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Names of Roman citizens

Male names

In classical times, a full Roman male name usually consisted of three components: a personal name, or prenomen ( praenomen), generic name, or nomena ( nomen), And individual nickname or the name of a branch of the genus, cognomen ( cognomen).

Praenomenon

The personal name was similar to the modern male name. The Romans used a small number of personal names (18 names out of a total of 72); usually they were ancient origin, what in classical era most of them have been forgotten. In the inscriptions, personal names were almost always written in abbreviated form (1-3 letters).

Other personal names were rarely used and were usually written in full: Agrippa, Ancus, Annius, Aruns, Atta, Cossus, Denter, Eppius, Faustus, Fertor, Herius, Hospolis, Hostus, Lar, Marius, Mesius, Mettus, Minatius, Minius, Nero, Novius, Numa, Opiter, Opiavus, Ovius, Pacvius (Paquius), Paullus, Pescennius (Percennius), Petro, plancus, Plautus, pompo, Popidius, Postumus, Primus, Proculus, Retus, Salvius, Secundus, Sertor, Status, Servius, Tertius, Tirrus, Trebius, Tullus, Turus, Volero, Volusus, Vopiscus. personal name Pupus(boy) was used only in relation to children.

The boy received a personal name on the eighth or ninth day after birth. There was a tradition to give a personal name only to the four eldest sons, and ordinal numbers could serve as a personal name for the rest: Quintus(fifth, cf. old Russian. Pyatak), Sextus(sixth, compare Old Russian Shestak), Septimus (seventh, compare Old Russian Semak), Octavius ​​(eighth, compare Old Russian Osmak), and Decimus (tenth). Over time, these names became common (that is, turned into personal ones), and as a result, a person bearing the name Sextus was not necessarily the sixth son in the family. As an example, we can recall the commander Sextus Pompey, the second son of a member of the first triumvirate of Gnaeus Pompey the Great, who fought Julius Caesar for a long time.

Often the eldest son received the father's prenomen. In 230 BC e. this tradition was enshrined by a decree of the senate, so that the personal name of the father began, as a rule, to pass to the eldest son. For example, the emperor Octavian Augustus, like his great-great-grandfather, great-grandfather, grandfather and father, bore the name Guy.

In some genera, a limited number of personal names were used. For example, the Cornelius Scipios had only Gnaeus, Lucius and Publius, the Claudii Neroes had only Tiberius and Decimus, the Domitii Ahenobarbs had only Gnaeus and Lucius.

The personal name of the criminal could be forever excluded from the genus to which he belonged; for this reason, the name Lucius was not used in the patrician family of the Claudians, and the name Mark was used in the patrician family of the Manlievs. By decree of the Senate, the name Mark was permanently excluded from the Antonian clan after the fall of the triumvir Mark Antony.

Nomen

The family name was the name of the genus and corresponded, approximately, to the modern surname. Indicated in the form of an adjective male and ended in the classical era on -ius: Tullius- Tullius (from the genus Tulliev), Julius- Julius (from the genus Julius); in republican time there are also endings -is, -i. Generic names of non-Roman origin had different endings from those named.

In inscriptions, generic names are usually written in full; in imperial times, only the names of very famous families were abbreviated: Aelius - Ael., Antonius - Ant. or Anton., Aurelius - Avr., Claudius - Cl. or clavd., Flavius - fl. or Fla., Julius - I. or Ivl., Pompeius - Pomp., Valerius - Val., Ulpius - vlp.

The total number of generic names, according to Varro, reached a thousand. Most generic names are of such ancient origin that their meaning has been forgotten. Only a few make specific sense: Asinius from asinus(donkey), Caelius from caecus(blind), caninius from canis(dog), Decius from decem(ten), Fabius from faba(bean), Nonius from nonus(ninth), Octavius from octavus(eighth), Ovidius from ovis(sheep), Porcius from porca(pig), Septimius from septimus(seventh), Sextius And Sextilius from sextus(sixth), Suillius from suilla(pork).

Slaves were also given the names of mythical heroes: Achilles, Hector; names of plants or stones: Adamant, Sardonic, etc. Instead of a name, a slave could have the nickname “First”, “Second”, “Third”.

