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Original Articles

Some Observations on Bilingualism and Language Shift in Italy from the Sixth to the Third Century B. C.

Helen HomeyerUniversity of the Saar
Pages 415-440 | Published online: 04 Dec 2015

  • The aim of this article is to present a few facts obtained from a more exhaustive study on bilingualism and language shift in ancient Italy.
  • A. Meillet, Esquisse d'une histoire de la langue latine, Paris 1948, p. 231.
  • On the fundamental importance of the study of place, names, see H. Krahe, Beiträge zur Namenforschung 1949–50, p. 24ff. and the same, Ortsnamen als Geschichtsquelle, Heidelberg 1949.
  • For the Etruscan place names see M. Pallotino, Etruscologia, 3rd ed., Firenze 1954. For Osean Núvla see Vetter, Handbuch der italischen Dialekte, Heidelberg 1953, p. 9.
  • The Apulian and Calabrian place names have been examined by H. Krahe, Zeitschrift für Ortsnamenforschung V, 1929, p. 3ff. and 139ff; VII, 1931, p. 9 ff. For the place names in Lucania and in modern Calabria, see the same, Zeitschrift für Ortsnamenforschung XV, 1939, p. 72ff., and p. 110ff.; XVII, 1941, p. 127ff. and XIX, 1943, p. 58ft. Krahe also draws attention to several cases of popular etymology which helped to assimilate and to adopt pre-Greek place names; ibid., V, 1929, p. 142.
  • Strabo (3, 4, 8) mentions a Greek colony in Northern Spain which was separated from an older Iberian settlement by a wall. As For Syracuse see Diot. 11, 67.
  • I cannot share the doubts proffered, without giving his reasons, by Bérard with regard to the identity of Vescia-Sinope-Sinuessa; see J. Bérard, La Colonisation grecque de l'Italie méridionale et de la Sicile dans l'Antiquité, Paris, 1941, p. 77.
  • Buck, Grammar of Osean and Umbrian, 2nd ed., Boston 1928, p. 69. Head, Historia Nummorum, 2nd ed., p. 45.
  • For details see Krahe in Glotta XVII, p. 100, and in Indogerman. Forschungen LIX, p. 174.
  • Vetter, op. cit., p. 133.
  • Buck, Grammar, p. 77.
  • On the spread of the alphabet, see G. Devoto, Gli antichi Italici, 2nd ed., Firenze 1952, p. 155; D. Diringer, L'Alphabeto nella storia della civilta, Firenze 1937, p. 375ff. For the Etruscan alphabet see G. Buonamici, Epigrafia Etrusco, Firenze 1936, p. 133ff. Opinions differ as to whether the Romans received the alphabet from Cumae or via the Etruscans. What really matters here is that both languages, the Greek and the Etruscan, were known in Rome in the 6th century.
  • Published with bibliography by Vetter, op. cit., p. 277.
  • G. Buonamici, op. cit., p. 185ff.
  • Vetter, op. cit., nos. 183–185.
  • Further examples quoted by C. Battisti, Studi Elrusci IV, p. 249ff., by M. Pallotino, Studi Elrusci XXII, p. 184ff., and by Nogara, Notizie degli Scavi di Antichità, 1937, p. 444, and 1932, p. 111. For Greek-Illyrian language contact, see H. Krahe, Die Sprache der Illgrier I, Wiesbaden 1955, § 35 and 36, and the objections made by V. Pisani, in Gnomon XXVIII, 1956, p. 444ff. The phonetic changes which the lexicographical borrowings from the Greek underwent have often been investigated. See Stolz-Schmalz, Geschichte der lateinischen Sprache, 5th ed., 1928, p. 83 and p. 125ff.; A. Meillet, Esquisse, p. 87ff.; G. Devoto, Storia della lingua Latina, p. 88fT. and p. 127fT.; B. Friedmann, Griechische Lehnwörter im Lateinischen, Arctos Helsingfors II, and The same, Ionische und. altische Wörter im Alllateinischen, Dissert. Helsingfors 1937; L. R. Palmer, The Latin Language, London 1954, p. 49ff.
  • For reference see Walde-Hofmann, Latein. Etymolog. Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg 1938–54.
  • Other well known examples which came through Etruscan intermediacy into Latin are lepista;, culigna, gruma.
  • A. Boileau, « Problème du bilinguisme et la théorie des substrats », Revue des langues vivantes XII, 1946, p. 181.
  • See Giglioli, Notizie degli Scavi, 1934, p. 238.
