All Topics  
Old Latin

 
Old Latin

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Old Latin
 
 
  Topics Old Latin Topic Home

Old Latin (also called Early Latin or Archaic Latin) refers to the Latin language in the period before the age of Classical Latin
Classical Latin

Classical Latin is the form of the Latin used by the ancient Rome in what is usually regarded as "classical" Latin literature. Its use spanned the Golden Age of Latin literature—broadly the 1st century BC and the early 1st century AD—possibly extending to the Silver Age—broadly the 1st and 2nd centuries....
; that is, all Latin
Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
 before 75 BC. The term prisca Latinitas distinguishes it in New Latin
New Latin

The term New Latin or Neo-Latin is used to describe a form the Latin language used after the end of the Medieval Latin period to c. 1900, and in a very limited fashion, down to the present day....
 and Contemporary Latin from vetus Latina, in which "old" has another meaning.

The use of "old", "early" and "archaic" has been standard in publications of the corpus of Old Latin writings since at least the 18th century.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Old Latin'
Start a new discussion about 'Old Latin'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


Old Latin (also called Early Latin or Archaic Latin) refers to the Latin language in the period before the age of Classical Latin
Classical Latin

Classical Latin is the form of the Latin used by the ancient Rome in what is usually regarded as "classical" Latin literature. Its use spanned the Golden Age of Latin literature—broadly the 1st century BC and the early 1st century AD—possibly extending to the Silver Age—broadly the 1st and 2nd centuries....
; that is, all Latin
Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
 before 75 BC. The term prisca Latinitas distinguishes it in New Latin
New Latin

The term New Latin or Neo-Latin is used to describe a form the Latin language used after the end of the Medieval Latin period to c. 1900, and in a very limited fashion, down to the present day....
 and Contemporary Latin from vetus Latina, in which "old" has another meaning.

The use of "old", "early" and "archaic" has been standard in publications of the corpus of Old Latin writings since at least the 18th century. The definition is not arbitrary but these terms refer to writings that utilize some spelling conventions and word forms not generally in use in works written under the Roman Empire
Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the Roman Republic phase of the Ancient Rome, characterised by an autocracy form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
. This article presents some of the major differences.

Time

In 1874 John Wordsworth
John Wordsworth

The Right Reverend John Wordsworth was an English prelate. He was born at Harrow on the Hill, to the Reverend Christopher Wordsworth, nephew of the poet William Wordsworth....
 used the definition:
By Early Latin I understand Latin of the whole period of the Republic, which is separated very strikingly, both in tone and in outward form, from that of the Empire.


Although the differences are striking and can be easily identified by Latin readers, they are not such as to cause a language barrier. Latin speakers of the empire had no reported trouble understanding old Latin, except for the few texts that must date from the time of the kings, mainly songs. Thus the laws of the twelve tables, which began the republic, were comprehensible, but the carmen saliare, probably written under Numa Pompilius, was not entirely.

There is no sharp distinction between Old Latin as it was spoken in the republic and classical Latin, but the earlier grades into the later. The end of the republic was too late a termination for compilers after Wordsworth; Charles Edwin Bennett
Charles Edwin Bennett

Charles Edwin Bennett was an American classical scholar and the Goldwin Smith Professor of Latin language at Cornell University. He is best remembered for his book New Latin Grammar, first published in 1895 and still in print ....
 said:
'Early Latin' is necessarily a somewhat vague term ... Bell, De locativi in prisca Latinitate vi et usu, Breslau, 1889, sets the later limit at 75 B.C. A definite date is really impossible, since archaic Latin does not terminate abruptly, but continues even down to imperial times.
Bennett's own date of 100 B.C. did not prevail but rather Bell's 75 B.C. became the standard as expressed in the four-volume Loeb Library and other major compendia.

Corpus

Forum Inscription
Old Latin authored works began in the 3rd century B.C. These are complete or nearly complete works under their own name surviving as manuscripts copied from other manuscripts in whatever script was current at the time. In addition are fragments of works quoted in other authors.

