Title: Debitum reddere (and similar formulae) with the meaning of 'dying' in Latin inscriptions
Source document: Graeco-Latina Brunensia. 2024, vol. 29, iss. 2, pp. 113-128
Extent
113-128
-
ISSN1803-7402 (print)2336-4424 (online)
Persistent identifier (DOI): https://doi.org/10.5817/GLB2024-2-8
Stable URL (handle): https://hdl.handle.net/11222.digilib/digilib.80767
Type: Article
Language
License: CC BY-SA 4.0 International
Rights access
open access
Notice: These citations are automatically created and might not follow citation rules properly.
Abstract(s)
This paper examines the Latin formula debitum reddere ('settling a debt'), found in both pagan and Christian inscriptions with the meaning of 'dying'. In this formula, death is depicted as the fulfilment of a legal obligation, a debt typically owed to Nature, Fate or the Christian God. Although the primary focus is epigraphic, both inscriptions and literary sources are analysed to trace the origin and development of this metaphor, which is interpreted in light of its Stoic philosophical background. The paper also explores other related formulae with similar meanings (e.g. uitam/spiritum/animam reddere), possible folk-etymological associations (such as obitum reddere and uotum reddere in funerary contexts), and further developments of the concept of dying as the return of a borrowed existence (including the absolute use of reddere to mean 'dying' and the use of redditio as a synonym for 'death'). Several references suggest that the metaphor debitum reddere may have been particularly popular in Roman Africa.
Note
This paper is part of the RYC2021-030987-I contract, financed by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by the European Union NextGenerationEU/PRTR. The core of this paper was prepared during a research stay at the Thesaurus linguae Latinae of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Munich.
References
[1] Adams, I. (2016). Some Latin Funerary Formulae with Obitus as a Direct Object: Origin, Meaning and Use. The Classical Quarterly, 66(2), 525–539.
[2] Bosque, I., & Gutiérrez-Rexach, J. (2009). Fundamentos de sintaxis formal. Madrid: Akal.
[3] Brelich, A. (1937). Aspetti della morte nelle iscrizioni sepolcrali dell'Impero Romano. Budapest: Magyar Nemzeti Múzeum.
[4] Calboli, G. (2020). Cornifici seu Incerti Auctoris Rhetorica ad C. Herennium (Vols. 1–3). Berlin – Boston: De Gruyter.
[5] Del Hoyo Calleja, J. (2015). Solvi debitum (naturae). Inscripción métrica de Évora. Euphrosyne, 43, 255–263.
[6] Del Hoyo Calleja, J. (2021). Irse y quedarse. Expresiones metafóricas y eufemísticas de la muerte en español y latín. Bulletin Hispanique, 123(2), 263–278.
[7] Del Hoyo J., & Rettschlag, P. K. (2008). Carmina Latina Epigraphica Medievalia de San Miguel de Escalada (León). Studia Philologica Valentina, 11, 201–224.
[8] De Meo, C. (1986). Lingue tecniche del latino. Bologna: Pàtron.
[9] Ehmig, U. (2019). Ex voto in lateinischen Inschriften. In U. Ehmig, P. A. Fabre, & M.-A.Polo de Beaulieu (Eds.), Les ex-voto: objets, usages, traditions. Un regard croisé franco-allemand / Ex voto: Objekte, Praktiken, Überlieferung. Deutsch-französische Perspektiven (pp. 77–92). Gutenberg: Computus.
[10] Garulli, V., & Santin, E. (2020). Greek-Latin Bilingualism and Cultural Identity in the Graeco-Roman East: Carmina Epigraphica Graeca et Latina (CEGL) from the Middle East. In M. P. de Hoz, J. L. García Alonso, & L. A. Guichard Romero (Eds.), Greek Paideia and Local Tradition in the Graeco-Roman East (pp. 233–257). Leuven: Peeters.
[11] Giacone, A. (1977). Storie di Alessandro Magno di Quinto Curzio Rufo. Torino: UTET.
[12] González, A. A. (1993). Presencia del lenguaje estoico en la crítica literaria de los cristianos. Latomus, 52(1), 129–137.
[13] González Rey, M. I. (2010). L'opacité dans les expressions idiomatiques: un écart à la norme ou un échec de l'ésprit?. In P. Huerta Mogorrón, & S. Mejri (Eds.), Opacidad, idiomaticidad, traducción. Encuentros mediterráneos (pp. 179–196). Alicante: Universitat d'Alacant.
[14] Guillemin, A. M. (1970). Cornélius Népos. Oeuvres. Paris: Les Belles Lettres.
