Onomastics

by

Heikki Solin

• LAST MODIFIED: 24 October 2024
• DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780195389661-0416

Introduction

This article deals with the use of proper names in the Greco-Roman world. The main stress is laid on names of historical persons; other name categories are divine and heroic names, ethnics, toponyms, names of animals, festivities, and so on. The main sources for ancient onomastics are the hundreds of thousands of inscriptions (including coin legends) and papyri, as well as ancient literary works. Since the decipherment of the Linear B texts, the beginning of the Greek name repertoire has been extended to circa 1400 BCE. In Rome, the first known personal names date to the seventh century BCE. Greek nomenclature is closely affiliated with the Indo-European pattern; its main features can be seen already in Mycenaean Linear B texts and in Homer. As in many other Indo-European languages, like Celtic, German, Slavic, Baltic, Thracian, Indo-Iranian (but not Italic!), the compound names prevailed, but simple names were also numerous (they could be shortenings of compound names or originally simple names, identical to any noun or adjective or suffix derivatives). As in most Indo-European languages, a person bore only one name. It was sufficient in private life, while in public contexts, such as decrees, dedications, or tombstones, it was normally followed by the patronymic in the form of the father’s name in the genitive. An early type of patronymic inherited from Indo-European known in Homer and in Mycenaean, an adjectival form with the suffix -ιος (Αἴας Τελαμώνιος), survived in the historical period only in Aeolic dialects. In addition, patronymics in -ίδης, -(ι)άδης, and in -ίων appear in Homer (Πηλείδης, Πηληιάδης, Πηλείων of Achilles). After the name and the patronymic, an indication of location could further follow: demos or phyle (Δημοσθένης Δημοσθένους Παιανιεύς); one could get along also with the ethnicon (Ἀθηναῖος). It should be emphasized, however, that all these additions were not obligatory; the Greeks were able to manage during the whole of Antiquity with one name only—Rome: In the classical period, the Romans shared with other peoples of Italy, including the Etruscans, a system of personal nomenclature in which the central element was a hereditary family name, gentilicium. The official designation of a freeborn male Roman citizen embraced five components. Thus M. Tullius M. f. Cor. Cicero consists of praenomen, M(arcus); the nomen or gentilicium, the family-name, Tullius; the indication of the father’s name, M(arci) f(ilius); the indication of the Roman voting tribe to which the citizen belonged, Cor(nelia tribu); and the cognomen, Cicero (optional in the Republican age). It is probable, however, that the Italic peoples originally used a single name only. Indo-European compound names were abandoned very early in the proto-Italic period, giving way to simple names, the origin of which often remains obscure, especially of those of the oldest stock. Many are certainly Latin, such as the numerical praenomina such as Quintus and Sextus. Others are definitely of Etruscan origin, as Aulus from avle (derived from avil, “year”).

General Overviews

The first treatments on onomastic matters date to Antiquity. An extract de praenominibus from a Late Antique school grammar has been attached to Iulius Paris’s epitome of Valerius Maximus; it is ascribed to a certain C. Titius Probus. The first scholar from modern times dealing with Roman nomenclature at some length and with success is Carlo Sigone (or Sigonio), alias Carolus Sigonius, who with his De nominibus Romanorum liber from 1555 founded the study of ancient personal names. Henricus Cannegieter’s at his time much-used work De mutata Romanorum nominum sub principibus ratione liber singularis (Utrecht, 1758) is very modest and confused. Only since the middle of the nineteenth century, when comparative Indo-European linguistics began to develop, Greek (Fick 1874, Fick and Bechtel 1894, Bechtel 1917a, Bechtel 1917b, all cited under Greek), and later Latin (Schulze 1904, cited under Gentilicia) personal names were for the first time examined more profoundly from a linguistic standpoint. Historians also had early recognized the importance of the historical aspects of the study of names; classics are Keil 1842 and Letronne 1851 (cited under Greek: Historical Aspects); on the Roman side must be recorded the name of Theodor Mommsen, whose essay on the Roman proper names of the Republican and Augustan period from 1864 has become a classic (see Mommsen 1864, cited under Latin: General Introductions with Main Stress Laid on Historical Aspects). In the twentieth century, ancient onomastics was further promoted thanks to the publication of some indispensable tools, such as comprehensive dictionaries and indices (including epigraphic databases) and the growing interdisciplinary character of onomastic studies; today, the study of ancient personal names is characterized by a lively interest on the part of ancient historians, who have detected in onomastics an important instrument for studying the political and socioeconomic history of Antiquity. This is especially true for the study of Roman nomenclature, where the interdependence of historical, political, and social action and the use and formation of personal names is very intricate.