Numerous inscriptions placed by various methods (painting, engraving, embossing) on their original media survive just as they were except for the ravages of time. Some of these were copied from other inscriptions. No inscription can be earlier than the introduction of the Greek alphabet into Italy
Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
 but none survive from that early date. The imprecision of archaeological dating makes precise dates impossible but the earliest survivals are probably from the 6th century B.C. Some of the texts, however, surviving as fragments in the works of classical authors, had to have been composed earlier than the republic, in the monarchy
Roman Kingdom

The Roman Kingdom was the monarchy government of the city of Rome and its territories. Little is certain about the history of the Roman Kingdom, as no written records from that time survive, and the histories about it were written during the Roman Republic and Roman Empire and are largely based on legend....
. These are listed below.

Notable Old Latin fragments with estimated dates include:

  • The Carmen Saliare
    Carmen Saliare

    The Carmen Saliare is a fragment of archaism Latin, which played a part in the rituals performed by the Salii of Ancient Rome.The rituals revolved around Mars and Quirinus, and were performed in March and October....
     (chant put forward in classical times as having been sung by the salian brotherhood
    Salii

    The Salii were the "leaping priests" of Mars in Ancient Rome: twelve patrician youths, dressed in outfits worn by archaic warriors. This clothing consisted of an embroidered tunic, a breastplate, a short red cloak, a sword, and a spiked headdress called an apex ....
     formed by Numa Pompilius
    Numa Pompilius

    Numa Pompilius , according to legend, was the second king of Rome, succeeding Romulus. After Romulus died, Romans in the city elected a Sabine man to be king, so as to make him loyal to both tribes in Rome....
    , approximate date 700 BC)
  • The Praeneste fibula
    Praeneste fibula

    File:Fibula-Palestrina.jpgThe Praeneste fibula is a golden brooch bearing an inscription that was accepted nearly without question since its presentation to the public in 1887 by Wolfgang Helbig, an archaeologist, as the the earliest surviving specimen of the Latin language....
     (7th century BC, but of authenticity questioned by some experts)
  • The Forum inscription
    Lapis Niger

    The Lapis Niger is a series of Ancient Rome shrines built consecutively around, and on top of, a sacred spot. The name originally referred to a black stone stele with the earliest known Latin inscription....
     (illustration, right circa 550 BC under the monarchy)
  • The Duenos inscription
    Duenos Inscription

    The Duenos Inscription is one of the earliest known Old Latin texts, dating from the early 6th century BCE. It is inscribed on the sides of a kernos, in this case a trio of small globular vases adjoined by three clay struts....
      (circa 500 BC)
  • The Castor-Pollux dedication
    Castor and Pollux

    In Greek mythology and Roman mythology, Castor and Pollux were the twin sons of Leda and Zeus/Tyndareus , the brothers of Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra and the half-brothers of Timandra , Phoebe, Heracles, Philonoe....
     (circa 500 BC)
  • The Garigliano Bowl
    Garigliano Bowl

    The Garigliano bowl is a small impasto bowl with bucchero glaze likely to have been produced around 500 B.C., with an early Latin inscript. It was found in the vicinity of ancient Minturnae ....
      (circa 500 BC)
  • The Lapis Satricanus
    Lapis Satricanus

    The Lapis Satricanus, or, "stone of Satricum", was a yellow stone found in the ruins of the ancient Satricum, near Borgo Montello , a village of southern Lazio, dated late 6th century BC to early 5th century BC....
     (early 5th century BC)
  • The preserved fragments of the laws of the Twelve Tables
    Twelve Tables

    The Law of the Twelve Tables was the ancient legislation that stood at the foundation of Roman law. The Law of the Twelve Tables formed the centerpiece of the constitution of the Roman Republic and the core of the mos maiorum....
     (traditionally, 449 BC, attested much later)
  • The Tibur pedestal (circa 400 BC)
  • The Scipionum Elogia
    Tomb of the Scipios

