Manius ( , ; feminine form: ''Mania'') is a Latin , or
personal name
A personal name, or full name, in onomastic terminology also known as prosoponym (from Ancient Greek πρόσωπον / ''prósōpon'' - person, and ὄνομα / ''onoma'' - name), is the set of names by which an individual person is known ...
, which was used throughout the period of the
Roman Republic
The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Kin ...
, and well into
imperial
Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism.
Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to:
Places
United States
* Imperial, California
* Imperial, Missouri
* Imperial, Nebraska
* Imperial, Pennsylvania
* Imperial, Texa ...
times. The name was used by both
patrician
Patrician may refer to:
* Patrician (ancient Rome), the original aristocratic families of ancient Rome, and a synonym for "aristocratic" in modern English usage
* Patrician (post-Roman Europe), the governing elites of cities in parts of medieval ...
and
plebeian
In ancient Rome, the plebeians (also called plebs) were the general body of free Roman citizens who were not patricians, as determined by the census, or in other words " commoners". Both classes were hereditary.
Etymology
The precise origins of ...
families, and gave rise to the
patronymic
A patronymic, or patronym, is a component of a personal name based on the given name of one's father, grandfather (avonymic), or an earlier male ancestor.
Patronymics are still in use, including mandatory use, in many countries worldwide, alt ...
and . Manius was originally abbreviated with an archaic five-stroke "M" (in Unicode ), which was not otherwise used in Latin. In place of this letter, the praenomen came to be abbreviated M'.
[''Dictionary of Greek & Roman Biography & Mythology'']
Although regularly used by certain , such as the
Acilii
The gens Acilia was a plebeian family at ancient Rome, that flourished from the middle of the third century BC until at least the fifth century AD, a period of seven hundred years. The first of the gens to achieve prominence was Gaius Acilius, wh ...
,
Aemilii
The gens Aemilia, originally written Aimilia, was one of the greatest patrician families at ancient Rome. The gens was of great antiquity, and claimed descent from Numa Pompilius, the second King of Rome. Its members held the highest offices o ...
,
Aquilii,
Papirii,
Sergii Sergiy is a Ukrainian masculine given name that comes from the ancient Roman generic name Segius. The current official transliteration from Ukrainian is Serhii (previously the following variants were also used: Sergiy, Serhiy, Sergii, Serhij). Rus ...
, and
Valerii
The gens Valeria was a patrician family at ancient Rome, prominent from the very beginning of the Republic to the latest period of the Empire. Publius Valerius Poplicola was one of the consuls in 509 BC, the year that saw the overthrow of the ...
, Manius was not used by the majority of families, and was never particularly common. Between ten and twelve other praenomina were used more frequently. It became less common during the period of the
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediterr ...
, eventually falling out of use.
Origin and meaning of the name
The Roman scholar
Sextus Pompeius Festus
Sextus Pompeius Festus, usually known simply as Festus, was a Roman grammarian who probably flourished in the later 2nd century AD, perhaps at Narbo (Narbonne) in Gaul.
Work
He made a 20-volume epitome of Verrius Flaccus's voluminous and encyclo ...
believed that Manius was derived from ''mane'', "the morning", and therefore was originally given to children born in the morning. It has also been proposed that the name may have been given to children born in the month of Februarius, the month sacred to the ''manes'', the souls of the dead. However, Chase proposes that it instead derives from the archaic adjective ''manus'', meaning "good". The name's superficial similarity to ''manes'' may have been one reason why Manius was relatively uncommon.
[George Davis Chase, "The Origin of Roman Praenomina", in ''Harvard Studies in Classical Philology'', vol. VIII (1897)]
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Manius (Praenomen)
Ancient Roman praenomina