Malvina

Malvina is a feminine given name derived from the Scottish Gaelic Mala-mhìn, meaning "smooth brow".[1] It was popularized by the 18th century Scottish poet James Macpherson. Other names popularised by Macpherson became popular in Scandinavia on account of Napoleon.

Malvina
GenderFemale
Origin
Language(s)Scottish Gaelic
DerivationMala-mhìn
Meaning"smooth brow"

The Argentinian name for the Falkland Islands, Las Malvinas, is not etymologically related to Malvina, but is instead derived from the name of St Malo, a seaport in Brittany.[2]

Literary characters

  • Thomas Campbell's poem Lord Ullin's Daughter was translated into the Russian language by the Romantic poet Vasiliy Zhukovsky. In Zhukovsky's translation, the title character, who is left unnamed in Campbell's original, is given the name Malvina, which the Russian poet likely borrowed from James Macpherson's Ossian. Vladimir Nabokov has translated Zhukovsky's translation into English to demonstrate the changes that were made.[3]

People

Fictional characters

  • Malvina, the girl with blue hair – a doll-heroine from Tolstoy's 1936 book The Golden Key, or the Adventures of Buratino

References

  1. Cameron, Dugald; Gillies, John; Matheson, William; McDonell, George (1786). Sean Dain, Agus Orain Ghaidhealach. Perth. p. 29.
  2. Hanks, Patrick; Hardcastle, Kate; Hodges, Flavia (2006), A dictionary of first names, Oxford Paperback Reference (2nd ed.), Oxford University Press, pp. 180, 406, ISBN 978-0-19-861060-1.
  3. Vladimir Nabokov (2008), Verses and Versions: Three Centuries of Russian Poetry, Harcourt, Inc.. Pages 52-57.
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