    File:Sepolcro degli scipioni PIANTA.jpgThe Tomb of the Scipios was the common tomb of the patrician Scipio family during the Roman Republic for interments between the early 4th century BC and the early 1st century AD....
    • Epitaph of Lucius Cornelius Scipio Barbatus
      Lucius Cornelius Scipio Barbatus

      Lucius Cornelius Scipio Barbatus was one of the two elected Roman consuls in 298 BC. He led the Roman Republic army to victory against the Etruscans near Volterra....
       (c. 280 BC)
  • The Senatus consultum de Bacchanalibus
    Senatus consultum de Bacchanalibus

    Senatus consultum de Bacchanalibus is a notable Old Latin?inscription, dating to 186 BC. It is a decree of the Roman Senate prohibiting the Bacchanalia throughout all Italy except in certain special cases which must be approved specifically by the Senate....
     (186 BC)
  • The Vase Inscription from Ardea
  • The Corcolle Altar fragments
  • The Carmen Arvale
    Carmen Arvale

    The Carmen Arvale is the preserved chant of the Arval priests or Fratres Arvales of ancient Rome.The Arval priests were devoted to the goddess Dea Dia, and offered sacrifices to her to ensure the fertility rite of ploughed fields ....


The authors are as follows:

  • Lucius Livius Andronicus
    Livius Andronicus

    Lucius Livius Andronicus , not to be confused with the later historian Livy, was a Greco-Roman dramatist and epic poetry who produced the first Roman dramatic work and translated many Greek language works into Latin language....
     (c. 280/260 BC–c. 200 BC)
  • Gnaeus Naevius
    Gnaeus Naevius

    Gnaeus Naevius , was a Roman epic poet and dramatist....
     (ca. 264 – 201 BC)
  • Titus Maccius Plautus
    Plautus

    Titus Maccius Plautus , commonly known as Plautus, was a Ancient Rome playwright. His comedy are among the earliest surviving intact works in Latin literature....
     (c. 254–184 BC)
  • Quintus Ennius
    Ennius

    Quintus Ennius was a writer during the period of the Roman Republic, and is often considered the father of Roman poetry. He was of Greeks descent....
     (239 - c. 169 BC)
  • Marcus Pacuvius
    Pacuvius

    Marcus Pacuvius was the greatest of the tragic poets of ancient Rome prior to Lucius Accius.He was the nephew and pupil of Ennius, by whom Roman tragedy was first raised to a position of influence and dignity....
     (ca. 220-130 BC)
  • Publius Terentius Afer
    Terence

    Publius Terentius Afer , better known as Terence, was a playwright of the Roman Republic. His comedies were performed for the first time around 170–160 BC, and he died young probably in Greece or on his way back to Rome....
     (195/185–159 BC)
  • Lucius Accius
    Lucius Accius

    Lucius Accius , or Lucius Attius, was a Roman Republic tragic poet and literary scholar. The son of a freedman#Ancient Rome, Accius was born at Pisaurum in Umbria, in 170 BC....
     (170 - c. 86 BC)
  • Gaius Lucilius
    Gaius Lucilius

    Gaius Lucilius , the earliest Ancient Rome satire, of whose writings only fragments remain, was a Roman citizen of the equestrian class, born at Suessa Aurunca in Campania....
     (c.160s - 103/2 BC)


Script

Old Latin surviving in inscriptions is written in various forms of the Etruscan alphabet as it evolved into the Latin alphabet
Latin alphabet

The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world today. It evolved from the western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumae alphabet, and was initially developed by the Ancient Romes to write the Latin....
. The writing conventions varied by time and place until classical conventions prevailed. The works of authors in manuscript form were copied over into the scripts of other times. The original writing does not exist.

