Origin of The Gens
The origin of the Cornelii is lost to history, but the nomen Cornelius may be formed from the hypothetical cognomen Corneus, meaning "horny", that is, having thick or callused skin. The existence of such a cognomen in early times may be inferred from its diminutive, Corneolus.
Another possibility is that the name is related to the surname Cossus, used by the most ancient branch of the gens. Cossus may be an archaic praenomen used by the ancestors of the Cornelii, which was subsequently used as a cognomen by the family. A similar instance is found in the patrician Furia gens, originally Fusia, which was evidently derived from the archaic praenomen Fusus. That gens later used Fusus as a cognomen, just as the Cornelii did with Cossus. Long after that branch of the family had disappeared, Cossus was revived as a praenomen by the later Cornelii.
Read more about this topic: Cornelii Lentuli
Famous quotes containing the words origin of and/or origin:
“There are certain books in the world which every searcher for truth must know: the Bible, the Critique of Pure Reason, the Origin of Species, and Karl Marx’s Capital.”
—W.E.B. (William Edward Burghardt)
“Our theism is the purification of the human mind. Man can paint, or make, or think nothing but man. He believes that the great material elements had their origin from his thought.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)