The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 10.1042  Monday, 21 June 1999.

From:           Roy Flannagan <
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Date:           Saturday, 19 Jun 1999 13:10:20 -0400
Subject:        Naming the King and Queen of Fairies

Having read only bits of Huon of Bordeaux, I was wondering why
Shakespeare used the name Oberon for the King of the Fairies (Jonson
apparently called him the Prince, and he appears in James the Fourth, by
Robert Greene, c. 1590) and why he matched Oberon with Titania, instead
of Mab (other than the obvious beauty of the name).  There seems to be
no Greek equivalent of Oberon, and most naming dictionaries I have
consulted (not many) do not bother with an etymology: does the name have
anything to do with the German