[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] *Euphrosine*

[Otto]

On Nov 18, 2013, at 6:38 AM, Joanna Hintz wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> Many girls were called at that time Euphrosine - whether in Germany, Poland
> or Volhynia. The name comes from the Greek and has absolutely nothing to do
> with Eva Rosina.
> 
> Rosina is derived from the flower rose. In Poland girls were called
> Rozalia, the German name was Rosina. Thus, it can be found in the church
> books.
> 
> Greetings
> Ursula
> 


The foregoing comments are the closest to reality.
Our forefathers did know how to read-
(we have already discussed Euphrosine) (rare today)
correct spelling> Eu·phros·y·ne 
From Ancient Greek Εὐφροσύνη (Euphrosunē).
(Myth & Legend / Classical Myth & Legend) Greek myth one of the three Graces
[from Greek: mirth, merriment]

Rosina, a given name, is an easy one to decipher. 
Europe is not the US or Canada. . . we do not use gender (denoting feminine or masculine) suffixes as they do.
In English we simply say 'Rose.' "A rose is a rose, is a rose. . ."
Always look to the suffix.
Rosina is a Latin/Italian given name, again a name popularized by an opera.
The 'ina', a latin suffix, tells the story, 'ina' is feminine, 'ino' is masculine.  We have it! A feminine rose.

Some will query, "But my relatives were 'German'. . .?
Well, how many of them bear given names as, 'John', 'Jacob', 'Michael', 'Joshua', Sarah, 'Eve', and so on?  They all are of Hebrew derivation, bible names.
While we are on the subject, Here are two 'German' names, "Erdmann und Eva." Translated to English is "Earth-man and Eve". . . Now that sounds strange. . . Both are spinoffs of the Hebrew Adam and Eve.   The translations of Adam/hebrew Adamah vary (adamah,“red earth, ground”), I refer to it as the red earth-man, the one made of dust that breathes, the huffer and puffer that keeps his cheeks rosy.

That gives us the next name 'Eva Rosina', in English with a surname I added for illustration, "Ms. Eve Rose Eingedeutschte.

The discussion of given names, as illustrated, leads to a variety of uses of a particular sound. Our forefathers did not have libraries, the internet or google at their disposal to do arm-chair research as we can this day. Let us not forget the pastors fresh out of seminary and into the field with a bible written in Luther's hilly Saxon, that is, 'high German', undoubtedly used 'poetic license' to 'eingedeutsch' (high germanize) given and surnames.  Another factor was that there were many children in a family, so let's spell our name a wee bit different so we are not mistaken for those durn pesky cousins of ours. There is the possibility the pastor himself may have altered spellings to differentiate between groups endowed with fecundity. There is also the possibility names had slight spelling variations so they would sound out properly to Polish administration reading the civil records.

We cannot dismiss the possibility that the given name "Ephrosine" was transliterated into Eva Rosina.
In German I would sound it out as Eph'rosineh', the trailing 'e' not being silent. Eva is pronounced in German as, "Efa', so with an imaginative leap I have Eva Rosina.

"Artistic license (also known as dramatic license, historical license, poetic license, narrative license, licentia poetica, or simply license) is a colloquial term, sometimes euphemism, used to denote the distortion of fact, alteration of the conventions of grammar or language, or rewording of pre-existing text made by an artist to improve a piece of art."

. . .   Otto
         " The Zen moment..." wk. of January 01, 2013-
                _____________________________________
                  "Answers out there . . .  Seeking us."