ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2661 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2661 ************************************ 2 Aug 2003 From: Josh Mittleman Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether the name could have been used by a Roman Briton and when. Before we start, we'd like to apologize for the time it has taken to finish this letter. We have considered two questions: whether each element of your name was used in Britain during the Roman period, and the overall construction of the name. We should mention at the outset that the available data includes only a relatively small number of names from Roman Britain. In general, many of these appear to follow the same patterns as names elsewhere in the Empire, so we're willing to assume that names found elsewhere were also available in Britain even when we don't have direct evidence. Of course, it is always better re-creation to use names that definitely were used in the time and place you want to re-create. Your name is an example of the tria nomina -- "three names" -- naming pattern of the Romans. The three names are the "praenomen", a given name; the "nomen" or clan name; and the "cognomen", originally a personal nickname but later used to identify a branch of a clan. The praenomen isn't really the same as our modern notion of a given name: There were fewer than 20 in use, and a given family often used the same one for every male child; so they were not useful for identification. Romans sometimes added extra nicknames, called "agnomina", for individual identification [1, 2, 3, 4]. The tria nomina was common in the first few centuries AD, when it was a prerogative of Roman citizens, but became increasingly rare over the course of the 4th century [5]. We found found several examples of the tria nomina in 3rd century in or near Britain, and one in the 4th century: prefect of cohors I Lingonum at Lanchester under Gordian III from 238 to 244 [6] governor of Britain 203-205 [7] governor of Britain 205-211 [7] governor of Britannia Superior 253?-255 [7] [6] senator and legate in Caerleon, probably 250s [6] vicar of Britain 319 The overall form of your name, therefore, is certainly appropriate for a Roman Briton up to the first half of the 3rd century AD, and was at least occasionally in use until the early 4th century. is an older spelling of the name . It might have been written (or abbreviated ) in your period, but it would have been pronounced \GEY-us\, with \EY\ as in and \u\ as in [8, 9]. One of the examples above shows that it was in use in 3rd century Britain. The name is a fine nomen. It was the name of a large Roman clan, including in its numbers the 1st century writer , known today as [10]. We haven't found an example of the name in Roman Britain, but that may simply be a limitation of the available data. It is certainly a plausible name for 3rd or 4th century Britain. The earliest example we know of the cognomen was in the Imperial family in the 1st century BC: was the father of , better known as the emperor Caligula. The name was used by the Caesars and was adopted by some of their successors until at least the late 1st century AD [11, 12]. We have no evidence that it was used outside the Imperial line or that there was a branch of the Livii known as . We can't rule it out, but it might not be the best choice. As an alternative, you might consider the rather common cognomen [13]. In the 3rd century, was generally pronounced \zhehr-MAH-nih-kus\, where \zh\ stands for the sound of the in . A member of the British landowning class might have used a more classical pronunciation under the influence of schoolmasters and grammarians, \gair-MAH-nee-koos\, with \oo\ as in . Similarly, was generally \zhehr-MAH-nus\ but the learned pronunciation was \gair-MAH-noos\. Thus, in the upper class, your full name might have been pronounced \GEY-oos LEE-vee-oos gair-MAH-noos\ [14]. In summary, the name may be appropriate for a Roman Briton up to the early 3rd century. Another cognomen, such as might be more appropriate. We were assisted in writing and researching this letter by Galiana de Baiona, Talan Gwynek, Lucien d'Artois, Margaret Makafee, Juliana la Caminante de Navarra, Adelaide de Beaumont, and Aryanhwy merch Catmael. If anything has been unclear or if you have further questions please do not hesitate to write again. Mikhail Nicholaev & Arval Benicoeur for the Academy 2 Aug 2003 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Withycombe, E.G., _The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names_, 3rd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988). p. xviii. [2] Birley, Anthony, _The People of Roman Britain_ (London: B T Batsford, Ltd, 1979). pp. 15-17. [3] Mackay, Christopher S. "Roman Names." (WWW: University of Alberta, 1997). http://www.ualberta.ca/~csmackay/CLASS_365/Roman.Rep.Names.html [4] The full list of praenomina used in classical Rome is Appius, Aulus, Decimus, Gaius, Gnaeus, Kaeso, Lucius, Mamercus, Marcus, Manius, Numerius, Publius, Quintus, Servius, Sextus, Spurius, Tiberius, and Titus. Cite Withycombe, p.xviii. [5] Birley, p.19. [6] Guy de la Be/doye\re, "People of Roman Britain" (WWW: privately published, accessed 16 Apr 2003). http://www.bedoyere.freeserve.co.uk/rbpeople.htm [7] Ashley, Mike, _British Kings and Queens_ (New York: Barnes and Noble Books, 2000), pp.85-6. [8] Bonfante, Larissa Bonfante, 'The Scripts of Italy', in _The World's Writing Systems_, ed. by Peter T. Daniels and William Bright, OUP, 1996; p.301. [9] Allen and Greenough's Latin Grammar for Schools and Colleges, rev. and enlarged by James Bradstreet Greenough, assisted by George L. Kittredge (Boston: Ginn & Company, 1888); section 4. [10] "Livy", The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001. http://www.bartleby.com/65/li/Livy.html [11] Encyclopedia Britannica Online, all the articles cited by Margaret Makafee (Gretchen Beck) on 17 March. [12] Solin, Heikki & Olli Salomies, _Repertorium Nominum Gentilium et Cognominum Latinorum_ (Hildesheim: Olms-Weidmann, 1988). [13] 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:56b. [14] Jackson, Kenneth, _Language and history in early Britain; a chronological survey of the Brittonic languages, first to twelfth century A.D._ (Edinburgh, University Press, 1953), 90ff, 109ff.