Chapter LXXXVI: Section VI: Claudius

Another personal defect, namely lameness, probably was the source of the appellation of the Claudian gens, although by some the adjective _claudus_ is rejected in favour of the old verb _clueo_, from the same root as the Greek _kleo_, I hear, and _kluo_, I am called, or I am famous, meaning to be called, _i. e._, famed. The Claudii were a family of evil fame, with all the darker characteristics of the Roman, and they figure in most of the tragedies of the city. They were especially proud and stern, and never adopted any one into their family till the Emperor Claudius adopted Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, who did not improve the fame of the Claudian surname of Nero. But the reign of the Emperor Claudius and the number of his freedmen, and new citizens, gave his gentile name an extensive vogue, and from his conquests in Britain was there much adopted. Besides, the Claudia who sends her greeting to St. Timothy in St. Paul’s Epistle, is believed to have been the daughter of a British prince and wife of Pudens, whose name is preserved in inscriptions at Colchester.

The epigrams of Martial speak of a British lady of the same name, and thus Claudia is marked by the concurrence of two very dissimilar authorities as one of the first British Christians, while the hereditary Welsh name of Gladys, the Cornish Gladuse, corroborate the Christian reverence for Claudia. The masculine form, Gladus, is likewise used, and in Scotland Glaud, recently softened into Claud, is not uncommon. Claudie is very common in Provence. Louis XII., who gave both his daughters male names, called the eldest Claude, and when she was the wife of François I., la Reine Claude plums were so termed in her honour. Her daughter carried Claude into the House of Lorraine, where it again became masculine, and was frequent in the family of Guise. The painter Gelée assumed the name of Claude de Lorraine in honour of his patrons, and thus arose all the picturesque associations conveyed by the word Claude.

Claudine is a favourite female Swiss form.[57]

┌──────────┬──────────┬──────────┬──────────┬──────────┬──────────┐
│ English. │ Scotch. │ French. │ Italian. │ Russian. │ Slovak. │
│Claud │Glaud │Claude │Claudio │Klavdij │Klavdi │
│ │ │Godon │ │ —————— │ │
│ │ │ │ │Illyrian. │ │
│ │ │ │ │Klavdij │ │
├──────────┴──────────┴──────────┴──────────┴──────────┴──────────┤
│ FEMININE. │
├─────────────────────┬─────────────────────┬─────────────────────┤
│ French. │ Welsh. │ Italian. │
│Claude │Gladys │Claudia │
│Claudine │ │ │
│Claudie │ │ │
└─────────────────────┴─────────────────────┴─────────────────────┘

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Footnote 57:

Facciolati; Smith; Rees, _Welsh Saints_.