Title: The variants of the se vivo fecit expression in Latin language inscriptions
Source document: Graeco-Latina Brunensia. 2018, vol. 23, iss. 1, pp. 227-244
Extent
227-244
-
ISSN1803-7402 (print)2336-4424 (online)
Persistent identifier (DOI): https://doi.org/10.5817/GLB2018-1-14
Stable URL (handle): https://hdl.handle.net/11222.digilib/138107
Type: Article
Language
License: Not specified license
Notice: These citations are automatically created and might not follow citation rules properly.
Abstract(s)
The se vivo fecit formula (or any variants of it) occurs almost 1400 times in the Latin epigraphic corpus. This fact attracts our attention, because, according to the rules of the classical grammar, the expression should be seen as incorrect, since the semantic subject of the ablative absolute construction corresponds to the subject of the main clause. This incorrect formula was nevertheless part of the Latin funerary epigraphic language for more than five hundred years. We can find it in inscriptions from the Iberian Peninsula to the Balkans, from Africa up to Gallia, and the form was considerably widespread in the area of Rome, in the west side of North-Africa, and in the Balkan provinces. It is remarkable that (especially in Rome) the phonetic and morpho-syntactic changes of the Latin language have induced further interior mutations of the formula. We have many examples in which the adjective of the expression (vivus) stands in the nominative or in the accusative instead of the morphologically correct ablative. Therefore, we can find variants as se vivus, se vivum, etc. The aim of this paper is to explore the spread of each variant of the se vivo fecit formula, and to give a possible explanation for the occurrence of trends that do not meet our expectations.
Note
The present paper was prepared within the framework of the project NKFIH (National Research, Development and Innovation Office, former OTKA Hungarian Scientific Research Fund) No. K 108399 and K 124170 entitled "Computerized Historical Linguistic Database of Latin Inscriptions of the Imperial Age" (see: http://lldb.elte.hu) and of the project entitled "Lendület ('Momentum') Research Group for Computational Latin Dialectology" (Research Institute for Linguistics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences).
References
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[12] LLDB = Adamik, B. et al. Computerized Historical Linguistic Database of Latin Inscriptions of the Imperial Age [retrieved 18. 01. 2018 from http://lldb.elte.hu/].
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[2] Adamik, B. (2016). Computerized Historical Linguistic Database of the Latin Inscriptions of the Imperial Age: Search and Charting Modules. In From Polites to Magos: Studia György Németh Sexagenario Dedicata (Hungarian Polis Studies, XXII; pp. 13‒27). Budapest – Debrecen: University of Debrecen, Dept. of Ancient History and Class. Phil.
[3] Adamik, B. (2017). The problem of the omission of word-final -s as evidenced in Latin inscriptions. Graeco-Latina Brunensia, 22(2), 5‒21. | DOI 10.5817/GLB2017-2-1
[4] CIL VI. = Henzen, G. et al. (1876‒1885). Inscriptiones Urbis Romae Latinae (Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, VI). Berolinum: Georgius Reimerus.
[5] EDCS = Clauss, M., Kolb A., & Slaby, W. A. Epigraphik-Datenbank Claus / Slaby [retrieved 18.02.2018. from http://db.edcs.eu/epigr/].
[6] Galdi, G. (2002). Reflexive and possessive pronouns in Greek and Latin inscriptions of the Empire (Moesia Inferior). In G. Calboli, Papers on Grammar (Vol. V; pp. 75–94). Bologna: Clueb.
[7] Galdi, G. (2004). Grammatica delle iscrizioni latine dell'impero (province orientali). Roma: Herder.
[8] Herman J. (2000). Vulgar Latin (transl. R. Wright). University Park, Pa: The Pennsylvania State University Press.
[9] Hofmann, J. B, & Szantyr, A. (1972). Lateinische Syntax und Stilistik. München: C. H. Beck'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung.
[10] ICUR = Silvagni, A. et al. (1922‒1992). Inscriptiones christianae urbis Romae septimo saeculo antiquiores. Nova series (Vol. I‒X). Roma: Officina Libraria Doct. Befani (Vol. I‒II); Civitas Vaticana: Pont. Institutum Archeologiae Christianae (Vol. III‒X).
[11] Konjetzny, G. (1907). De idiotismis syntacticis in titulis latinis urbanis (CIL vol. VI) conspicuis (Archiv für lateinische Lexikographie und Grammatik, XV). Leipzig: Teubner.
[12] LLDB = Adamik, B. et al. Computerized Historical Linguistic Database of Latin Inscriptions of the Imperial Age [retrieved 18. 01. 2018 from http://lldb.elte.hu/].
[13] Martin, H. (1909). Notes on the Syntax of the Latin Inscriptions Found in Spain. Baltimore: J. H. Furst Company.
[14] Menge, H. (2009). Lehrbuch der lateinischen Syntax und Semantik. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft.
[15] Väänänen, V. (1981). Introduction au latin vulgaire (Librarie Klincksieck, série linguistique, 18). Paris: Klincksieck.