The real name of Alexander

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neodynium

The real name of Alexander

Post by neodynium »

I mande some searches on the web. I found the real name of Alexander was "Iskandraiya".
I am asking you what do you think of the real name of Alexander. I mean may we have an idea of his *phonetical* name?
Who put the "The Great" additive to his name ?
Where his name comes from ? (Parents ?)
All these questions are still opened for me.
Thank you in advance.neo
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marcus
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Re: The real name of Alexander

Post by marcus »

Hi Neo,Iskandraia, or other variants of the spelling, is the Eastern version of Alexander's name, but his real name was "Alexander". Actually, in Greek, it comes out as "Alexandros", but as Greek is an inflected language the name has slightly different endings depending on how the name is being used - dative, genetive etc...All the bestMarcus
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Yiannis K

Re: The real name of Alexander

Post by Yiannis K »

Actually he was (still is) called Iskander (or similarly) in the arabic countries, Persia, Afganistan, India etc. I'm sure he has (had) other names in differend parts of the world.
As Marcus mentioned his name in Greek is Alexander which means "alexein" = help/defend but also repulse and "aner" = man (genitive: andros).regards,
YiannisPS
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dean
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Re: The real name of Alexander

Post by dean »

Hello,
Just out of coincidence, I was re-reading the footnotes of Mary Renault's book "Fire From Heaven" last night,where she says, as Marcus pointed out already, his name was Alexandros. Although we have been left in the west with his latinized name Alexander,
Best regards,
Dean.
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