Surname vs Wu - What's the difference?

As nouns the difference between surname and wu

is that surname is (obsolete) an additional name, particularly those derived from a birthplace, quality, or achievement; an epithet while wu is (historic) a chinese shaman or shamaness.

As a verb surname

is to give a surname .

surname

English

Noun

(en noun)

(obsolete) An additional name, particularly those derived from a birthplace, quality, or achievement; an epithet.

* Arthour and Merlin , 5488:

Þe]] Osoman, cert, His surname was: hardi of [[heart, hert.

* 1526 , (w, Tyndale's Bible), Acts I 23:

Barsabas (whose syrname was Iustus).

* 1590 , Richard Harvey, Plaine Percevall the peace-maker of England, Sweetly indeuoring with his blunt persuasions to botch vp a reconciliation between Mar-ton and Mar-tother , B3:

My sirname is Peace-Maker, one that is but poorely regarded in England.

* (William Shakespeare), (Coriolanus) , V iii 171:

To his sur-name Coriolanus longs]] more pride
Then [[pity, pitty to our Prayers.

(obsolete) An additional name given to a person, place, or thing; a byname or nickname.

* (w, Wycliff's Bible), Ecclus. XLVII 19:

In the name of the Lord, to whom the surname [toname in the 1382 ed.] is God of Israel.

* 1638 , Abraham Cowley, (Davideis) , IV:

I have before declared that Baal was the Sun, and Baal Peor, a sirname , from a particular place of his worship.

The name a person shares with other members of that person's family, distinguished from that person's given name or names; a family name.

* 1393 , (William Langland), (Piers Plowman) , C iv 369:

Þat]] is reisonable...to refusy my [[sire's, syres sorname .

* 1605 , William Camden, Remaines , I 32:

In late yeeres]] Surnames have beene given for Christian names among [[us, vs, and no where else in Christendom.

* 1876 , E. A. Freeman, The History of the Norman Conquest , V xxv 563:

The Norman Conquest...brought with it the novelty of family nomenclature, that is to say, the use of hereditary surnames .

(Classical studies) The cognomen of Roman names.

* "St. John Baptist", 928 in W. M. Metcalfe, Legends of the saints: in the Scottish dialect of the fourteenth century (1896), II 249:

Þe]] thred herrod had [[also, alsua til his suornome agrippa.

(Scottish, obsolete) A clan.

* 1455 in J. D. Marwick, Charters of Edinburgh (1871), 79:

The surnam and nerrest]] of [[blood, blude to the said Williame.

Usage notes

The term "surname" may be used to translate terms from non-English names which carry additional shades of meaning, most notably in the case of Roman cognomens. In fact, the nomen was the surname as the word is commonly understood today but the terms were first applied when surname was still used in the sense of "additional" or "added" name: the cognomen was added to the nomen to show the branch of the family involved. (The modern translation of a similar distinction in ancient Chinese names customarily uses ancestral name and clan name instead and typically speaks of surnames only once the two merged into a single and commonly-employed family name.)

Synonyms

* epithet (additional descriptive name ) * nickname, sobriquet, byname (additional name ) * family name, last name, to-name (hereditary name denoting one's family ) * See also

Verb

(surnam)

To give a surname .

To call by a surname .

Anagrams

References

wu

English

(wikipedia Wu)

Etymology 1

From the Wade-Giles romanization of (etyl) (etyl)

Proper noun

(en proper noun)

(historic) Suzhou, a city in southern Jiangsu province in China, whence:

# (historic) A county of imperial and Republican China around Suzhou.

# (historic) A commandery of imperial China around Suzhou.

A historic and cultural region of China around the mouth of the Yangtze River, whence:

# The family of Chinese languages spoken in that region, including Shanghainese and Suzhounese, the second-most spoken family after Mandarin.

# (historic) The kingdom ruled by the Ji family from Wuxi and then Suzhou during the Spring and Autumn period of China's Zhou dynasty.

# A common Chinese surname:

# (historic) The kingdom ruled by the Sun family from Ezhou and Nanjing during the Three Kingdoms interregnum following China's Han dynasty.

# (historic) The kingdom ruled by Li Zitong from Yangzhou and Hangzhou during the interregnum following China's Sui dynasty.

# (historic) The kingdom ruled by the Yang family from Yangzhou during the Ten Kingdoms interregnum following China's Tang dynasty.

# (historic) The kingdom ruled by the Qian family from Hangzhou and Shaoxing during the Ten Kingdoms interregnum following China's Tang dynasty.

Synonyms

* Gusu, Helu City, Suzhou (Suzhou ) * Wuxian, Wu-hsien (county ) * Wujun, Wu-chun (commandery ) * Wu Chinese, Jiangnan, Wuyue, Jiangzhe (language family ) * Gou Wu, Gouwu, Gong Wu, Gongwu (Spring & Autumn Period realm ) * Dong Wu, Dongwu, Eastern Wu, Sun Wu (Three Kingdoms realm ) * Huainan, Hongnong, Southern Wu, Yang Wu (Ten Kingdoms realm ruled from Yangzhou ) * Wuyue (Ten Kingdoms realm ruled from Hangzhou ) * Woo (surname )

Etymology 2

From the Wade-Giles romanization of the (etyl) (etyl) . (The Wu Emperor) (Cao Cao)

Proper noun

(en proper noun)

A Chinese surname

(historic)

Usage notes

Although the Chinese usage of Wu as a posthumous name is adjectival and should properly be translated — as, e.g., "the Martial Emperor of the Han dynasty" — or treated as an epithet in a similar manner to emperors called after their era names — as, e.g., "the Hongwu Emperor of the Ming dynasty" — it is much more common to encounter them in English sources treated as proper names — as, e.g., "Emperor Wu of the Han dynasty" — despite the Chinese meaning nothing of the sort.

Synonyms

* Woo (surname ) * martial, war-like, etc. (royal epithet )

Etymology 3

From the Wade-Giles romanization of (etyl) (etyl) , etc.

Proper noun

(en proper noun)

A Chinese surname.

Synonyms

* Woo

Anagrams

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