What's In A Name: Giles, Penelope

Giles-The actual meaning of this name is hard to say, as it likely comes from figurative senses from its origin. It goes back to transliterated Greek "aigidion," which meant, "young goat." Long ago animal skins, including from goats, were used to make shields, and this "seems" to have given Greek "Aigis," the name of the goatskin shield of Zeus in Greek mythology. This gave Greek the name "Aigidios," "perhaps" with the meaning, "one who shields," or "one who protects." Latin borrowed the name as "Aegidius," and this passed to Old French in an abbreviated form, "Gilles." The name became popular from a Greek (Athenian) Christian religious hermit (later a saint) who settled in southern France/Gaul in the 600s and founded the Abbey of Saint Gilles near Nîmes. The name appears to have come into English in the Middle ages, "perhaps" brought to England by the Normans, but that is not a certainty. The spelling "Gyles" has made rare appearances over time.

Penelope-The name comes from the name of the wife of Homer's Greek hero Odysseus, known for her faithfulness to her husband. The name "may" be from the name used for a type of duck of the Mediterranean area in ancient times. Penelope had been saved as a baby by the protection of a duck. There is also a theory the name came from transliterated Greek "pene," a word for a bobbin in weaving, as Penelope weaved as she waited for Odysseus to return from his travels. The name seems to have come into English usage in the 1500s. 

I consulted the following in the preparation of this article: 1) "A World of Baby Names," by Teresa Norman, published by Perigee/Penguin Group, New York, 2003. 2) www.behindthename.com  3) "A Greek-English Lexicon," by Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, Roderick McKenzie, and Eric Arthur Barber, published by Oxford/Clarendon Press, 1940

WORD HISTORY:
Brother-This word is related through Indo European to "fraternal," a word of Latin derivation borrowed by English from Latin-based French. "Brother" goes back to Indo European “bhrater,” which meant, "brother, kinsman." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "broþar/broþer" (þ=th). This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "broþor," meaning "brother," perhaps also in limited use, but expanded later, in an extended sense, "people in common cause," as came to be used with monks, and then also in various professions and organizations representing those professions or causes (later also, "strong friends," from the notion, "friends like brothers"). The Old English word then became "brother," where it has remained for centuries! Relatives in the other Germanic languages: German has "Bruder," some Low German dialects have “brooda,” others have "broder," Dutch has both “broer” and “broeder,” West Frisian "broer" (the North and East Frisian dialects have numerous similar forms, with "bruur" and "brouder" being two fairly common forms), Danish has “broder,” Norwegian has “bror,” Swedish has both “bror and broder” and Icelandic has "bróðir" ('ð' is another form that =th, so equivalent to "bróthir").