nomen

See also: Nomen

English

Etymology

From Latin nōmen (“name”), a clipping of nōmen gentīle (“family name”). Doublet of name and noun.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈnəʊmən/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈnoʊmən/
• Rhymes: -əʊmən

Noun

nomen (plural nomina or nomens)

1. (historical) The family name of an Ancient Roman, designating their gens.
   • 1990, Richard N. Longenecker, Galatians (Word Biblical Commentary; 41), Zondervan, →ISBN, page 2:

     Greeks and other provincials who gained Roman citizenship kept their Greek names as cognomens, to which they added Roman nomens and praenomens—usually those of the ones to whom they owed their citizenship.

2. (historical) The birth name of a pharaoh, the fifth of the five names of the royal titulary, traditionally encircled by a cartouche and preceded by the title zꜣ-rꜥ.
   • 1843, [John] Gardner Wilkinson, Modern Egypt and Thebes: Being a Description of Egypt; Including the Information Required for Travellers in That Country, volume II, London: John Murray, […], page 308:

     The adytum is unsculptured, but two monoliths within it bear the name of Physcon and Cleopatra; and in the front chamber of the naos is that of the Ethiopian king “Ashar (Atar)-Amun*, the everliving,” who in some of his nomens is called “the beloved of Isis.”

   • 1906, E[rnest] A[lfred] Wallis Budge, Cook’s Handbook for Egypt and the Sûdân, 2nd edition, London: Tho[ma]s Cook & Son, […]; Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co., Ltd., page 189:

     The following is a list of the prenomens and nomens of Egyptian kings which are of common occurrence, with transliterations into Roman letters.

3. A taxonomic name.
   • 2023, Wolfgang Denzer, Hinrich Kaiser, “Naming And Gaming: The Illicit Taxonomic Practice Of 'Nomenclatural harvesting' And How To Avoid It”, in Journal of Zoology, volume 320, number 3, page 161:

     Over the decades and centuries, Linnaeus’s binominal system reached ever greater prominence as a standard to categorize and stabilize organismal biology, and it became necessary to trace taxon names, so that duplication and confusion could be addressed or avoided. As a consequence, different areas of biology developed 'codes' of nomenclature, according to which the availability of such nomina could be governed.

Hypernyms

• (Roman name): See surname
• (Pharaonic name): See given name

Coordinate terms

• (Roman name): praenomen (personal name), cognomen (epithet or clan name), agnomen (epithet)
• (Pharaonic name): serekh name, Two Ladies name, gold name, praenomen (throne name)

Related terms

• nomen abstractum
• nomen acti
• nomen actionis
• nomen agentis
• nomen ambiguum
• nomen appellativum
• nomen concretum
• nomen confusum
• nomen correctum
• nomen deminutivum
• nomen gentilicium
• nomen instrumenti
• nomen loci
• nomen nescio
• nomen patientis
• nomen periculosum
• nomen protectum
• nomen rectum
• nomen regens
• nomen relativum
• nomen sacrum
• nomen translatum
• nomen unitatis
• nomen vasis
• nomen verbi
• nomen vicis

Anagrams

• Menno, Menon

Asturian

Verb

nomen

1. third-person plural present indicative/subjunctive of nomar

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *nōmn̥, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁nómn̥ (“name”). The long ō (and spurious g in compounds) is from false association with gnōscō (“know, recognize”). In the grammatical sense of “noun”, it is a semantic loan from Ancient Greek ὄνομα (ónoma).

