Theodoric is a

Germanic given name Germanic languages, Germanic given names are traditionally wikt:dithematic, dithematic; that is, they are formed from two elements, by joining a prefix and a suffix. For example, Ethelred II of England, King Æþelred's name was derived from ', f ...

. First attested as a

Gothic name The Onomastics of the Gothic language (Gothic personal names) are an important source not only for the history of the Goths themselves, but for Germanic onomastics in general and the linguistic and cultural history of the Germanic Heroic Age of c ...

in the 5th century, it became widespread in the Germanic-speaking world, not least due to its most famous bearer, Theodoric the Great, king of the

Ostrogoths The Ostrogoths ( la, Ostrogothi, Austrogothi) were a Roman-era Germanic peoples, Germanic people. In the 5th century, they followed the Visigoths in creating one of the two great Goths, Gothic kingdoms within the Roman Empire, based upon the larg ...

Overview

The name was Latinized as ''Theodoricus'' or ''Theodericus'', originally from a

Common Germanic Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages. Proto-Germanic eventually developed from pre-Proto-Germanic into three Germanic branc ...

form ''* Þeudarīks'' ("people-ruler") from *'' þeudō'' ("people") and *''

rīks Reiks (; pronunciation ; Latinisation of names, Latinized as ''rix'') is a Goths, Gothic title for a tribal ruler, often translated as "Germanic king, king". In the Gothic Bible, it translates to the Greek language, Greek ''Archon, árchōn'' (� ...

'', which would have resulted in a

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

*𐌸𐌹𐌿𐌳𐌰𐍂𐌴𐌹𐌺𐍃 (*þiudareiks). Anglicized spellings of the name during Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages include ''Theodoric'', ''Theoderic'', ''Theudoric'', ''Theuderic''.

Gregory of Tours Gregory of Tours (30 November 538 – 17 November 594 AD) was a Gallo-Roman historian and Bishop of Tours, which made him a leading prelate of the area that had been previously referred to as Gaul by the Romans. He was born Georgius Florenti ...

Latinized the name as '' Theodorus'', in origin the unrelated Greek name

Theodore Theodore may refer to: Places * Theodore, Alabama, United States * Theodore, Australian Capital Territory * Theodore, Queensland, a town in the Shire of Banana, Australia * Theodore, Saskatchewan, Canada * Theodore Reservoir, a lake in Sask ...

(Θεόδωρος, meaning "God's gift"). As the name survived throughout the Middle Ages, it transformed into a multitude of forms in the languages of Western Europe. These include the High German form '' Dietrich'', abbreviated '' Dieter'', the Low German and Dutch form ''

Diederik Diederik Diederick is a Dutch language, Dutch male given name. People with the name include: *Diederik Aerts (born 1953), Belgian theoretical physicist *Diederik Bangma (born 1990), Dutch football goalkeeper *Diederik Boer (born 1980), Dutch f ...

'', or ''Dierik'', abbreviated '' Dirck'', '' Dirk'', '' Dik'' or ''Diede'', the Norwegian ''Tjodrik'', ''Diderik'' and ''Didrik''. Of the Romance languages, French has ''

Thierry Thierry is a French male given name, derived from the Germanic "Theodoric". It is the cognate of German " Dietrich" and " Dieter", English Terry, Derek and Derrick, and of various forms in other European languages. It is also a surname. People w ...

'' and Italian, Portuguese and Spanish has ''Teodorico''. The English forms '' Derek'', '' Derrick'' and '' Terry'' have been re-introduced from the continent, from Low German, Dutch and French sources. The derived Welsh form is '' Tewdrig'', however there also exists the related Welsh name '' Tudur'' (from

Proto-Celtic Proto-Celtic, or Common Celtic, is the ancestral proto-language of all known Celtic languages, and a descendant of Proto-Indo-European. It is not attested in writing but has been partly Linguistic reconstruction, reconstructed through the compar ...

''*Toutorīxs'', exactly cognate with Proto-Germanic ''*Þeudarīks'') which is the origin of the name of the English

Tudor dynasty The House of Tudor was a royal house of largely Welsh and English origin that held the English throne from 1485 to 1603. They descended from the Tudors of Penmynydd and Catherine of France. Tudor monarchs ruled the Kingdom of England and it ...

Late antiquity to early Middle Ages

The earliest record of the name is in a Roman-era (3rd century) inscription, discovered in 1784 in

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area ...

(at the time known as ''Aquae Mattiacorum'' in

Germania Superior Germania Superior ("Upper Germania") was an imperial province of the Roman Empire. It comprised an area of today's western Switzerland, the French Jura and Alsace regions, and southwestern Germany. Important cities were Besançon ('' Vesontio' ...

