Explanation: Roman cognomen, the names by which we know many historical figures, are often nicknames referring to specific traits of an individual - and often, the individual in question is a distant ancestor. The most famous ‘Caesar’, for example, inherited the name from his ancestors… but the name means ‘hairy’, because one of his ancestors was presumably hairy.
Likewise, the famous orator Cicero’s name means ‘chickpea’, in reference to the shape of an ancestor’s nose. When urged by his friends to adopt a new cognomen - a not unusual occurrence - before entering politics, Cicero declined, saying he would make the name of ‘Cicero’ more famous than ‘Scaurus’ or ‘Catullus’, both revered names in Republican history… meaning ‘knobby ankles’ and ‘puppy’, respectively.
The Romans could be strange about their lasting cognomen - one of the most revered names of the Roman Republic, the name passed down from generation to generation, was ‘Brutus’, the name of the founder of the Republic…
… meaning ‘stupid’ or ‘idiot’, because he pretended to be slow to avoid the attention of the last tyrant-king until the time came to overthrow him.
Huh. In that context, Emperor Little Boots doesn’t seem so silly and strange anymore.
It’s funny that Caligula hated the name so much in that light
The most famous ‘Caesar’, for example, inherited the name from his ancestors… but the name means ‘hairy’, because one of his ancestors was presumably hairy.
That is one possible explanation but other possibilities include the name being deriven of “caesius” meaning blueish-grey (eyes?) or “caesarian”, a procedure of delivering a child by cutting through the mother’s abdomen (yep, c-section (c being short for caesarian section) is that old). There is also something floating around about a lost carthaginian term for elephants.
I had heard the c-section coming from a Caesar being born through it and unexpectedly surviving, so an etymology going the other way
I’ve heard that one before, but it’s almost definitely untrue - women surviving through c-sections was unheard of before the modern day, and Caesar’s mother was very prominent in his life.
Considering how widespread the cognomen Ceasar was, it can be someone else. Yeah, the procedure was usually intended as a last ditch effort once the mother was already dead. Rates of survival of the kid were still incredibly low until modern medicine
Ah, I missed the ‘a’
