Societas Via Romana - Discussion Archives

Posted: **Sat Feb 11, 2006 9:15 pm**

Salvete Omnes,

I have a list of gladiator names and tried to translate them for one member of my reenactor group who still needs a name for his presentation as a retiarius.

I stumbled across the name Ripuanus but couldn't find this name in my dictionary neither on any online dictionary. I only found the word "ripa" meaning "steep river bank" or "sea shore". So could be "ripuanus" mean "man from the sea shore" or something like that?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Posted: **Sat Feb 11, 2006 10:09 pm**

Salve, mi Aelia...

I'm not as useful for these things as I'd like to be, but...

In ecology, a "riparian" habitat is one along a river or other waterway. (Sealife is generally said to be "marine".) Many if not most rivers and streams have a greater density of plant life along their shores than is otherwise the case for the surrounding area. So the name may indicate something to do with a river-valley or stream-bed; like calling a town "Riverside".

I must admit that the 'u' in "Ripuanus" confounds me. Trying it as a 'v' doesn't help either. But...there was a lot of non-standard Latin out there in the Provinces, so anything's possible. Maybe the fighter was "like a river" rather than from one? He flows around his enemy and thus wears him down, like water on rock? --How delightfully Taoist, if so! >({|:-)

Hope this helps...

Posted: **Sun Feb 12, 2006 10:33 pm**

It's hard to say, especially in light of the possibility of this being a Latinized foreign name. Gladiators were slaves afterall. The derivation from ripa could be possible, but I wouldn't count on it.

Societas Via Romana - Discussion Archives

One more translation request

One more translation request

Riparianism