Speaking of bombshells, "Belle Poitrine" (in Little Me) has a meaning all its own in French. In the same show and in the same spirit, the upper-class twit would of course be "Noble Eggleston."
Most of the names in A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum are Latin puns or character-type names, some of them drawn straight from Roman comedy, like Senex (old man), Domina (battle-ax wife), and Miles Gloriosus (braggart soldier). Others seem to be inventions by Shevelove and Gelbart, but in a similar spirit, like Hysterium for an eternally-worried servant, Erroneus for a doddering and confused old man, Marcus Lycus ("Marcus the wolf") for the brothel keeper, and Gymnasia for one of his more statuesque girls.
I always thought Queen Agravain in Once Upon a Mattress was most aptly named. Her name suggests both "aggravating" and "vain," but at the same time it sounds like an actual medieval name (Yvain, Ygraine, Morgaine, etc., etc.). In fact, there's a knight (male) in Arthurian legend whose name really is Agravain. Similarly, King Sextimus speaks for itself (it has to, because he doesn't), but it could also be a real medieval name. |
