Caius Explained
In Latin, Caius is an archaic spelling of the Latin praenomen Gaius, pronounced /ga:ius/. In early Latin, the letter C was used for both /g/ and /k/; and the names Gaius and Gnaeus were spelt Caius and Cnaius and continued to be so in inscriptions, after the letter G was introduced, and C was confined to the /k/ sound. Notably, the name of Gaius Iulius Caesar is abbreviated CIC.
In English, Caius is a latinized spelling of the last name of John Keys of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge.
Caius may refer to:
People
Given name
Ancient world
Modern era
Surname
- Jean Ferdinand Caius (1877–1944), French botanist and naturalist who worked in India
- John Caius the Elder, English poet
- John Caius (1510–1573), English physician and second founder of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
- Thomas Caius (died 1572), English academic and administrator, Fellow and Master of University College, Oxford
Fictional characters
In Shakespeare's plays
- Caius, in the play King Lear, the name that the Earl of Kent takes when in disguise
- Caius, the protagonist in Coriolanus
- Caius Lucius, Roman ambassador and later general in Cymbeline
- Doctor Caius, a French doctor in The Merry Wives of Windsor
- Caius, a casual nomer used in Camus’ play “Caligula” to refer to the tyrannical emperor of the same name.
Other
- Caius, in Sir John in Love, a 1929 English opera by Ralph Vaughan Williams, based on Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor
- Caius, in the book The Skystone by Jack Whyte
- Caius, in the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer
- Caius Ballad, the main antagonist in the video game Final Fantasy XIII-2
- Caius Cosades, Grand Spymaster of the Blades in the video game
- Caius, in the 1960 film Spartacus, played by John Hoyt
- Caius Lao Vistaille, one of the protagonists in the manga (and later anime based on it) The Titan's Bride
- Caius Qualls, the main protagonist of the video game Tales of the Tempest
See also