  • That the dialogues of Plautus do not mirror the colloquial speech of the lower classes has been clearly shown by Ed. Fraenkel, “Plautinisches in Plautus”, Philolog. Untersuchungen, vol. XXVIII, Berlin 1922. For a detailed study of the Greek phrases, idioms and hybrids see F. Middelmann, Griechische Welt und Sprache in Plautus' Komödien. Dissert. Münster 1938. C. C. Coulter's “Speech of Foreigners in Greek and Latin Comedy”, Philological Quarterly XIII, 1934, p. 133ff., offers no new aspect. The author unfortunately makes much use of the Poenulus, v.930ff., which have been proved beyond doubt to be the work of a later interpolator. For the highly artificial bilingual mixtures and hybrids in the Satires of Lucilius (2nd century) see W. Süss, Hermes LXII, 1927, p. 355.
  • See the relevant remarks of J. Whatmough, Foundation of Roman Italy, London 1937, p. 4fT., and of A. Martinet, Romance Philology VI, 1952, p. 5ff.
  • The slow pace at which Latin spread beyond its original geographic borderlines has never been underrated by the editors of the Corpus, Th. Mommsen and O. Hirschfeld, in contrast to some modern scholars such as E. Pais, Histoire Romaine I, Paris 1940, p. 406, and even A. Meillet, Esquisse, p. 72. To give detailed evidence for the authenticity of what ancient historiographers report in the following quotations would go far beyond the scope of this article, but it should be remembered that modern scholars such as F. Bayet, F. Walbank, Pl. Fraccaro, P. Zancan, L. Pareti, M. Geizer—to name only a few—take a broader view than the hypercritical school of the 19th century.
  • See, for modern conditions, ed. W. Henzen, Schriftsprache und Mundarten, 2nd ed., Bern 1954, p. 175 with bibliography.
  • See for example the late dialect-inscriptions from Corfinium; Vetter, op. cit., noss 212–214.
  • N. Lamboglia, Storia di Genova, Milano 1941, p. 137ff. and E. Sereni, Communilà rurali nell'Italia Antica, Rome 1955 (written from a Marxist point of view but richly documented and with good bibliography.)
  • Naples issued coins based on the Carthaginian standard as late as the 4th century; see Giesecke, Italia Numismatica, Leipzig 1928, p. 52ff.
  • A. Maiuri, Greci e Etrusci a Pompei, Memorie dell'Acad. Ital. Classe sc. moral, e stor. ser. VII, 4, fase. 5, 1943, p. 121fT. Further Boethius, Symbolae Philologicae A. O. Danielsson dicalae, Upsala 1932, and van Buren, Pauly's Realencyclopädie, “Pompeji”.
  • R. Bartoccini, Notizie degli Scavi 1936, p. 107ff., and C. Drago, Notizie degli Scavi, 1940, p. 353.
  • B.M. Felleti Maj, Sludi Elrusci 14, 1939, p. 43ff. R. L. Beaumont, Journal of Roman Studies 56, p. 189 ff.
  • Melite (Malta) was politically and economically dependent on Carthage until conquered by the Romans. The coins bear Punic and Greek legends. In 238 the island was placed under Sicilian administration and Greek became the official language but Punic remained, as is proved by inscriptions and coins, one of the three current idioms. See Head, Hist. Numm., 2nd ed., p. 883, and Corpus Inscr. Graec. XIV, 600.
  • See A. Meillet, Linguistique historique et linguistique générale, Paris 1921–38, II, p. 101.
  • Schachermeyr, Etruskische Frühgeschichte, Berlin 1929, p. 202ff. Further: P. Lehmann-Hartleben, Pauly's Realencijclopädie “Städtebau”, p. 202. F. Bayet, “Tite-Live”, Revue Philologique 1938, p. 97ff. G. Säflund, “Ancient Latin Cities,” Acta Instit. Roman. Regiae Sueciae IV, 1 Lund 1934, p. 69ff.
  • Cato apud Servium ad Aen.XI, 567 (in Tuscorum iure pene omnis Italia fuit). Servius ad Georg. 2, 533. Livy 5, 33, 7. Polyb. 2, 17. Thucyd. apud Dionys. Halic. 1, 1. See Manni, Athenaeum, Nuova Serie XVII, 1939, p. 231ff. and J. Heurgon, Historia VI, 1957, p. 631ff.
  • F. Altheim, Herkunft der Elrusker, Baden-Baden 1950, p. 1ff.; M. Pallotino, Etruscologia, 3rd., p. 68 and p. 84.
  • The Etruscan-Oscan inscriptions were collected and investigated by Vetter, Gioita XXVII, p. 163ff. and Vetter, op. cit., p. 89ff. “
  • G. Devoto, Gli Antichi Italici, p. 158ff.
  • See Aristoxenes ed. Wehrli (Schule des Aristoteles II), Basel 1945, fragm. 124.
  • See the coins issued by the Osean magistrates in Naples (Vetter, op. cit., p. 133, nos 5–6) and Strabo 5, 4, 7.
