Walter Meyer ([log in to unmask]) wrote:

>fortune, Mozart's penultimate name comprises two stems, meaning "love"
>and "God".  It apparently does not mean "loving God", at least if the
>name is from the Latin, as that would be "Amadeum" ("deus" being in the
>accusative, or objective, case, instead of the actual nominative, or
>subjective, case)

(Un)fortunately the Latin derivation may not be relevant: Mozart was
baptised Joannes Chrystostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus.  Woflie himself
(according to the New Grove) "sometimes preferred the Latin form, Amadeus,
more often Amade (grave accent), Amade (acute accent) or the German
Gottlieb."

I always imagined Theophilus to mean "the love of God" - but which way
that's directed is beyond me.

deryk barker
([log in to unmask], http://www.camosun.bc.ca/~dbarker)