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Peter
Aerides is a neo-latin word of Greek origin. It is a composite
word (aer-ides) as many Greek words.
The two components are the noun aer that
means air (the letter eta pronounced "i" in modern
Greek is transformed in "e" in latin). "aer" means in ancient
as in modern Greek the air (what is
surrounding the earth; the atmosphere) as well as the wind. In
some instances in ancient Greek
air means the fog.
The second component is the ending
-ides. The ending -ides means in
ancient as in modern Greek "son of"
For instance the son of Peter is called even today Petrides.
This ending was commonly used in the ancient
Greek literature end even today about ten percent of the
actual Greek last names use the ending -ides.
If we are speaking about a girl then the ending becomes
-ida. If Peter has a daughter then she should
be called Petrida. One ancient Greek example is oceanida, the
daughter of the oceanos (the ocean).
This feminine form of the ending is less used in the ancient
literature for cultural reasons
(role of the women in the society) and disappeared in the
modern Greek language and naming tradition.
As one can imagine there is no neuter form of this ending
because there was no reason to create one
So aer-ides means the son of the air or the son of the wind or
the son of the fog and in any case since we are
dealing with a son it's gender is
masculine.
Pandelis Vlahopoulos
Athens Greece
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