Declining Jupiter

The Romans referred to Jupiter, but also to Jove. How did this work?

The nominative, Iuppiter, is derived from the archaic vocative and pater (the word is a ‘syntactic compound’). The rest of the cases are derived from the stem Iov-, which A&G identify as related to the Greek Ζεύς through the PIE root *dyew. We can imagine that ‘Iovis‘ could serve a nominative, but the go-to nominative is definitely Iuppiter (or Iupiter).

Picture 1

(photo credit: Wiktionary)

You might be curious about why there’s a plural declension. Statues of Jove were also called ‘Joves.’

The Essential AG: 79, 79b, 100, 266c


Roman Names in Inscriptions and Literature

For an introduction to names, see this post.

Names in Roman Inscriptions




  • Mārcus, the praenōmen
  • Tullius, of the gēns Tullia
  • Mārcī fīlius, son of Mārcus
  • Mārcī nepōs, grandson of Mārcus 
  • Mārcī pronepōs, great-grandsom of Mārcus
  • Cornēliā tribū, in the Cornelian tribe
  • Cicerō, the cognōmen


Names in Roman Literature

Here, the system is simplified:

  • Mārcus Tullius Cicerō Mārcus Tullius Mārcī fīlius Cicerō
  • the father’s name is included, but nothing else


  • Caecilia Metellī = Caecilia, daughter of Metellus
  • Postumia Servī Supliciī = Postumia, wife of Servus Suplicius

The Essential AG: 108 n1

Famous Phrase: eō nōmine [by that name]