It is known that the slave share in Rome was very difficult, but this did not affect the names of the slaves, who do not have mocking nicknames. On the contrary, slaves have names Felix And Faustus(happy). Obviously, these nicknames, which became the name, were received only by those slaves whose life was relatively successful. The inscriptions mention: Faust, the baker of Tiberius Germanicus, and Faust, the head of the perfume shop of his master Popilius, Felix, who was in charge of the jewelry of Gaius Caesar, another Felix, the manager of the possessions of Tiberius Caesar, and another Felix, the overseer in the wool-weaving workshops of Messalina; the daughters of a slave from the house of the Caesars were called Fortunata and Felicia.

Slaves often have a name Ingenus or Ingenuus(freeborn). Slaves born into slavery have names Vitalio And Vitalis(living).

There were no firm rules regarding the names of slaves. Therefore, when buying a slave in an official document, his name was accompanied by a clause "or whatever other name he was called" (lat. sive is quo alio nomine est).

In the inscriptions after the name of the slave, the name of the master in the genitive case and the nature of the slave's occupation are indicated. After the name of the master is the word servus(slave) always abbreviated ser, very rarely s, it can also stand between two cognomens of the master; there is no strict word order. The word "slave" is often absent altogether; as a rule, slaves do not have it, owned by women. For example, Euticus, Aug(usti) ser(vus), pictor- Euticus, slave of Augustus (imperial slave), painter; Eros, cocus Posidippi, ser(vus)- Eros, cook Posidipp, slave; Idaeus, Valeriae Messalin(ae) supra argentum- Ideas, treasurer of Valeria Messalina.

The sold slave retained the generic name or cognomen of his former master in an altered form with the suffix -an-: Philargyrus librarius Catullianus- Philargir, a scribe bought from Catullus.

Freedmen's names

A freedman (that is, a slave who received freedom) acquired the personal and generic names of the former master, who became his patron, and retained his former name as a cognomen. So, the secretary of Cicero Tyro, freed from slavery, was called: M. tullius M. libertus Tiro- Mark Thulius, a freedman of Mark Tiron. A slave named Apella, set free by Mark Manney Primus, became known as Mark Manney Apella. The slave Bassa, released by Lucius Hostilius Pamphilus, received the name Hostilius Bassa (women did not have premen). Lucius Cornelius Sulla set free ten thousand slaves belonging to persons who died during proscriptions; they all became Lucius Cornelii (the famous "army" of ten thousand "Cornelii").

The inscriptions often contain the names of imperial freedmen: the baker Gaius Julius Eros, the tailor theatrical costumes Tiberius Claudius Dipter, in charge of the triumphal white clothes of the emperor Marcus Cocceus Ambrosius, in charge of the hunting clothes of the emperor Mark Ulpius Euphrosynus, in charge of the reception of the emperor's friends Marcus Aurelius Succession, etc.

In the inscriptions between the nomen and the cognomen of the freedman, the personal name of the master is abbreviated and stands l or lib (= libertus), a tribe is very rarely indicated: Q(uintus) Serto, Q(uinti) l(ibertus), Antiochus, colonus pauper- Quintus Sertorius Antiochus, freedman of Quintus, poor colon. In rare cases, instead of the personal name of the former master, there is his cognomen: L(ucius) Nerfinius, Potiti l(ibertus), Primus, lardarius- Lucius Nerfinius Primus, freedman of Potitas, sausage maker. Freedmen of the imperial house are abbreviated in the inscriptions Avgl (Avg lib), i.e. Augusti libertus(after a generic name or after a cognomen): L(ucio) Aurelio, Aug(usti) lib(erto), Pyladi, pantomimo temporis sui primo- Lucius Aurelius Pylades, imperial freedman, the first pantomime of his time.

Rarely are freedmen with two cognomens: P(ublius) Decimius, P(ublii) l(ibertus), Eros Merula, medicus clinicus, chirurgus, ocularius- Publius Decimius Eros Merula, a freedman of Publius, general practitioner, surgeon, ophthalmologist.

Freedmen of women in inscriptions are indicated by the abbreviation Ɔ L(the inverted C is a remnant of an archaic female personal name Gaia): L(ucius) Crassicius, Ɔ (= mulieris) l(ibertus), Hermia, medicus veterinarius- Lucius Crassicius Hermia, woman's freedman, veterinarian.

