The present paper deals with a marginal divergent spelling consisting in the geminatio of a consonant littera in pre- or post-consonantal position. The phenomenon is found in both Latin and Greek non-literary texts. The analysis is conducted on two levels, one grapho-phonological and one historical. In fact, the phenomenon results to be particularly relevant as for the relation between spelling and syllabic representation of heterosyllabic clusters and as for the dimension of contact between Latin and Greek scripts. First, a synchronic cut of Latin non-literary texts is examined to evaluate the occurrence of this geminatio and its ratio of distribution along the different types of clusters. It can be stated that the geminatio at hand represents a metagraphic signal of syllab(ific)ation indeterminacy, as is further corroborated by the examination of metalinguistic sources. Secondly, the historical perspective is then addressed. This spelling can be interpreted as a feature, albeit marginal and stemming from ephemeral slips, of writing koine, as is further evidenced by the examination of two sample clusters of texts.
Papyrological Editions are cited according to the Checklist of Editions of Greek, Latin, Demotic, and Coptic Papyri, Ostraca, and Tablets (https://papyri.info/docs/checklist).
Latin inscriptions editions are cited according to the Abbreviationes of EDCS (https://db.edcs.eu/epigr/hinweise/abkuerz.php?s_language=en).
Greek inscriptions editions are cited according to the Bibliography of PHI (https://inscriptions.packhum.org/biblio.html).
Adams, J.N. (2003). Bilingualism and the Latin Language. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Barchi, S. (2021). Continuity and Discontinuity in Substandard Latin. Three Case Studies in Phonology and Orthography. PhD dissertation. Sapienza University of Roma / Roma Tre University.
Barchi, S. (in press). Sulla geminazione di s- preconsonantica nella koinè scrittoria latino-greca: dati empirici e aspetti teorici. In: Varietate delectamur: Multifarious Approaches to Synchronic and Diachronic Variation in Latin. Selected Papers from the 14th International Colloquium on Late and Vulgar Latin (Ghent, 2022). Brepols, Turnhout.
Bazzocchi, A. (2019). Una compravendita di schiavi nella base della flotta romana a Ravenna. Ravenna Studi e Ricerche, 26: 9–34.
Bernand, A. – Bernand, E. (1960). Les inscriptions grecques et latines du Colosse de Memnon. Institut français d’archéologie orientale, Le Caire.
Bowersock, G.W. (1984). The miracle of Memnon. The Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists, 21(1/4): 21–32.
Cassia, M. (2017) ‘Pellegrine’ nell’Egitto romano: ‘voci’ femminili dal Colosso di Memnone. Hormos, 9: 29–99.
Casson, L. (1974). Travel in the ancient world. George Allen and Unwin, London.
Cser, A. (2020). The Phonology of Classical Latin. Transations of the Philological Society 118(S1). Wiley–Blackwell, Oxford.
D’Achille, P. (2022). Italiano dei semicolti e italiano regionale: Tra diastratia e diatopia. Libreriauniversitaria.it edizioni, Padova.
Dennison, W. (1906). Syllabification in Latin Inscriptions. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Devine, A.M. – Stephens, L.D. (1994). The prosody of Greek speech. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Giannini, S. – Marotta, G. (1989). Fra grammatica e pragmatica: La geminazione consonantica in latino. Giardini, Pisa.
Hermann, E. (1923). Silbenbildung im Griechischen und in den andern indogermanischen Sprachen. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen.
Kramer, J. (2007). Vulgärlateinische Alltagsdokumente auf Papyri, Ostraka, Täfelchen und Inschriften. W. De Gruyter, Berlin – New York.
Leiwo, M. (1995). The Mixed Languages in Roman Inscriptions. In: Solin, H. et al. (eds.), Acta Colloquii Epigraphici Latini Helsingiae 3.-6. sept. 1991 habiti. Helsinki, pp. 293–301.
Lejeune, M. (1972). Phonétique historique du mycénien et du grec ancien. Klincksieck, Paris.
Leumann, M. (1977). Lateinische Grammatik. Erster Band: Lateinische Laut un Formenlehre. Beck’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, München.
Lindsay, W.M. (1894). The Latin Language: An Historical Account of Latin Sounds, Stems and Flexions. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Loporcaro, M. (2005). La sillabazione di «muta cum liquida» dal latino al romanzo. In: Kiss, S. et al. (eds.), Latin et langues romanes: Études de linguistique offertes à József Herman à l’occasion de son 80ème anniversaire. Max Niemeyer Verlag, Halle, pp. 419–430.
Loporcaro, M. (2011). Phonological processes. In: Maiden, M. – Smith, J.CH. – Ledgeway, A. (eds.), The Cambridge History of the Romance Languages. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 109–154.
Lorenzetti, L. (2014a) Greek/Latin Bilingualism. In: Encyclopedia of Ancient Greek Language and Linguistics. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2214-448X_eagll_COM_00000171 (Accessed 27 October 2023).
Lorenzetti, L. (2014b) Greek and Latin. In: Encyclopedia of Ancient Greek Language and Linguistics. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2214-448X_eagll_COM_00000157 (Accessed 27 October 2023).
Mancini, M. (2019a). Repertori grafici e regole d’uso: Il caso del latino <xs>. In: Agostiniani, L. – Marchese, M.P. (eds.), Lingua, testi, storia. Atti della Giornata di Studi in ricordo di Aldo Luigi Prosdocimi (Firenze, 6 giugno 2017). Giorgio Bretschneider, Roma, pp. 13–54.
Mancini, M. (2019b). Lucilius and Nigidius Figulus on orthographic iconicity. Journal of Latin Linguistics, 18(1–2): 1–34.
Mancini, M. (2023). Exempta littera: Metalinguaggio, sillabazione e assimilazioni consonantiche. In: Giammona, C. – Rosellini, M. – Spangenberg Yanes, E. (eds.), Latin Grammarians Forum 2021: atti del convegno, Roma, 21-23 settembre 2021. Weidmann, Hildesheim, pp. 3–40.
Marotta, G. (2016). Syllabae, syllabarum divisio et communes syllabae. Ambiguità prosodica tra fonologia e metrica nei grammatici latini. In: Ferri, R. – Zago, A. (eds.), The Latin of the Grammarians. Reflections about Language in the Roman World. Corpus Christianorum – Lingua Patrum VIII. Brepols, Turnhout, pp. 87–122.
Marotta, G. (2018). Sul contrasto di quantità vocalica in latino. In: Bombi, R. – Costantini, F. (eds.), Percorsi linguistici e interlinguistici: studi in onore di Vincenzo Orioles. Forum, Udine, pp. 397–412.
Marotta, G. – Vanelli, L. (2021). Fonologia e prosodia dell’italiano. Carocci, Roma.
Sen, R. (2015). Syllable and segment in Latin. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Threatte, L. (1980). The Grammar of Attic Inscriptions: Phonology. W. De Gruyter, Berlin – New York.
Zingale, L. – Amelotti, M. (2002). Asiatici, egiziani e ius romano in una tavoletta ravennate del II secolo d.C.: A proposito di SB III 6304. Aegyptus, 82(1): 131–155.