🔼The name Andronicus: Summary
- Meaning
- Victory Of Men
- Etymology
- From (1) ανδρος (andros), of man, and (2) νικη (nike), victory.
🔼The name Andronicus in the Bible
The name Andronicus occurs only once in the Bible, in a passage that caused a bit of a riot. At the conclusion of his letter to the Romans, the apostle Paul sends greetings to several people, whose names therefore appear in Greek in the accusative form. And that makes it difficult to deduct whether they were men or women.
Andronicus/Andronica is mentioned along a Junius/Junia, whom Paul refers to as his kin (which probably means that they were Jews), and notes that they were outstanding among the apostles (Romans 16:7). Whether he meant that they were outstanding apostles or kept in high regard by them is also not clear but the former option would theoretically allow women to have been apostles.
That obviously caused an outcry in the male dominated world of yester years but today we're wonderfully liberated and open for all kinds of suggestions, and some translations (for instance the King James) speak of Junia in Romans 16:7. Andronicus, however, is an established male name and the feminine equivalent Andronica is either exceedingly rare or non-existent.
🔼Etymology of the name Andronicus
The name Andronicus consists of two elements. The first part comes from the familiar noun ανδρος (andros), which is a genitive form of the noun ανηρ (aner), meaning man:
ανηρ ανδρος
The noun ανηρ (aner) refers to a human male individual or husband. Its genitive form is the familiar word ανδρος (andros), which means "of (a) man" or "manly."
Verb ανδριζω (andrizo) means to behave manly (i.e. maturely or courageously). Noun ανδραποδιστης (andrapodistes), means man-stealer, and noun ανδροφονος (androphonos), meaning manslayer. Adjective υπανδρος (hupandros), meaning "under a husband," i.e. married. The adjective φιλανδρος (philandros), means friendly toward men or husband(s).
ανθρωπος
Noun ανθρωπος (anthropos) denotes man as in mankind. Adjective ανθρωπινος (anthropinos) means human or belonging to mankind and adjective ανθρωπαρεκος (anthropareskos) means pleaser of man(kind). Noun ανθροποκτονος (anthropoktonos) means human-slayer, and the familiar noun φιλανθρωπια (philanthropia) denotes the love for mankind. Its associated adverb φιλανθρωπως (philanthropos) means humanely.
The second part of our name comes from the noun νικη (nike), meaning victory:
νικη
The noun νικη (nike) means victory. It comes with the verb νικαω (nikao), to be victorious.
🔼Andronicus meaning
The name Andronicus is closely similar to the name Nicanor, except that the elements are reversed. It means Victory Of Men.