The freedmen of the cities received the name Publicius(from publicus- public) or city name: Aulus Publicius Germanus, Lucius Saepinius Oriens et Lucius Saepinius Orestus- vacationers of the city of Sepina in Italy.

Doctors, servants of the deity Aesculapius (Greek Asclepius), usually bore his name. For example, Gaius Calpurnius Asclepiades is a doctor from Prusa near Olympus, who received Roman citizenship from Emperor Trajan. However, the name Asclepius, or Asklepiad, did not always belong to the doctor: in one inscription there is Asclepiades, Caesar's slave, a marble worker.

Freedmen of corporations retained their names in their names: Freedmen of the Corporation of Patchwork and Tailors ( fabric centonarii) were called Fabricii And Centoni.

see also

Literature

• Kajanto I. The Latin Cognomina. 1985
• Schulze W. Zur Geschichte lateinischer Eigennamen. 1933

Notes

Links

Recently, Roman names have become increasingly popular. The fact is that parents are trying to pick up the most unusual and original name for your child.

Some of the names that came from the Roman Empire are so ancient that even the most experienced and professional historians cannot decipher them.

Male ancient Roman names

Few people know that originally masculine Roman name consisted of three parts: personal, generic and individual. There were few options for personal names: less than a hundred in total and about twenty commonly used ones. The second part of the name was associated with surnames in modern world. The third could sound like a nickname of a person or, if there was none, like the name of a generic branch.

Prenomen, or personal part

Roman names are of such ancient origin that in the modern world they have practically fallen into disuse and have lost their value. On the letter, abbreviated names were used, as a rule, the first three letters:

• Appius, Lucius, Manius, Numerius, Pablius, Servius, Spurius, Tiberius;
• Aulus, Guy, Mark Quint, Titus;
• Decim, Quezon, Mamerk, Sextus.

An interesting fact is that personal names were assigned only to the first four sons. For junior names served as numbers from five onwards. The name Sextus (meaning sixth) is a prime example. Over time, the number of children born in the family decreased, but the names remained. So, the second boy could be called Octavius, which should have corresponded to the number eight. But this is after many, many years.

Nomen, or generic part

The title corresponding to the surname was written in the form of an adjective in masculine and was not subject to reduction. The names differed in peculiar endings. In total, there were about a thousand unspoken surnames:

• Tullius, Julius, Ulius, Antonius, Claudius, Flavius, Pompeius, Valerius, Ulpius, Varenus, Alfenus;
• Aquillia, Aternia, Atilia, Verginia, Baloyanni, Veturia, Horace, Genutia, Cassia, Curtia, Marcia, Minucia, Nautia, Rumilia, Servilia, Sergius, Fabia;
• Mafenas, Asprenas, Fulginas;
• Mastarna, Perperna, Sisenna, Tapsenna, Spurinna.

The meaning of some nomens is so old that their meaning has already been lost. But to our time, some surnames have still been preserved, the meaning of which is possible to explain. For example, Azinus is a donkey, Culius is blind, Caninus is a dog, Fabius is a bean, Ovidius is a sheep, Porcius is a pig.

It is noteworthy that closer to our era, the holders of the ranks of supreme power began to take "divine" surnames for themselves, translated into Russian as Venus, Jupiter, Aeneas. Thus, the rulers tried to justify their right to the throne and rank themselves among the relatives of the celestials of Olympus.

Cognomen, or individual nickname

The custom to include a nickname in the full name also appeared later than the tradition of taking notes on the first two parts was born. Therefore, the translations and meanings of cognomens are more or less clear modern reader: Agricola (preacher), Crassus (fat), Lautus (fat), Lentulus (lentil), Maker (thin), Celsus (tall), Paullus (short), Rufus (redhead), Strabo (cross-eyed), Nasika (pointy-nosed) , Severus (cruel), Probus (honest), Lucro (glutton), Taurus (bull).

Sometimes the Romans resorted to naming an additional fourth component of the name - agnomena. This was due to the fact that often several family members had the same names, and in order to more clearly understand who they were talking about, additional characters were used. More often, this was required by representatives of ancient and noble families, numbering a large number of branches.

