Societas Via Romana - Discussion Archives

Posted: **Tue Dec 07, 2004 1:34 am**

Salvete omnes,

In accordance with the recent Senatorial decree, which prohibits certain agnomina (such as my own, Britannicus) I have changed my name from Britannicus to Agelastus. *sniffs with a little nostalgia*

Bene valete,
Marcus Scribonius Curio Agelastus.

Posted: **Tue Dec 07, 2004 2:05 am**

Salve, mi Curio (well, at least ya didn't have ta change that part...!),

Very sad indeed. You'll always be "Curio Britannicus" in my thoughts; it takes me too long to memorize someone's name for the Senate of anything to ask me to do it twice...

But tell me, sir: Quod significat 'Agelastus'?

Waitin' on a praenomen,

Posted: **Tue Dec 07, 2004 2:51 pm**

Sorry to poop on your party, but since you timed your name change in accordance with my finalization, I though I would post mine here as well. By all means, no harm meant toward your thread, sir!

How does Q. Iulius Scerio sound? It's either at or maybe Aurelius aut Valerius. I can't decide...

Posted: **Thu Dec 09, 2004 12:13 am**

Salvete,

Scerio, I'm not sure why, but Quintus Valerius Scerio sounds best of the three nomina you suggested, to my ears at least.

Mari, Britannicus will be a part of my name for a long time, whether in an official capacity or not...

Waiting on a praenomen? Well the praenomen remains Marcus... Or have I misunderstood entirely?

Quod significat Agelastus? I was planning to go with Polanicus, but then realised it had the same problem as Britannicus... Agelastus seemed another good one - as I understand it it means "He who never smiles". Perfect for a cynical pessimist. :lol:

Bene valete,
Marcus Scribonius Curio Agelastus.

Posted: **Thu Dec 09, 2004 3:22 am**

Salve Curio

Curio fits you. Agelastus just doesn't sound right to me, and I don't see why you should need an agnomen anyway. If you are to have an agnomen then imo it should be one bestowed on you by your amici for some accomplishment you acheived. Now if you conquer Britannia for us....

Meanwhile I am trying to rid myself of my "UnRoman" nomen of Moravius, as the Senate has suggested, and return to my original Marcus Horatius Pisicinus, by trying to reregister under that name with my new email addy and either it is not being accepted or hasn't been approved yet. :roll:

At least I'll get to keep Piscinus :wink:

Vale optime

Posted: **Thu Dec 09, 2004 12:48 pm**

Salve Piscine,

You can just change the name of your account under "profile", you don't have to make a new account...

Vale bene,
Draco

Posted: **Thu Dec 09, 2004 3:22 pm**

Salvete Draco et omnes

Actually I have five accounts, all created by Locatus, so every time I tried what you suggested I would get the "sorry but..." Anyway I finally found a variation that Locatus didn't use.

btw aediles, I should have sent you more photos for alternative avatars. Do we still have a photo page? Maybe a photo page for Col Rel, as there were some photos I used for the course I was teaching and I can send them on.

Valete optime

Posted: **Fri Dec 10, 2004 4:52 am**

> Waiting on a praenomen? Well the praenomen remains Marcus... Or have I misunderstood entirely?

You misunderstood, but not badly. >({|:-)

The praenomen I am waiting to hear about is not yours, but my own. The new one, the one I'd said I was pondering when the Decretum took effect. I have consulted with Draco, and on his recommendation I have contacted Consul Dionysius Mus...he being the chief author of the Decretum, you see, he'd know better than anyone if my short exercise in Medievalism will be consonant with its spirit or no. If he likes it, and my reasons for it, I shall forward it to the Censores.

And if they like it, well...I'll say so here, and you'll all find out what it is! <beams>

In fide,

Posted: **Fri Dec 10, 2004 11:47 am**

Well, in this time of Name Changing I am doing it too! To keep myself inline
(and to keep from confusing myself with my OP persona) I am going to be
changing mine to "Quintus Servilius Fidenas" soon. Goodbye, Corneliae and
Hello, Servilia!

GnLC/QSF

Posted: **Sat Dec 11, 2004 3:20 pm**

Salvete,

Piscine, what kind of accomplishment would merit Agelastus?

As I understand it, it was only the agnomina of self-aggrandisement that required Senatorial approval. Those that are simply descriptive are allowed. As for your comment that Agelastus doesn't suit me, I'll consider it for a while yet before being certain.

An exercise in Medievalism, Mari? What's wrong with Lucius?

Congratulations, Quintus Servilius Fidenas - you might want to change your profile, so that the name to the left of your posts shows your new name rather than your old name.

Bene valete,
Marcus Scribonius Curio Agelastus.

Posted: **Sun Dec 12, 2004 12:38 am**

Ave, mi Curio, et Salvete omnes...

> An exercise in Medievalism, Mari? What's wrong with Lucius?

Nothing wrong with it so much, amice; there's just nothing terribly right with it, either, for me. Back when the planets were condensing from clouds of gas, I chose my Roman name...or the meaningful part of it anyway; I was a Marius. But I had to have both prae- and post-nomina, did I not? The cognomen Fimbria lasted several years (I really do have magnificent bangs), but acquired a foul taste after my time in the OP. After a brief, I-don't-know-what-to-do-but-I-have-to-do-something period as Aurelianus, I found the 'nick' that said it all, and became Marius Peregrinus: Peregrinus the Wanderer, the Pilgrim, the Foreigner, the Exile, and the falconer's most coveted companion. I am all of these things, and more that are not described by my name; but Peregrinus comes very close to summing me up. (The Wolf has the same wanderlust and indomitable nature, so I let the Falcon stand for them both.)

