Revised as of 17 April 2021 You can read the full text of “The Travels of Marco Polo the Venetian here. I know, I know, you’re asking why you’d be interested. Who knows, it might be useful for future reference for a story, but my primary interest right now is that Polo is his surname and the Venetian is his cognomen. The real purpose behind this word confusion post, cognomen versus surname, is to satisfy my own curiosity. I am planning a sci-fi / time travel series in which the first book is set in Ancient Rome. And I have been confused with the Roman naming conventions. Now, I know that nomen is the family or last name, the surname of a Roman while a cognomen is of Roman origin that began as a nickname, which has, sometimes, evolved into a surname. Word Confusions… …started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noir for you from […]