Chapter LXVI: Section IX: Gregorios

Γρηγόριος (Gregorios), came from γρηγορέω, a late and corrupt form of the verb ἐγείρω (to wake or watch). A watchman was a highly appropriate term for a shepherd of the Church, and accordingly Gregorios was frequent among early bishops. Gregorios Nazianzen the friend of St. Basil, Gregorios Thaumaturgos or the wonder-worker, and others of the same high fame, contributed to render it highly popular in the East, and in the West it was borne by the great pope, for whose sake it became a favourite papal title, so that it has been borne by no less than sixteen occupants of the chair of St. Peter.

It has, however, been far less popular among those who own their sway than among the Eastern Christians who are free from it, and though we find it in Scandinavia, this is only as a modernization of the Norse Grjotgard, while the Macgregors of Scotland draw their descent not from Gregory, but from Grig or Gairig, a Keltic word meaning the fierce.[44]

┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ Italian. │ Danish. │
│Gregory │Gregoire │Gregorio │Gregos │
│ │ —————————— │ │Gregus │
│ │ German. │ │ —————————— │
│ │Gregor │ │ Swedish. │
│ │Gregus │ │Greis │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Russian. │ Polish. │ Bohemian. │ Slavonic. │
│Grigorij │Grzegorz │Rehor │Gregor │
│Grischa │ │ │Grega │
│ │ │ │Gorej │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Illyrian. │ Lett. │ Lithuanian. │ Hungarian. │
│Gregorije │Grigg │Greszkus │Gergelj │
│Gerga │ │Grygallis │Gero │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘

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Footnote 44:

Michaelis; Butler.