Orthography

Some differences between old and classical Latin were of spelling only; pronounciation was as in classical Latin:
  • Single for double consonants: Marcelus for Marcellus
  • Double vowels for long vowels: aara for ara
  • q for c before u: pequnia for pecunia
  • xs for x: saxsum for saxum
  • c for g: caius for gaius


These differences did not necessarily run concurrently with each other and were not universal; that is, c was used for both c and g.

Phonology

Phonological characteristics of older Latin are the case endings -os
Old Latin

Old Latin refers to the Latin language in the period before the age of Classical Latin; that is, all Latin before 75 BC. The term prisca Latinitas distinguishes it in New Latin and Contemporary Latin from vetus Latina, in which "old" has another meaning....
 and -om
Old Latin

Old Latin refers to the Latin language in the period before the age of Classical Latin; that is, all Latin before 75 BC. The term prisca Latinitas distinguishes it in New Latin and Contemporary Latin from vetus Latina, in which "old" has another meaning....
 (later Latin -us and -um), as well as the existence of diphthong
Diphthong

In phonetics, a diphthong, or , is a contour vowel?that is, a unitary vowel that changes vowel quality during its pronunciation, or "glides", with a glissando of the tongue from one articulation to another, as in the English words eye, boy, and cow. This contrasts with "pure" vowels, or monophthongs, where the tongue is held s...
s such as oi and ei (later Latin u or oe, and i). In many locations, classical Latin turned intervocalic /s/ into /r/, which is called rhotacism
Rhotacism

Rhotacism may refer to several phenomena related to the usage of the consonant r .*the excessive or idiosyncratic use of the r;*conversely, the inability or difficulty in pronouncing r....
. This rhotacism had implications for declension
Declension

In linguistics, declension is the occurrence of inflection in nouns, pronouns and adjectives, indicating such features as grammatical number , grammatical case , and grammatical gender....
: early classical Latin, honos, honoris; Classical honor, honoris ("honor"). Some Old Latin texts preserve /s/ in this position, such as the Carmen Arvale
Carmen Arvale

The Carmen Arvale is the preserved chant of the Arval priests or Fratres Arvales of ancient Rome.The Arval priests were devoted to the goddess Dea Dia, and offered sacrifices to her to ensure the fertility rite of ploughed fields ....
's lases for lares
Lares

Lares were ancient Roman Empire deity protecting the house and the family, they were a form of household deity.Lares were presumed sons of Mercury and Lara , and deeply venerated by ancient Romans through small statues, usually put in higher places of the house, far from the floor, or even on the roof ....
.

Grammar and morphology


Nouns


First declension (a)
The 'A-Stem Declension'. Nouns of this declension usually end in –a and are typically feminine.

puella, –ai
girl, maiden f.
Singular
Grammatical number

In linguistics, grammatical number is a grammatical category of nouns, pronouns, and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions ....
 Plural
Nominative puella puellai
Genitive puellas/-es/-ai puellom/ -asom
Dative
Dative

Dative has several meanings.*In grammar, the dative case is used to indicate the noun to whom something is given.*In chemistry, a dative bond is a chemical bond in which the shared electrons come from one atom only....
 puellai puellais/-eis/ -abos
Accusative puellam puella
Ablative puellad puellais/-eis/ -abos
Vocative puella puellai
Locative puella puellais/-eis


Second declension (b)

The 'O-Stem Declension'. Nouns of this declension are either masculine or neuter.
campos, –oi
field, plain m.		 saxom, –oi
rock, stone n.
Singular Plural Singular Plural
Nominative campos campoi saxom saxa
Genitive campi campom/
-osom 		saxi saxom/
-osom
Dative campoi campois saxoi saxois
Accusative campom campos saxom saxa
Ablative campod campois saxod saxois/ -oes
Vocative campe campoi saxe saxoi
Locative campo campois saxo saxois/ -oes


Note the genitive plural ending has two endings: the earlier -om, almost exactly like the Ancient Greek -on, and the later Archaic Latin form -osom. Because Latin single /s/ became /r/ between vowels, a phenomenon known as rhotacism
Rhotacism

Rhotacism may refer to several phenomena related to the usage of the consonant r .*the excessive or idiosyncratic use of the r;*conversely, the inability or difficulty in pronouncing r....
, the later -osom evolved into the Classical Latin -orum.

