As I studied more and more about the Celtic culture of Great Britain, the more Middle-Eastern they appeared. Their years are marked from Autumn to Autumn. This is where our modern Holloween comes from. It’s an ancient year-end rite which Roman Catholicism turned into the Eve of All Saints Day or All Hallow’s Day. All Hallow’s day becomes Halloween, which is October 31. And look, among the Jews the New Year is Rosh-Hashannah, which happens in the Autumn as well, usually falling in the end of September or sometime in October. There’s more. The Celtic day was also from sundown to sundown, just like for the Jews.

The more I studied the Celtic culture, the more connections to the Middle-East I found, including matrilineal rights of inheritance, a way of life which plays an important role in the Celtic culture, and can be found in Egypt and many other Middle-Eastern cultures. These ideas were beginning to fit in with the theory of Israel dwelling in the British Isles.

One day at work, I was watching a short dramatic video about the visit of Naaman, the Syrian military commander, to the Prophet Elisha in hopes of being cured of his leprosy. When told to bath in the Jordan River seven times, he turns away disgusted.

“And his servants came near, and spake unto him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean?” (2 Kings: 5:13)

These servants called their military commander “Father.” We find the same thing in The Book of Mormon.

“And now, whether they were overtaken by Antipus we knew not, but I said unto my men: Behold, we know not but they have halted for the purpose that we should come against them, that they might catch us in their snare; Therefore what say ye, my sons, will ye go against them to battle? And now I say unto you, my beloved brother Moroni, that never had I seen so great courage, nay, not amongst all the Nephites. For as I had ever called them my sons (for they were all of them very young) even so they said unto me: Father, behold our God is with us, and he will not suffer that we should fall; then let us go forth; we would not slay our brethren if they would let us alone; therefore let us go, lest they should overpower the army of Antipus.” (Alma 56: 43-46 emphasis added.)

It is perfectly legitimate for a well beloved and successful military commander to be called “Father.”

Quite frankly, the name or title “Arthur” is hidden deep within centuries of change and obscurity, but if I’m right, that title links our Celtic Britons to the Middle East, making ties to Israel that much stronger.

Next: Who were the Druids?