Before we pluck Martin’s woven basket from the cattails and proceed further, we should add that Luther’s name was originally not Luther at all but Luder or Ludher. Luther changed it at some point later in life, although precisely when and why is unclear. His father and mother eventually incorporated the change to their own names, probably because of their son’s increasing fame, and perhaps also because the word Luder had a number of unattractive associations they preferred to leave behind and thereby relegate to the squint-eyed netherworld of historical footnotes.*
