Between meaningful sentences and formulaic expressions: Fronted verbs in Christian epitaphs
| Autor: | Kalle Korhonen |
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| Rok vydání: | 2011 |
| Předmět: | |
| Zdroj: | Glotta. 87:95-125 |
| ISSN: | 2196-9043 0017-1298 |
| Popis: | It is well known that some Greek epitaphs from the Christian period have an initial predicate, e.g., "t Avercatjoaxo 'Apiaxeac o Neoyoprovsirric". 1 Although this might seem unremarkable for classicists familiar with the variabilities of Greek word order, it is not something that can pass without comment in the history of either Greek epigraphy or the Greek language. In this article, I shall be looking at the role of such verb-initial structures in the Syracusan context and the interplay between formulaic expressions and grammatical sentences of the language. The funerary inscriptions from the catacombs of Syracuse are a rich source of information on late antique and early medieval Greek. At first sight, they might not seem as interesting as, say, curse tablets, recently studied by Carlo Consani.2 However, due to their quantity, the epitaphs can illustrate many aspects of the history of Greek language: how features of "natural" language end up in epitaphs and become petrified or fossilized in time. Most of the material discussed here was discovered in the catacomb of S. Giovanni; there are ca. 520 epitaphs. The other major source is the catacomb of Vigna Cassia (ca. 280 epitaphs). Of the two, Vigna Cassia is earlier: its oldest region dates from the early 3rd century, and its use seems to have ended ca. AD 400.3 Burials in S. Giovanni began in Constantinian times and ended in the early 6th century.4 In addition, one hundred |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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