Olivia staat niet in de Bijbel — Shakespeare heeft het verzonnen

Olivia is not in the Bible. Shakespeare appears to have made it up, and it means olive — which is one of the most heavily worked images in Scripture. Where the name comes from Olivia’s first clear appearance is as a character in Twelfth Night, written around 1601. Shakespeare may have adapted an existing name, but no earlier use is well attested, and the play is what put it into circulation. Behind it is the Latin oliva, olive. Is Olivia…