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Additions & Revisions June 2008 Note to visitor: It is quite true that Mozart is not a Canadian name. But my delving into the etymology of the composer's surname is similar to what I do in my book “What's in a Canadian Name?” and therefore this is the place for this information. It is, of course, not in the book, but is, so far, unique to this website. Enjoy!
Oops! Mozart’s Given Name Amadeus is Ungrammatical Latin
Wagner called him “the greatest musical genius who ever lived.” Not too shabby kudos-wise. Many music lovers agree with Wagner’s possibly intemperate encomium. In general when doling out praise, the common superlative ought to be viewed as a fool’s label, but in the case of Mozart, I am one among millions of music listeners who concurs. In his 35 years on earth, Mozart composed more than 600 works, including 21 stage and opera works, 15 Masses, 41 symphonies, 25 piano concertos, 12 violin concertos, 27 concert arias, 17 piano sonatas and 26 string quartets. Many are masterpieces never surpassed. One of the compendia of his scores runs to 23,000 pages of notated music.
But not one website tackled the complex origin of Mozart’s last name. So, with all due lack of humility, let Uncle Billy be the first on the web to discover the prime meaning of the surname Mozart. Before I analyze the surname Mozart, I’ll look briefly at his other given names. His father, in keeping with the custom of his era, was certainly not afflicted with polyonomatophobia, as you will see below. The playful Greek-based scientific name, coined by me, means "morbid dread of too many names."
Sorry, Mozart, but Amadeus is Ungrammatical Latin Amadeus is a frequent type of Medieval Latin given name. Ama is the simple imperative singular of the Latin verb amare ‘to love’ + deus Latin ‘god.’ Amadeus commands the named child to “Love God.” English Puritans used similar names for their children, given names like HateSin, LoveGood and FleeVice. Truly. Those are recorded English given names! There is no accounting for tastefulness in naming infants, not once a deity wags the holy finger of approval. As so often with the linguistic confections of monks and ministers, the Latin is wrong, ungrammatical, but accepted down through the errant centuries because it was “a lovely Christian thought.” Yeah, right. Just like the Children's Crusade? Names that comprise Latin sentences should be in Latin. That does not seem too much to demand of the monkies and priestlets, now does it? The imperative sentence ‘Love God’ in Latin is Ama Deum. Amare is a transitive verb and takes an object in the accusative case. Deus is nominative; Deum is the accusative case thereof. So, that’s that. Amadeus is mistaken Latin. But don’t worry, disaster fans. Things get much worse when we arrive at the roots of the word Mozart. Two-Part Warrior Names Wolfgang is an ancient Teutonic warrior binomial, as we onomatologists like to murmur, lolling before burning pine logs, tossing into the flames a choked toad as an offering to Wotan and sipping a Schnapps while we paint our privates blue with wode. Teutonic warrior names contained two elements, chosen from a culturally agreed-upon list of Germanic root words. Many Indo-European languages including Sanskrit, an ancient language of India , made up given names in this manner. Sometimes the two roots in the name made a kind of sense; for example, Reinhart can be construed as rein + hart, the German word for pure ‘rein’ + the German word for hard or tough ‘hart.’ It isn’t too odd to dub a boy child whom you wish to grow into a warrior with a moniker that means ‘pure and tough.’ Eberhart contains two German roots that mean ‘strong as an Eber, that is, a boar.” Some modern English names began as Germanic binomials, Wolfgang originally meant swift-of-foot or literally ‘ran like a wolf,’ Gang being part of the German verb gehen ‘to go.’ Another way to interpret Wolfgang is ‘wolf path,’ habitual track through the woods taken by wolves. The wolf was also a common totemic animal of Teutonic tribes and thus other positive attributes of the wolf were thought to have been conferred on a newborn child named after the clan animal. North American aboriginal people have names somewhat similar, for example “Wolf-Who-Stands-in-Water.” Meanwhile back in the Black Forest , being a Teutonic totemic must have been quite a burden for a poor wee wolfie.
His Many Given Names Mozart was baptized as Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart. With a resonant moniker like that he could have bottled and sold patent medicine elixirs to rheumatic American cowboys in the Old West. Mozart’s first two given names are his Roman Catholic saint name. St. John Chrysostom (in registry Latin: Johannes Chrysostomus) was a 4th century Christian father of Antioch, named in Greek chrysostomos ‘golden-mouthed’ because of his early-shown and remarkable eloquence.
