praenomen
UK /pɹiːˈnəʊ.mən/ · US /pɹiˈnoʊ.mən/ noun
Forms praenomens praenomina prænomen prenomen
- noun (Ancient Rome) A first name or given name; particularly the first of the tria nomina (three nouns) borne by free male Roman citizens. “Julius Caesar's praenomen was Gaius.”
- noun (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".”
- noun (zoology) The genus name in a binomial scientific name. “In the name Tyrannosaurus rex, "Tyrannosaurus" is the praenomen.”
Etymology
From Latin praenōmen, from prae- (“pre-: before”) + nōmen (“name, family name”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun The first name of a person, by which individuals of the same family were distinguished, answering to our Christian name, as Caius, Lucius, Marcus, etc.
Etymology [L., fr. prae before + nomen name.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “praenomen”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details