When Josiah Benedict was born on 24 September 1736, in Ridgefield, Fairfield, Connecticut, United States, his father, Peter Benedict, was 22 and his mother, Mary Parish, was 21. He died on 7 December 1736, in Ridgefield, Fairfield, Connecticut Colony, British Colonial America, at the age of 0.
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English, German, and Dutch: from the personal name Benedict, from Latin Benedictus ‘blessed’. This owed its popularity in the Middle Ages chiefly to Saint Benedict of Norcia (c. 480–550), who founded the Benedictine order of monks at Monte Cassino and wrote a monastic rule that formed a model for all subsequent rules. No doubt the meaning of the Latin word also contributed to its popularity as a personal name, especially in Romance countries. Occasionally the English surname may derive from Latin benedicite ‘bless (you)’, perhaps given as a nickname to an habitual user of the expression. In North America, the English form of the surname has absorbed the German variant Benedikt and many cognates from other languages, e.g. Hungarian Benedek , Slovenian Benedik (see Benedick ), and also their patronymics and other derivatives, e.g. Italian Benedetti .
Dictionary of American Family Names © Patrick Hanks 2003, 2006.
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