The comic poet Lucilius proposed several orthographic prescriptions in the ninth book of his Satirae, written in the period 115-110 B.C. In dealing with this topic, Lucilius severely criticised Accius’ statements on orthography, refusing his proposals of doubling vowels (“geminatio vocalium”) and overgeneralization of for /i:/. Lucilius’ prescriptions, which were borrowed by the philosopher Nigidius Figulus a century later, clearly follow the iconical principles of the pseudo-Stoic συμπάσχειν-theory. In this paper a new interpretation of the orthographic iconicity in Lucilius’ and Nigidius’ doctrine is proposed, with reference to the case morphemes of *-ŏ- and *-ā- stems. As a matter of fact, “thickening” and “thinning” of the letter-forms (addĕre vs tenuāre, pinguis vs tenuis) can be satisfactorily explained only by taking account of and spellings in a cursive script (namely vs ). Finally, the key to explain the technical terms tenuis “thin” vs pinguis “thick” is traced back to an ancient metaphor of the wool-spinning practices.

Lucilius and Nigidius Figulus on orthographic iconicity / Mancini, Marco. - In: JOURNAL OF LATIN LINGUISTICS. - ISSN 2194-8739. - 18:1(2020), pp. 1-34. [10.1515/joll-2019-0005]

Lucilius and Nigidius Figulus on orthographic iconicity

Marco Mancini
2020

Abstract

The comic poet Lucilius proposed several orthographic prescriptions in the ninth book of his Satirae, written in the period 115-110 B.C. In dealing with this topic, Lucilius severely criticised Accius’ statements on orthography, refusing his proposals of doubling vowels (“geminatio vocalium”) and overgeneralization of for /i:/. Lucilius’ prescriptions, which were borrowed by the philosopher Nigidius Figulus a century later, clearly follow the iconical principles of the pseudo-Stoic συμπάσχειν-theory. In this paper a new interpretation of the orthographic iconicity in Lucilius’ and Nigidius’ doctrine is proposed, with reference to the case morphemes of *-ŏ- and *-ā- stems. As a matter of fact, “thickening” and “thinning” of the letter-forms (addĕre vs tenuāre, pinguis vs tenuis) can be satisfactorily explained only by taking account of and spellings in a cursive script (namely vs ). Finally, the key to explain the technical terms tenuis “thin” vs pinguis “thick” is traced back to an ancient metaphor of the wool-spinning practices.
2020
Lucilius; Nigidius; Latin grammarians; orthography
01 Pubblicazione su rivista::01a Articolo in rivista
Lucilius and Nigidius Figulus on orthographic iconicity / Mancini, Marco. - In: JOURNAL OF LATIN LINGUISTICS. - ISSN 2194-8739. - 18:1(2020), pp. 1-34. [10.1515/joll-2019-0005]
File allegati a questo prodotto
File Dimensione Formato  
Mancini_Lucilius-Iconicity_2019.pdf

solo gestori archivio

Tipologia: Versione editoriale (versione pubblicata con il layout dell'editore)
Licenza: Tutti i diritti riservati (All rights reserved)
Dimensione 6.65 MB
Formato Adobe PDF
6.65 MB Adobe PDF   Contatta l'autore

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11573/1366265
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus 3
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 2
social impact