ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2172
http://www.s-gabriel.org/2172
************************************

29 Dec 2000
From:  (Josh Mittleman)


Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!

You asked whether <Marcus Mercator Valeria> is an appropriate name for a
woman in late Roman Britain between 430 and 500 CE, daughter of a retired
Roman soldier <Marcus Mercator Valerius>.  Here is what we have found.

You wrote that you particularly want to use the three-part Roman name form.
Unfortunately, that style of name ceased to be used several centuries
before your period.

In the early Empire, the tria nomina consisted of a praenomen (given name),
nomen (gens or clan name), and cognomen (originally a personal nickname,
but later inherited within a branch of a gens).  Very early in Roman
history, women occasionally used the same style of name [1, 2]; but by the
late Republic and early Empire, women's praenomina dropped out of use and
women used abbreviated names, typically consisting only of a feminine form
of their father's nomen plus a simple byname based on birth order.  You
wrote that you particularly do not want to use a name in this style,
e.g. <Valeria Prima> or <Valeria Secunda> [3].

By the third century, this style of naming fell out of fashion.  The
praenomen disappeared from use, and two-element names became the norm.
Women began to use true given names, many of them derived from nomina or
cognomina [4].  By the 4th century, 90% of men and women in the Empire were
identified by a single name (derived from a cognomen); by the 5th century
that number had risen to 95%.  The remainder used a nomen plus cognomen,
and a few consisted of a single name plus a patronymic byname [5, 6, 7].

<Marcus> was a common praenomen in the early Imperial period, and it
produced a derivative nomen <Marcius>.  The latter form is recorded in
France in the 10th century [8] and we're confident it was available in
Britain in your period.  We know no circumstances in which a woman would
have used a masculine form, but the feminine form <Marcia> would be a fine
choice.  In your period, it would probably have been pronounced
\MAR-tsee-ah\.  Other appropriate feminine derivatives of <Marcus> include
<Marcella>, <Marcelina>, <Marcilla>, and <Marcianilla> [8, 9, 10].

<Mercator> "merchant, dealer" was used in the early Imperial period as a
cognomen, but not as a nomen [9].  We found record of a potter in York
identified only as <Mercator>, probably in the 2nd century [11].  The
feminine form of this Latin word is <mercatrix>.  We haven't found
<mercatrix> used as a cognomen, but we've found enough other cognomina that
end in <-trix> for us to be confident that this is a reasonable choice
[12].

<Valerius> was a common nomen [9].  A widow of a 1st or 2nd century Roman
knight at Colchester was named <Valeria Frontina> [13].

The name <Marcus Valerius Mercator> would be entirely appropriate for a man
in 1st or 2nd century Rome.  By the 5th century, though, the three-part
name had fallen out of use.  <Marcius Mercator> and <Valerius Mercator> are
plausible masculine names for your period, though <Marcius> or <Valerius>
alone would have been more typical.  The feminine <Valeria Mercatrix> is a
fine Romano-British name at least as late as the 3rd century.  Pushing it
as late as the 5th century requires speculating well beyond the evidence,
but we can't rule it out.  <Mercatrix> would have been understood either as
a family name or as a literal occupational description: "Valeria the
merchant" (or "daughter/wife of the merchant").  However, <Valeria> alone
would be far more typical of your period.  Valeria the daughter of Marcius
might also have been identified as <Valeria Marcii filia> "Valeria Marcius'
daughter".  <Marcia> or some other feminine form of <Marcus> could be
replaced for <Valeria> in any of these examples.


In closing, we'd like to offer a note on the history of the Roman military
presence in Britain.  The imperial pretender Constantine III withdrew the
bulk of Roman troops from Britain in 407.  Roman rule of Britain came to an
end in 410 [14].  You may want to read a little further on the history of
your period.  Some good references are:

  Birley, Anthony, _The People of Roman Britain_ (London: B T Batsford,
    Ltd, 1979). 

  Johnson, Stephen, _Later Roman Britain_ (Scribner's: Charles Scribner's
    Sons, 1980). 

  Salway, Peter, _Roman Britain_ (Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 1984).


We hope this letter has been useful.  Please write us again if any part of
it has been unclear or if you have other questions.  I was assisted in
researching and writing this letter by Talan Gwynek, Tangwystyl verch
Morgant Glasvryn, Adelaide de Beaumont, and Antonio Miguel Santos de Borja.

For the Academy,


  Arval Benicoeur
  29 Dec 2000


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References

[1] Johnston, Harold Whetstone, _The Private Life of the Romans_ (Chicago:
Scott, Foresman and Company, 1903). 

[2] Kajanto, "On the Peculiarities of Women's Nomenclature" in
"L'Onomastique Latine" (Paris: Editions du Centre National de la Recherche
Scientifique, 1977).

[3] Aryanhwy merch Catmael, A Simple Guide to Classical Roman Naming
Practices (WWW: privately published, 1999).
http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/sg-roman.html

[4] Birley, Anthony, _The People of Roman Britain_ (London: B T Batsford,
Ltd, 1979), p.19.

[5] Kajanto, "The Emergence of the Late Single Name System" in
"L'Onomastique Latine".  He notes an exception: "In the inscriptions of the
Roman magistrates of senatorial rank in CIL, VI, we find one or more
gentilicia followed by one or more cognomina still in common use in the 5th
century AD.  Polyonymy rather than single name was characteristic of the
late nomenclature of the Roman nobility.  It was not until the 6th century
that even the aristocrats began to bear single names."  Your persona does
not fit the noble class, so a single name would be most appropriate for
your period.

[6] Burn, Andrew Robert, "The Romans in Britain: an anthology of
inscriptions" (Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1969).

[7] Gordon, Arthur Ernest, _Album of Dated Latin Inscriptions_ (Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1958-65).  His dated confirms the pattern
noted by Kajanto, including the use of longer names among higher-ranking
officials. 

[8] Morlet, Marie-Therese, _Les Noms de Personne sur le Territoire de
l'Ancienne Gaule du VIe au XIIe Siecle_, three volumes (Paris: Centre
National de la Recherche Scientifique, 1972), II:74.

[9] Solin, Heikki & Olli Salomies, _Repertorium Nominum Gentilium et
Cognominum Latinorum_ (Hildesheim: Olms-Weidmann, 1988), s.nn. Marcia,
Mercator, Mercatorius, Valerius, Valerianus.

[10] Heikki Solin, "Die Innere Chronologie des Romischen Cognomens" in
"L'Onomastique Latine".

[11] Birley, pp.135.

[12] Solin & Salomies, passim.

[13] Birley, pp.116.

[14] "United Kingdom: Decline of Roman Rule", Encyclopaedia Britannica
(WWW: Britannica.com, 1999-2000).
http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/0/0,5716,120040+13+110750,00.html