[15] Hernández Pérez, R. (2001). Poesía latina sepulcral de la Hispania romana: estudio de los tópicos y sus formulaciones. Valencia: Universitat de València.
[16] Jacobson, H. (1996). A commentary on Pseudo-Philo's Liber antiquitatum biblicarum, with Latin text and English translation (Vol. 2). Leiden – New York – Köln: Brill.
[17] Kajanto, I. (1963). A study of the Greek Epitaphs of Rome. Roma: Institutum Romanum Finlandiae.
[18] Kaser, M. (1971). Das römische Privatrecht. Erster Abschnitt: Das altrömische, das vorklassische und klassische Recht. München: C. H. Beck.
[19] Lattimore, R. (1962). Themes in Greek and Latin Epitaphs. Illinois: University of Illinois Press.
[20] Lier, B. (1903). Topica Carminum Sepulcralium Latinorum. Philologus, 62(1), 563–603.
[21] Linderski, J. (1990). Certis Calendis. Epigraphica, 52, 85–96.
[22] Mandruzzato, E. (1981). Fedro. Favole. Milano: Rizzoli.
[23] Mansfeld, J. (1983). Die Vorsokratiker (Vol. 1). Stuttgart: Reclam.
[24] Massaro, M. (2006). Epigrafia metrica in alcuni colombari romani della prima età imperiale. In C. Fernández Martínez, & J. Gómez Pallarès (Eds.), Temptanda viast. Nuevos estudios sobre la poesía epigráfica latina (pp. 1–32). Bellaterra: UAB [retrieved 1.10.2024 from https://iris.unicas.it/bitstream/11580/66250/1/Colombari%20romani%20%28Barcellona%29.pdf].
[25] Mendivil Giró, J. L. (2013). El concepto de "locución verbal" y su tratamiento léxico. Cuadernos de Investigación Filológica, 16, 5–30.
[26] Menzies, R. E., & Whittle, L. F. (2022). Stoicism and Death Acceptance: Integrating Stoic Philosophy in Cognitive Behaviour Therapy for Death Anxiety. Discover Psychology, 2(11), 1–10. [retrieved 1.10.2024 from https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s44202-022-00023-9].
[27] Negro Alousque, I. (2013). La motivation des expressions idiomatiques de la mort en français, espagnol et anglais. Pragmalingüística, 21, 107–120.
[28] Pena, M. J. (2002). CLE republicanos. Texto y contexto. In J. Del Hoyo, & J. GómezPallarés (Eds.), Asta ac pellege: 50 años de la publicación de Inscripciones Hispanas en Verso de S. Mariner (pp. 47–62). Madrid: Signifer.
[29] Pikhaus, D. (1978). Levensbeschouwing en milieu in de latijnse metrische inscripties. Brussels: AWLSK.
[30] Radice, R. (1999). Stoici antichi. Tutti i frammenti raccolti da Hans von Arnim. Milano: Rusconi.
[31] Ramelli, I. (2003). Aspetti degli sviluppi del rapporto fra stoicismo e cristianesimo in età imperiale. Stylos, 12, 103–135.
[32] Rasimus, T., Engberg-Pedersen, T., & Dunderberg, I. (Eds.). (2010). Stoicism in Early Christianity. Peabody, MA: Baker.
[33] Sanders, G. (1991). Lapides memores. Païens et chrétiens face à la mort: le témoignage de l'épigraphie funéraire latine. Faenza: Fratelli Lega.
[34] Seckel, G. (1907). Heumanns Handlexikon zu den Quellen des römischen Rechts. Jena: Fischer.
[35] Segrè, G. (1929). Obligatio, obligare, obligari nei testi della giurisprudenza classica e del tempo di Diocleziano. In Studi in onore di P. Bonfante (Vol. 3, pp. 501–617). Pavia: Fratelli Fusi.
[36] Sellars, J. (2006). Stoicism. Berkeley – Los Angeles: University of California Press.
[37] Setaioli, A. (2000). Facundus Seneca. Aspetti della lingua e dell'ideologia senecana. Bologna: Pàtron.
[38] Tantimonaco, S. (2021). A proposito della presenza di formule votive nelle iscrizioni funerarie latine. Epigraphica, 83(1–2), 543–572.
[39] Tosi, R. (2017). Dizionario delle sentenze latine e greche. Milano: BUR.
[40] Uría Varela, J. (1997). Tabú y eufemismo en latín. Amsterdam: Hakkert.
