Monday, May 04, 2009

Feast Day of Philip yesterday

I didn't mention this yesterday, but yesterday was the feast day of the apostle of my namesake, Philip. Philip means lover of horses. How? It originated from the longer Phil Hippo. Phil means love, hippo means horse. Hippopotamus means water horse. Phil hippo became Philhippe, and eventually Philip. Other languages spell it differently. I have a mug from Germany that says Philipp. French spell it Philippe, etc. The spelling Phillip with 2 Ls is a relatively novel spelling. There is no mention that I am aware of that Philip the Apostle had any special inclination toward horses, though.

No comments:

Post a Comment