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-i̯-us
Phonemic Analysis:	/essōni̯us/ or /essonni̯us/
Meaning:	'Esonius'

Commentary

Personal name in the nominative with Latinised ending. The base may be analysed as *eχsobn- 'fearless', cf. esopnos (see there for further comparanda), esopnio, exobna. The assimilation of [χs] > [ss] is also reflected in the two alphabetically Lepontic attestations cited. The labial in obn- may be assimilated via -ou̯n- (cf. exounomara, Delamarre 2007: X) > -ōn-, or via -omn- > -onn-. Solinas in Cresci Marrone & Solinas 2013: 47 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 also the homographic patronym esonius formed from the 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.