[41] Vérilhac, A. M. (1982). PAIDES AOROI. Poésie funéraire (Vol. 2). Athenai: Grapheion demosieymaton tes Akademias Athenon.
[42] Vitobello, M. F. (1988). C. Giulio Igino. L'Astronomia. Bari: Adriatica.
[43] Waszink, J. H. (1947). Quinti Septimi Florentis Tertulliani De Anima. Edited with Introduction and Commentary. Amsterdam: J. M. Muelenhoff.
[44] Watson, A. (1992). The State, Law, and Religion. Pagan Rome. Athens – London: University of Georgia Press.
[45] Winand, B. (1906). Vocabulorum Latinorum quae ad mortem spectant historia [Diss.]. Marburg.
[46] Zanichelli, M. (2022). Significati e confini del giuridico nella filosofia di Seneca. Tesserae iuris, 3(1), 233–267.
[47] Zhao, W. (2020). Popular Etymology and Analogous Separable Words. Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, 490, 521–524.
[2] Bosque, I., & Gutiérrez-Rexach, J. (2009). Fundamentos de sintaxis formal. Madrid: Akal.
[3] Brelich, A. (1937). Aspetti della morte nelle iscrizioni sepolcrali dell'Impero Romano. Budapest: Magyar Nemzeti Múzeum.
[4] Calboli, G. (2020). Cornifici seu Incerti Auctoris Rhetorica ad C. Herennium (Vols. 1–3). Berlin – Boston: De Gruyter.
[5] Del Hoyo Calleja, J. (2015). Solvi debitum (naturae). Inscripción métrica de Évora. Euphrosyne, 43, 255–263.
[6] Del Hoyo Calleja, J. (2021). Irse y quedarse. Expresiones metafóricas y eufemísticas de la muerte en español y latín. Bulletin Hispanique, 123(2), 263–278.
[7] Del Hoyo J., & Rettschlag, P. K. (2008). Carmina Latina Epigraphica Medievalia de San Miguel de Escalada (León). Studia Philologica Valentina, 11, 201–224.
[8] De Meo, C. (1986). Lingue tecniche del latino. Bologna: Pàtron.
[9] Ehmig, U. (2019). Ex voto in lateinischen Inschriften. In U. Ehmig, P. A. Fabre, & M.-A.Polo de Beaulieu (Eds.), Les ex-voto: objets, usages, traditions. Un regard croisé franco-allemand / Ex voto: Objekte, Praktiken, Überlieferung. Deutsch-französische Perspektiven (pp. 77–92). Gutenberg: Computus.
[10] Garulli, V., & Santin, E. (2020). Greek-Latin Bilingualism and Cultural Identity in the Graeco-Roman East: Carmina Epigraphica Graeca et Latina (CEGL) from the Middle East. In M. P. de Hoz, J. L. García Alonso, & L. A. Guichard Romero (Eds.), Greek Paideia and Local Tradition in the Graeco-Roman East (pp. 233–257). Leuven: Peeters.
[11] Giacone, A. (1977). Storie di Alessandro Magno di Quinto Curzio Rufo. Torino: UTET.
[12] González, A. A. (1993). Presencia del lenguaje estoico en la crítica literaria de los cristianos. Latomus, 52(1), 129–137.
[13] González Rey, M. I. (2010). L'opacité dans les expressions idiomatiques: un écart à la norme ou un échec de l'ésprit?. In P. Huerta Mogorrón, & S. Mejri (Eds.), Opacidad, idiomaticidad, traducción. Encuentros mediterráneos (pp. 179–196). Alicante: Universitat d'Alacant.
[14] Guillemin, A. M. (1970). Cornélius Népos. Oeuvres. Paris: Les Belles Lettres.
[15] Hernández Pérez, R. (2001). Poesía latina sepulcral de la Hispania romana: estudio de los tópicos y sus formulaciones. Valencia: Universitat de València.
[16] Jacobson, H. (1996). A commentary on Pseudo-Philo's Liber antiquitatum biblicarum, with Latin text and English translation (Vol. 2). Leiden – New York – Köln: Brill.
[17] Kajanto, I. (1963). A study of the Greek Epitaphs of Rome. Roma: Institutum Romanum Finlandiae.
[18] Kaser, M. (1971). Das römische Privatrecht. Erster Abschnitt: Das altrömische, das vorklassische und klassische Recht. München: C. H. Beck.
[19] Lattimore, R. (1962). Themes in Greek and Latin Epitaphs. Illinois: University of Illinois Press.
[20] Lier, B. (1903). Topica Carminum Sepulcralium Latinorum. Philologus, 62(1), 563–603.
