Octavian

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The name referring to Gaius Octavius, who became the first Roman emperor, Augustus, noted for founding the Roman Empire
2. A proper name for the Roman leader who rose to power after Julius Caesar, establishing imperial rule
3. An ancient Roman ruler originally known as Octavian, who transformed the Roman Republic into an empire

Etymology: Octavian was never a family name Augustus chose for himself. He was born Gaius Octavius, and the adjective "Octavianus" was coined to tell him apart once he was adopted by his great-uncle Julius Caesar, whose adopted heir took the name Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus. Because the new name was built from his original surname, "Octavianus" was in effect a Roman way of saying "the Octavius who now belongs to the Caesars." The word is therefore a derived adjective: the Latin root "Octavius" (the Octavii were an ordinary plebeian clan) plus the suffix "-ianus," which forms adjectives meaning "belonging to" or "related to." English took the form directly from Latin, so the name carries its original sense of family belonging in its ending. When the adopted heir later took the title Augustus in 27 BC, the name Octavian was dropped from his formal style, but it survives in English as the name historians use for the years before he became emperor.

Synonyms: augustus, caesar