Wiktionary

nomen

See also: Nomen

English

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Etymology

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From Latin nōmen (“name”), a clipping of nōmen gentīle (“family name”). Doublet of name and noun.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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nomen (plural nomina or nomens)

  1. (historical) The family name of an Ancient Roman, designating their gens.
    • 1945, E[lizabeth] G[idley] Withycombe, “Introduction”, in The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page xiv:
      The Romans evolved a quite different system of nomenclature, which in its classical form consisted of three names, the praenomen (e.g. Marcus), nomen (e.g. Tullius), and cognomen (e.g. Cicero), and two other designations (the name of the father and of the tribe): […]
    • 1990, Richard N. Longenecker, Galatians (Word Biblical Commentary; 41), Zondervan, →ISBN, page 2:
      Greeks and other provincials who gained Roman citizenship kept their Greek names as cognomens, to which they added Roman nomens and praenomens—usually those of the ones to whom they owed their citizenship.
  2. (historical) The birth name of a pharaoh, the fifth of the five names of the royal titulary, traditionally encircled by a cartouche and preceded by the title zꜣ-rꜥ.
    • 1843, [John] Gardner Wilkinson, Modern Egypt and Thebes: Being a Description of Egypt; Including the Information Required for Travellers in That Country, volume II, London: John Murray, […], page 308:
      The adytum is unsculptured, but two monoliths within it bear the name of Physcon and Cleopatra; and in the front chamber of the naos is that of the Ethiopian king “Ashar (Atar)-Amun*, the everliving,” who in some of his nomens is called “the beloved of Isis.”
    • 1906, E[rnest] A[lfred] Wallis Budge, Cook’s Handbook for Egypt and the Sûdân, 2nd edition, London: Tho[ma]s Cook & Son, […]; Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co., Ltd., page 189:
      The following is a list of the prenomens and nomens of Egyptian kings which are of common occurrence, with transliterations into Roman letters.
  3. A taxonomic name.
    • 2023, Wolfgang Denzer, Hinrich Kaiser, “Naming And Gaming: The Illicit Taxonomic Practice Of 'Nomenclatural harvesting' And How To Avoid It”, in Journal of Zoology, volume 320, number 3, page 161:
      Over the decades and centuries, Linnaeus’s binominal system reached ever greater prominence as a standard to categorize and stabilize organismal biology, and it became necessary to trace taxon names, so that duplication and confusion could be addressed or avoided. As a consequence, different areas of biology developed 'codes' of nomenclature, according to which the availability of such nomina could be governed.

Hypernyms

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Coordinate terms

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Anagrams

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Asturian

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Verb

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nomen

  1. third-person plural present indicative/subjunctive of nomar

Latin

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FWOTD – 28 April 2026

Etymology

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    From Proto-Italic *nōmn̥, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁nómn̥ (“name”). The long ō (and spurious g in compounds) is from false association with gnōscō (“know, recognize”). In the grammatical sense of “noun”, it is a semantic loan from Ancient Greek ὄνομα (ónoma).

    Cognate with Hittite 𒆷𒀀𒈠𒀭 (lāman), Ancient Greek ὄνομα (ónoma), Sanskrit नामन् (nā́man), Tocharian A ñom, Old Irish ainmm, Old Church Slavonic имѧ (imę), Old English nama (English name). Doublet of onoma.

    Pronunciation

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    Noun

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    nōmen n (genitive nōminis); third declension

    1. name
    2. (historical) short for nomen gentile, nomen, the family name in a Roman name, indicating the person's gens
    3. title
    4. (grammar) noun, inclusive of substantives, adjectives, pronouns, articles, and numerals
      • c. 95 CE, Quintilianus, Institutio Oratoria 1.4.17–18:
        Tum videbit, ad quem hoc pertinet, quot et quae partes orationis; quanquam de numero parum convenit. Veteres enim, quorum fuerunt Aristoteles quoque atque Theodectes, verba modo et nomina et convinctiones tradiderunt; videlicet quod in verbis vim sermonis, in nominibus materiam (quia alterum est quod loquimur, alterum de quo loquimur) […]
        He, whom this matter shall concern, will then understand how many parts of speech there are and what they are, though as to their number, writers are by no means agreed. For the more ancient, among whom were Aristotle and Theodectes, said that there were only verbs, nouns, and convinctions, because, that is to say, they judged that the force of language was in verbs, and the matter of it in nouns (since the one is what we speak, and the other that of which we speak) […]
    5. (figuratively) debt, particularly a written bond or item of debt
    6. (figuratively, metonymic) people, race
    7. (figuratively) fame, renown
    8. (figuratively) reputation, good name

    Usage notes

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    The Old Latin form nominus shows the rare genitive singular ending -us instead of the standard Classical Latin ending -is. This unique ending is poorly attested and largely exclusive to religious or legal documents.

