List of Roman gentes

Thegens(pluralgentes) was aRomanfamily, ofItalicorEtruscanorigins, consisting of all those individuals who shared the samenomenand claimed descent from a common ancestor. It was an important social and legal structure in earlyRoman history.^[1]^[2]

The distinguishing characteristic of a gens was thenomen gentilicium,orgentile name.Every member of a gens, whether by birth oradoption,bore this name. All nomina were based on other nouns, such aspersonal names,occupations, physical characteristics or behaviors, or locations. Consequently, most of them ended with the adjectival termination-ius(-iain the feminine form).^[1]

Nomina ending in-aius,-eius,-eus,and-aeusare typical ofLatinfamilies.Faliscangentes frequently had nomina ending in-ios,whileSamniteand otherOscan-speaking peoples of southern Italy had nomina ending in-iis.Umbriannomina typically end in-as,-anas,-enas,or-inas,while nomina ending in-arna,-erna,-ena,-enna,-ina,or-innaare characteristic of Etruscan families.^[1]

The wordgensis feminine, and the name of a gens was also feminine.Marcus Valerius Corvuswas a member ofgens Valeria.Valeriuswas his nomen. His son's nomen would have beenValerius,and his daughter'sValeria.Male members of his gens were collectively calledValerii,and female membersValeriae.If a member of the gens were adopted into another family, he would assume the nomen of that gens, followed by thecognomenValerianus.^[2]

In the following list, "I" and "J" are treated as separate letters, as are "U" and "V". The letter "K" was rare in Latin, and the few nomina occasionally spelled with this letter were usually spelled with "C". No Roman gentes began with "X", and the letters "Y" and "Z" occurred only in names borrowed from Greek. The letter "W" did not exist in Classical Latin.

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

References

^^a ^b ^cHarper's Dictionary of Classical Literature and Antiquities,Second Edition,Harry Thurston Peck,Editor (1897)
^^a ^bOxford Classical Dictionary,2nd Ed. (1970)

[hdca-1] Harper's Dictionary of Classical Literature and Antiquities,Second Edition,Harry Thurston Peck,Editor (1897)

[oxford-2] Oxford Classical Dictionary,2nd Ed. (1970)

[1]

[2]

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

See also

References