Titus ( , ) 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 ...
, and was one of the most common names throughout Roman history. For most of Roman history, Titus was the sixth most common praenomen, following ''
Lucius
Lucius ( el, Λούκιος ''Loukios''; ett, Luvcie) is a male given name derived from ''Lucius'' (abbreviated ''L.''), one of the small group of common Latin forenames (''praenomina'') found in the culture of ancient Rome. Lucius derives from L ...
,
Gaius
Gaius, sometimes spelled ''Gajus'', Kaius, Cajus, Caius, was a common Latin praenomen; see Gaius (praenomen).
People
*Gaius (jurist) (), Roman jurist
*Gaius Acilius
*Gaius Antonius
*Gaius Antonius Hybrida
*Gaius Asinius Gallus
*Gaius Asinius Pol ...
,
Marcus,
Publius'', and ''
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 ...
''. While not used by every family, it was widely used by all social classes including both patricians and plebeians and was a favorite of many families and gave rise to the patronymic ''
gens Titia''. It was regularly abbreviated T. and the feminine form was ''Tita'' or ''Titia''. The name survived 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 ...
, and has continued to be used, in various forms, into modern times.
Origin and meaning
The original meaning of Titus is obscure, but it was widely believed to have come to Rome during the time of
Romulus
Romulus () was the legendary foundation of Rome, founder and King of Rome, first king of Ancient Rome, Rome. Various traditions attribute the establishment of many of Rome's oldest legal, political, religious, and social institutions to Romulus ...
, the founder and first king of Rome. Early in his reign, a war with the
Sabines
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 divid ...
ended with the migration of a great many Sabine families to Rome, and
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 respon ...
, king of the Sabine town of
Cures, becoming co-regent with Romulus. Titus would thus have been an
Oscan
Oscan is an extinct Indo-European language of southern Italy. The language is in the Osco-Umbrian or Sabellic branch of the Italic languages. Oscan is therefore a close relative of Umbrian.
Oscan was spoken by a number of tribes, including th ...
praenomen introduced to Rome, although it was later regarded as Latin. This explanation is accepted by Chase.
Variations
The feminine form of Titus should be ''Tita'', and this form is found in older inscriptions such as the
Tita Vendia vase The Tita Vendia vase is a ceramic impasto pithosBaccum, p. 583. (wine containerBaldi, p. 126.), made around 620-600 BC, most likely in Rome). The ''pithos'', which exists only as an incomplete set of sherds, carries one of two earliest known inscri ...
and Tita Varia inscription. However the more common form in later periods was ''Titia'', with an "i". The same pattern was followed by the praenomen ''Marca'' or ''Marcia''.
The name was borrowed by the Etruscans, who used the forms ''Tite'' (masculine) and ''Titi'' or ''Titia'' (feminine).
[Mika Kajava, ''Roman Female Praenomina: Studies in the Nomenclature of Roman Women'' (1994)]
See also
*
Roman naming conventions
Over the course of some fourteen centuries, the Romans and other peoples of Italy employed a system of nomenclature that differed from that used by other cultures of Europe and the Mediterranean Sea, consisting of a combination of personal and fami ...
*
List of Roman gentes#T
*
List of Roman nomina
This is a list of Roman nomina. The nomen identified all free Roman citizens as members of individual '' gentes'', originally families sharing a single nomen and claiming descent from a common ancestor. Over centuries, a gens could expand from a ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Titus (Praenomen)
Ancient Roman praenomina
Latin masculine given names