Theophilus was a name of the man who stood at the baptism as the boy’s godfather. A Latinized Greek adjective, theophilos ( in Greek Θεοφíλος ) means ‘loving God.” Germans much later performed a Lehnübersetzung (loan-translation) upon the Greek compound theophilοs and produced the German given name and surname Gottlieb. Amadeus was an attempt to translate Theophilos into pure Latin. As I explained above, the attempt failed. Wolfgang was a name used in the family, the name of his mother’s grandfather. Mozart as Surname Mozart begins with the Early New High German word moz, pronounced motz or mutz. It was a dialect word for mutton. Moz also meant a wether, a castrated ram. But the most widespread use was as an insult. If you called a man ein moz, you called him a castrated ram, a fool, a ninny, a useless jerk. As words move across a culture, they gain new meanings. Sometimes speakers from one part of Germany would travel to another part and hear what sounded like a word in their native dialect, but what was in fact a different word. This happened to moz, long before it ever became Mozart. And this amalgamation occurred probably in Swabia . Moz was combined with a slightly different word in the Old Swabian dialect where motz meant ‘dirt for brains, stupid fool.’ Motz may have arisen as a clipped form of the standard German noun Schmutz ‘dirt.’ Now, as we’ve seen in other essays about names on this site, surnames evolved chiefly from first names, location names of ancestors’ homes, and nicknames of ancestors. In another German dialect, our target word appears as Motsch ‘a dwarf, a stupid person.’ So, there was a trio of insult words. The earliest written appearance of this word as a man’s name is at Wurttemberg in 1284 CE as Motze. In 1314 we find it already as a byname in a parish register: “Gebhard dictus Motze.” Remember this is before most surnames. So this gent was ‘Gebhard called Motze.’ In German linguistics, Moz or Motz or Motze is termed a Spottbezeichnung, that is, a mocking nickname. His fellow villagers called Gebhard a Motze because there were by then five or six Gebhards in the village and some vocal way had to be found to differentiate the five persons, both in daily life and in a last will and testament. One of the chief causes of the rise of European surnames was the need to be precise and specific in bequeathing property and goods to the correct persons. The growing lower middle class of the High Middle Ages began, as feudalism declined, to actually possess goods and property worth passing on to their children and relatives.
A poster for "The Magic Flute" by Marc Chagall
Who Will Rid Me of My Meddlesome Name? When a European found himself labeled with an embarrassing nickname, he had several courses of action. Dump the nickname completely. Change his name to Schmidt and go about his business. But, human nature being contrary and people having a strange affection for their names however odd and ill-fitting they may be, total change of name did not always seem desirable. People liked to try to keep a fragment of their original name. Thus they took the insulting nickname and attempted to dignify it by some manner of verbal disguise. Often a spelling alteration would do the trick. Let’s look at one Elizabethan family that genealogists have been able to follow for 400 years. Their first surname under Queen Elizabeth the First was Pig. Robert Pig. Now watch how each generation tries to get past the starkness of the swinish reference: Pig > Pygge > Pyghe > Swine > Swain. And so they are called to this day: The Swains. Not a curly piggy-wig’s tail left in the name! This is not to claim that every Swain is a Swine. No indeed. As a surname Swain has other roots not found in a barnyard. The Mozart family did the same thing. They gussied up an embarrassing surname so that their family name would not mean ‘ninny’ or ‘fool.’ They added the Germanic warrior ending –hart to Motz and Motze. Motz + Hart = Mozart. They did it early, frequently proof of how deeply they disliked their original name. Here are some of the spellings of the family name with their dates in registry documents: 1331 Motzhart 1359 Muczhart 1522 Mozhart Mozart was a family name in the district around Augsburg by the middle of the 14th century. Four hundred years later in 1756 the great composer was born from this same Augsburg stock.
Signore Aurelio Zuzzi, a correspondent in Verona, Italy, takes issue with my label “bad Latin” for the given name Amadeus. He makes many good points and provides more information on Mozart’s name. I reproduce, without any editing by me, his interesting emails below. They are worth perusing. I have added a modest interlinear comment now and then, when Signore Zuzzi's etymological errors were so blatant as to require immediate correction.
Dear Mr Casselman, Latin is the official language of the Roman Catholic Church since about 20 centuries. [Casselman notes in green type: Really! What about the Roman Empire? You mean your busy little God invented Latin too? Did ancient Rome stumble along for one thousand years without Latin? Did ancient Romans have something to do with inventing the language? Or did Latin too tinkle down from God's thumb when the Almighty was playing fingie-wingie with Adam?] Ask yourself why they baptized babies only with this bad Latin name: Amadeus. Surely you are a good etymologist. Well. Please tell me some masculine Latin name ending with -um (bad or good Latin, as you like). [Casselman note: I explained that Mozart himself or his family wanted a Latin sentence as the boy's name. You can't have a grammatical Latin sentence with the object of a verb in the nominative case, not even in the throes of a high mass in Latin.] If you don't find it, please read: THEOPHORIC NAMES Examples: Phrases such as "amat deum" are called ‘attributive descriptions’. [ No. No. No. Amadeum is a Latin sentence. Ama Deum. Ama is the imperative indicative singular of amare. It commands one: Love God!]
amadeus > amadeum > amadeu > Amadeo. analogically: he is the divine father and the lord = he is a god, like, "he is a jewel."