    Declension

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    Third-declension noun (neuter, imparisyllabic non-i-stem).

    singular plural
    nominative nōmen nōmina
    genitive nōminis nōminum
    dative nōminī nōminibus
    accusative nōmen nōmina
    ablative nōmine nōminibus
    vocative nōmen nōmina

    Synonyms

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    Hyponyms

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    Derived terms

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    Descendants

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    Further reading

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    • “nomen”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
    • “nomen”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
    • "nomen", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
    • “nomen”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
    • Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
      • to think of a person with a grateful sense of his goodness: nomen alicuius grato animo prosequi
      • to win renown amongst posterity by some act: nomen suum posteritati aliqua re commendare, propagare, prodere
      • to immortalise one's name: memoriam nominis sui immortalitati tradere, mandare, commendare
      • nominally; really: verbo, nomine; re, re quidem vera
      • etymology (not etymologia): nominum interpretatio
      • to form, derive a word from... (used of the man who first creates the word): vocabulum, verbum, nomen ducere ab, ex...
      • the word amicitia comes from amare: nomen amicitiae (or simply amicitia) dicitur ab amando
      • the word carere means..: vox, nomen carendi or simply carere hoc significat (Tusc. 1. 36. 88)
      • the word aemulatio is employed with two meanings, in a good and a bad sense: aemulatio dupliciter dicitur, ut et in laude et in vitio hoc nomen sit
      • money is outstanding, unpaid: pecunia in nominibus est
      • I have money owing me: pecuniam in nominibus habeo
      • to become a candidate: nomen profiteri or simply profiteri
      • to accuse, denounce a person: nomen alicuius deferre (apud praetorem) (Verr. 2. 38. 94)
      • (ambiguous) to enlist oneself: nomen (nomina) dare, profiteri
      • to fail to answer one's name: ad nomen non respondere (Liv. 7. 4)
      • (ambiguous) to give the etymological explanation of words: nomina enodare or verborum origines quaerere, indagare
      • (ambiguous) to book a debt: nomina facere or in tabulas referre
      • (ambiguous) to pay one's debts: nomina (cf. sect. XIII. 3) solvere, dissolvere, exsolvere
      • (ambiguous) to demand payment of, recover debts: nomina exigere (Verr. 3. 10. 28)
      • (ambiguous) the agent (nomenclator) mentions the names of constituents to the canvasser: nomina appellat (nomenclator)
      • (ambiguous) to enlist oneself: nomen (nomina) dare, profiteri
    • “nomen”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
    • “nomen”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin

    Middle Dutch

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    Verb

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    nōmen

    1. (Flemish) alternative form of noemen

    Northern Sami

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    Etymology

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    (This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

    Pronunciation

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      This entry needs pronunciation information. If you are familiar with the IPA then please add some!

    Noun

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    nomen

    1. (grammar) nominal

    Inflection

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    Odd, no gradation
    Nominative nomen
    Genitive nomena
    Singular Plural
    Nominative nomen nomenat
    Accusative nomena nomeniid
    Genitive nomena nomeniid
    Illative nomenii nomeniidda
    Locative nomenis nomeniin
    Comitative nomeniin nomeniiguin
    Essive nomenin
    Possessive forms
    Singular Dual Plural
    1st person nomenan nomeneamẹ nomeneamẹt
    2nd person nomenat nomeneattẹ nomeneattẹt
    3rd person nomenis nomeneaskkạ nomeneasẹt

    Norwegian Nynorsk

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    Etymology 1

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    From Latin nōmen.

    Noun

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    nomen n (definite singular nomenet, indefinite plural nomen, definite plural nomena)

    1. (grammar) noun (i.e. nouns and adjectives)
    2. (grammar, newer) noun (i.e. nouns, adjectives, pronouns (and partially also numerals and infinitive forms of verbs))
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    Etymology 2

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    From Old Norse numinn, past participle of nema. Compare with Norwegian Bokmål nummen.

    Adjective

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    nomen (neuter nome or noment, definite singular and plural nomne, comparative nomnare, indefinite superlative nomnast, definite superlative nomnaste)

    1. numb
      Synonyms: doven, kjenslelaus, mauren
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    See also
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    • valen (“numb (of frost)”)

    References

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    Old English

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    Alternative forms

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    Pronunciation

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    Verb

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    nōmen

    1. plural preterite subjunctive of niman
    Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=nomen&oldid=89775941"