), edited in ''Codex inscriptionum romanarum Danubii et Rheni'' as no. 684: , interpreted as ''In honorem domus divinae, Apolloni toutiorigi''. This has given rise to a supposed "Apollo Teutorix" in 19th-century literature. Rhys (1892) opined that "the interest attached to the word ''Toutiorix'' is out of all proportion to its single occurrence". The existence of a genuinely

Celtic name Onomastics is an important source of information on the early Celts, as Greco-Roman historiography recorded Celtic names before substantial written information becomes available in any Celtic language. Like Germanic names, early Celtic names are ...

''Teutorix'' or ''Tout(i)orix'' is uncertain, though Welsh '' Tudur'', Old Welsh ''Tutir'' presupposes a precise cognate of ''Toutorix'' at least in ancient British Celtic. (See p. 11, n. 34 in the online version.) Rhys surmises that the "historical Teuton" (viz.

Theoderic the Great Theodoric (or Theoderic) the Great (454 – 30 August 526), also called Theodoric the Amal ( got, , *Þiudareiks; Greek: , romanized: ; Latin: ), was king of the Ostrogoths (471–526), and ruler of the independent Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy b ...

) bore a name of the Gaulish Apollo as adopted into early

Germanic religion Germanic religion may refer to: * Germanic paganism * Germanic Christianity * Heathenry (new religious movement) * Neopaganism in German-speaking Europe Since its emergence in the 1970s, Neopaganism (') in German-speaking Europe has diversified ...

. The first known bearer of the name was Theodoric I, son of

Alaric I Alaric I (; got, 𐌰𐌻𐌰𐍂𐌴𐌹𐌺𐍃, , "ruler of all"; c. 370 – 410 AD) was the first king of the Visigoths, from 395 to 410. He rose to leadership of the Goths who came to occupy Moesia—territory acquired a couple of decades ...

, king of the

Visigoths The Visigoths (; la, Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, Wisi) were an early Germanic people who, along with the Ostrogoths, constituted the two major political entities of the Goths within the Roman Empire in late antiquity, or what is ...

(d. 451). The

form of the name would have been ''Þiudareiks'', which was Latinized as ''Theodericus''. The notability of the name is due to

, son of

Theodemir Theodemir, Theodemar, Theudemer or Theudimer was a Germanic name common among the various Germanic peoples of early medieval Europe. According to Smaragdus of Saint-Mihiel (9th century), the form ''Theudemar'' is Frankish and ''Theudemir'' is Gothi ...

, king of the

(454–526), who became a legendary figure of the

Germanic Heroic Age The Germanic (or "German") Heroic Age, so called in analogy to the Heroic Age of Greek mythology, is the period of early historic or quasi-historic events reflected in Germanic heroic poetry. Periodisation The period corresponds to the Germani ...

as Dietrich von Bern. After the end of

Late Antiquity Late antiquity is the time of transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages, generally spanning the 3rd–7th century in Europe and adjacent areas bordering the Mediterranean Basin. The popularization of this periodization in English ha ...

, during the 6th to 8th century there were also several kings of the

Franks The Franks ( la, Franci or ) were a group of Germanic peoples whose name was first mentioned in 3rd-century Roman sources, and associated with tribes between the Lower Rhine and the Ems River, on the edge of the Roman Empire.H. Schutz: Tools, ...

called Theodoric (or Theuderic). Finally, there was an early

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

king of

Bernicia Bernicia ( ang, Bernice, Bryneich, Beornice; la, Bernicia) was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom established by Anglian settlers of the 6th century in what is now southeastern Scotland and North East England. The Anglian territory of Bernicia was ap ...

called

Theodric Theodoric is a Germanic given name. First attested as a Gothic name in the 5th century, it became widespread in the Germanic-speaking world, not least due to its most famous bearer, Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths. Overview The name ...

(also spelled ''Deoric'', Old English '). * Theodoric I (died 451), king of the Visigoths *

Theodoric II Theodoric II, ''Teodorico'' in Spanish and Portuguese, ( 426 – early 466) was the eighth King of the Visigoths, from 453 to 466. Biography Theoderic II, son of Theodoric I, obtained the throne by killing his elder brother Thorismund. The Engli ...

(died 466), king of the Visigoths *

(454–526), ruler of the Ostrogoths, Italy, and the Visigoths * Theodoric Strabo (died 481) * Theuderic I (died ca. 534), Frankish king * Theuderic II (587–613), Frankish king *

Theuderic III Theuderic III (or Theuderich, Theoderic, or Theodoric; french: Thierry) (c. 651–691) was the king of Neustria (including Burgundy) on two occasions (673 and 675–691) and king of Austrasia from 679 to his death in 691. Thus, he was the king of ...

