Lewis & Short

Parsing inflected forms may not always work as expected. If the following does not give the correct word, try Latin Words or Perseus.

prae-nōmen, ĭnis, n.

  1. I. Lit., the name which stood before the name of the gens, the first name, prœnomen, usually abbreviated; thus, in M. Tullius Cicero, Marcus is the prænomen, as A. = Aulus, C. = Caius, Cn. = Cnaeus, etc.: Quintilius cum filio, cui Marco praenomen erat, Liv. 30, 18, 5: quod sine praenomine familiariter ad me epistulam misisti, Cic. Fam. 7, 32, 1: Quinte, puta, aut Publi (gaudent praenomine molles Auriculae), Hor. S. 2, 5, 32: praenominibus feminas esse appellatas testimonio sunt Caecilia et Tarracia, quae ambae Gaiae solitae sint appellari, pari modo Lucia et Titia, Fest. p. 224 Müll.: pueris non prius, quam togam virilem sumerent, puellis non antequam nuberent, praenomina imponi moris fuisse, Q. Scaev. ap. Auct. Epit. Nom. Rat., Huschke, Jurisp. ante-Just. p. 16 sq.
  2. II. Transf., in gen., an appellation or title placed before a person’s name: praenomen Imperatoris, Suet. Caes. 76; id. Tib. 26; id. Claud. 12.

praenōmĭno, no

  1. I. perf., ātum, 1, v. a. [praenomen], to give one the prœnomen or title of, to name (very rare): Numerios praenominabant, Varr. ap. Non. 352, 29.
  2. II. To name in the first place (late Lat.): praenominatur caro, et postea deitas, Rustic. c. Aceph. p. 1236.