Italic Dialectology and Archaic Latin

Teacher(s)

Meunier Nicolas;

Language

French

Prerequisites

LGLOR1331 et LGLOR1332, or equivalent level

Main themes

This course plans to:

1. provide an overview of the different languages of pre-Roman Italy;
2. study the particularities of archaic Latin;
3. reading and commenting on significant extracts from pre-classical works.

Content

This Master's specialisation seminar will consist of two modules.
The first one (30h) will deal with the following topics:

• An introduction to the dialects spoken in pre-Roman Italy (i.e. before the Latin language made the local languages disappear), with a particular focus on the dialects of the Osco-Ombrian family. This introduction will include the basics of grammar and the reading of a selection of inscriptions in these languages.
• Study of the peculiarities of archaic (and archaizing) Latin through the reading of inscriptions from the 8th to the 2nd centuries BC.
• Study of the preserved fragments of the precursors of Latin literature (Naevius, Livius Andronicus, Ennius).
• Study of a selection of fragments of middle and recent annalistics.

The second module (15 hours) will consist of a commented reading of a work of pre-classical language (in this case significant extracts from the work of Plautus).
At the same time, students will read a long Latin text independently (cursive reading). This year it will be significant extracts from a play by Terence.

Teaching methods

Alternating interactive class sessions and practical work.

Evaluation methods

The evaluation of the learning outcomes will take place as follows:
- Written test of theoretical knowledge and practical skills acquired during the course. This test will be worth half of the final mark.
- Oral test to check mastery of cursive reading. This test will be worth half of the final grade.
- IMPORTANT: The written and oral tests are two integrated parts of the final grade. Successful completion of both parts is essential to demonstrate the skills and knowledge defined in the learning outcomes of the course unit. Overall success therefore presupposes the successful completion of both the oral and written parts. If the pass mark is not reached in one of these two parts, it will ipso facto not be reached for the whole test.

Bibliography

Quelques ouvrages de référence (liste non exhaustive) :
BUCK C.D. (1995), A grammar of Oscan and Umbrian: with a collection of inscriptions and a glossary, Hildesheim: Olms.
CHASSIGNET M. (1996), L'annalistique romaine, 3 vols., Paris: Les Belles Lettres (Collection des universités de France).
CLACKSON J. (2007), The Blackwell history of the Latin language, Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
DUPRAZ E. (2019), Tables eugubines ombriennes et Livre de lin étrusque : pour une reprise de la comparaison, Paris: Hermann Éditeurs (Collection Histoire et archéologie).
ERNOUT A. (1916), Recueil de textes latins archaïques, Paris: Klincksieck.
ERNOUT A. (1953), Morphologie historique du latin, 3 éd., Paris: Klincksieck.
FAURE-RIBREAU M. (2012), Pour la beauté du jeu: la construction des personnages dans la comédie romaine (Plaute, Térence), Paris: Les Belles lettres (Collection d'études anciennes, 75. Série latine).
FLORES E. (2000), Ennio, Annali, 5 vol., Naples: Liguori (Biblioteca. Forme, materiali e ideologie del mondo antico, 33).
GOLDBERG (S.M.) et MANUWALD (G.) (2018), Fragmentary Republican Latin. Ennius, 2 vols., Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press (Fragmentary republican Latin, I-II).
MEUNIER N. (2019) (trad. et comm.), Q. Ennius, Annales, Louvain-la-Neuve : PUL (Anecdota Lovaniensia Nova, 4).
PITTS R. (2020), Tense, aspect and modality in the Sabellic languages, Bruxelles: Editions Safran (Langues et cultures anciennes (LCA)).
WALLACE R. (2007), The Sabellic languages of ancient Italy, München: Lincom Europa (Languages of the World/Materials, 371).
WEISS M.L. (2010), Language and ritual in Sabellic Italy: the ritual complex of the third and the fourth Tabulae Iguvinae, Leiden: Brill (Brill's studies in Indo-European languages & linguistics, 1).

Faculty or entity

EHAC