5.0813 Rs: Names; Cidellus (2/35)

Elaine Brennan & Allen Renear (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Thu, 2 Apr 1992 20:34:00 EST

Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 5, No. 0813. Thursday, 2 Apr 1992.


(1) Date: Wed, 1 Apr 92 20:41:08 CST (22 lines)
From: gary forsythe <gfgf@midway.uchicago.edu>
Subject: names once again

(2) Date: Thu, 2 Apr 1992 13:58 EDT (13 lines)
From: Mark Littlefield <LITTLEMG@SNYBUFVA>
Subject: CIDELLUS

(1) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 1 Apr 92 20:41:08 CST
From: gary forsythe <gfgf@midway.uchicago.edu>
Subject: names once again

In response to David M. Schaps' response to my response to his initial
message, let me the following observations. Although I have not yet completed
my study of praenomina, I know of no instance in which a woman bore Prima or
Secunda as a first name. The only numeric female first names that are
attested are the three: Tertia, Quarta, and Quinta. Similarly, there are
only three numeric praenomina used for males in later Roman times: Quintus,
Sextus, and Decimus. All these names may have begun as having numerical
significance (i.e., indicating the order of birth), but as in so many things
in Roman institutions and customs, there seems to be to be a very strong
likelihood that by the end of the late republic or early empire all such
numeric significance had long been overlooked, and these names (both male and
female) were employed by parents without any thought for what the names meant
literally. Furthermore, it is noteworthy in my view that we find Primus and
Prima, Secundus and Secunda as fairly common cognomina, not praenomina.
Moreover, the cognomina Maximus-Maxima and Postumus-Postuma are also attested
and could have been used to indicate the eldest and last born within a family,
but these were not praenomina in imperial times. They were cognomina applied
to both males and females.
(2) --------------------------------------------------------------15----
Date: Thu, 2 Apr 1992 13:58 EDT
From: Mark Littlefield <LITTLEMG@SNYBUFVA>
Subject: CIDELLUS

Information on Josef b. Ferrusiel can be found in Yitzhak Baer, "A
History of the Jews in Medieval Spain.

Mark G. Littlefield BITNET: littlemg@snybufva
Foreign Language Department INTERNET: littlemg@snybufva.cs.snybuf.edu
Buffalo State College TELEPHONE: (716) 878-5810
Buffalo NY 14222