(died 691), king of the Franks *

Theuderic IV Theuderic IV (c. 712 – 737) or Theuderich, Theoderic, or Theodoric; in French, ''Thierry'' was the Merovingian King of the Franks from 721 until his death in 737. He was the son of king Dagobert III. During his reign, his realm was controlle ...

(died 737), king of the Franks * Theodric of Bernicia, 6th century Anglo-Saxon king *

Theodoric of Mont d'Hor Saint Theodoric of Mont d'Hor (or Theudric, Thierri, Thierry; died 533) was a disciple of Saint Remigius who became abbot of Saint-Thierry Abbey, near Reims, France. His feast day is 1 July. Monks of Ramsgate account The monks of St Augustine's A ...

died 533), disciple of Saint Remigius who became abbot of

Saint-Thierry Abbey Saint-Thierry Abbey (french: Abbaye de Saint-Thierry) was formerly a Benedictine abbey in the village of Saint-Thierry, Marne, It was closed in the 17th century and razed to the ground during the French Revolution. Since 1968 it has been a Benedic ...

near Reims, France * Saint Tewdrig (alternatively Tewdric or Theodoric) (c. 580 – c. 630), Welsh king of Gwent and Glywysing, who was martyred fighting the Saxons * Theodoric, Bishop of Minden (died 880) * Theodoric I, Bishop of Paderborn (died 916) *

Dirk I, Count of Holland Dirk I ( Frisian ''Durk I'' or ''Diderik'', Latin ''Theoderic'' or ''Thidericus Fresonie'', German ''Dietrich'') was count of West Frisia, later known as the County of Holland. He is thought to have been in office from c. 896 to c. 928 or 939. 'Co ...

(c. 870–928/944), in Latin Theodoric *

Dirk II, Count of Holland Dirk II or Theoderic II (920/930 – 6 May 988) was a count in West Frisia, and a predecessor of the counts of Holland. He was the son of Dirk I, Count of Holland, Dirk I, count in West Frisia, and Geva (or Gerberge). Career In 983 Emperor Otto I ...

(920/930–988)

High and late Middle Ages

While the Anglo-Saxon name ''Theodric'' (''Deoric'', old form: th = d) became extinct in the Middle English period, it was adopted in Welsh as '' Tewdrig''. The name remains popular in medieval German as ''Dietrich'', and is adopted into French as ''Thierry''. It is rendered in

Medieval Latin Medieval Latin was the form of Literary Latin used in Roman Catholic Western Europe during the Middle Ages. In this region it served as the primary written language, though local languages were also written to varying degrees. Latin functioned ...

as ''Theodoricus'' or as ''Theodericus''. The

Middle High German Middle High German (MHG; german: Mittelhochdeutsch (Mhd.)) is the term for the form of German spoken in the High Middle Ages. It is conventionally dated between 1050 and 1350, developing from Old High German and into Early New High German. High ...

legend of '' Dietrich von Bern'' is based on the historical Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths. The German ''Dietrich von Bern'' is reflected as ''Þiðrekr af Bern'' in the Old Norse Thidrekssaga. The medieval German legend gives rise to the ''Dietrich'' of the

Renaissance era The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

Heldenbücher ''Heldenbücher'' (singular ''Heldenbuch'' "book of heroes") is the conventional title under which a group of German manuscripts and prints of the 15th and 16th centuries has come down to us. Each ''Heldenbuch'' contains a collection of primarily ...

''. The Old Norse form of the name was Þjóðríkr (spelled þiaurikʀ on the 9th-century

Rök runestone The Rök runestone ( sv, Rökstenen; Ög 136) is one of the most famous runestones, featuring the longest known runic inscription in stone. It can now be seen beside the church in Rök, Ödeshög Municipality, Östergötland, Sweden. It is cons ...

). This became ''Tjodrik'' in Middle Norwegian. The Dutch form '' Derek'' was used in England from the 15th century. Similarly, the Scandinavian ''Tjodrik'' is attested for the 12th century, but it is replaced by the Low German forms ''Ditrik, Dirk'' in the late medieval period. The spread of the Low German form to Middle Norwegian, Middle Danish and late Middle English or Early Modern English are part of a larger linguistic trend due to the influence of the

Hanseatic League The Hanseatic League (; gml, Hanse, , ; german: label=Modern German, Deutsche Hanse) was a medieval commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and market towns in Central and Northern Europe. Growing from a few North German to ...

during this period. *

Antipope Theodoric Theodoric was an antipope in 1100 and 1101, in the schism that began with Wibert of Ravenna in 1080, in opposition to the excesses of Pope Gregory VII and in support of the Emperor Henry IV. The earliest record of Theodoric is his signature ...