  • On the administration of Messana see Bosenberg, Staat der alten Ilaliker, Berlin 1913, p. 16 and 24ff. For further evidence for the intrusion of the bilingual Campanian mercenaries, see the inscriptions on which the Osean proper names are reproduced in Greek letters, Vetter, op. cit., p. 130. For the coins cf. Särström, Study in the Coinage of the Mamerlines, Lund 1940, p. 10ff. and 39ff.
  • Horace, Satires I, 10, 30. See also Plautus, Miles 3, 1, 52.
  • Sartori, Problemi di storia costituzionale Italiota, Rom 1953, p. 90.
  • The archaic Latin in Sardinia is similar in type to the Latin exported to isolated military outposts in Spain during the 2nd and 3rd centuries; see Hübner, CIL, III, p. 302 and examples nos. 2158, 2160, 2169. Further Rohlfs, Sprachgeographische Streifzüge durch Italien, München 1957, p. 9, and M. L. Wagner, La Lingua Sarda, Bibi. Rom. 1, 3, Bern 1953. How very little the ethnically and linguistically mixed character of the island's immigrant population changed under Roman rule, is evident from inscriptions; see for example the Latin-Punic bilingual one from Sulci (CIL X, 7513) and the Latin-Greek-Punic trilingual inscription (7856), both 1st century A. D.
  • Afzelius, Die römische Eroberung Italiens, Kopenhagen 1942, p. 38ff. and 62.
  • For Sicily see VittinghofI, Römische Kolonisation u. Bürgerrechlspolilik unter Caesar u. Augustus. Akademie Mainz, Geisleswissensch. Klasse, 1951, XIV, p. 1287 and 1334ff., and Stevenson, Roman Provincial Administration, London, 1939, p. 91.
  • The ancient authors agree on the employment of foreign mercenaries in the armies of Dionysius the Elder (Diodor 14, 15, 3; 14, 75; 9; 14, 58, 1) and of Hannibal (Polyb., 1, 67; 11, 19, 3. Livy 30, 33, 5.) The first foreign units enlisted in the Roman army are mentioned during the 3rd century: 2200 Celts (Polyb. 3, 67, 3 and Livy 21, 48, 2) and 1000 archers sent by Hieron of Syracuse (Livy 22, 37, 8), Neapolitan horsemen (Liv. 23, 1) Etruscan cavalry (Livy 27, 26, 11), Celts and Spanish horsemen (Livy 27, 38, 11). On the much debated question whether the Campanian equites mentioned by Livy (8, 11, 16) received the civitas Romana as early as in the 4th century, see J. Heurgon, Capoue Préromaine, Paris 1942, p. 177 ff., and Sartori, Problemi di costil, Ital., p. 165fr.
  • Military camp settlements where the soldiers lived with their families and the sons of foreign women became legionaries as was the case in the Spanish colonia libertina Carteia (Livy 43, 3) never were tolerated on Italian soil.
  • During the first centuries of the Republic the Romans hardly ever created linguistic enclaves by deporting conquered people or hostile tribes, a measure often taken by the Sicilian tyrants and mercenary leaders? The first deportation on a larger scale took place in 180 when 47000 Ligurians are said to have been transferred to Samnium (Livy 40, 38, 1). We do not know either how they overcame their isolation in the new surroundings or how long it took them to shift to Latin.
  • The Roman edicts, proclaimed in the Western provinces, were always unilingual in contrast to the bilingual edicts published in the East. For examples of Greek-Latin edicts dating from the 2nd centuries onwards, see Bruns, Fontes Iuris Romani Antiqui, 7th printing, Tübingen 1909, p. 166ff., and Riccoboni, Fonlis Iuris Antejus- tiniani, I, p. 242ff. Claudius created the first imperial translation bureaus (Ab epistulis Graecis) but Latin remained the official language in administration and court in the East until Theodosius II. See Valerius Maximus, De magistratum officiis 2,2, 2.
  • For similar conditions in more recent times see U. Weinreich, Languages in Contact, New York 1953, p. 108 and the literature quoted in note 86.
  • Vittinghoff, op. cit., p. 1286.
  • Cicero mentions such conventus, founded in the 2nd century in Messana (Verrinae 4, 26 and 5, 163), Panormus (6, 16), Agrigentum (4, 93) and Libylaeum (5, 10 and 5, 140).
  • See examples in Vetter, op. cit., p. 144; where the transition can be observed from dialectal inscriptions (no. 212) and those containing Latin loanwords (no. 214) to pure Latin (no. 217 b).
  • Livy Andronicus (ca. 284-ca. 204) composed, in addition to his famous Homer translation and his tragedies, modelled on Greek tragedies, an official expiatory hymn. Naevius (ca. 270–201) invented the Roman historical play and wrote an epic account on the first Punic War. Ennius (239–169) gave a chronicle of the history of Rome in hexameters.