Female names of ancient Rome

During the era of the reign of emperors, Roman women did not have the right to assign personal names. They were addressed by the title of the tribal tribe, used in the feminine gender. Julia, that is, the daughter of that same Julius; Claudia means her father Claudius; Cornelia, respectively, descended from the Cornelian family.

Distinguished girls by prenomen. If the whole family has two sisters, then the eldest received the middle name Major, and the youngest - Minor. In large families, quantitative prenomens were used: Secunda (second), Tertia (third), Quinta (fifth) and so on. Last daughter retained the title of Minor.

A married woman kept her name, but the husband's cognomen was added to it. A noble ladies from the imperial dynasties and the daughters of generals had the exclusive right to wear their father's cognomen.

Special names for slaves

Is it worth talking about the fact that in ancient times slaves were not considered people, had no rights and were equated with the property of the owner. Since a prudent person would not come up with names for a sofa, a table, a dress, the slaves did not need names either. They were addressed by the name of the slave owner with the attached suffix "pur", which means "boy" in Roman. For example, Lutsipur, Matsipur, Publipur, Kvintipur.

Over time, the development of slave ownership began to gain momentum, the number of involuntary grew inexorably. I had to agree that the naming of people deprived of their liberty became a necessary measure. Oddly enough, but the rulers refused offensive nicknames for your subordinates. Slaves were given beautiful names stones, plants, names of mythical heroes (Sardonicus, Adamant, Hector). Sometimes the owners referred to the professional skills of the unfortunate person or the place of his birth. Corinthus (Corfinian), Dacus (Dacian), Piktor (painter). Often, instead of names, just numerals were used.

The topic of these names is extensive and you can delve into it for a very long time - naming traditions have changed over a millennium and a half, and each clan had its own quirks and customs. But I tried, and simplified it all for you in ten interesting points. I think you'll like:

1. classical name Roman citizen consisted of three parts:

The personal name, "prenomen", was given by the parents. It is similar to today's names.

The name of the genus, "nomen" - something like our surnames. Belonging to an old noble family meant a lot.

An individual nickname, "cognomen" - was often given to a person for some merit (not necessarily good), or was inherited.

For example, the most famous Roman, Gaius Julius Caesar, had Gaius as the prenomen, Julius as the nomen, and Caesar as the cognomen. At the same time, he inherited all three parts of his name from his father and grandfather, both of whom were called exactly the same - Gaius Julius Caesar. So "Julius" is not a name at all, but rather a surname!

2. In general, the inheritance by the eldest son of all the names of his father was a tradition. Thus, he also took over the status and titles of the parent, continuing his work. The rest of the sons, as a rule, were given other prenomens, so as not to confuse the children. As a rule, they were called the same as their father's brothers.

But they bothered only with the first four sons. If more were born, then the rest were simply called by number: Quintus (fifth), Sextus (sixth), Septimus (seventh), etc.

As a result, due to the continuation of this practice for many years, the number of popular prenomens narrowed down from 72 to a small handful of repeated names: Decimus, Gaius, Caeso, Lucius, Marcus, Publius, Servius and Titus were so popular that they were usually abbreviated with only the first letter. . Everyone immediately understood what it was about.

3. Society ancient rome clearly divided into plebeians and patricians. And although there were occasional cases of distinguished plebeian families achieving aristocratic status, a much more common method of social growth was adoption into a noble family.

This was usually done to prolong the lineage. influential person, which means that the adopted child had to take the name of the new parent. At the same time, his previous name turned into a nickname-cognomen, sometimes in addition to the existing cognomens of the adoptive father.

So, Gaius Julius Caesar adopted in his will his great-nephew, Gaius Octavius ​​Furius, and he, having changed his name, began to be called Gaius Julius Caesar Octavian. (Later, as he seized power, he added a few more titles and nicknames.)

4. If a person did not inherit the cognomen from his father, then he spent the first years of his life without him, until he distinguished himself in some way from his relatives.

In the era of the late Republic, people often chose obsolete prenomens as cognomens. For example, at the dawn of the Roman state there was a popular prenomen "Agrippa". As the centuries passed, its popularity waned, but the name was revived as a cognomen among some influential families of the late Republican period.

