Talita

I've been meaning to write something about my name for a long time now, as i'm always getting asked about it, and its a subject that's obviously gonna be of interest to me.
So, i was named from a book of the stars my Dad had for navigation, that he'd picked up in Finland - or it was a Finnish book of stars - one or the other.
My brother Rigel, and sister Capella are also named after stars.
My Dad always told me my name meant "Third leap of the little gazelle" but actually it is the third leap in a row of stars that are called the "Three leaps of the little gazelle"

My Dad sent this to me last year when he found it online:
"In addition to the famous seven stars of Ursa Major there are three pairs of stars that mark the feet of the bear. The Arabs imagined these as forming the tracks of a leaping gazelle. The pair Nu and Xi Ursae Majoris are called Alula Borealis and Alula Australis. The word Alula comes from an Arabic phrase meaning ‘first leap’; the distinctions ‘northern’ (Borealis) and ‘southern’ (Australis) are added in Latin. The second leap is represented by Lambda and Mu Ursae Majoris, known as Tania Borealis and Tania Australis, while the third leap is represented by Iota and Kappa Ursae Majoris, although Iota alone bears the name Talitha, from the Arabic meaning ‘third’."

I realised a couple of years ago that 'Mark the Evangelist' wrote in the Gospel of Mark: 
"And Jesus took the damsel by the hand and said to her "Talitha Kumi" which means "Little Girl I say unto thee arise."
So in the story of Jesus' miracles he brought a girl back from the dead by saying "Talitha Kumi" (although she may have just been sleeping... ;-)
Little girl, get up!

Here's St. Mark. Hiya!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_the_Evangelist


Talitha (Kumi) is Aramaic; Talitha means 'Little girl' - Aramaic is the language that Jesus spoke.

Pretty looking eh? I don't speak it, its a "dead language". But i find it fascinating - and would really like to see what Talita (Talitha - they're the same basically) would look like written down.

So...bears, gazelles, Aramaic, Arabic, the number 3, dead girls
and a star in the heel of the great bear, Ursa Major.


I assume that "Talita" as opposed to "Talitha" is the Finnish or Nordic version, but that i don't know.


So this is what i  do know about my name and where it comes from.


And no, my parents weren't hippies.




And any other information always appreciated!