  • Livy 8, 11,16. The date and the question of when the Romans sent first a praefectus to Capua have been the subject of many controversies. See J. Heurgon, Capoue Préromaine, p. 177ff, and Sartori Problemi, p. 165ff.
  • Livy speaks frequently of intermarriages between Roman and Campanian families: Livy 8, 14; 23, 2, 6; 23, 4, 7; 26, 33.
  • See the coins with Oscan legends, issued during the Second Punic War and the War with the Confederates (89 B. C.): Sydenham, Coinage of the Roman Republie, London 1952, p. xxi and p. 92ft.
  • See Münzer, Pauly's Realenc., “Otacilier”, and the same, Römische Adelsparteien, Leipzig 1920, p. 71 and p. 92.
  • Etruscan was spoken and understood until the end of the Roman Republic as the bilingual inscriptions testify, though it had become an esoteric language, kept alive only for traditional reasons by some aristocratic families and a few antiquarians; see Macrobius, Saturnaliorum libri 2, 4, 12 and Gellius, Nodes Atlicae 11, 7, 1. Venetic was also kept alive for traditional reasons though not so long after it had ceased to be used in public. See Whatmough, The Pre-Ilalic Dialects of Italy, London 1933ff., I, p. 111. For modern examples of ‘esoteric’ languages, see Weinreich, Languages in Contact, p. 95.
  • Vittinghoff, op. cit., p. 1256.
  • Livy 24, 13, 1 ff. (Tarentum); 25, 15, 16 (Thurii); 24, 1, 9 (Locri).
  • On the increase of large estates, the latifundia, which were managed by cheap slave labor in Etruria in the 2nd century, see Plutarch, Tiberius Gracch. 8, 5; Livy 33, 36, 1; Florus, Epilome 1, 16; Athenaeus 4, 153 b. In Southern Italy and Sicily, Appian Bellum Civile 1, 7; cf. T. Frank, Economic Survey of Ancient Rome, 1933, I, p. 111ff.
  • Polybius 1, 67 ft. Compare also the rebellion of the Greek naval forces and of the Sicilian slaves in 259. (Orosius 4, 7, 12 and Zonaras, 8, 11, 8) and the rising of the slaves in Southern Italy in 135 B. C.
  • A point frequently stressed by modern scholars. See U. Weinreich, Languages in Contact, p. 93; V. Wartburg, Einführung in die Problematik u. Methodik der Sprachwissenschaft, Halle 1943, p. 188; Havers, Handbuch der erklärenden Syntax, Heidelberg 1931, p. 136ff.; W. H. Rees, Bilinguisme des pays celtiques, Rennes 1939, p. 145 ff.; A. Boileau, “Problème du Bilinguisme et la Théorie des Substrats”, Revue des Langues Vivantes XII, 3–5, 1945, p. 125ff.
  • The Greek loanwords in Latin have been thoroughly investigated; see note 16. A few examples may, therefore, suffice here. Military: Etr. trossuli, flexuntes, celeres; and, perhaps, cacula, melellus. Pottery: Greek amphora, ampulla, culigna, coloneum. Theatre and Games: Greek-Êtr. scaena, Etr. histrio, subula, soccus. Navy: Greek ancora, prora, camera. See A. Meille t, Esquisse, p. 87ff.
  • T. Frank, op. cit. I, pp. 3, 5, 24, 376, 381ff. and bibliography p. 419ff. More reliable linguistic evidence can be collected from inscriptional sources from the 2nd century onwards. A wealth of material for the occupational groups in Imperial times is contained in J. P. Waltzing, Élude historique sur les corporations professionnelles, Louvain 1895–1900, 4 vols. Furthermore, Marquardt, Privatleben der Römer, 2nd ed., Leipzig 1886, p. 769ff., and V. Parvan, Die Nationalität der Kaufleule im römischen Kaiserreich, Diss.. Breslau 1909.
  • The objections made in Walde-Hofmann, Elymol. Wörterbuch, 3 ed. II, p. 67 against Friedmann's explanation of plaga (see Arctos, II, p. 315) are in view of the scanty material not at all convincing.
  • That it is impossible even to give an approximate estimate of the number of slaves employed in Italy has been stressed by T. Frank, op. cit. I, p. 187 ff., and Rostovtzeff, Gesellschaft u. Wirtschaft im römischen Kaiserreich, Leipzig s. a., p. 156 (for physicians and teachers). Studies based on late inscriptional records do not yield reliable data for the linguist; see for example B. M. Gordon, “The Freedman's Son in Municipial Life”, Journal of Roman Studies. XXI, 1931, p. 65ff.; M. Bang, “Herkunft der römischen Sklaven”, Römische Mitteilungen XXII, 1910, p. 223ff. and XXV 1912, p. 189ff.

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