Mettius (praenomen)
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Mettius is a Latin '' praenomen'', or personal name, which was used in pre-Roman times and perhaps during the early centuries 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 Ki ...
, but which was obsolete by the 1st century BC. The feminine form is ''Mettia''. The patronymic '' gens Mettia'' was derived from this praenomen. The name was rare in historical times, and not regularly abbreviated. The praenomen ''Mettius'' is known primarily from two individuals who lived during the earliest period of Roman history. Mettius Curtius was a
Sabine The Sabines (; lat, Sabini; it, Sabini, all exonyms) were an Italic people who lived in the central Apennine Mountains of the ancient Italian Peninsula, also inhabiting Latium north of the Anio before the founding of Rome. The Sabines di ...
warrior who fought under
Titus Tatius According to the Roman foundation myth, Titus Tatius was the king of the Sabines from Cures and joint-ruler of the Kingdom of Rome for several years. During the reign of Romulus, the first king of Rome, Tatius declared war on Rome in resp ...
during the time of Romulus, the founder and first king of Rome. During a major battle, the Sabine champion narrowly escaped drowning in a swampy area.
Mettius Fufetius Mettius Fufetius (died in ~670 BC) was a dictator of Alba Longa, an ancient town in central Italy near Rome. He was appointed to his position after the death of Alban king Gaius Cluilius. When a full-blown war threatened to erupt between the Alb ...
was the commander of the Alban forces during the war between Rome and Alba Longa, during the reign of Tullus Hostilius, the third king of Rome. After the Albans were defeated, they became nominal allies of Rome. Hostilius had Fufetius brutally executed, and Rome's mother city razed, because he suspected the Alban commander of disloyalty. As with other rare praenomina, ''Mettius'' may once have been more widespread amongst the plebeians, and in the countryside. Other than the Curtii and Fufetii, the name is known to have been used by the obscure ''gens Scuilia'', and must once have been used by the ancestors of ''gens Mettia''.


Origin and Meaning of the Name

Because one of the two historical figures named ''Mettius'' was Sabine, while the other was Latin, the praenomen may have been an ancient one common to both the Latin and Oscan languages. Its meaning remains obscure; it was not mentioned by either Varro or Festus, and Chase has nothing to say about the name. Scullard equates the name with the Oscan word ''meddix'', apparently a cognate of the Latin '' magister''. If this is correct, then the name would belong to a class of praenomina including the Etruscan ''Arruns'' and ''Lars'', which were derived from words meaning ''prince'' and ''lord'', respectively. Although known from only a handful of examples in Latin, the praenomen Mettius was borrowed by the Etruscans, in whose language it became ''Metie''.
Jacques Heurgon Jacques Heurgon (25 January 1903 – 27 October 1995) was a French university, normalian, Etruscan scholar and Latinist, professor of Latin language and literature at the Sorbonne. Married to Anne Heurgon-Desjardins, founder in 1952, of the Ce ...
, ''Daily Life of the Etruscans'' (1964)


References

{{Praenomina Ancient Roman praenomina