An additional cognomen given to a Roman citizen, often in honor of military victories.
[Latin : ad-, ad- (influenced by agnōscere, to recognize) + nōmen, name.]
agnomen
Dictionary:
ag·no·men (ăg-nō'mən)  |
n., pl., -nom·i·na (-nŏm'ə-nə).
An additional cognomen given to a Roman citizen, often in honor of military victories.
An additional cognomen given to a Roman citizen, often in honor of military victories.
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(ag-NO-men)
noun, plural agnomina
A nickname.
Etymology
From Latin ag- (a variant of ad- : additional) + nomen (name)
In ancient Rome, names of people typically had three parts: praenomen (given name), nomen (name of the clan), and cognomen (family name). Example: Gaius Julius Caesar. Sometimes, an additional fourth name, agnomen, was given to honor an achievement. These names were not substitutes for the real name, rather they were used in addition. Also, they were not inherited. Example: Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus, given to mark his victories in Africa.
An example of a modern agnomen is "Teflon" Reagan. Lion is a popular agnomen.
"[Richard] is imprisoned on his return by the German emperor, and earns the agnomen 'Lion-Hearted' by tearing out the heart of a lion sent to devour him." — Paul Beekman Taylor; Sir Orfeo and the Minstrel King; ANQ, American Notes & Queries (St. Louis, Missouri); Winter 2000.
| Wikipedia: Agnomen |
An agnomen (plural: agnomina), in the Roman naming convention, was a nickname, just as the cognomen was initially. However, the cognomina eventually became family names, so agnomina was needed to distinguish between similarly-named persons. However, as the agnomen was an additional and optional component in a Roman name, not all Romans had an agnomen (at least not recorded).
Pseudo-Probus uses the hero of the Punic Wars, Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus, as an example:
| “ | propria hominum nomina in quattuor species dividuntur, praenomen nomen cognomen agnomen: praenomen, ut puta Publius, nomen Cornelius, cognomen Scipio, agnomen Africanus.
(Men's personal names are of four types, praenomen, nomen, cognomen and agnomen: praenomen for instance Publius, nomen Cornelius, cognomen Scipio and agnomen Africanus.) |
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Marius Victorinus further elucidates:
| “ | Iam agnomen extrinsecus venit, et venit tribus modis, aut ex animo aut ex corpore aut ex fortuna: ex animo, sicut Superbus et Pius, ex corpore, sicut Crassus et Pulcher, ex fortuna, sicut Africanus et Creticus.
(Now the agnomen comes from outside, and in three styles, from personality or physique or achievements: From personality, such as Superbus ["Haughty"] and Pius [displaying the Roman syndrome of virtues including honesty, reverence to the gods, devotion to family and state, etc.], from physique, such as Crassus ["Fatty"] and Pulcher ["Handsome"], or from achievements, such as Africanus and Creticus [from their victories in Africa and on Crete]. |
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Africanus, Creticus and the likes are also known as victory titles. For example, Gaius Marcius Coriolanus earned his from the capture of Corioli.
As a minimum, a Roman agnomen is a name attached to an individual's full titulature after birth and formal naming by the family. True Roman nicknames, fully replacing the individual's name in usage, are rare. An example is Caligula, which was used in place of, and not along with, his full name, which was Gaius Iulius Caesar Augustus Germanicus. Caligula's praenomen was Gaius, his nomen Iulius, his cognomen Caesar. Some agnomina were inherited like the cognomen, thus establishing a sub-family.
An agnomen is not a pseudonym, but a real name; agnomina are additions to, not substitutions for, an individual's full name. Parallel examples of agnomina from later times are epithets like Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson (though he is known more often by his agnomen than his first name) or popular nicknames like "Iron" Mike Tyson.
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 | Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more |
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