Mozart as infant phenomenon with his father on violin
Mozart’s full name is usually written “Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart,” but that’s not what Mozart called himself. He was baptized January 28, 1756 , the day after his birth, at St. Rupert's Cathedral in Salzburg as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart. The baptismal register of the cathedral parish contains the entry shown below, written down in Latin by city chaplain Leopold Lamprecht. The parallel five-column format of the original document, seen in the figure, is transcribed below in five consecutive paragraphs. Material in brackets represents editorial additions by Otto Erich Deutsch (see below), intended for clarification.
Mozart's baptismal record
[Januarius] 28. med[ia hora] 11. merid[iana] baptizatus est : natus pridie äh[ora] 8. vesp[ertina] Joannes Chrysost[omus] Wolfgangus Theophilus fil[ius] leg[itimus] Nob[ilis] D[ominus] Leopoldus Mozart Aulæ Musicus, et Maria Anna Pertlin giuges Nob[ilis] D[ominus] Joannes Theophilus Pergmaÿr Senator et Mercator civicus p[ro] t[empore] sponsus Idem Leopoldus Lamprecht Capellanus Civicus
Mozart's father Leopold announced the birth of his son in a letter to the publisher Johann Jakob Lotter with the words "...the boy is called Joannes Chrisostomus, Wolfgang, Gottlieb", in German: "der Bub heißt Joannes Chrisostomus, Wolfgang, Gottlieb" (sic) - "Gottlieb" being yet another translation (German) of "Theophilus".
Wolfgang enjoyed decorating and twisting his various names into words like Wolfie, Wolfgango, Gangflow (that’s Wolfgang spelled backwards), Mozart Wolfgang, Trazom, Mozartini, Mozartus, and Mozarty. Remember, this guy loved to play around!
But he virtually never used the name “Amadeus.” So where did “Amadeus” come from? Amadeus is Latin for the Greek word Theophilus. Mozart used variants of the Latin word, turning it into Amadeo, Amadè, or most often, Amadé. Otto Erich Deutsch, who studied all available letters and documents about the composer, arrived at the following conclusion about what the composer called himself: "In Italy, from 1770, Mozart called himself 'Wolfgango Amadeo', and from about 1777, 'Wolfgang Amadè'." Mozart's preference for "Wolfgang Amadè" can be seen on the wedding contract for his marriage to Constanze Weber, dated August 3, 1782 , where the composer's signature is "Wolfgang Amade Mozart".
In the parish register entry for the marriage, dated August 4, Mozart is referred to as "Herr Wolfgang Adam Mozart", plausibly an error caused by a mistake of Constanze Mozart's witness Johann Thorwart, who didn't know Mozart's exact name. 'Amadeus' may have originated as a facetious name; Mozart signed himself in three letters as "Wolfgangus Amadeus Mozartus" (this was certainly no accident as in one letter he did the same to the date of the letter as well: adding "us" to the end of each word). [Casselman note: Amadeus is almost certainly a botched attempt to perform a loan translation on the Latinized Greek name Theophilus 'love god.' ] The 19th century saw the gradual victory of "Amadeus" over alternative middle names when referring to Mozart. Braunbehrens (1988) observes that early (18th century) biographers of Mozart, such as Friedrich Schlichtegroll and Franz Niemetschek, used "Gottlieb". However, in 1798 the publishing firm of Breitkopf und Härtel began to issue a (partial) Complete Works edition under the name "Amadeus". The dominance of "Amadeus" began around about 1810; Romanticism, notably in the person of E. T. A. Hoffmann, "seized upon this name to proclaim its veneration for Mozart." Although various scholars since that time have made use of "Amadè" or "Gottlieb", "Amadeus" remains by far the most familiar term for the general public. Sincerely, Aurelio Zuzzi Verona , Italy
Adam names the animals of the earth, according to Genesis 2:19-20. The illumination is from a 12th-century manuscript of Saint Isidore's Etymology.
Here is a second missive from Signore Zuzzi.
Mozart’s Given Name Amadeus is Ungrammatical Latin (???) "Amadeum" (as a single word) is either itself accusative, which is really not proper for a name, because names are supposed to be nominative, or is neuter, which is really not proper for a man's name, because men's names are supposed to be masculine.
