Octavius is a Latin praenomen, or personal name. 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, the prince of

Tusculum Tusculum is a ruined Classical Rome, 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 dist ...

, and son-in-law of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, the seventh and last king of Rome, who was slain by Titus Herminius at the Battle of Lake Regillus about 498 BC. Members of the Mamilia gens 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 Ki ...

and into imperial times. The name was used by gens Maecia, and a woman named "Octavia Valeria Vera" lived at Ticinum 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 languages, 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 ...

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'', ''

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 ...

'', '' 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 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 traditional founding in ...

), ''

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 ...

''. * Theodor Mommsen ''et alii'', '' Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum'' (The Body of Latin Inscriptions, abbreviated ''CIL''), Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften (1853–present). * René Cagnat ''et alii'', '' L'Année épigraphique'' (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