Why is the Roman acronym SPQR and not SPR?

Question

SPQR stands for "Senātus Populusque Rōmānus". It would be logical (at least in English or Spanish) to expect the initialism or acronym to be SPR. However, the first letter of the conjunction "-que" is also added to the acronym, forming the well-known SPQR.

Why is the Q added to the acronym? Is it to differentiate it from "Senātus Populus Rōmānus"? Or is a common practice to add the first letter of conjunctions (or at least the "-que" conjunction) into acronyms?

My search on the latter has not given me any meaningful result. Perhaps surprisingly, the Wikipedia entry does not comment on this issue. There is a helpless forum thread here too.

Answer 1

It appears that -que was treated much like a word. Especially Ovidius does not treat it as an enclitic, but more as an independent word. This becomes evident in quotes, where -que is outside the quote but the word it is attached to is inside. Take a look at this question on a specific instance of this (for the version -c) and this list for a number of similar occurrences in Ovidius.

I am not sure how the Romans understood or defined a word. Word spacing as we know it — including our editions of ancient texts — was not an ancient phenomenon. Spelling conventions have evolved over time, also during the Roman era.

I don't know of any other ancient abbreviations where the "word" -que is given its own letter. But I didn't manage to find any other abbreviations containing -que either. In the absence of examples in either direction, it is hard to draw very strong conclusions. Modern abbreviations can be quite liberal, but arguing by modern analogies is dangerous.

One question worth asking is whether we really know what all the letters in SPQR stand for. The fact that the Temple of Saturn in the Forum Romanum has Senatus populusque Romanus spelled out in full (and so does the arch of Titus as luchonacho pointed out) is evidence in support of the standard reading, but it does not strictly rule out other options. However, I do find it most likely that the Q is -que and the standard reading is correct.

We can only guess why there is a Q, unless some ancient author discusses this very point. Perhaps it was to emphasize the "and". Perhaps -que was considered a separate word. Perhaps whoever came up with it didn't give it much thought and his decision stuck. Perhaps it was to differentiate it from Suomen Punainen Risti (The Finnish Red Cross). The last guess is probably bad, though.

Answer 2

The consensus seems to be that SPQR means Senatus Populusque Romanus, but there is also the theory that SPQR did not mean Senatus Populusque Romanus.

It could also may have been Senatus Populus Quirites Romani.

I've read this in the entry for Quirites in the dictionary Langenscheidt Großes Schulwörterbuch Lateinisch-Deutsch which I unfortunately don't have access to right now.

[1] Quiritesque (Pons)

[2] Quiriti (Treccani)

Answer 3

The source referenced in a Wikipedia-entry:

SPQR är en förkortning för Senatus Populusque Romanus, [se'na:tus popu'luskwe ro'ma:nus], vilket betyder "senaten och det romerska folket". Eller Senatus Populus Quiritium Romanus Romerska riket, senaten och det kviritisk-romerska folket.[1]

Where the reference [1] refers to a blog post by "maximuxz" in 4th of june, 2007. Who copied a piece of text from here. Where we find the following explanation below in quoted text. I have structured it with some captions.

Edit: I traced the source back to an earlier version of the Wikipedia entry. You can find more information on SPQR in the discussion on Wikipedia of SPQR, right here. But the following text (originally from an older version of the SPQR Wikipedia entry) should still offer a good summary:

"S.P.Q.R. is an initialism in Latin that be emblazoned on the standards of the Roman legions and be used by the Roman republic and the Roman empire. It currently appears in the modern coat of arms of the city of Rome, as capably as on many of the city's civic buildings and manhole covers. (The latter be originally placed by order of Mussolini, who frequently used SPQR as propaganda for his regime.)

The initialism itself is subject to ongoing debate, beside divergent phrases and translations offered as explanations. (Like any translation, initialisms are of debatable importance and accuracy, as the meaning of words are subject to both change and complexity.) Its aim was probably of archaic cause even during ancient Roman times.

S most assuredly stood for Senatus - "Senate".

P is disputed, some see in it Populus or Populusque, "the people" and "and the people", respectively.

Q is disputed, it stood any for que ("and"), or Quirites or Quiritium (both of which mean "spearmen". Originally adjectives Roman citizens had be soldiers.)

R probably stood for Romae, Romanus or Romanorum, translated into "of Rome", "Roman" or "of the Romans", respectively. All this leads to divergent phrases:

Possible interpretations

• Senatus Populus Quiritium Romanus

Senatus Populus Quiritium Romanus The Senate and the citizens' Roman associates, Quiritium being the genitive plural of Quiris, "citizen". This initialism is given by Castiglioni and Mariotti, authors of a renowned Latin dictionary, among other scholar.

• Senatus Populus Quiritium Romanorum

Senatus Populusque Quiritium Romanorum This version is remarkably similar to the journal above and follows the same logic, self translated as the "Senate and people of the Roman citizens."

• Senatus Populus Quirites Romanus

Senatus Populus Quirites Romanus This is another revision and also follows the same logic.

