Meaning of literal theonymy | Babel Free

Definitions

The naming of a person with a divine name, such as the use of Jesus as a given name in Mexico and Central America.

uncountable

Examples

“When H[ans] Meyersahm, in a dissertation of 1891, studied literal theonymy, the giving to humans of unadjusted divine names, he felt able to declare that the practice first emerged in the first century ad.”

“There are a few instances of mortals called Artemis or Hermes, but such literal theonymy is relatively rare, and mostly dates from the first century ad or later.”

“As is evident from Fig. 8, female theophoric names on Artemi- are quite uncommon and literal theonymy, where the personal name is same as the name of the deity, is extremely rare.”

CEFR level