Septimus () 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 bir ...
'', 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 kno ...
. It was never particularly common at Rome, but it gave rise to the patronymic ''gens Septimia''. The feminine form is ''Septima''. The name was not regularly abbreviated.
The praenomen Septimus was quite rare at Rome, but it seems to have been more popular in rural Italy. It was certainly used by the ''
gentes Marcia'' and ''
Modia'', and must have been used by the ancestors of ''gens Septimia''. Chase cites two inscriptions in which it occurs after the ''
nomen'' of a woman, in the place usually occupied by the ''
cognomen
A ''cognomen'' (; plural ''cognomina''; from ''con-'' "together with" and ''(g)nomen'' "name") was the third name of a citizen of ancient Rome, under Roman naming conventions. Initially, it was a nickname, but lost that purpose when it became here ...
''. However, Septimus is not otherwise attested as a cognomen in either family, suggesting that the order of names was reversed, and that the praenomen was used by the Aebutii and Casperii. To these families, Kajava adds one instance from ''gens Aemilia'' and perhaps one from ''gens Cincia''.
Origin and meaning
Septimus is the Latin word for ''seventh'', and the name belongs to the same class as the masculine praenomina ''
Quintus,
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". Although i ...
,
Octavius,
Nonus'', and ''
Decimus'', as well as the feminine names ''Prima, Secunda, Tertia, Quarta, Quinta, Sexta, Octavia, Nona'', and ''Decima''.
Originally, the praenomen was probably used for a seventh child, seventh son, or seventh daughter. However, it has also been postulated that such names referred to the month of the year in which a child was born. This explanation does not seem to account for the relative scarcity of ''Septimus, Octavius'', or ''Nonus''; but because parents were generally free to choose any name they wished, irrespective of its meaning, it may have been used for either reason.
The
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 t ...
cognate of Septimus is ''Seppius'' or ''Seppiis''. It seems to have been a relatively common praenomen.
[''Realencyclopädie der Classischen Altertumswissenschaft'']
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 ...
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Septimus (Praenomen)
Ancient Roman praenomina