Vanna
Vanna (pronounced in Italian vän'-na and in English väh'na) is a female first name that first appeared in recorded history circa 1294. The Italian medieval name originated in Tuscany, and is particular to Florence, Italy. Though similar in pronunciation to the name Giovanna, and conjectured to be derived from it, Vanna is neither a nickname nor a derivation. It is similar to the first name Ivanna.
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[edit] History
The name Vanna first appeared in recorded history in La Vita Nuova, a thirteenth century book of verse written by Dante Alighieri, an Italian Florentine poet. In one verse, Dante writes that personified Love proclaims Vanna is 'Primavera' (Springtime), and declares that Beatrice's name is Love itself.
[edit] Pronunciation
From the Italian, Cambodian, and Hebrew origins of the name, Vanna is pronounced vähn'na (vahn na).
[edit] Meanings and usage
[edit] Italian
The name Vanna is a feminine root form of Giovanni, the Italian cognate of John, meaning "God is gracious".
An Italian variant that closely resembles the name but was not in usage as a first or given name, is the rare surname vanno, from ancient Latin meaning "she who sifts" (or assesses) and "merit." [1] [2]
[edit] Cambodian
Also of Cambodian origin, the name Vanna means "golden."
[edit] Hebrew
In Hebrew, Vanna means "Gods gift."
[edit] Russian and Czech
The Russian and Czech variation "Ivanna" means "God is gracious."
[edit] Dutch and Scottish
Vanna is also considered a feminine variation of the name Van in the Netherlands, which means "of" and is sometimes a surname prefix followed by a city or region. Van is also short for the Scottish variation Evan, meaning Youth and "God's grace."
[edit] Name day
The Italian Name day is July 23, in memory of the Blessed Vanna of Orvieto, who died in 1306.
[edit] People with the given name Vanna
- Monna (Lady) Vanna, thirteenth century citizen of Florence, Italy, muse and love of Florentine poet Guido Cavalcanti.
- Vanna Bonta American novelist, poet and actress, named from Dante's La Vita Nuova by her grandfather and godfather, Italian writer Luigi Ugolini, who christened her where the poet Dante himself was baptized in the 13th century, at the Battistero di San Giovanni of Florence.[3]
- Vanna White (alternate pronunciation) American game show hostess
- Vanna (band) (alternate pronunciation)
[edit] In fiction
- Monna Vanna play by Belgian Dramatist Maurice Maeterlinck
- Monna Vanna movie at IMDb (story by Niccolò Machiavelli)
- Monna Vanna unfinished opera by Sergei Rachmaninov
- "The Alchemist", a poem by Ezra Pound. In a chant for the transmutation of metals, Pound invokes:
"Vanna, Mandetta, Viera, Alodetta, Picarda, Manuela / From the red gleam of copper, [...] O Queen of Cypress, / Out of Erebus, out of the flat waste of air, lying beneath the world; / Out of the brown leaf-brown colourless / Bring the imperceptible cool." [4]
- The Cantos, by Ezra Pound. The very last line of the Canto 93 describes ("un lume pien' di spiriti") "a light full of the spirits [of love]," and finishes with ("e Monna Vanna . . . tu mi fai rimembrar") "and Monna [Lady] Vanna, you cause me to remember [paradise]." [5]
- La Vita Nuova, by Dante Alighieri
" ... when I, to my surprise, / saw lady Vanna and lady Beatrice / coming towards me, where I still was standing - / one bliss pursuing still another bliss. / And - here is what I am reminded of - / Love said "The first is Springtime, but the second / resembles me so much, her name is Love."
[edit] See also
[edit] Other
- Monna Vanna the play by Maurice Maeterlinck (modern drama, social significance of the new woman as a reborn, regenerated spirit)
- Monna Vanna painting by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (Venetian ideal of female beauty)
- Henry Holiday; painting "Dante and Beatrice" by Henry Holiday depicting Dante, Beatrice and Vanna.
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.chacha.com/question/what-does-the-name-%27vanno%27-mean
- ^ http://www.frasi.net/nomi/default.asp?nomepersona=Vanna
- ^ Ugolini, Luigi IMDB
- ^ www.levity.com/alchemy/t_ezrapound.html
- ^ http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3612/is_200501/ai_n13635297/pg_8
- Dante, Vita Nuova. Milano, Garzanti, 1982.
- Tobias Eisermann, Cavalcanti oder die Poetik der Negativität, Band 17 in Romanica et Comparatistica: Sprach- und literaturwissenschaftliche Studien, herausgegeben von Richard Baum und Willi Hirdt, Tübingen: Stauffenburg Verlag Brigitte Narr GmbH, 1992; ISBN
- AA.VV., Antologia della poesia italiana, ed C.Segre and C. Ossola. Torino, Einaudi, 1999
- Migliorini, B. Storia della lingua Italiana. Firenze, Sansoni, 1987
