Alban

See also: alban and albán

English

Etymology

From Latin Albānus (“resident of Alba”) (a mountain region and an ancient city of Latium).

Proper noun

Alban

1. A male given name from Latin.
   • 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):
     : Act II, Scene I

     Forsooth, a blind man at Saint Alban's shrine

     Within this half hour hath receiv'd his sight

2. Saint Alban, a Christian martyr executed in Verulamium (St Albans) in the 3rd or 4th century.
   • 1905, Henrietta Elizabeth Marshall, Our Island Story, page 26:

     The first Christian martyr in Britain was called Alban.

Usage notes

• Though borne by the first British martyr, the given name has always been rare in English.

Derived terms

• St Albans, St. Albans, St. Alban's

Translations

male given name

• Albanian: Alban m, Albana f
• Breton: Alvan m
• Catalan: Albà (ca)
• Danish: Alban
• Dutch: Alban
• French: Alban (fr)
• German: Alban (de)
• Italian: Albano (it)
• Latin: Albanus (la)
• Norwegian: Alban (no)
• Occitan: Aubanh m, Alban m
• Portuguese: Albano
• Spanish: Albano (es)
• Swedish: Alban (sv)

Adjective

Alban (not comparable)

1. (historical) Pertaining to the ancient Latin city of Alba Longa.
   • 1847, Leonhard Schmitz, A History of Rome: From the Earliest Times to the Death of Commodus, A.D. 192, Harper & brothers, page 14:

     But beside this, there existed at Lavinium another tradition, which inverts the order of things by stating that Lavinium was an Alban colony, founded by six hundred Alban families.

   • 1922, Sir James George Frazer, AThe Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion, Forgotten Books, page 152:

     Now the Alban dynasti bore the name of Silvii or Wood, and it can hardly be without significance that in the vision of the historic glories of Rome revealed to Aeneas in the underworld, Virgil, an antiquary as well as a poet, should represent all the line of Silvii as crowned with oak.

   • 1998, Robert Alan Gurval, Actium and Augustus: The Politics and Emotions of Civil War, University of Michigan Press, page 223:

     Reminded of the Alban king’s descent from Silvius, the son of Aeneas, Vergil’s reader must judge the crime of Mettus and his gruesome punishment with greater horror and revulsion.

2. (historical) Pertaining to Alba, or the area now covered by Scotland.
   • 2011, Norman Davies, Vanished Kingdoms, Penguin, published 2012, page 66:

     At some point during the Picto-Gaelic fusion, St Andrew was adopted as patron of the Alban kingdom.

Anagrams

• Balan, Blaan, Laban, Nabal, banal, laban, labna, nabal, nabla

Albanian

Etymology

A variant of Arban, with regular r-l change.

Proper noun

Alban m

1. a male given name, equivalent to English Alban

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /al.bɑ̃/

• Audio (Paris):

  (file)

• Audio:

  (file)

Proper noun

Alban m

1. a male given name, equivalent to English Alban

Related terms

• feminine form: Albane

Anagrams

• banal

Irish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈaləbˠənˠ/
• IPA^(key): /nə ˈhaləbˠənˠ/ (full form na hAlban)

Proper noun

Na hAlban f sg

1. genitive of Albain

Mutation

Irish mutation
Radical	Eclipsis	with h-prothesis	with t-prothesis
Alban	nAlban	hAlban	not applicable
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Old Irish

Proper noun

Alban f

1. genitive singular of Albu

Mutation

Old Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Nasalization
Alban (pronounced with /h/ in h-prothesis environments)	unchanged	nAlban
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Romanian

Etymology

From Alba +‎ -an.

Proper noun

Alban m (genitive/dative lui Alban)

1. a surname

References

• Iordan, Iorgu (1983) Dicționar al numelor de familie românești [A Dictionary of Romanian Family Names]‎^[1], Bucharest: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică

Swedish

Proper noun

Alban c (genitive Albans)

1. a male given name, equivalent to English Alban

Welsh

Etymology

From Scottish Gaelic Alba.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈalban/
  • (with definite article) IPA^(key): /əˈralban/
• Rhymes: -alban

Proper noun

yr Alban f

1. Scotland

   Synonym: Sgotland

Usage notes

• This country name is always preceded by the definite article yr.

Proper noun

Alban m

1. a male given name from Old Irish Albu (“Scotland”)

Mutation

Welsh mutation
radical	soft	nasal	h-prothesis
Alban	unchanged	unchanged	Halban
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

References

Heini Gruffudd (2010) Enwau Cymraeg i Blant / Welsh Names for Children‎^[2], Y Lolfa, →ISBN, page 13