Julia meaning

Meaning

Downy, Hairy, Weddable Girl

Etymology

From the Latin word iulus, down or very soft hair (as indicative of physical maturity).

Related names

• Via iulus: Julius

The name Julia occurs just once in the Bible. The apostle Paul mentions her in his letter to the Romans (16:15). He mentions her in close proximity to Philologus, which makes some scholars (Spiros Zodhiates, for instance) assume that she was probably his wife.

The name Julia is the feminine version of the masculine Julius, although Julia existed long before Julius ever did. Julia was originally a family name, adopted by a family that figured they descended from an ancient deity called Iulus or Iullus, who, conveniently, was a son of Venus.

What motivated the construction of the name Iulus is no longer clear, but chances are excellent it has to do with the identical word iulus, meaning down or the wooly part of plants, or "catkin" (say Lewis and Short in A Latin Dictionary) and that means "a cylindrical unisexual inflorescence, usually pendent and downy or silky, borne by various trees" (says the Oxford dictionary).

Lewis and Short also claim that this Latin word iulus is the cognate of the Greek word ιουλος (ioulos), which thus obviously means down, but also "the first growth of the whiskers and beard". Because this Latin word may very well have originated as the Greek word, and the Greek word denotes the downy facial hair of a young man, many commentators have assumed that our word's underlying idea is that of youth or being young, or rather: having just reached marrying age (when hair appears in places other than the head).

Liddell and Scott (A Greek English Lexicon) list three more meanings of our word ioulos. It may also mean corn-sheaf, and we're guessing that's because of the bristly appearance of a harvest-ready corn sheaf. The goddess-of-the-harvest Demeter was sometimes called Ιουλω, after the bristly corn-sheaf.

Another usage of our word ioulos is in the meaning of centipede or wood-louse, known for its bristly set of legs.

The fourth listed usage of our word is as the Greek name Coris Julius; the rainbow-wrasse, which is a kind of barse.

Liddell and Scott note that our word ioulos in its meaning of the rainbow-wrasse may be cognate with the Greek word ουλος, which means wooly or "of thick, fleecy wool," which ties it neatly to the primary meaning of our word ioulos. But an identical word oulos means whole or entire (perhaps the root for the Indo-European words "all, whole"?), which immediately reminds us of the Hebrew word כל (kal), meaning all, and its derivative כלה (kala), meaning bride.

And a third identical word oulos means destructive, baneful, cruel. Another word of interest, which is doubtlessly related to our word ioulos is the verb ιουλιζω (ioulizo), meaning to become downy or hairy.

The name Julia means Downy or Hairy, but in the sense of Weddable Girl. Since the name Romeo derives from the term Roman (a citizen of Rome), the familiar play Romeo and Juliet (a variant of Julia) also contemplates the ever-challenged relationship between the rigid masculine: the governing and law-abiding aspect of society that gives it security, and the feminine: the fluidic and free-spirited artistic side of the culture that animates any society and gives it life. The link between the government-bearing Christ (Isaiah 9:6) and the Bride of Christ (2 Corinthians 11:2, Revelation 19:7) explores the same hard-to-get-right relationship.

Other Biblical names that may mean Hairy (albeit for different reasons) are: Esau and Seir.