• Marcus Tullius Cicero

    From Ed Cryer@21:1/5 to All on Fri Feb 12 21:44:46 2021
    Cicero's cognomen, or personal surname, comes from the Latin for chickpea, cicer. Plutarch explains that the name was originally given to one of
    Cicero's ancestors who had a cleft in the tip of his nose resembling a chickpea. However, it is more likely that Cicero's ancestors prospered
    through the cultivation and sale of chickpeas.[20] Romans often chose down-to-earth personal surnames. The famous family names of Fabius,
    Lentulus, and Piso come from the Latin names of beans, lentils, and peas, respectively. Plutarch writes that Cicero was urged to change this
    deprecatory name when he entered politics, but refused, saying that he
    would make Cicero more glorious than Scaurus ("Swollen-ankled") and Catulus ("Puppy").
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cicero

    Ed

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