Third declension (c)
The 'E-Stem' and 'I-Stem' Declension. This declension contains nouns that are masculine, feminine, and neuter.

Regs –es
king m.
Singular Plural
Nominative regs reges
Genitive regis regom
Dative regei regebos
Accusative regem reges
Ablative regeid regebos
Vocative regs reges
Locative regei regebos


The nominative as regs instead of rex shows a common feature in Old Latin; the letter x was seldom used alone to designate the /ks/ or /gs/ sound, but instead, written as either 'ks', 'cs', or even 'xs'.

Personal pronouns

Personal pronouns are among the most common thing found in Old Latin inscriptions. Note how in all three persons, the ablative singular ending is identical to the accusative singular.

Ego, I Tu, You Sui, Himself, Herself, Etc.
Nominative ego tu -
Genitive mis tis sei
Dative mihei, mehei tibei sibei
Accusative med ted sed
Ablative med ted sed
  Plural  
Nominative nos vos -
Genitive nostrom,
-orum, -i		 vostrom,
-orum, -i		 sei
Dative nobeis, nis vobeis sibei
Accusative nos vos sed
Ablative nobeis, nis vobeis sed


Relative pronoun

In Old Latin, the relative pronoun is also another common concept, especially in inscriptions. Unfortunately, the forms are quite inconsistent and leave much to be reconstructed by scholars.

quei, quai, quod who, what
Masculine Feminine Neuter
Nominative quei quai quod
Genitive quoius, quoios quoia quoium, quoiom
Dative quoi, quei, quoiei, quei
Accusative quem quam quod
Ablative qui, quod quad quod
  Plural  
Nominative ques, queis quai qua
Genitive quom, quorom quom, quarom quom, quorom
Dative queis, quis
Accusative quos quas quos
Ablative queis, quis


Verbs


Old present and perfects

There is not much actual proof of the inflection of Old Latin verb forms and the few inscriptions we have hold many inconsistencies between forms. Therefore, the forms below are ones that are both proven by scholars through Old Latin inscriptions, and recreated by scholars based on other early Indo-European languages such as Greek and Italic dialects such as Oscan
Oscan language

Oscan, the language of the Osci, is in the Sabellic branch of the Italic languages, which is a branch of Indo-European languages that also includes Umbrian language, Latin, and Faliscan language....
 and Umbrian
Umbrian language

Umbrian is an language death Italic languages formerly spoken by the Umbri in the ancient Italy region of Roman Umbria. It is closely related to Oscan language....
.

Indicative Present: Sum Indicative Present: Facio
Old Classical Old Classical
Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural
First Person som, esom somos, sumos sum sumus fac(e/i)o fac(e)imos facio facimus
Second Person es esteis es estis fac(e/i)s fac(e/i)teis facis facitis
Third Person est sont est sunt fac(e/i)d/-(e/i)t fac(e/i)ont facit faciunt


Indicative Perfect: Sum Indicative Perfect: Facio
Old Classical Old Classical
Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural
First Person fuei fuemos fui fuimus (fe)fecei (fe)fecemos feci fecimus
Second Person fuistei fuisteis fuisti fuistis (fe)fecistei (fe)fecisteis fecisti fecistis
Third Person fued/fuit fueront/-erom fuit fuerunt (fe)feced/-et (fe)feceront/-erom fecit fecerunt/-ere


Bibliography


Sources


See also


  • Saturnian
    Saturnian (poetry)

    Saturnian meter or verse is an old Latin and Italic languages poetry form, of which the principles of versification have become obscure. Only 132 complete uncontroversial verses survive....
     (verse form)


External links