Cognate with Hittite 𒆷𒀀𒈠𒀭 (lāman), Ancient Greek ὄνομα (ónoma), Sanskrit नामन् (nā́man), Tocharian A ñom, Old Irish ainmm, Old Church Slavonic имѧ (imę), Old English nama (English name). Doublet of onoma.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈnoː.mɛn]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈnɔː.men]

Noun

nōmen n (genitive nōminis); third declension

1. name
2. (historical) Short for nomen gentile, nomen, the family name in a Roman name, indicating the person's gens
3. title
4. (grammar) noun, inclusive of substantives, adjectives, pronouns, articles, and numerals
   • c. 35 CE – 100 CE, Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria 1.4.17–18:

     Tum videbit, ad quem hoc pertinet, quot et quae partes orationis; quanquam de numero parum convenit. Veteres enim, quorum fuerunt Aristoteles quoque atque Theodectes, verba modo et nomina et convinctiones tradiderunt; videlicet quod in verbis vim sermonis, in nominibus materiam (quia alterum est quod loquimur, alterum de quo loquimur) […]

     He, whom this matter shall concern, will then understand how many parts of speech there are and what they are, though as to their number, writers are by no means agreed. For the more ancient, among whom were Aristotle and Theodectes, said that there were only verbs, nouns, and convinctions, because, that is to say, they judged that the force of language was in verbs, and the matter of it in nouns (since the one is what we speak, and the other that of which we speak) […]

5. (figuratively) debt, particularly a written bond or item of debt
6. (figuratively, metonymic) people, race
7. (figuratively) fame, renown
8. (figuratively) reputation, good name

Usage notes

The Old Latin form nominus shows the rare genitive singular ending -us instead of the standard Classical Latin ending -is. This unique ending is poorly attested and largely exclusive to religious or legal documents.

Declension

Third-declension noun (neuter, imparisyllabic non-i-stem).

	singular	plural
nominative	nōmen	nōmina
genitive	nōminis	nōminum
dative	nōminī	nōminibus
accusative	nōmen	nōmina
ablative	nōmine	nōminibus
vocative	nōmen	nōmina

Synonyms

• onoma (Medieval Latin)

Hyponyms

• grammar: nōmen substantīvum (substantīvum), nōmen adiectīvum (adiectīvum), prōnōmen, articulus, nōmen numerāle

Derived terms

• agnōmen
• cognōmen
• cōgnōminis
• ignōminia
• mihi nōmen est
• nōmen est ōmen
• nōmen proprium (“proper noun”)
• nōmenclātiō
• nōmenclātor
• nōmenclātūra
• nōminālis
• nōminātim
• nōminetenus
• nōminō
• praenōmen
• prōnōmen
• quid nōmen tibi est?

Related terms

• nōminālia
• nōmināliter
• nōminātiō
• nōminātīvus
• nōminātor
• nōminātōrius
• nōminātus
• nōminitō

Descendants

• Balkano-Romance:
  • Aromanian: numã, nume, numi
  • Megleno-Romanian: numi
  • Istro-Romanian: nome
  • Romanian: nume
• Italo-Dalmatian:
  • Corsican: nome, nomi
  • Dalmatian: naun, naum
  • Istriot: non, nom
  • Italian: nome
  • Judeo-Italian: נוּמוֹ (numo)
  • Neapolitan: nomme
  • Sicilian: nomu, nomi
  • Venetan: nome
• Rhaeto-Romance:
  • Friulian: non
  • Ladin: inom, inuem
  • Romansch: num, nom
• Gallo-Italic:
  • Emilian: nom, nómm
  • Ligurian: nómme
  • Old Lombard: nom
    • Lombard: nòmm
  • Piedmontese: nòm
  • Romagnol: nóm, nöm
• Gallo-Romance:
  • Northern:
    • Franco-Provençal: non, nom
    • Old French: nom (see there for further descendants)
  • Southern:
    • Old Catalan: nom
      • Catalan: nom
    • Old Occitan: nom
      • Catalan: nom
• Ibero-Romance:
  • Asturian: nome, ñome, nom
  • Mirandese: nome
  • Old Navarro-Aragonese: nombre
    • Aragonese: nombre
  • Old Galician-Portuguese: nome
    • Fala: nomi
    • Galician: nome
    • Portuguese: nome
  • Old Spanish: nomne, nomre
    • Spanish: nombre (see there for further descendants)
• Insular Romance:
  • Sardinian: numene, nomene
• Borrowings:
  • → Spanish: nómina
  • → English: nomen

