There’s only 1 Caesar, or Slim Shady, or Charlemagne or Attila.
Pretty sure his friends call him Alexander of Macedonia.
Fun fact: there was actually zero Charlesmagnes.
The guy was called Charles le Magne (French for Charles the Great) and some barely literate idiot who had somehow* got the translator job in spite of clearly not being anywhere near fluent in French made up a stupid new word born of ignorance that the English speaking world has been using ever since.
*I’m guessing he was the failson of the groom of the stool or something like that.
I don’t know when that happened for the English language, but Charlemagne (as a single word) is also what the French language calls him, the earliest variations of it appearing in the Song of Roland (11th c.)
So you’re telling me that, presumably due to medieval French people having an irrational fear of spaces between words or an allergy to proper kerning, his name WAS actually the equivalent of Charlesthegreat like some German compound noun weirdness?
Huh. TIL!
“Boss, I can save you a couple of deniers’ worth of ink and paper over the course of the tome by writing Charlemagne instead of Charles Le Magne every time we refer to the great king.”
“Brilliant! You get an extra serving of gruel for lunch!”
Save ink by removing spaces! Brilliant.
an irrational fear of spaces between words or an allergy to proper kerning
Yeah uh, medieval language was not nearly as entrenched in rules and grammar, and absolutely not set in stone. Things changed from one text to another - even within the same text. The same Song of Roland writes that same name in a few different ways, some with spaces, some without, with different letters.
From the French Wikipedia, count’em :
Carles (vers 1) ou Charles (28, vers 370), Carles li magnes (68, vers 841) ou Charles li magnes (93, vers 1195), traductions de Carolus magnus, mais aussi Carlemagnes (33, vers 430) ou Charlemaignes (138, vers 1842)
“Alexander” was an incredibly common name in the Greek world. Even within his own family tree, he was technically Alexander III of Macedon. Using “The Great” was a practical necessity for historians to distinguish him from his father’s predecessors and the dozens of other Alexanders running around the Mediterranean. Plus his scale of impact was absurd! Charlemagne literally means “Charles the Great” because there were many Charleses. Finally, while we usually think of Julius Caesar, “Caesar” became a title used by every Roman Emperor for centuries. It eventually evolved into “Kaiser” and “Tsar”. If you just say “Caesar” in a room full of Roman history buffs they actually will ask you to disambiguate which one you mean
Does this technically mean the the little orange freakshow is also a ‘Donald the Great’? He’s technically the most succesful ‘Donald’, as the only one why made it to leader of a country and the only one with diapers and a nussy.
You don’t want to get him mixed up with Alexander the Just Kind of OK at Things, do you?
I count see getting a beer with Alex the Just Kind of OK at Things.
Plus I could probably beat him at Catan
There’s only 1 Caesar
Not necessarily. I originally thought the phrase “Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s” from the Bible referred to Julius Caesar, but apparently it refers to Tiberius.
Though in modern times “Caesar” almost ubiquitously is referencing Julius
I’m pretty sure it almost always references the salad.
Not many people know this, but Pontius Pilate, inventor of Pilates, also had another lesser known historical role
His family name became a title for future Emperors.
And the title of Caesar more rightfully translated would be “God King”. It implied divinity and super human levels of being.
God being a roman god, not the christian god. So not omnipotent, omnipresent, or omniscient. But still divine.
While it actually means “born through C-section”
Honestly might be an even harder flex than just being the only Caesar
His family name is Julius Caesar. Gaius is his given name.
It’s/was basically the chief. Kaiser comes from that word IIRC. It’s a bit like “king”. Julius just made it stick to him, a bit like a brand name!
Almost correct. The title Caesar derives from Gaius Julius Caesars (the “OG”) lastname Caesar. It was used by successors to imply a lineage between them and Caesar and therefore give them more legitimacy in the eyes of the people.
Tsar/Czar is also derived from Caesar.
Alexander is a common name, but it depends on context, if you say “at the time Alexander conquered X” most people would understand, but if you say “Alexander was here” you might be talking about a work college.
There’s not only one Caesar, while you probably beat Julius Caesar, Augustus, Tiberius and others were also “Caesar”, and you might referring to any of them. For example, “give to Caesar what is Caesar’s” does not refer to the same Caesar you probably meant.