[21] Linderski, J. (1990). Certis Calendis. Epigraphica, 52, 85–96.
[22] Mandruzzato, E. (1981). Fedro. Favole. Milano: Rizzoli.
[23] Mansfeld, J. (1983). Die Vorsokratiker (Vol. 1). Stuttgart: Reclam.
[24] Massaro, M. (2006). Epigrafia metrica in alcuni colombari romani della prima età imperiale. In C. Fernández Martínez, & J. Gómez Pallarès (Eds.), Temptanda viast. Nuevos estudios sobre la poesía epigráfica latina (pp. 1–32). Bellaterra: UAB [retrieved 1.10.2024 from https://iris.unicas.it/bitstream/11580/66250/1/Colombari%20romani%20%28Barcellona%29.pdf].
[25] Mendivil Giró, J. L. (2013). El concepto de "locución verbal" y su tratamiento léxico. Cuadernos de Investigación Filológica, 16, 5–30.
[26] Menzies, R. E., & Whittle, L. F. (2022). Stoicism and Death Acceptance: Integrating Stoic Philosophy in Cognitive Behaviour Therapy for Death Anxiety. Discover Psychology, 2(11), 1–10. [retrieved 1.10.2024 from https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s44202-022-00023-9].
[27] Negro Alousque, I. (2013). La motivation des expressions idiomatiques de la mort en français, espagnol et anglais. Pragmalingüística, 21, 107–120.
[28] Pena, M. J. (2002). CLE republicanos. Texto y contexto. In J. Del Hoyo, & J. GómezPallarés (Eds.), Asta ac pellege: 50 años de la publicación de Inscripciones Hispanas en Verso de S. Mariner (pp. 47–62). Madrid: Signifer.
[29] Pikhaus, D. (1978). Levensbeschouwing en milieu in de latijnse metrische inscripties. Brussels: AWLSK.
[30] Radice, R. (1999). Stoici antichi. Tutti i frammenti raccolti da Hans von Arnim. Milano: Rusconi.
[31] Ramelli, I. (2003). Aspetti degli sviluppi del rapporto fra stoicismo e cristianesimo in età imperiale. Stylos, 12, 103–135.
[32] Rasimus, T., Engberg-Pedersen, T., & Dunderberg, I. (Eds.). (2010). Stoicism in Early Christianity. Peabody, MA: Baker.
[33] Sanders, G. (1991). Lapides memores. Païens et chrétiens face à la mort: le témoignage de l'épigraphie funéraire latine. Faenza: Fratelli Lega.
[34] Seckel, G. (1907). Heumanns Handlexikon zu den Quellen des römischen Rechts. Jena: Fischer.
[35] Segrè, G. (1929). Obligatio, obligare, obligari nei testi della giurisprudenza classica e del tempo di Diocleziano. In Studi in onore di P. Bonfante (Vol. 3, pp. 501–617). Pavia: Fratelli Fusi.
[36] Sellars, J. (2006). Stoicism. Berkeley – Los Angeles: University of California Press.
[37] Setaioli, A. (2000). Facundus Seneca. Aspetti della lingua e dell'ideologia senecana. Bologna: Pàtron.
[38] Tantimonaco, S. (2021). A proposito della presenza di formule votive nelle iscrizioni funerarie latine. Epigraphica, 83(1–2), 543–572.
[39] Tosi, R. (2017). Dizionario delle sentenze latine e greche. Milano: BUR.
[40] Uría Varela, J. (1997). Tabú y eufemismo en latín. Amsterdam: Hakkert.
[41] Vérilhac, A. M. (1982). PAIDES AOROI. Poésie funéraire (Vol. 2). Athenai: Grapheion demosieymaton tes Akademias Athenon.
[42] Vitobello, M. F. (1988). C. Giulio Igino. L'Astronomia. Bari: Adriatica.
[43] Waszink, J. H. (1947). Quinti Septimi Florentis Tertulliani De Anima. Edited with Introduction and Commentary. Amsterdam: J. M. Muelenhoff.
[44] Watson, A. (1992). The State, Law, and Religion. Pagan Rome. Athens – London: University of Georgia Press.
[45] Winand, B. (1906). Vocabulorum Latinorum quae ad mortem spectant historia [Diss.]. Marburg.
[46] Zanichelli, M. (2022). Significati e confini del giuridico nella filosofia di Seneca. Tesserae iuris, 3(1), 233–267.
[47] Zhao, W. (2020). Popular Etymology and Analogous Separable Words. Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, 490, 521–524.