Lucretia

Historical scholarship

Passages quoted verbatim from public-domain reference works. They reflect the scholarship of their time, not current consensus, and may use obsolete spellings.

• 1884From the archives

  Lucretia— “gain (?)”

  Lucretius, the name of a noted old gens, is probably from the same source, though some take it from _lucrum_ (gain). “Lucrece, combing the fleece under the midnight lamp,” that fine characteristic Roman tale, furnished Shakespeare with an early poem; and Lucrezia was one of the first classic names revived by the Italians; and though borne by the notorious daughter of the Borgia, has continued fashionable with them and with the French, who make it Lucrèce; while we have now…

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  Lucretius, the name of a noted old gens, is probably from the same source, though some take it from _lucrum_ (gain). “Lucrece, combing the fleece under the midnight lamp,” that fine characteristic Roman tale, furnished Shakespeare with an early poem; and Lucrezia was one of the first classic names revived by the Italians; and though borne by the notorious daughter of the Borgia, has continued fashionable with them and with the French, who make it Lucrèce; while we have now and then a Lucretia, learnt probably from the fanciful designations of the taste of the eighteenth century.[53]

  Yonge, History of Christian Names (1884), Part IV, Chapter II (Latin Prænomina), Section II (Lucius) · Public domain (Project Gutenberg)