Slim shady is a made up name and it’s way more specific than <common name> the <common adjective>.
Charlemagne is short for Charles Magnus, or in English Charles the great, so that’s exactly the same.
Attila is a very unique name, I’ve never met nor heard about any other Attila so the name is disambiguation enough, but it’s likely that if that is a common name in some country they have an extra qualifier to it, I’ve heard Attila the Hun, but there might be others.
There’s nothing special, if a name is common you need disambiguation, if a name is overly specific you don’t, same reason why we have last names, “I met with John the other day”, “which John?”, “The Smith”, “Ah yeah, John Smith, not John the son of Richard”, “No, I haven’t seen John Richardson in a few weeks”.
Attila is a pretty common name in Hungary and Türkiye.
Charlemagne is in the same boat, it means Charles the Great
The name Charlemagne annoys me because in most other languages it’s Charles (or Karl) the Great, but in English and apparently French it’s shortened to Charlemagne though he was originally Charles Le Magne in French?
I did not know that, and now I feel foolish
I know like 5 dudes called Cesar.
All the other Alexanders are just imitating
!look, there were already great answers, so there was room for a joke one!<
Among Greeks, if you say Alexandros (or Philip for that matter) then people will know who you are talking about. But basically, those names are still in use. Caesar became the word for leaders rather than a name, and it’s relatively rare as a first name.
Charlemagne is actually Charles le magne which means Charles the Great. If you called him “King Charles” you’d need to be much more specific.
I can’t speak for Attila, because I don’t know if the name is popular in any particular cultures. Certainly in the USA, the Hun king is the most famous Attila.
Slim Shady is an interesting example, because its’s basically branding for Marshall Mathers aka Eminem. One of his first widespread hits was a song essentially saying that he’s the only real Slim Shady, and anyone else using that nickname is a copycat poser.
If you talk about Philip the Greek in the UK on the other hand, it absolutely does not refer to Alexander the Great.
Caesar, or Charlemagne or Attila.
Well, those are fairly uniquely-identifiable names in the scheme of things. “Caesar” isn’t just the guy at your local pizzeria, but THE Caesar of Caesars. “Charlemagne” is a combination of the common name “Charles” and <“great”> as with Alexander. “Attila” is a rarer name, already with a certain stigma, so quite unique in that sense.
“Alex” / “Alexander” is still a pretty common name today, so it makes some sense that there’d be a qualifier. Not unlike with Peter the Great , Catherine the Great, etc…
Also I would say Atilla is usually called Atilla the Hun in most textbooks I saw in the U.S. Also since Caesar became a position/title we still say Julius to specifically refer to him.
As for Slim Shady, I seem to remember many people standing up to that name
Also I would say Atilla is usually called Atilla the Hun
Good point, and I think I whiffed a bit on that one. “Atilla” is actually a name still used sometimes today across Europe, so “the Hun” definitely adds some helpful context.
Also since Caesar became a position/title we still say Julius to specifically refer to him.
You mean, in Italy?
In the States, I feel like it’s pretty clear that “Caesar” without further context refers to either a leader / dictator / emperor of the Julio-Claudian line, or more commonly to Julius himself. The point being that if you’re referring to one of the emperors, it’s usually necessary to name them, i.e. “Caesar Tiberius,” etc.
Yeah now to show our Archilles, I have no idea what else I would call Saladin, but Saladin. Im sure a textbook full names him somewhere… but I haven’t ever remembered it.
Caesar (Cesar or Cesare) is still a pretty common name today though.
That’s what I’m saying, above.
Hm. Guess I didn’t interpret you the right way then, sorry. Bed time for me then, enough Internet
While there is only one Gaius Julius Caesar, his lastname has been used as title by various successors.
Slim Shady is a self invented stage name so there is not really a point in anyone adopting it as their own unless they are comfortable being called a copycat all the time.
Charlemagne actually is short for the French version of Charles the Great so it is a title name combination just as Alexander the Great.
Atilla probably sounds unique to you because it’s an uncommon name in the west.
I’d say it’s because Alexander is still such a very common name.
In my experience, in context people often do drop the “the Great” and just say Alexander.