• Senatus Populusque Romanus

Senatus Populusque Romanus The Senate and the Roman family This version started to be used since a completely early stage of the Roman republic, and subsequently continued to be used during the Roman empire. As such, it appears in most of the top monuments and documents. A fine example of this is the Arch of Titus built around 81 AD to honor Titus and his father the Emperor Vespasian. It is also used in Trajan's Column which be built in 113 AD to salary homage to Emperor Trajan.

• Senatus Populusque Romae

Senatus Populusque Romae. This version translates into the currently fêted The Senate and the people of Rome. Populus purpose "people", the suffix que meaning "and", and Romae characterization "of Rome". This version have the great merit that its English translation is simply the better sounding one, but its historical accuracy is notably dubious. The english translation is used in masses movies and TV series about ancient Rome.

About Quiris

One have to realize that a citizen of Rome was expected to come to blows for the Roman republic. The people of Rome would include women, children, and probably even slaves. All these classes were a member of the Roman people but not citizens of the Roman republic. A free Roman manly who had adjectives the rights and fulfilled his duties, who was competent and willing to be at odds for the republic and the people be a citizen, a member of an restricted, in effect a subgroup inwardly the people . Therefore, a citizen would originally be call a Quiris - a "spearman".

About Quirities

This can also be seen contained by the original denomination of the citizens right: "Ius civile Quiritium". On a trustworthy occasion Julius Caesar subdued a insurrectionary legion by apparently accepting adjectives their demands and then famously address them with: "Quirites" - "citizens" Suetonius: Divus Julius 70. The shocked legionaries cried out, reaffirming their loyalty towards their beloved common.

About SQPR vs SPQR

Perhaps a more accurate modern translation of the original target would be: "The Senate and the Citizens of the People of Rome." - "Senatus Quiritesque Populi Romae", which regrettably would change the initialism into "SQPR". However, since word instruct is secondary to conjugation within Latin, one could rearrange it to "Senatus Populique Quirites Romae" or "Senatus Populi Quiritesque Romae" for "SPQR". It wouldn't be chic Latin, but understood.

Disclaimer: I never studied any Latin.

Answer 4

Interestingly, the 1895 (or 1896) book Latin Inscriptions by James Egbert Jr. provides a through study of, well, Latin inscriptions, including acronyms. An online version of the book can be found here.

A relevant quote, in my opinion (pages 415-6):

Certain general principles will be found of advantage in the interpretation of abbreviations.

1. Words written in abbreviated form consist either of the initial letter (si(n)g(u)la) or of a continuous group of letters more or less restricted in number. In the latter case the final letter of the abbreviation is the first consonant of a syllable, but this is not an exact rule. T= Titus; TIB = Tiberius; CLAVD, CLAV, CLA = Claudia; QVIR, QVI, Q = Quirina.

2. If a word is composed of several members, the above rule applies either to the word treated as a whole or to each of the component parts regarded as individual words. Thus signifer may be abbreviated synthetically SIG or SIGN, or analytically SIGF for signum and fer, so BENEFlC, BENEF, B, or again B F = beneficiarius, DVMTAX or D T = dum taxat, Q Q V = quoquoversus, P Q = populusque.

This in theory is the system of abbreviations up to the end of the third century A.D.

When a disregard of these principles first made itself felt in the formation of abbreviations cannot be exactly determined, but it is probable that ignorance or a misunderstanding of the second rule, combined with a lack of knowledge of the component parts of words as determining the abbreviated forms, led to the violation of the principle of continuity of the letters....

Pages 417 to 460 provide a list of acronyms, where we can see several adding the Q when the word includes a que suffix, albeit this is not a universal rule. Examples include:

• D.N.M.Q.E: devotus numini maiestatique eius
• E.Q.D.D: eademque dedicavit
• F.Q.E.E.V: fideque el esse videbitur
• H.H.Q: heres heredesque
• IMP.P.Q.R: imperium populusque Romanus
• L.L.Q: liberis liberabusque
• P.Q.S: posterisque suis
• S.ET S.L.P.Q.E: sibi et suis libertis, libertabus posterisque eorum

Interestingly, SPQR was not the only SPQ-based abbreviation. The book above lists also several SPQ+X, where X includes: A (Albensis), C (Corsiolanus), L (Lavininus), T (Tiburs).

Maybe there are some further analysis in the book relevant for the question at hand, but don't have the time at the moment. All I can conclude from this however is that "in theory", up until the third century AD the rule was to add Q for que in an acronym. Hence the SPQR, which predates third century AD.

Answer 5

As for what I can remember of my Latin and Roman History studies (some time ago) the Q (standing for que = and, as already explained in other answers and comments) was specifically introduced exactly to stress the union of the Senate and the People, but I cannot remember the occasion, or indicate a source for that.

Answer 6

Or is a common practice to add the first letter of conjunctions (or at least the "-que" conjunction) into acronyms?

You are looking at this from the modern English tradition of omitting articles like "and" or "of" from acronyms. The Romans did not necessarily follow the same aesthetics.

Ostensibly the Romans considered the "que" as a separate word, & abbreviated it separately.

One reason for this may have been the actual pronunciation of the phrase at the time. They may have emphasized the -que when speaking, perhaps. Plus there is the fact that they did not space their words out separately as we do today. Maybe the -que suffix started as a separate word but became considered a suffix much later.