Joseph

August 1, 2014 § 10 Comments

ORIGIN:
From the Latin / Greek form of “Yosef”, a Hebrew name meaning “He will add”.

VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Beppe, Giuseppe, Jo, Joe, Joep, Joey, Jojo, Joop, Joos, Jos, José, Josef, Josephus, Josip, Osip, Pepe, Pepito, Peppe, Peppi, Peppino, Pino, Seph, Sepp, Sjef, Youssef, Zef, etc.

REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Joseph Sedley (sometimes called “Jos“), Amelia’s silly, conceited older brother in Vanity Fair, by William Makepeace Thackeray (published in 1847-48, but set in the 1810s-20s).
– Joseph Scott (called “Joe“), an odorous and odious young man who considers himself a candidate for Virginia Herrick’s heart, in Virginia of Virginia, written by Amélie Rives in 1888.

WRITERS:
– Joseph Addison (1672-1719), English essayist, poet, and playwright.
– Joseph Conrad (1857-1924), Polish-English author.
– Joseph Meek (b. 1951), one of the many pen names of American mystery and Western author Robert J. Randisi, who also publishes as “Cole Weston”, “Joshua Randall”, “Lew Baines”, “Paul Ledd”, “Robert Lake” “Spenser Fortune”, “Tom Cutter”, and “W.B. Longley”, among other pseudonyms.
– Joseph Ward Moore (1903-1978), American novelist and short story writer who published under the pen name “Ward Moore.”

QUOTATIONS:
– Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s “Elizabeth” (published in 1873, but set in 1701-02; from Tales of a Wayside Inn, Part the Third: The Theologian’s Tale) tells the love story of John Estaugh (1676-1742) and Elizabeth Haddon (1680-1762), with her servants Joseph and Hannah as supporting characters, and Joseph described thusly: “. . .  A good lad and cheerful is Joseph; / In the right place his heart, and his hand is ready and willing. / . . . Meanwhile Joseph sat with folded hands, and demurely / Listened, or seemed to listen, and in the silence that followed / Nothing was heard for a while . . . / Inwardly Joseph laughed, but governed his tongue, and was silent. / . . . And not otherwise Joseph, the honest, the diligent servant, / Sped in his bashful wooing with homely Hannah the housemaid . . .”

Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

§ 10 Responses to Joseph

Leave a comment

«

»

What’s this?

You are currently reading Joseph at The Art of Literary Nomenclature.

meta