My big Webster’s dictionary, which I bought for $75 many
years ago and still like to use tells me the following about cognomen:
Surname,
especially the third of the usual three names of a person among the ancient
Romans. Compare praenomen (the first name of the usual three), nomen (the
second of the three usual names), and agnomen (an additional name given in
honour of some achievement).
Cognomen is also
defined as a distinguishing nickname or
epithet (a characterizing word or phrase).
I did a bit more research, looking at my book, ‘The Roman
Emperors’ by Michael Grant. Many of them did have three names. For example, the
emperor Hadrian was named Publius Aelius Hadrianus. However, Gaius Octavius
seems to have had initially only two names. An on-line site https://www.behindthename.com/glossary/view/roman_names
tells us that during the early Roman Republic men had two names, so perhaps
that explains Gaius Octavius. Gaius was the great nephew of Gaius Julius
Caesar, and later adopted by him as his son. Gaius Octavius changed his name to
Gaius Julius Caesar after his great uncle’s (adoptive father’s) death. Gaius
Octavius was apparently called Octavian until granted the designation of
Augustus (i.e. august), an agnomen. The above web site also states that a nomen
was originally a clan name and the cognomen was a family name.
A man’s name might include his patronyms (father’s and
grandfather’s names – I wonder if that’s the origin of Russian patronyms?) and
a tribal name (I’m not sure if that’s different from a clan name). So the
emperor Marcus Aurelius was at his birth given the names Marcus Annius Verus.
His paternal grandfather was Annius Verus. The emperor Antoninus eventually
adopted Marcus, who became Marcus Aurelius Antoninus. Aurelius was one of
Antoninus’ names. Could get very confusing as a Roman could be called by his
praenomen, nomen, or cognomen, or a combination of them. (Remember trying to
read one of those Russian novels where the names keep changing?)
Roman women were apparently known by a feminine form of
their father’s name, plus if there was more than one daughter, by their place
in the family. So Antonia Major, Antonia Minor (or perhaps Secunda), Antonia
Tertia. Later a feminine form of the father’s cognomen was also given to the
daughter, as Antonia Juliana (father Antonius Julian).
I have three names, thus a praenomen and a cognomen, but my
middle name is not a clan name so it probably would not be a nomen. Also I
don’t have an agnomen.
A sobriquet on the other hand is defined (Webster again) as
an assumed name, a fanciful epithet (that
again) or appellation (name or title).
A sobriquet can be applied to a person or place.
For example, Saskatoon is affectionately called by some ‘The
Paris of the North,’ also ‘The City of Bridges’ as is also Pittsburgh.
One of the queens of England was unaffectionately called
‘Bloody Mary’ for the persecution of Protestants during her reign. London was known as ‘The Smoke’ because of its
terrible periodic smog from coal fires. In early December of 1952 London
suffered a ‘Great Smog’ which lasted five days, contained toxic pollutants, and
said to have caused thousands of deaths. As a result, in 1956 England passed
‘The Clean Air Act’ in an attempt to reduce pollution. This act is referred to
in China Miéville’s alternate city novel Un
Lun Dun as the Klinneract, a secret weapon to combat The Smog.
Abraham Lincoln was called ‘Honest Abe’ apparently because
when he worked as a store clerk and discovered he had short-changed a customer,
he would go out of his way to find and pay that person what was owed.
Calgary, Alberta is sometimes known as ‘Cowtown’ because of
all the beef cattle produced in the area, and because of all the cowboys
around. Check out this site: https://albertaonrecord.ca/is-glen-cartoon-m-8000-40
One of Canada’s Prime Ministers, John G. Diefenbaker was
often called ‘The Chief’ e.g. ‘Dief will be the Chief again.’
‘The Famous Five’ were a group of women who fought for
women’s rights in Canada, and from 1927 – 1929 were involved in ‘The Persons
Case.’ In 1928 the Canadian Supreme Court had ruled that women were not persons
under the law (British North America Act) and thus could not sit in the
Canadian Senate. (Most Canadian women got the vote for the Federal Election of
1918). The women (Emily Murphy, Henrietta Muir Edwards, Nellie McClung, Louis
Crummy McKinney, Irene Parlby) appealed to the Privy Council of England, which
reversed the Supreme Court’s decision in 1929. Cairine MacKay Wilson became the
first Canadian woman to take a seat in the Senate on February 20, 1930. Her
husband was opposed and had informed the Governor General that she would
decline the nomination. Ms. Wilson accepted the Prime Minister’s nomination
over her husband’s objections. In her first Senate speech she saluted the work
of ‘The Famous Five.’
Enough of sobriquets, except to say that a long time ago a
friend used to call me ‘Gretel’ in reference to my last name which is Haensel.
I love the connections words can make.
