4.0714 Death and Names, cont. (3/45)
Elaine Brennan & Allen Renear (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Tue, 13 Nov 90 17:09:37 EST
Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 4, No. 0714. Tuesday, 13 Nov 1990.
(1) Date: Wed, 7 Nov 90 21:47:51 -0600 (11 lines)
From: Alan D Corre <corre@csd4.csd.uwm.edu>
Subject: Death and loss of name
(2) Date: Thu, 8 Nov 90 8:56 GMT (14 lines)
From: PETERR@vax.oxford.ac.uk
Subject: RE: 4.0695 Queries
(3) Date: Tue, 13 Nov 90 10:19:34 EST (20 lines)
From: Judith Schrier <PY701010@BROWNVM>
Subject: Re: 4.0706 Death and Loss of Name
(1) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 7 Nov 90 21:47:51 -0600
From: Alan D Corre <corre@csd4.csd.uwm.edu>
Subject: Death and loss of name
There is a Jewish notion that at death one forgets one's name, and this
can be an embarrasment on arrival in the world to come. The remedy is to
be sure to say daily before concluding the Amida prayer a biblical verse
in which the first and last letters of your name are the first and last
letters of the verse. then you can just say the verse, and it will act
as a mnemonic. Some prayerbooks contain lists of names along with a
verse which can be used for each name. I always do it. I hope it works.
(2) --------------------------------------------------------------26----
Date: Thu, 8 Nov 90 8:56 GMT
From: PETERR@vax.oxford.ac.uk
Subject: RE: 4.0695 Queries (8/165)
About loss of names on death. There's something (faintly) analogous in
the notion found in Old Norse that a dying man might be able to lay a
terribel] curse on his enemy if he curses him by name. It was therefore
sensible practice for your Old Norse hero to conceal his name: at least
that is the explanation given for Sigurd concealing his name from Fafnir
in Fafnismal. Helgi similarly conceals his name in Helgi Hundingsbana
II, and even Odinn keeps quiet about who he is in Grimnismal and
Vafthruthnismal. I suppose this all goes back to primitive (and not so
primitive) notions of identity of name and object named..
Peter Robinson
(3) --------------------------------------------------------------27----
Date: Tue, 13 Nov 90 10:19:34 EST
From: Judith Schrier <PY701010@BROWNVM>
Subject: Re: 4.0706 Death and Loss of Name (4/109
Now that some discussion has been posted, I am remembering some
"folklore" about names among Jews (at least among Eastern European Jews,
which are all I know about). One does not name a child after a living
person; to do so would be in some way to weaken the older person. One
is *obliged* to name a child after a (usually recently) dead person,
perhaps a grandparent or great uncle or aunt. It shows disrespect to a
dead person if nobody names a child for him or her.
Incidently, we usually don't worry about *exact* naming...it suffices to
give someone the same initial. So Isaac became Irving, Abraham became
Allan, etc.
When a person is seriously ill, that person might be given a new name.
My mother says that the idea was to give the sick person the strength of
the new name, but I wonder if there isn't some notion of "fooling the
angel of death".