ABSTRACT
Around 1518 Martin Luther, already embroiled in a struggle that would lead to the Reformation, permanently changed the spelling of his name. Until then, consonant with family usage, he was Martin Luder. That is the way he had inscribed his name into the matriculation book at the University of Erfurt when he began his studies there in 1501 and the way he signed his name in his earliest publications. Then, starting in December 1516 through the beginning of 1519, Martin Luder, following the example of many humanist scholars of his day (including his colleague, Philip Melan-chthon [from Schwartzerdt, black earth]), signed his name in Greek: eleutherius, the free one, before settling for a shortened form of the same word: Luther. In 1532, when asked about the meaning of his name, he averred that “Martin” was derived from Mars, the god of war, and Luther from eleutherius legis (“free from the law”).