Further reading

• “nomen”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “nomen”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "nomen", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• nomen in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to think of a person with a grateful sense of his goodness: nomen alicuius grato animo prosequi
    
  • to win renown amongst posterity by some act: nomen suum posteritati aliqua re commendare, propagare, prodere
    
  • to immortalise one's name: memoriam nominis sui immortalitati tradere, mandare, commendare
    
  • nominally; really: verbo, nomine; re, re quidem vera
    
  • etymology (not etymologia): nominum interpretatio
    
  • to form, derive a word from... (used of the man who first creates the word): vocabulum, verbum, nomen ducere ab, ex...
    
  • the word amicitia comes from amare: nomen amicitiae (or simply amicitia) dicitur ab amando
    
  • the word carere means..: vox, nomen carendi or simply carere hoc significat (Tusc. 1. 36. 88)
    
  • the word aemulatio is employed with two meanings, in a good and a bad sense: aemulatio dupliciter dicitur, ut et in laude et in vitio hoc nomen sit
    
  • money is outstanding, unpaid: pecunia in nominibus est
    
  • I have money owing me: pecuniam in nominibus habeo
    
  • to become a candidate: nomen profiteri or simply profiteri
    
  • to accuse, denounce a person: nomen alicuius deferre (apud praetorem) (Verr. 2. 38. 94)
    
  • (ambiguous) to enlist oneself: nomen (nomina) dare, profiteri
    
  • to fail to answer one's name: ad nomen non respondere (Liv. 7. 4)
    
  • (ambiguous) to give the etymological explanation of words: nomina enodare or verborum origines quaerere, indagare
    
  • (ambiguous) to book a debt: nomina facere or in tabulas referre
    
  • (ambiguous) to pay one's debts: nomina (cf. sect. XIII. 3) solvere, dissolvere, exsolvere
    
  • (ambiguous) to demand payment of, recover debts: nomina exigere (Verr. 3. 10. 28)
    
  • (ambiguous) the agent (nomenclator) mentions the names of constituents to the canvasser: nomina appellat (nomenclator)
    
  • (ambiguous) to enlist oneself: nomen (nomina) dare, profiteri
    
• “nomen”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “nomen”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin

Middle Dutch

Verb

nōmen

1. (Flemish) Alternative form of noemen

Northern Sami

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

nomen

1. (grammar) nominal

Inflection

Odd, no gradation
Nominative	nomen
Genitive	nomena
	Singular	Plural
Nominative	nomen	nomenat
Accusative	nomena	nomeniid
Genitive	nomena	nomeniid
Illative	nomenii	nomeniidda
Locative	nomenis	nomeniin
Comitative	nomeniin	nomeniiguin
Essive	nomenin
Possessive forms Singular Dual Plural 1st person nomenan nomeneamẹ nomeneamẹt 2nd person nomenat nomeneattẹ nomeneattẹt 3rd person nomenis nomeneaskkạ nomeneasẹt

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology 1

From Latin nōmen.

Noun

nomen n (definite singular nomenet, indefinite plural nomen, definite plural nomena)

1. (grammar) noun (i.e. nouns and adjectives)
2. (grammar, newer) noun (i.e. nouns, adjectives, pronouns (and partially also numerals and infinitive forms of verbs))

Related terms

• nominal

Etymology 2

From Old Norse numinn, past participle of nema. Compare with Norwegian Bokmål nummen.

Adjective

nomen (neuter nome or noment, definite singular and plural nomne, comparative nomnare, indefinite superlative nomnast, definite superlative nomnaste)

1. numb

   Synonyms: doven, kjenslelaus, mauren

Related terms

• næm

References

• “nomen” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.