(died 1102) *

Thierry of Chartres Thierry of Chartres (''Theodoricus Chartrensis'') or Theodoric the Breton (''Theodericus Brito'') (died before 1155, probably 1150) was a twelfth-century philosopher working at Chartres and Paris, France. The cathedral school at Chartres promoted ...

(died before 1155), philosopher also known as Theodoric the Breton *

Theodoric the Monk Theodoric the Monk ( la, Theodoricus monachus; also ''Tjodrik munk''; in Old Norse his name was most likely ''Þórir'') was a 12th-century Norwegian Benedictine monk, perhaps at the Nidarholm Abbey. He may be identical with either Bishop Tore o ...

, 12th century Norwegian Benedictine monk *Theoderic (fl. c. 1172), author of the ''

Libellus de locis sanctis The ''Libellus de locis sanctis'' ("Little Book of the Holy Places") is a 12th-century Latin guide book and travelogue of Palestine designed for the use of Christian pilgrims to the Holy Places. It "stands out" from the mass of medieval guide bo ...

'', a travelogue and pilgrim's guide book of Palestine * Theoderich von Treyden (died 1219), missionary and first bishop of Livonia *

Master Theodoric Master Theodoric, in Latin Magister Theodoricus (before 1328? - before March 8, 1381, Prague, active - ca. 1360–1380) was a Bohemian painter. He is the best documented Bohemian Gothic painter. He was the favourite court painter of Charles IV, ...

(before 1328?–1381), court painter to Charles IV * Theodoric of Freiberg (c. 1250–c. 1311), German theologian and scientist *

Dirk III, Count of Holland Dirk III (also called ''Dirik'' or ''Theodoric'') was the count with jurisdiction over what would become the county of Holland, often referred to in this period as "West Frisia", from 993 to 27 May 1039. Until 1005, this was under regency of his ...

(c. 982–1039), in Latin Theodoric *

Dirk IV, Count of Holland Dirk IV (ca. 1020/1030 – 13 January 1049) was Count of Holland from 1039 to 1049 (which was called Frisia at that time). Dirk's date of birth is unknown but it was probably ca. 1030 or shortly before, he was described as "adolescent" at the ti ...

(c. 1020/1030–1049) *

Dirk V, Count of Holland Dirk V (1052 – June 17, 1091) was Count of Holland (called Frisia at that time) from 1061 to 1091. Dirk V succeeded his father, Floris I, under the guardianship of his mother, Gertrude of Saxony. William I, Bishop of Utrecht, took advantage o ...

(1052–1091) *

Dirk VI, Count of Holland Dirk VI (c. 11145 August 1157) was Count of Holland between 1121 and 1157, at first, during his minority, under the regency of his mother Petronilla. He was the son of Count Floris II. After his death he was succeeded by his eldest son Floris I ...

(c. 1114–1157) *

Dirk VII, Count of Holland Dirk VII (died 4 November 1203, in Dordrecht) was the count of Holland from 1190 to 1203. He was the elder son of Floris III and Ada of Huntingdon. Life Due to a civil war in the Holy Roman Empire, Emperor Henry VI had to find ways to make fri ...

(died 1203)

Modern era

The German form '' Dietrich'' was abbreviated to '' Dieter''. The Low German and Dutch languages abbreviated ''

'' as '' Dirk'' or '' Diede''. French retains ''

''. The Scandinavian languages have borrowed ''Dirk'' and

Diderik Diderik or Didrik is a Norwegian male given name. In North Germanic languages, the native form would be ''Tjodrik'', but ''Diderik'' and ''Didrik'' have been loaned from Low German and are now a common name in Norway. It may also be a variant of t ...

, replacing the native ''Tjodrik'', while English borrowed '' Derek'' from Dutch and '' Terry'' from French.

Fictional

*Prince Theodoric, an exiled Balkan royal in London in the sequence of novels '' A Dance to the Music of Time'' by Anthony Powell - a character based to some extent on

Prince Paul of Yugoslavia Prince Paul of Yugoslavia, also known as Paul Karađorđević ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Pavle Karađorđević, Павле Карађорђевић, English transliteration: ''Paul Karageorgevich''; 27 April 1893 – 14 September 1976), was prince regent o ...

* Theodoric of York, ''Saturday Night Live'' character by Steve Martin

Notes