Octavius is a Latin

praenomen The ''praenomen'' (; plural: ''praenomina'') was a personal name chosen by the parents of a Roman child. It was first bestowed on the ''dies lustricus'' (day of lustration), the eighth day after the birth of a girl, or the ninth day after the bi ...

, 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 ...

. It was never particularly common at Rome, but may have been used more frequently in the countryside. The feminine form is Octavia. The name gave rise to the patronymic gens Octavia, and perhaps also to gens Otacilia, also written ''Octacilia''. A late inscription gives the abbreviation Oct.

History

The praenomen Octavius is best known from

Octavius Mamilius Octavius Mamilius (died 498/496 BC) was ''princeps'' ("leader, prince") of Tusculum, an ancient city of Latium. He was the son-in-law of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, the seventh and last king of Rome. According to tradition, the '' gens Mamilia'' ...

, the prince of

Tusculum Tusculum is a ruined Roman city in the Alban Hills, in the Latium region of Italy. Tusculum was most famous in Roman times for the many great and luxurious patrician country villas sited close to the city, yet a comfortable distance from Rome ( ...

, and son-in-law of

Lucius Tarquinius Superbus Lucius Tarquinius Superbus (died 495 BC) was the legendary seventh and final king of Rome, reigning 25 years until the popular uprising that led to the establishment of the Roman Republic.Livy, ''ab urbe condita libri'', I He is commonly known ...

, the seventh and last king of Rome, who was slain by Titus Herminius at the

Battle of Lake Regillus The Battle of Lake Regillus was a legendary Roman victory over the Latin League shortly after the establishment of the Roman Republic and as part of a wider Latin War. The Latins were led by an elderly Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, the se ...

about 498 BC. Members of the

Mamilia gens The gens Mamilia was a plebeian family at ancient Rome during the period of the Republic. The gens was originally one of the most distinguished families of Tusculum, and indeed in the whole of Latium. It is first mentioned in the time of the Ta ...

afterward came to Rome, and the name must have been used by the ancestors of the Octavii and perhaps the Otacilii, but examples of the praenomen are scarce. At least in its feminine form, ''Octavius'' seems to have been used on occasion throughout 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 into imperial times. The name was used by gens Maecia, and a woman named "Octavia Valeria Vera" lived at

Ticinum Ticinum (the modern Pavia) was an ancient city of Gallia Transpadana, founded on the banks of the river of the same name (now the Ticino river) a little way above its confluence with the Padus ( Po). It was said by Pliny the Elder to have been ...

in the second or third century. Either through direct transmission or revival, the name has survived to the present day.

Origin and meaning

The root of ''Octavius'' is the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

numeral ''octavus'', meaning "eight" or "eighth". It might be expected to appear as ''Octavus'', feminine ''Octava'', but in the few examples known it seems to have been treated as an " stem", and is given as ''Octavius'' or ''Octavia''. This occurs with certain other praenomina, including the feminine forms ''Marcia'' and ''Titia'', which are usually found in place of the expected ''Marca'' and ''Tita''. Octavius falls into the same class as the masculine praenomina ''

Quintus Quintus is a male given name derived from '' Quintus'', a common Latin forename (''praenomen'') found in the culture of ancient Rome. Quintus derives from Latin word ''quintus'', meaning "fifth". Quintus is an English masculine given name and ...

'', ''

Sextus Sextus is an ancient Roman '' praenomen'' or "first name". Its standard abbreviation is Sex., and the feminine form would be Sexta. It is one of the numeral ''praenomina'', like Quintus ("fifth") and Decimus ("tenth"), and means "sixth". Althoug ...

'', '' Septimus'', '' Nonus'', and '' Decimus'', as well as the feminine names ''Prima'', ''Secunda'', ''Tertia'', ''Quarta'', ''Quinta'', ''Sexta'', ''Septima'', ''Nona'', and ''Decima''. Originally the name was probably given to an eighth child, eighth son, or eighth daughter. However, scholars have long postulated that, at least at Rome, such names might instead refer to the month of the year in which a child was born. Over time, the literal meanings of such names were commonly ignored, and the more common names bestowed without regard for meaning, perhaps explaining why certain names, such as those based on the numerals from seven to nine, came to be neglected. In the form ''Uchtave'', the praenomen was also used by the Etruscans.Heurgon, ''Daily Life of the Etruscans''.

References

Bibliography

* Titus Livius (

Livy Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Ancient Rome, Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditiona ...

), ''

History of Rome The history of Rome includes the history of the city of Rome as well as the civilisation of ancient Rome. Roman history has been influential on the modern world, especially in the history of the Catholic Church, and Roman law has influenced m ...

''. *

Theodor Mommsen Christian Matthias Theodor Mommsen (; 30 November 1817 – 1 November 1903) was a German classical scholar, historian, jurist, journalist, politician and archaeologist. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest classicists of the 19th cent ...

''et alii'', ''

Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum The ''Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum'' (''CIL'') is a comprehensive collection of ancient Latin inscriptions. It forms an authoritative source for documenting the surviving epigraphy of classical antiquity. Public and personal inscriptions throw ...

'' (The Body of Latin Inscriptions, abbreviated ''CIL''), Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften (1853–present). * René Cagnat ''et alii'', ''

L'Année épigraphique ''L'Année épigraphique'' (''The Epigraphic Year'', standard abbreviation ''AE'') is a French publication on epigraphy (i.e the study of inscriptions or epigraphs as writing). It was set up by René Cagnat, as holder of the chair of 'Epigraphy an ...

'' (The Year in Epigraphy, abbreviated ''AE''), Presses Universitaires de France (1888–present). * George Davis Chase, "The Origin of Roman Praenomina", in ''Harvard Studies in Classical Philology'', vol. VIII, pp. 103–184 (1897). *

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 ...

, ''La Vie quotidienne chez lez Etrusques'' (Daily Life of the Etruscans), Hachette, Paris (1961, 1989). * Mika Kajava, ''Roman Female Praenomina: Studies in the Nomenclature of Roman Women'', Acta Instituti Romani Finlandiae (1994). {{Praenomina Ancient Roman praenomina 8 (number)

History

Origin and meaning

See also

References

Bibliography