praenomen (n.)

among ancient Romans, a name prefixed to the family name (Marcus, Gaius, Lucius, etc.), answering to the modern personal name, 1706, from Latin praenomen, literally "before the name," from prae "before" (see prae-) + nomen (from PIE root *no-men- "name").

also from 1706

Entries linking to praenomen

*no-men-

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "name."

It forms all or part of: acronym; allonym; ananym; anonymous; antonomasia; antonym; binomial; caconym; cognomen; denominate; eponym; eponymous; heteronym; homonym; homonymous; hyponymy; ignominious; ignominy; innominable; Jerome; matronymic; metonymy; metronymic; misnomer; moniker; name; nomenclature; nominal; nominate; noun; onomastic; onomatopoeia; paronomasia; paronym; patronym; patronymic; praenomen; pronoun; pseudonym; renown; synonym; synonymy; synonymous; toponym.

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit nama; Avestan nama; Greek onoma, onyma; Latin nomen; Old Church Slavonic ime, genitive imene; Russian imya; Old Irish ainm; Old Welsh anu "name;" Old English nama, noma, Old High German namo, Old Norse nafn, Gothic namo "name."

prae-

word-forming element meaning "before," from Latin prae (adv.) "before," from PIE *prai-, *prei-, from root *per- (1) "forward," hence "in front of, before" (also see pre-). Reduced to pre- in Medieval Latin. According to OED the full form prae- in Modern English appears "usually only in words that are still regarded as Latin, ... or that are terms of classical antiquity ...."

Trends of praenomen

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/. Ngrams are probably unreliable.

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ampersand

1797, contraction of and per se and, meaning "(the character) '&' by itself is 'and' " (a hybrid phrase, partly in Latin, partly in English). An earlier form of it was colloquial ampassy (1706). The distinction is to avoid confusion with & in such formations as &c., a

ostensible

1730, "capable of being shown, that can be shown or seen, presentable," from French ostensible, from Latin ostens-, past-participle stem of ostendere "to show, expose to view; to stretch out, spread before; exhibit, display," from assimilated form of ob "in front of" (see ob-) +

diligence

mid-14c., "constant and earnest effort to accomplish what is undertaken," from Old French diligence "attention, care; haste, speed" and directly from Latin diligentia "attentiveness, carefulness," from diligentem (nominative diligens) "attentive, assiduous, careful," present-part

nod

late 14c., "to quickly bow the head; to assent, beckon, or salute quickly by an inclination of the head," late 14c., nodden, a word of unknown origin, probably an Old English word, but not recorded, or perhaps from a Low German word related to Old High German hnoton "to shake," f

oligarchy

"form of government in which supreme power is vested in a small exclusive class," 1570s, from French oligarchie (14c.), from Latinized form of Greek oligarkhia "government by the few," from stem of oligos "few, small, little" (a word of uncertain origin) + -arkhia, from arkhein "

perceive

c. 1300, perceiven, "become aware of, gain knowledge of," especially "to come to know by direct experience," via Anglo-French parceif, Old North French *perceivre (Old French perçoivre) "perceive, notice, see; recognize, understand," from Latin percipere "obtain, gather, seize en

Israel

Old English Israel, "the Jewish people, the Hebrew nation," from Latin Israel, from Greek, from Hebrew yisra'el "he that striveth with God" (Genesis xxxii.28), symbolic proper name conferred on Jacob and extended to his descendants, from sara "he fought, contended" + El "God." As

surrogate

early 15c., "a substitute, person appointed or deputed by authority to act for another," from Latin surrogatus, past participle of surrogare/subrogare "put in another's place, substitute." This is from an assimilated form of sub "in the place of, under" (see sub-) + rogare "to as

Memphis

ancient city of Egypt, from Memphis, the Greek form of Egyptian Mennefer, literally "his beauty," from men "his" + nefer "beauty" (as in Queen Nefertiti, literally "Beauty has Come"). A reference to pharaoh Pepi I (24c. B.C.E.). The city in Tennessee, U.S., was so named 1826 for

macabre

early 15c., in Macabrees daunce, daunce of Machabree, a kind of morality show or allegorical representation of death and his victims, from Old French (danse) Macabré "(dance) of Death" (1376), which is of uncertain origin. John Lydgate (c. 1370–c. 1451), the monk/poet who first t

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updated on October 02, 2020

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Dictionary entries near praenomen

practise

practitioner

Prado

prae-

praecipe

praenomen

Praesepe

praeter-

praetor

Praetorian

pragmatic