05-24-2005, 06:19 PM
Avete omnes!
Okay, I've read the excellent sections on Roman names on the LEGIOXX and other websites, but I'm still not 100% sure of how a Roman with three names would be known or addressed; if I understand correctly, the Praenomen (Gaius, Quintus, etc.) was not really used alone for address, however Praenomen and Nomen could be. The Cognomen is the most unique to the individual and could be used alone. So, for example, I could address my friend Gaius Octavius Drusus as either 'Gaius Octavius' or simply 'Drusus'- is that correct?
I ask mainly because there seem to be a lot of people who do use the first name alone as an address, but if I have it right above, that's incorrect, yes? The other reason I'm not entirely clear is that people like one of our favorite historians Flavius Vegitus Renatus is commonly referred to by his Nomen- Vegitus; and then there's Pliny- Gaius Plinius Secundus- again known by his Nomen. Now I suspect that these two examples could well be simply the way historians and translators chose to identify these men and that they might not have been known in their times as Vegitus and Plinius, respectively.
One other thing- what's with the free substitution of 'G' and 'C' for one another in names like Gaius? The original Latin alphabet had both a 'C' and a 'G', so it's not a case like it is with 'I' and our 'J'. So why does one sometimes see the name 'Gaius' and sometimes 'Caius'?
Magna gratis.
Valete
Matt
Okay, I've read the excellent sections on Roman names on the LEGIOXX and other websites, but I'm still not 100% sure of how a Roman with three names would be known or addressed; if I understand correctly, the Praenomen (Gaius, Quintus, etc.) was not really used alone for address, however Praenomen and Nomen could be. The Cognomen is the most unique to the individual and could be used alone. So, for example, I could address my friend Gaius Octavius Drusus as either 'Gaius Octavius' or simply 'Drusus'- is that correct?
I ask mainly because there seem to be a lot of people who do use the first name alone as an address, but if I have it right above, that's incorrect, yes? The other reason I'm not entirely clear is that people like one of our favorite historians Flavius Vegitus Renatus is commonly referred to by his Nomen- Vegitus; and then there's Pliny- Gaius Plinius Secundus- again known by his Nomen. Now I suspect that these two examples could well be simply the way historians and translators chose to identify these men and that they might not have been known in their times as Vegitus and Plinius, respectively.
One other thing- what's with the free substitution of 'G' and 'C' for one another in names like Gaius? The original Latin alphabet had both a 'C' and a 'G', so it's not a case like it is with 'I' and our 'J'. So why does one sometimes see the name 'Gaius' and sometimes 'Caius'?
Magna gratis.
Valete
Matt
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