But the praenomen... There were only ever a few dozen Roman given names in circulation at any given time, and only three were in use by gens Maria. I was not terribly impressed with any of them. I donned "Lucius" as a placeholder, nothing more. You may measure my patience with the situation by how long it took me to find a praenomen that I could feel in my soul. Now that I have, I am nudging people about making the change.

Betwixt-and-Between,

Posted: **Sun Dec 12, 2004 11:16 am**

Salve Kaeso

Were you adopted into gens Coruncania, you would keep your former nomen in this manner: Kaeso Coruncanius Duellianus. As for the rest, I have no idea what you are talking about.

Posted: **Sun Dec 12, 2004 12:56 pm**

Salve Kaeso!

Yes, Piscinus is right. If you enter gens Coruncania, the most logical name would be Kaeso Coruncanius Duellianus. I had never thought an actual Duellius once existed by the way

.

Oh and thank you for standing up to serve SVR. I think I'll most certainly consider voting for you.

Vale bene,
Draco

Posted: **Mon Dec 13, 2004 6:40 am**

Salve Duelliane

I will have to opt for B, because I still have little idea on what you mean in option A. That's fine, though, because few people can follow my thoughts once I get started on something of interest to me. And as I am not running for any offices, free to write on things of interest to me, I just may keep you busy doing what you do, should you be elected aedilis.

Vale optime

Posted: **Wed Jan 12, 2005 7:09 am**

Salvete Romani,

I have this day been granted a change of praenomen by the Censores. I am now Aldus Marius Peregrinus.

I know that "Aldus" is not a traditional Roman praenomen; it is, in fact, Medieval Latin, as I mentioned in my last public posting on the Decretum issue. Nevertheless, I have had my reasons for wishing to adopt it, which I shall explain below.

Aldus Manutius was an Italian printer of the late 1400s-early 1500s. This was when printing with moveable type was just beginning to really take off. Notations on texts were almost entirely directed at telling church people how to sing them, not the layman how to read them. So, among other innovations and adaptations, Aldus invented the leaning italic typefaces and much of our modern punctuation system. He also introduced the custom of using a colophon or printer's mark, which you can still see being done by today's major publishing houses.

I have been a printer since I was twelve years old. My respect for this man goes far and deep. I desired to honor him by taking his praenomen as my own. My petition to that effect having just been granted, I may at last make my way through the Roman world with a praenomen I can feel..

I wish to thank the Censores for permitting me this thing; also Dionysius Draco and Dionysius Mus for procedural advice and moral support. Gratias vobis ago, omnes; the thing that began to form a dozen years ago is now complete. Ita est!

In fide,

Posted: **Wed Jan 12, 2005 1:36 pm**

So, I managed to change Ariadne (Gnæus Dionysius Draco told me to do so) into Lucia.

Maybe its a stupid question (but that's what blondes are for) but who 'chooses' this list of names and on what grounds?

Yours truly

Lucia

Posted: **Thu Jan 13, 2005 12:49 am**

Salve
Well that would be the censors I guess based on the list Mus has made last year.

Quintus

Posted: **Thu Jan 13, 2005 9:27 am**

Salve, Lucia (and congrats on the new handle!),

I can't speak for all the names on the whole list, but the praenomina at least are probably based on the couple of dozen (no more!) "first names" known to have historically been in use. And not every gens had access to all of these; the Marii got by with five, the Iulii only ever used three. Go ahead, say it: "How could they stand it??"

The most commonly-used Roman praenomina were these:
-- Appius [*]
-- Aulus
-- Decimus
-- Caius/Gaius (either spelling)
-- Cnaeus/Gnaeus (ditto)
-- Lucius
-- Mamercus [*]
-- Manius
-- Marcus
-- Postumus
-- Publius
-- Quintus
-- Servius
-- Sextus
-- Spurius
-- Tiberius
-- Titus
-- Vopiscus [*]

[*] "Appius" used only by the Claudii; "Mamercus" by the Aemilius Lepidus clan; and "Vopiscus" by them Iulians.

I haven't reviewed the Societas' list, but I imagine the praenomina section more or less follows these. If there are more names on it, they are probably the rarer attested forms...or perhaps things that were admitted to the Societas at one time and have since become accepted.

For the nomina (gens names), I would imagine the same rule of historicity applies, keeping in mind that the Societas' own history may have introduced some oddities not otherwise documented.

On cognomina, it's (almost) anything goes; when I am asked to help someone pick a cognomen, I tell them to think of a word that describes themselves and/or how they want to be known, translate that into Latin and there ya go. We do shy away from people naming themselves after Gods or ridiculously-famous people, and we don't like cuss-words or things that mean something grandiose or embarrassing.

Other'n that, you can call yourself almost anything if you can explain it convincingly to the Censores. All it has to be is properly-formed, Latin, harmonious to the ear, and at least similar to something an ancient Roman might have called him- or herself.

Censores, do correct me if I have made any grievous misstatements!

In fide,

Posted: **Thu Jan 13, 2005 9:45 am**

I'm still waiting if anyone can figure out the riddle of my cognomen...

Posted: **Thu Jan 13, 2005 1:18 pm**

Salve Mari,

Yes, you are right

. It was actually Mus who, after careful historical research, who drafted the list. There are more weird praenomina out there than I had I expected. The app form isn't updated with it yet, and actually it's long overdue. Somehow it always seems to have slipped through the administrative fingers.

Vale bene!
Draco

Societas Via Romana - Discussion Archives

New name!

New name!

Translation?

Waitin' on a Praenomen

Goodbye Corneliae!

Lucius.

Mari's new one

Dem Names