I.an Umbrian surname.—So, T. Maccius (or Maccus) Plautus, a celebrated Roman comic poet, a native of the Umbrian village Sarsina.—(On the name Maccius, instead of the earlier reading Accius or Attius, v. Ritschl, De Plauti poëtae nominibus, in his Parergon Plautinorum I. pp. 3-43; “and respecting his life and writings,” id. ib. pp. 47 - 579), Cic. Brut. 15, 60; Quint. 10, 1, 99.—
B. Transf., the works of Plautus, a comedy of Plautus: “adporto vobis Plautum linguā non manu,” Plaut. Men. prol. 3.—Hence,
II. Plautīnus , a, um, adj., of or belonging to Plautus, Plautian: “pater,” i. e. a father in a play of Plautus, Cic. Ep. ad Brut. 2, 2 fin.: “numeri et sales,” Hor. A. P. 270: “sermo,” Quint. 10, 1, 99: “stilus,” Gell. 3, 3, 13: prosapia, i. e. poor, mean, because Plautus was said to have worked in a mill, Min. Fel. Octav. 14.—Sup.: “versus Plautinissimi,” most Plautus-like, altogether in Plautus's manner, Gell. 3, 3, 4.
