cognomentum

Forms

cognōmentum n (genitive cognōmentī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

The OLD, the TLL and Wiktionary take it as from Latin cognōscō (“to get to know”) + -mentum.^[2][3][1] Lewis & Short treat it as a by-form of cognōmen (“surname”), and de Vaan lists both among the compounds of nōmen (“name”), noting that their ⟨g⟩ was taken from cognōscō.^[4][5] Isidore of Seville explains it as a name added to the personal name for the sake of recognition, or as one that goes with the name.^[3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has it first, in the Persa, of the cognomen of the stubborn Capitones.^[2][5][7]

Semantic evolution

It is a surname or cognomen, and also a nickname, as Gellius tells of a Diodorus who was called Cronus.^[2] Varro uses it of a cult title of Liber, and Tacitus of the name of a people.^[2] Tacitus also uses it of a derived name, as he reports that the Idaei were called Iudaei by a barbarous lengthening, and simply of a name, as the Waal is the name the neighbouring peoples give one branch of the Rhine.^[2] Lewis & Short note that it is rare in classical prose, absent from Cicero and most frequent in Tacitus.^[4] In medieval texts it means the same as cognōmen.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a family cognomen.^[2][7]
• 116–27 BC – Varro of a cult title of Liber.^[2][7]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus of names of peoples and rivers.^[2][7]
• c. 165 AD – Gellius of a nickname.^[2][7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A surname, cognomen; a nickname; a cult title of a god; a distinguishing name.^[2][4][9][1]
2. A derived or allusive name.^[2]
3. A name.^[2][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
7. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson