Sulla

See also: sulla and Sul·la

Latin

Alternative forms

Sylla

Etymology

Uncertain. It likely referred originally to a personal physical characteristic, like many Latin cognomina: Quintilian (Institutio Oratoria 1.4.25.3) gives it as an example of a name with this kind of etymology (along with Burrus, Galba, Plautus, Pānsa, Scaurus). If the vowel was long, the form would be consistent with derivation from sūra (“calf of the leg”) +‎ -la (diminutive suffix) (making it equivalent to *sūrula); compare Sūra (agnomen and cognomen). An alternative modern proposal is that it comes from suīlla ^[1] (carō) 'pork (meat)'.^[2] Plutarch interprets Lucius Cornelius Sulla's cognomen as a reference to his facial complexion^[3] (although it was already a traditional name in his family).

Proper noun

Sulla m (genitive Sullae); first declension

a cognomen used by the gens Cornelia
Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix

Declension

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	Sulla	Sullae
genitive	Sullae	Sullārum
dative	Sullae	Sullīs
accusative	Sullam	Sullās
ablative	Sullā	Sullīs
vocative	Sulla	Sullae

Descendants

→ Ancient Greek: Σύλλᾱς (Súllās)

References

^ Fiona Mary Noble (2014) Sulla and the Gods: Religion, Politics, and Propaganda in the Autobiography of Lucius Cornelius Sulla (Thesis)‎^[1], Newcastle University, page 52
^ Maria Gabriela Angeli Bertinelli (1997) Plutarco: Le vite di Lisandro e di Silla, Fondazione Lorenzo Valla, page 296
^ Plutarch (2nd century) Bernadotte Perrin, transl., The Parallel Lives, published 1916; republished as Bill Thayer, editor, Plutarch, The Parallel Lives: The Life of Sulla‎^[2], web, 2018