Marcus Tullius Cicero

1 8.6

A Roman politician and famous public speaker whose writings influenced later Europe

proper noun

: Marco Tulio Cicerón

Many of Marcus Tullius Cicero's speeches survive and are still studied today.

Examples

The influence of Marcus Tullius Cicero can be seen in the works of later European writers.
Marcus Tullius Cicero was a key figure in Roman politics.
Marcus Tullius Cicero was one of Rome's greatest orators and philosophers.
The writings of Marcus Tullius Cicero are still studied today.
Marcus Tullius Cicero was a prominent Roman statesman and orator known for his eloquent speeches.
Many of Marcus Tullius Cicero's philosophical writings are essential readings in Latin literature.
The ideas of Marcus Tullius Cicero greatly influenced modern democratic thought and rhetoric.

Synonyms

Cicero

vsMarcus Tullius Cicero

8 8.1

An important politician, speaker, and writer from ancient Rome

is the complete Latin name showing both family and personal names

Tully

vsMarcus Tullius Cicero

1 9.9

A family name of the Roman politician and public speaker Marcus Tullius Cicero

uses the full Latin name rather than the short surname form

Surface Forms

Marcus Tullius Cicero main

Morphology

Marcus + Tullius + Cicero

This is a full proper name composed of personal names rather than semantically meaningful lexical items; knowing the constituents as names does not allow a learner to infer the referent's identity, historical period, or role as a Roman statesman and orator. Proper names are non-compositional across languages, so the specific biographical meaning is not derivable from the parts and would be unknown without prior exposure.

Etymology

Marcus Tullius Cicero gets his name from the family surname Cicero, which in Latin means a 'chickpea' and, one story says, came from an ancestor with a wart that looked like one. He became famous for his speeches and writing, so the odd name helps us remember the great Roman 'speaker' and 'statesman'.