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 is an appropriate name for a woman in late Roman Britain between 430 and 500 CE, daughter of a retired Roman soldier . 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. or [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]. was a common praenomen in the early Imperial period, and it produced a derivative nomen . 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 would be a fine choice. In your period, it would probably have been pronounced \MAR-tsee-ah\. Other appropriate feminine derivatives of include , , , and [8, 9, 10]. "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 , probably in the 2nd century [11]. The feminine form of this Latin word is . We haven't found 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]. was a common nomen [9]. A widow of a 1st or 2nd century Roman knight at Colchester was named [13]. The name 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. and are plausible masculine names for your period, though or alone would have been more typical. The feminine 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. 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, alone would be far more typical of your period. Valeria the daughter of Marcius might also have been identified as "Valeria Marcius' daughter". or some other feminine form of could be replaced for 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 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 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