Maybe it's a total co-incidence that the "Ama" in "Amadeus" looks the same as the imperative "ama" ("Love!"); it could be a combining form of "amor", "amans", or "amator". I think this is likely ("amor" is most likely, by far). [Casselman Note: Whoa! Whoa! Amor, amoris is the Latin noun for 'love'. Its combining form, almost always in Latin drawn from the noun stem, NOT from the nominative form, is amor- . In any case, in English there are no combined forms that feature the amor- stem, only the direct nominative form, amour, which entered English in its Norman French form. The present participle amans, amantis has derivatives in all the Romance languages, but not in English, Signore Zuzzi. The Latin word for 'lover,' amator has in English two derivatives: (1) amateur borrowed into English from French and (2) based on amator's Late Latin adjectival form, amatorius, and that is the English adjective amatory. You have played fast and loose with the inheritance rules for Romance languages and with the combinatory customs of Latin word formation. Ama- could NOT be a combining form of amor, amans, or amator. You are wrong on all three tries, Signore. No Latinist on earth would admit ama- as a combining form for amor or amans or amator. None, sir.]
"Amadeus" is usually noted as deriving from something like "qui amat Deum". "Amatdeum" -> (cluster simplification) -> "Amadeum" -> (nominative normalization) -> "Amadeus". [ NO, it is NOT usually so etymologized. I gave the usual derivation: Amadeus was meant to mean "Love God" just as Gottlieb is in German. See my explanation above. What is your source of "usually noted," sir? Give some footnotes, please. ]
Search for "amadeum" on Google. You'll see Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart listed a few times as "Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeum". You'll also see some Italian pages describing the names "Amadeo", "Amedea", and "Amedeo" as coming from "Amadeum". I would guess that the name actually was originally Amadeum when people started naming their kids that (though not for Mozart). Latin neologists probably regularized it later. [ My Goodness! You reproduce the baptismal certificate which does NOT contain amadeum then you contend that Amadeum was the original name. What is your source for that? Certainly not the witnessed certificate of Mozart's baptism. It is quite illuminating for the history of scholarship that Google is now quoted by you as a scholarly source for Latin etymology. Some of us will prefer a weightier authority. ]
Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus =Amadeus Mozart
Sincerely, Aurelio Zuzzi, Verona , Italy You did not convince me, Signore Zuzzi. Your flurry of linguistic errors leaves me in further doubt that your quibbles about my work are of any relevance. But it has been lovely chatting with you, really quite, quite darling. It appears that, even with Mozart's name, amor omnia vincit.
Associated Poetic Trivia One cannot discuss the Latin verb amare without presenting this old Irish warhorse of glee clubs and choral societies’ folksong evenings. The poem is entitled “Amo, Amas,” published in Agreeable Surprise by Irish poetaster John O’Keefe (1747-1833). If anyone knows the circumstances of composition of this songlet, one I first memorized in public school, kindly let me know. I learned it by heart eons ago when pterodactyls flapped their leathern wings across primordial skies. And, Signore Zuzzi, just in case your focaccia fissures into clefts of philological consternation upon your reading of this ditty, I do not vouch for the playful liberties taken with the Latin in the lyrics below.
AMO, amas, I love a lass As a cedar tall and slender! Sweet cowslips' grace Is her Nominative Case, And she's of the Feminine Gender. Rorum, corum, sunt Divorum! Harum, scarum Divo! Tag rag, merry derry, periwig and hatband, Hic hac, horum Genetivo! Can I decline A Nymph divine? Her voice as a flute is dulcis! Her oculi bright! Her manus white! And soft, when I tacto, her pulse is! Rorum, corum, sunt Divorum! Harum scarum Divo! Tag rag , merry derry, periwig and hatband, Hic hac, horum Genetivo! O, how bella Is my Puella! I'll kiss sæculorum! If I've luck, Sir! She's my Uxor! O, dies benedictorum! Rorum, corum, sunt Divorum! Harum scarum Divo! Tag rag, merry derry, periwig and hatband, Hic, hac, horum Genetivo!
John O'Keefe
Copyright © 2008 William Gordon Casselman
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Again, not too shabby oeuvre-wise. 2006 was the 250th anniversary of Mozart’s birth. Hundreds of net pages sang of Wolfgang Amadeus, Salzburg's most famous resident. Some of these fond scribblings comprise the most flocculent passages of musicological piffle ever tapped into a word processor. Other sites are eager to explain his given names. 
for example, Richard has ancestors like Ricohard and Reichart, comprised of Ric, Reich ‘power’ + hard, hart ‘strong.’ Another male warrior name with different roots stems from Old English became the name Randolph , from Anglo-Saxon rand ‘shield’ + Anglo-Saxon wulf ‘wolf.’ 
