Claudius

English

Etymology

From Latin Claudius. Doublet of Claude.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈklɔdiəs/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈklɔːdiəs/

Proper noun

Claudius (plural Claudiuses or Claudii)

1. A male given name from Latin.
   • 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Acts xxiiij:[23–26], folio cxc, verso:

     [H]e […] wrote a letter in this maner. Claudius Liſias vnto the moſt mighty ruelar Felix ſendeth gretyngꝭ.

   • 1968, John W[illiam] Velz, Shakespeare and the Classical Tradition: A Critical Guide to Commentary, 1660-1960, Minneapolis, Minn.: University of Minnesota Press, →LCCN, page 315, column 2:

     King Claudius is the Emperor Claudius, who "committed incest with Agrippina, married her and adopted her son Nero." The two Claudiuses have several traits in common (drunkenness, violent temper, love of gambling, e.g.).

   • 2001, Rose Williams, Duces Romanorum: Profiles in Roman Courage, teacher’s edition, London: WPC Classics, →ISBN, page 94:

     Vespasian, a simple man, always laughed because so many Julii and Claudii were made divine after their deaths. On his deathbed he said, “Alas! I think I’m becoming a god.”

   • 2007, Steven Saylor, “Coriolanus (510–491 bc)”, in Roma: The Epic Novel of Ancient Rome, London: Constable, →ISBN, page 143:

     Busy accepting the good wishes of all the other guests, Titus was able to pay only passing attention to Gnaeus. He worried that his friend might feel a bit out of place amid so many Claudii and Potitii, or, given his sensitivities, might experience a bit of envy, perhaps even resentment, at seeing the trappings of the patrician wedding he himself would never experience.

   • 2015, Harry Sidebottom, “Rome, The Caelian Hill, Five Days before the Ides of March, ad238”, in Blood & Steel (Throne of the Caesars; 2), London: HarperCollinsPublishers, →ISBN, page 132:

     The two Claudii had put their heads on the block by their own volition.

2. The Roman emperor "Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus".

Related terms

• Claud
• Claude
• Claudia
• Claudian

Translations

Roman Emperor

• Bulgarian: Кла́вдий m (Klávdij)
• Greek: Κλαύδιος (el) m (Klávdios)

  Ancient: Κλαύδιος m (Klaúdios)

• Latin: Claudius (la) m

Latin

Alternative forms

• Clōdius

Etymology

Traditionally said to be from claudus (“lame, limping, crippled”), however, family history relates that the name was adopted as the Romanized form of an earlier Clausus, the Latin spelling of an original Sabine name. A Sabine word cognate with clausus (“shut, closed”), perfect passive participle of claudō (“I shut, close”) seems a more probable origin.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈklau̯.di.us/, [ˈkɫ̪äu̯d̪iʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈklau̯.di.us/, [ˈkläːu̯d̪ius]

Proper noun

Claudius m (genitive Claudiī or Claudī, feminine Claudia); second declension

1. A Roman gens name.

Declension

Second-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	Claudius	Claudiī
genitive	Claudiī Claudī1	Claudiōrum
dative	Claudiō	Claudiīs
accusative	Claudium	Claudiōs
ablative	Claudiō	Claudiīs
vocative	Claudī	Claudiī

¹Found in older Latin (until the Augustan Age).

Related terms

• Claudia

Descendants

• English: Claude
• French: Claude
• Galician: Clodio
• Italian: Claudio
• Portuguese: Cláudio
• Romanian: Claudiu
• Spanish: Claudio

References

• “Claudius”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• Claudius in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.