Sannio
a name of the buffoon in the mimes (Cic. de Orat. 2.61, ad Fam. 9.16.10), is derived by Diodorus (Excerpta Vat. p. 129, ed. Dindorf) from a Latin who bore this name. This, however, is inadmissible: it comes from sanna (Juv. 6.306; Pers. 1.62, 5.91). The Italian Zanni (hence our Zany) probably comes from Sannio.
From William Smith (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Text provided under a CC BY-SA license by Perseus Digital Library, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Tufts University. Data accessed from https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-pdlrefwk/ on 17 October 2026.