Other Forms FormsMessallina
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Contributor Contrib.Undine on 3/23/2009
Feminine diminutive of the Roman family name Messalla, which was originally an agnomen derived from the place name Messana, applied to the 3rd-century BC Roman general Manius Valerius Maximus Corvinus to commemorate his victory at the city of Messana in Sicily. The city's name is a Mycenaean Greek form of Messene (Greek: Μεσσήνη), which is of uncertain meaning, possibly from Greek μέσος (mesos) "middle". Messalina was the third wife of the Roman emperor Claudius, who was eventually executed for conspiring against her weak husband.