Etymologically
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Titius

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈtɪ.ti.ʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈtit.t͡si.us][1]

Forms

Titius m sg (genitive Titiī or Titī); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin Titus + -ius, from the praenomen Titus.[1] Köbler calls its origin unclear.[2] As with other Roman family names, the adjective names things belonging to or named after a member of the family.[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Cicero on,[2] as the name of a Roman gens: in the Brutus he names Gaius Titius, an orator of the 2nd century BC.[3][4]

Semantic evolution

Cicero tells of Sextus Titius, a tribune of the people whose gestures were so like dancing that a dance was called Titius after him.[4] Used as an adjective, it named buildings put up by a Titius: Livy records the purchase of two halls, the Maenium and the Titium.[3] The sodales Titii were an obscure priesthood that tradition linked with the Sabine king Titus Tatius, and Festus says a curia Titia was named by the same king.[3]

The Roman jurists used Titius and Titia as stock names for the parties in legal examples, as in a case in the Digest where Titia pledges another person's farm to Titius.[3]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero names members of the gens Titius.[3][2]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro mentions the sodales Titii.[3][2]
  • 59 BC–AD 17 – Livy names the atrium Titium.[3][2]
  • 2nd century AD – The jurist Africanus uses Titius and Titia as names in a legal example.[3][2]

Meanings

Proper noun

  1. The name of a Roman gens.[3][4]
  2. (law) A fictitious name for a party in legal examples.[3]

Adjective

  1. Of or named after a Titius.[3]
  2. sodālis Titius: a member of an obscure Roman priesthood.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press