Re: Valens/Valentinus, Flora/Florinus and Marcus/Marcianus
Posted: Mon Jun 19, 2017 2:50 pm
Has anyone produced evidence that any cognomen was constructed from a praenomen qua praenomen?
Evidence is a tricky term. Of course Kajanto based his understanding on evidence. But this 'evidence' is certainly subjective. There isn't a smoking gun somewhere which proves how and why cognomina were constructed as far as I know. Scholars reconstruct 'how things were done' based on the evidence but they have to argue how and why things are the way they are. For instance Marcellus is said to be a cognomen developed from the praenomen Marcus. How, why is based on evidence. I don't know if there are arguments to the contrary. But it seems to be widely accepted among scholars
Evidence is a tricky term. Of course Kajanto based his understanding on evidence. But this 'evidence' is certainly subjective. There isn't a smoking gun somewhere which proves how and why cognomina were constructed as far as I know. Scholars reconstruct 'how things were done' based on the evidence but they have to argue how and why things are the way they are. For instance Marcellus is said to be a cognomen developed from the praenomen Marcus. How, why is based on evidence. I don't know if there are arguments to the contrary. But it seems to be widely accepted among scholars
Marcus (Latin pronunciation: [ˈmaɾkʊs]) is a Latin praenomen, or personal name, which was one of the most common names throughout Roman history. ... The praenomen was used by both patrician and plebeian families, and gave rise to the patronymic gens Marcia, as well as the cognomen Marcellus. It was regularly abbreviated M.https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q ... jC18hYqZww