• Cheesman, Clive. 2006. Names and naming systems. In The Edinburgh companion to ancient Greece and Rome. Edited by E. Bispham, T. J. Harrison, and B. A. Sparkes, 465–470. Edinburgh: Edinburgh Univ. Press.

  Brief and very basic account, not recommended even for beginners.

• Fraenkel, Ernst. 1935. Namenwesen. In Paulys Real-Encyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft. Vol. 16, 2. Neue Bearbeitung begonnen von Georg Wissowa herausgegeben von Wilhelm Kroll, 1611–1670. Stuttgart: Buchhandlung J. B. Metzler.

  Excellent introduction to the formation of Greek and Latin personal names, written from a linguistic viewpoint. Historical aspects are somewhat disregarded.

• Gély, Suzanne, ed. 1988. Sens et pouvoirs de la nomination dans les cultures hellénique et romaine. Séminaire d’études des mentalités antiques. Actes du colloque de Montpellier 23, 24 mai 1987. Montpellier: Publications de la recherche, Université Paul Valéry.

  Collection of papers of variable quality, from mediocre to inferior.

• Hirzel, Rudolf. 1918. Der Name: Ein Beitrag zu seiner Geschichte im Altertum und besonders bei den Griechen. Leipzig: B. G. Teubner.

  More historically oriented; in linguistic matters not always reliable.

• Jones, F. 1996. Nominum ratio: Aspects of the use of personal names in Greek and Latin. In Liverpool Classical Papers No. 4. Liverpool, UK: Liverpool Classical Monthly.

  Somewhat chaotic and uncritical collection of various thoughts of very little utility (cf. Arctos 34, 2000, 275).

• Salvadore, Marcello. 1987. Il nome, la persona: Saggio sull’etimologia antica. Genoa, Italy: Pubbl. Dip. archeol., filol. class. e loro tradizioni.

  Examines opinions of ancient authors regarding meaning and etymology of personal names. Rich bibliography.

• Schmidt, Peter Lebrecht. 1989. C. Titius Probus, De nomine et verbo. In Handbuch der lateinischen Literatur der Antike. Vol. 5. Edited by Reinhart Herzog and Peter Lebrecht Schmidt, 121–122. Munich: C. H. Beck.

  Excellent analysis of the only preserved onomastic treatise of Antiquity.

• Solin, Heikki. 1996. Ancient onomastics: Perspectives and problems. In Roman onomastics in the Greek East: Social and political aspects; Proceedings of the international colloquium organized by the Finnish Institute and the Centre for Greek and Roman antiquity, Athens, 7–9 September 1993. Edited by Athanasios D. Rizakis. Athens: Research Centre for Greek and Roman Antiquity.

  A brief survey of the history of onomastic research work from the nineteenth century until our days. See Rizakis 1996, cited under Roman Nomenclature in the Greek World.

• Solin, Heikki. 2013. Name. In Reallexikon für Antike und Christentum: Sachwörterbuch zur Auseinandersetzung des Christentums mit der antiken Welt. Vol. 25. Edited by Georg Schöllen, et al. 729–795. Stuttgart: Anton Hiersemann.

  A survey of Greek, Latin, and Christian nomenclature.

• Solmsen, Felix. 1922. Indogermanische Eigennamen als Spiegel der Kulturgeschichte. Edited by Ernst Fraenkel. Heidelberg, Germany: Carl Winter’s Universitätsbuchhandlung.

  Good treatment of toponyms of various kinds, ethnica, and personal names in Indo-European languages (mainly Greek, Latin, and German). For ancient personal names, partly superseded by Fraenkel 1935.