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Thegens (pluralgentes) was aRoman family, ofItalic orEtruscan origins, consisting of all those individuals who shared the samenomen and claimed descent from a common ancestor. It was an important social and legal structure in earlyRoman history.[1][2]
The distinguishing characteristic of a gens was thenomen gentilicium, orgentile name. Every member of a gens, whether by birth oradoption, bore this name. All nomina were based on other nouns, such aspersonal names, occupations, physical characteristics or behaviors, or locations. Consequently, most of them ended with the adjectival termination-ius (-ia in the feminine form).[1]
Nomina ending in-aius,-eius,-eus, and-aeus are typical ofLatin families.Faliscan gentes frequently had nomina ending in-ios, whileSamnite and otherOscan-speaking peoples of southern Italy had nomina ending in-iis.Umbrian nomina typically end in-as,-anas,-enas, or-inas, while nomina ending in-arna,-erna,-ena,-enna,-ina, or-inna are characteristic of Etruscan families.[1]
The wordgens is feminine, and the name of a gens was also feminine.Marcus Valerius Corvus was a member ofgens Valeria.Valerius was his nomen. His son's nomen would have beenValerius, and his daughter'sValeria. Male members of his gens were collectively calledValerii, and female membersValeriae. If a member of the gens were adopted into another family, he would assume the nomen of that gens, followed by thecognomenValerianus.[2]
In the following list, "I" and "J" are treated as separate letters, as are "U" and "V". The letter "K" was rare in Latin, and the few nomina occasionally spelled with this letter were usually spelled with "C". No Roman gentes began with "X", and the letters "Y" and "Z" occurred only in names borrowed from Greek. The letter "W" did not exist in Classical Latin.