Historical Question

  • Thread starter Thread starter MichaelCharters
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
M

MichaelCharters

Guest
I am trying to find the meaning to an abbreviation which is possibly some Catholic title. It refers to a Dominican priest in Santo Domingo by the name of Père Jean Barthélemy Maximilien Nicolson (1734-1773). One source, Macfadyen’s Flora of Jamaica, refers to him as Ern. Ant. Nicolson. I have been unable to discover what Ern. Ant. means. Can anyone help?
 
Since it appears to be a 19th century book, my guess (and that’s all it is) is that the “Ant.” is an abbreviation for “Anthropologist.” I’ve no idea what the “Ern.” might stand for.
 
He wrote a book entitled Essay on the Natural History of Santo Domingo, but I don’t think he was considered to be an anthropologist. But your guess is as good as mine.
 
Considering the publication date of Macfadyen’s book, the abbreviation is probably an obscure one from (scientific) Latin. Perhaps Mark T (our resident Latinist) will weigh in with an opinion. 🙂
 
It seems to be some kind of scientific or academic title, because the mathematician Moebius also has that title. But I haven’t the foggiest what it stands for, or even what language the abbreviated expression is in.
 
malphono said:
Since it appears to be a 19th century book, my guess (and that’s all it is) is that the “Ant.” is an abbreviation for “Anthropologist.” I’ve no idea what the “Ern.” might stand for.
Click to expand...
Emeritus
 
MichaelCharters said:
I am trying to find the meaning to an abbreviation which is possibly some Catholic title. It refers to a Dominican priest in Santo Domingo by the name of Père Jean Barthélemy Maximilien Nicolson (1734-1773). One source, Macfadyen’s Flora of Jamaica, refers to him as Ern. Ant. Nicolson. I have been unable to discover what Ern. Ant. means. Can anyone help?
Click to expand...
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, “Ant.” is an abbreviation for “antiquities”. I’ve also seen “Ern.” as an abbreviation for “Ernest” and “Ant.” for “Anton”.

Unless of course “Ern” does not have the proper kerning and it is actually “Em.” which would be “Emeritus”.

-Byrnwiga
 
I am completely guessing here.

But in case it is one of those books which has been scanned and OCR’d and printed or put online, it is possible that “Ern” (ERN) is really “Em” (EM) in which case it might be “Eminent” to go with the word anthropoligist. Anyway, it is the kind of error I’ve seen with those kinds of books.

But as I say, I am completely guessing. I don’t think it’s a Catholic title, but if it’s abbreviated from French I woudn’t recognize it.

–Jen
 
It is quite probably “Emeritus Anthropologist” if he was a teacher or researcher. It is coming from a book about flora, after all. “Em.” could also be Eminence; could it be His Eminence, Anthony Nicolson?
 
MichaelCharters said:
I am trying to find the meaning to an abbreviation which is possibly some Catholic title. It refers to a Dominican priest in Santo Domingo by the name of Père Jean Barthélemy Maximilien Nicolson (1734-1773). One source, Macfadyen’s Flora of Jamaica, refers to him as Ern. Ant. Nicolson. I have been unable to discover what Ern. Ant. means. Can anyone help?
Click to expand...
Em. could be latin Emeritus but I don’t have an answer for the Ant.
 
No, it was definitely ERN. ANT. And his name was Jean Barthélemy Maximilien Nicolson, so Ernest and Anton are out. The exact quote from Flora of Jamaica, under a section for the genus Nicolsonia, is "Named, after Ern. Ant. Nicolson, author of an Essay on the Natural History of Santo Domingo, published in Paris in 1776. I agree that in my computer’s type Ern. looks a lot like Em. but in the online Google books version of this work, the ERN is quite clear. I really appreciate all of you weighing in on this. I have no idea whether it’s a religious title or a scientific title or what it is.
 
And he was a Dominican priest not a teacher or researcher. His title at least in French was préfet apostolique et supérieur général des Frères Prêcheurs à Saint-Domingue which I translate (probably poorly) as Apostolic Prefect and something like Father Superior of the Friars Preachers at Santo Domingo.
 
The clue from Mintaka is the best one so far. There are many online references to Ern. Ant. Moebius (whose name was August Ferdinand) so it’s not part of a name. I found two more references to Ern. Ant., an Ern. Ant. Lewald and an Ern. Ant. Nicolai, but they both had Ernest Anton as their first names, whereas Nicolson and Moebius are not named that.
 
I’m back off from my last comment about Ern. Ant. Moebius. I found a book by Ern. Ant. Moebius and it is not by the mathematician but by an Ern. Antonius Moebius. So the weight of the evidence so far is that it is an abbreviation for a name.
 
A friend who has been trained by the Jesuits has told me that Ern. Ant. was some kind of titular honorific given to other distinguished scholar-types who had distinguished academic achievements and stems from some Mediæval academic named variously Ernesto Antonio or Ernestus Antonius. I have found references online to Ernestus Antonius Ahrens, Ernestus Antonius Krebs, Ernestus Antonius Nicolai, Ernestus Antonius Lewald, Ernestus Antonius Moebius and Ernestus Antonius Nicolson, and all of them are authors of academic works. So I think this is the answer to this puzzle.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top