esonius

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Attestation:	BI·4 (esonius:urenti/akitu:esonius/ueriounos) (1)
Language:	Celtic
adapted to:	Latin
Word Type:	proper noun
Semantic Field:	personal name
Grammatical Categories:	nom. sg. masc.
Stem Class:	i̯o
Morphemic Analysis:	eχs-obn-(i)i̯-us
Phonemic Analysis:	/e(χ)sōn(i)i̯us/ or /e(χ)sonn(i)i̯us/
Meaning:	'Esonius'

Commentary

Individual name in the nominative with Latinised ending. The base may be analysed as *eχsobn- 'fearless', cf. esopnos (see there for details on the analysis and comparanda), esopnio, exobna. *[χs] is spelled with sigma also in the two alphabetically Lepontic attestations; the labial in obn- may be assimilated via -ou̯n- (cf. RIU VI 1359 exounomarae (dat.)) > -ōn-, or via -omn- > -onn-. Solinas in Cresci Marrone & Solinas 2011: 104, n. 13 and 22 compares instances of *eχsobn-, but in Cresci Marrone & Solinas 2013: 47 she points out that there are no other attestations of the name with completely assimilated labial, and prefers to compare esoniana [tegula] in a pottery stamp from the area of Padova (1^st c. AD) – which, however, in absence of an Italic etymology, may well also belong with the *eχsobn-names.

See the inscription page on the possibility of a homographic patronym esonius formed from the individual name.

Corinna Salomon

Bibliography

Cresci Marrone & Solinas 2011	Giovannella Cresci Marrone, Patrizia Solinas, "Il messaggio epigrafico: Riconoscimento del sepolcro e strategia della memoria", in: Luisa Brecciaroli Taborelli (ed.), Oro, pane e scrittura. Memorie di una comunità "inter Vercellas et Eporediam" [= Studi e ricerche sulla Gallia Cisalpina 24], Roma: Edizioni Quasar 2011, 89–106.
Cresci Marrone & Solinas 2013	Giovannella Cresci Marrone, Patrizia Solinas, Microstorie di romanizzazione. Le iscrizioni del sepolcreto rurale di Cerrione, Venezia: Edizioni Ca' Foscari 2013.