Language desk
< September 30	<< Sep \| October \| Nov >>	October 2 >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Language Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

October 1

Roman Emperors' names

I'm searching for a reliable resource giving the meaning of the names of Roman Emperors. For example: Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (Caligula) =

Gaius > variant form of Caius;
Julius > from gens Iulia, supposed to have descended from Julus;
Caesar > given name of unknown etruscan origin;
Augustus > means majestic, venerable;
Germanicus > ethnic name (from Germany);
Caligula > the diminutive form of caliga, means little soldier's boot.

Some of them are easy to find: Aemilianus (from Emilia, Claudius (lame), Flavius (blonde), Lucius (light), Marcus (Mars), Quintus (fifth), Septimius (seventh), Severus (serious).
Others are instead quite difficult: Anicius, Egnatius, Eparchius, Galerius, Messius, Numerius, Olybrius, Trebonianus. --151.51.24.225 (talk) 19:50, 1 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Most of them are simply Roman family names (like "Julius" in your example above) or other names that were passed down in families, and didn't really have any particular "meaning" to the people who bore them. Some would seem to derive from place names—for instance, Egnatius from the town of Egnatia (modern Monopoli) in Apulia and Trebonianus from Trebia (modern Trevi) in Umbria. "Eparchius" doubtless derives from Greek ἔπαρχος, "provincial governor". I'm not aware of any works dealing with the etymology of Roman personal names, but if they exist, I'm sure someone will be along to tell you what they are. Deor (talk) 21:14, 1 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, that's exactly what I'm asking: the etymology of the names of Roman Emperors. To be more precise, I've problems with: Anicius Annius Arrius Avitus Boionius Calvinus (from bald?) Carinus Carus Cocceius Commodus Diadumenianus Didius Galba Galerius Geta Herennius Libius (from Libia?) Messius Nepos Nero Nerva Numerianus/Numerius (from number?) Olybrius Opellius Otho Pertinax Pupienus Sabbatius Trebonianus Ulpius Vibius Vitellius (from calf?) Volusianus. --151.51.24.225 (talk) 22:12, 1 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Some of them are just words. Carus (and Carinus) = dear, commodus = happy, Nepos = grandson, pertinax = stubborn. Ulpius probably has something to do with "wolf". Some are place or ethnic names; Boionius looks like the Roman name for Bologna, Geta might be related to the Goths (not all of them are Latin names, per se). Adam Bishop (talk) 00:06, 2 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Some more: Avitus, assuming it is just from the regular word, means grandfatherly; Diadumenianus or Diadumenus is "wearing a diadem"; Galba means either a kind of worm, or the Gallic word for fat (according to Suetonius); and Nero was a Sabine word meaning "strong". Carus, Nepos, Pertinax, Boionius, and Geta are as I said before. We could speculate on the others, since they often look like Latin words, but with words and names, looks can be deceiving. Adam Bishop (talk) 04:30, 2 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Lewis & Short's dictionary says that there's an explanation of how the praenomen Numerius was introduced into the Flavian gens in the epitome known as "Paulus ex Festo" (by Paul the Deacon), a work which I unfortunately don't have at hand. Numerius was the name of a gens as well, though. Otho was of Etruscan descent, so it's probable that his name had an origin in that language. Deor (talk) 06:04, 2 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Note that Germanicus is an ethnic name in that it derives from Germania, but it doesn't mean his ancestors were German. His grandfather got the name because of his military actions against the Germans. 99.166.95.142 (talk) 16:11, 2 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]