A successful cognomen was fixed for many generations, creating a new branch in the family - this was the case with Caesar in the Julius family. Also, each family had its own traditions on the topic of which congnomens were appropriated by its members.

5. All Roman names had masculine and feminine forms. This extended not only to personal prenomens, but also to surnames-nomens, and nicknames-cognomens. For example, all women from the genus Julius were called Julius, and those who had the cognomen Agrippa were called Agrippins.

When marrying, a woman did not take her husband's nomen, so it was difficult to confuse her with other family members.

6. But personal names, prenomens, were rarely used by women of the late Republic. And the Cognomens too. Perhaps this was due to the fact that women did not take part in public life Rome, so distinguish them strangers there was no need. Be that as it may, most often, even in noble families, daughters were called simply female form his father's nomena.

That is, all the women in the Julius family were Julius. It was easy for parents to name their daughter, while others did not need it (until she got married). And if there were two daughters in the family, then they were called Yulia the Elder and Yulia the Younger. If three, then Prima, Second and Third. Sometimes eldest daughter could be called "Maxima".

7. When a foreigner acquired Roman citizenship - usually, at the end of military service- he usually took the name of his patron, or, if he was a freed slave, then the name of his former master.

During the period of the Roman Empire, there were many cases when a huge number of people immediately became citizens by imperial decree. By tradition, they all took the name of the emperor, which caused considerable embarrassment.

For example, the Edict of Caracalla (this emperor got his cognomen from the name of the Gallic clothing - a long robe, for which he introduced a fashion) made all citizens of Rome free people over its vast territory. And all these new Romans accepted the imperial nomen Aurelius. Of course, after such actions, the meaning of these names greatly decreased.

8. Imperial names are generally something special. They than lived longer and the emperor ruled, the more names he typed. Basically, these were cognomens and their late variety, gnomenes.

For example, the full name of Emperor Claudius was Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus.

Over time, "Caesar Augustus" has already become not so much a name as a title - it was accepted by those who sought imperial power.

9. Beginning with the early empire, prenomens began to fall out of favor, and were by and large replaced by cognomens. This was partly due to the fact that there were few prenomens in everyday life (see paragraph 2), and family traditions more and more often they dictated the name of all sons by the prenomen of the father. Thus, from generation to generation, prenomen and nomen remained the same, gradually turning into a complex "surname".

At the same time, it was possible to roam on the congnomen, and after the 1st - 2nd centuries of our era, it was they who became real names in our understanding.

10. Beginning in the 3rd century AD, the prenomen and nomen in general began to be used less and less. This was partly due to the fact that a bunch of people with the same nomens appeared in the empire - people who massively received citizenship as a result of an imperial decree (see paragraph 7) and their descendants.

Since the cognomen had become by this time more individual name, people preferred to use it.

The last documented use of the Roman nomen was in the early 7th century.

Today, Roman names are not very popular. This is partly due to the fact that most of them are forgotten, and their meaning is completely unclear. If you delve into history, then at the time of dawn, children and adults were given names throughout their lives, and later they turned into family names. The peculiarity of Roman names is of genuine interest to historians so far.

Name structure

In ancient times, people, just like now, the name consisted of three parts. Only if we are used to calling a person by his last name, first name and patronymic, then the Romans had slightly different features.

The first name in Roman sounded like a prenomen. It was similar to our Petya, Misha. There were very few such names - only eighteen. They were used only for men and were rarely pronounced, in writing they were often indicated by one or two capital letters. That is, no one wrote them completely. Few meanings of these names have survived to this day. Yes, and Appiev, Gnaeus and Quintes are difficult to find among children these days.

In fact, his name was Octavian, since he was adopted by the great emperor. But, having come to power, he missed the first three parts, and soon added the title of Augustus to his name (as a benefactor of the state).

Augustus Octavian had three daughters, Julia. Having no boy heirs, he had to adopt grandchildren, who were also called Julius Caesars. But since they were only grandchildren, they retained their names given at birth. So, the heirs of Tiberius Julius Caesar and Agripa Julius Caesar are known in history. They became famous for simple names Tiberius and Agripa, founding their families. Thus, there is a tendency to a decrease in the name and the disappearance of the need for parts of nomen and coglomen.

It is very easy to get confused in the abundance of generic names. Therefore, Roman names are the most difficult to recognize in the world.