Opiter (praenomen)

Opiter (/ˈoʊpɪtər/ or /ˈɒpɪtər/) is a Latin praenomen, or personal name, which was used primarily during the early centuries of the Roman Republic. It is not usually abbreviated, but is sometimes found with the abbreviation Opet., apparently based on an archaic spelling of the name. No examples of the feminine form are known, but it was probably Opiternia or Opitria. The name gave rise to the patronymic gens Opiternia, and perhaps also gens Opetreia.^[1][2]

The praenomen Opiter was used by the patrician gentes Verginia and Lucretia, and several prominent members of these gentes with this name held important magistracies during the first two centuries of the Republic. The name must also have been used at one time by the ancestors of gens Opiternia. As with other rare praenomina, Opiter may have been more frequently used in the countryside. However, writing in the 1st century BC, Marcus Terentius Varro described it as obsolete.^[3][4][5]

Origin and Meaning of the Name

The gens Opiternia may have been Faliscan, as a Faliscan named Lucius Opiternius is mentioned by the historian Titus Livius. The Faliscan language was closely related to early Latin. A Latin inscription reading "OPI. SAUFIO L.L." should probably be interpreted as "Opiter Saufeius, freedman of Lucius," although Chase felt that the praenomen was probably Oppius. Despite the fact that both the Verginii and the Lucretii were of Etruscan origin, the praenomen Opiter does not appear to have been used by the Etruscans.^[6][7][8]

In his epitome, De Praenominibus ("Concerning Praenomina"), Julius Paris mentions a popular etymology of Opiter, deriving it from avus (grandfather) and pater (father). Paris explained that the name was originally given to a child whose father had died, and who was therefore raised by his grandfather. This opinion was shared by Festus, but it is almost certainly depends on a false etymology. Chase argues that avus cannot reasonably have contributed to the name; nor does he find any evidence for pater. Instead, he postulates that Opiter is derived from the same root as ops (help), and should be interpreted as "helper".^[9][10][11]

If Chase is correct, then Opiter is probably derived from the same root as the plebeian gentes Opimia and Opisia, and may be the Latin cognate of the Oscan praenomen Oppius or Oppiis, as well as gens Oppia.^[12]

Notes

1. Realencyclopädie der Classischen Altertumswissenschaft
2. Mika Kajava, Roman Female Praenomina: Studies in the Nomenclature of Roman Women (1994)
3. Dictionary of Greek & Roman Biography & Mythology
4. Realencyclopädie der Classischen Altertumswissenschaft
5. Marcus Terentius Varro, quoted in De Praenominibus (epitome by Julius Paris)
6. Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita, book XXXIX
7. George Davis Chase, "The Origin of Roman Praenomina", in Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, vol. VIII (1897)
8. Realencyclopädie der Classischen Altertumswissenschaft
9. De Praenominibus (epitome by Julius Paris)
10. Sextus Pompeius Festus, epitome by Paulus Diaconus
11. George Davis Chase, "The Origin of Roman Praenomina", in Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, vol. VIII (1897)
12. George Davis Chase, "The Origin of Roman Praenomina", in Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, vol. VIII (1897)