the name of families in the Genucia and Minucia gentes. The word is evidently derived from augur.
I. Genucii Augurini.
They must originally have been patricians, as we find consuls of this family long before the consulship was open to the plebeians. But here a difficulty arises. Livy calls (5.13, 18) Cn. Genucius, who was consular tribune in B. C. 99 and again in 396, a plebeian, and we learn from the Capitoline Fasti that his surname was Augurinus. Now if Livy and the Capitoline Fasti are both right, the Genucii Augurini must have gone over to the plebeians, as the Minucii Augurini did. It is possible, however, that Augurinus in the Capitoline Fasti may be a mistake for Aventinensis, which we know was a plebeian family of the same gens. [AVENTINENSIS.]