 |
 |
Late latin _nonnus_ "father", later "tutor" or "monk" and _nonna_ "nun" seem to be etymologically related to greek _nannos_ , _nennos_ "uncle". Nonnus became the medieval latin title for a senior monk, and was a term that was applied to the Pope before 615 (see Latham, "Revised Latin Word-List"). _Nonnus_ and _nonna_ also lead through to late latin pet names *_ninnus_ and *_ninna_ "boy" and "girl", whence spanish _nin~o_, _nin~a_ and ultimately english _ninny_! The dating of the loan of these words to the nordic tongues would be very interesting to know, if anyone has looked at this, and I would suspect would follow that of latin _crux_ (for obvious reasons?). yours aye, Henry Gough-Cooper. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%