El cognomen "germanus" en Hispania. Reflejo de un "status" social de servidumbre

Abstract

SUMMARY: The cognomen Germanus in Hispania shows a social status of servile origin in most of the cases in which it appears. It was widely and almost exclusively used during the 1st and 2nd centuries A.D. amongst slaves or freed slaves. The appearance of the name in the Peninsula must be related to the war events on the Rhine limes during this time. Its development in Hispania is due mainly to owners of slaves imposing it on their workers as onomastic, or to military men who also passed it on to their bondmen or their own offspring. It is likely that both have been in touch, some way or other, with German territories. Several bearers of the cognomen are Hispanic, others Greek, and some others might have been people from German territories who have been imported to the Peninsula. The derived terms of the cognomen are almost non-existent. In any case, the origin of the name defines the servile social origin of its bearers.