praenomen

See also: prænomen

English

Alternative forms

• prænomen, prenomen

Etymology

From Latin praenōmen, from prae- (“pre-: before”) + nōmen (“name, family name”).

Noun

praenomen (plural praenomens or praenomina)

1. (historical) An Ancient Roman given name.

   Julius Caesar's praenomen was Gaius.

   • 1945, E[lizabeth] G[idley] Withycombe, “Introduction”, in The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page xiv:

     The Romans evolved a quite different system of nomenclature, which in its classical form consisted of three names, the praenomen (e.g. Marcus), nomen (e.g. Tullius), and cognomen (e.g. Cicero), and two other designations (the name of the father and of the tribe): […]

2. (historical) The throne name of a pharaoh, the fourth of the five names of the royal titulary, traditionally encircled by a cartouche and preceded by the title nswt-bjtj.

   Tutankhamun's praenomen or throne name was Nebkheperrure, "Lord of the forms of Ra".

   • 1907, Ronald M. Burrows, The Discoveries In Crete, page 121:

     The old explanation was that the Greeks applied the name [λαβύρινθος (labúrinthos)] to it [the Temple of Hawara] because the prenomen or "throne-name" of its builder, Amenemhat III., would have been pronounced *Nemarî^e, and, by a usual interchange of n with l, transliterated into Greek as Labaris or Lamaris.

3. (zoology) The genus name in a binomial scientific name.

   In the name Tyrannosaurus rex, "Tyrannosaurus" is the praenomen.

Hypernyms

• (Roman personal name): See given name

Coordinate terms

• (Roman personal name): nomen (family name), cognomen (epithet or clan name), agnomen (epithet)
• (Pharaonic name): serekh name, Two Ladies name, gold name, nomen (given name)

Related terms

• praenominal

Translations

ancient Roman first name

• Catalan: prenom (ca) m
• German: Pränomen (de) n
• Greek: προωνύμιο (el) n (proonýmio)

  Ancient Greek: προωνύμιον n (proōnúmion)

• Latin: praenōmen n
• Marathi: प्राएनोमेन n (prāenomen)
• Spanish: prenombre m

Latin

Etymology

prae- (“before”) +‎ nōmen (“name”)

Pronunciation

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

Noun

praenōmen n (genitive praenōminis); third declension

1. praenomen: An ancient Roman first name.

Declension

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

	singular	plural
nominative	praenōmen	praenōmina
genitive	praenōminis	praenōminum
dative	praenōminī	praenōminibus
accusative	praenōmen	praenōmina
ablative	praenōmine	praenōminibus
vocative	praenōmen	praenōmina

Related terms

• agnōmen
• nōmen
• cognōmen

References

• “praenomen”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “praenomen”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “praenomen”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “praenomen”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “praenomen”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin