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Arts and Humanities
Kajkavsko narječje – jučer, danas i sutra
Kajkavian Dialect – Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow
U uvodu se daju temeljni podatci o genezi, rasprostiranju i podjeli kajkavskog narječja. Najbliže se činje- ničnom stanju o genezi kajkavskog narječja smatra mišljenje Z. Junkovića koji je smatrao da je kajkavski dijalekt pripadao panonskoj skupini zapadnoga južnoslavenskoga prajezika koju bi po njemu još spadali prleški, prekmurski i neki zapadnoštajerski govori. Osmanlijska osvajanja uzrokovala su velike migracije stanovništva prema sjeveru i zapadu, a stanovništvo koje ga je kasnije supstituiralo bilo je uglavnom s pod- ručja štokavskog narječja. Od mnogih podjela kajkavskog narječja apostrofira se ona Mije Lončarića koji ga je podijelio na 15 dijalekata.
U daljem dijelu rada prikazuju se neke najtipičnije jezične osobine kajkavskih govora na fonološkoj, mor- fološkoj i sintaktičkoj razini. Daju se primjeri minimalnih fonoloških parova između različitih istovrsnih samoglasnika o- ili e- kategorije u pojedinim kajkavskim govorima. U nekim govorima izgubljena je opreka po kvantiteti jer je u tim govorima, kako bi se nadoknadila razlikovna obilježja koja postoje u govorima gdje postoje te opreke, došlo do prefonologizacije prozodijskih suprasegmentalnih obilježja u segmentne. Eliminacija kvantitete važna je poveznica kajkavskog govora s istokom slavenskoga sjevera te poljskim i lužičkim jezicima.
Od morfoloških osobina posebno se ističe izricanje morfoloških kategorija s alternacijama samoglasni- ka u nekim dijalektima. Još se apostrofira čuvanje supina, gubitak vokativa, nepostojanje duge množine u A-deklinaciji i nestanak dvojine.
U zaključku se kaže da će većina opisa kajkavskih govora koji se u dijalektološkoj literaturi još uvijek navode kao sinkronijska činjenica vrlo brzo postati jezična dijakronija jer su kod većine ispitanika prisutni su znakovi procesa erozije govora koje navodi C. Hagège. Tih promjena ispitanici uglavnom nisu svjesni i oni su većinom još uvijek uvjereni da govore izvornom kajkavštinom, a ne interdijalektom u kojem je veći- na specifičnih osobina njihovih mjesnih govora reducirana. Zaključuje se da kajkavsko narječje ipak neće doživjeti svoj nestanak, već će nestati specifičnosti pojedinih skupina i mjesnih govora s trajno očuvanim „čvrstim dijelovima“.
The introduction provides basic data on the genesis, distribution, and division of the Kajkavian dialect. It is thought that the closest to the factual situation on the genesis of the Kajkavian dialect is the opinion of Z. Junković, who believed that the Kajkavian dialect belonged to the Pannonian group of the Western South Slavic proto-language, which according to him would still include the dialects of Prlekija, the dialect of Prekmurje as well as some West Styrian dialects. The Ottoman conquests caused large migrations of the population to the north and west, and the population that later replaced it was mainly from the area of the Štokavian dialect. Of the many divisions of the Kajkavian dialect, the one by Mijo Lončarić is usually em- phasized; it divides the Kajkavian dialect into 15 dialects.
The following part of the paper continues to present some of the most typical linguistic features of the Kajkavian vernaculars at the phonological, morphological, and syntactic level. Examples of minimal phono- logical pairs between different identical vowels of the o- or e-category in individual Kajkavian vernaculars are given. In some vernaculars, the opposition in quantity was lost because in these vernaculars, in order to compensate for the distinctive features that exist in vernaculars where these contradictions exist, the prosodic suprasegmental features were transformed into segmental ones. The elimination of quantity is an important link between the Kajkavian dialect and the east of the Slavic North as well as the Polish and the Lusatian language.
Among the morphological features, the pronunciation of morphological categories with vowel alterna- tions in some dialects stands out. The emphasis is on the preservation of the supine, the loss of the vocative, the absence of the long plural in the A-declension, and the disappearance of the dual.
In conclusion, it is said that most descriptions of Kajkavian vernaculars that are still cited in the dialec- tological literature as a synchronic fact will soon become linguistic diachrony because most respondents have signs of the vernacular erosion process cited by C. Hagège. Respondents are largely unaware of these changes and are mostly still convinced that they speak the original Kajkavian rather than an interdialect in which most of the specific characteristic features of their local dialects have been reduced. It is concluded that the Kajkavian dialect will not disappear but the specific features of individual groups and local dialects with permanently preserved “solid parts” will not be preserved.
В дополнение к списку межславянских лексических заимствований в русском приказном языке XVII в.
In Addition to the List of Inter-Slavic Lexical Borrowings in the 17th-Century Russian Chancellery Language
Данная статья посвящена проблематике сложных межславянских языковых контактов в XVII в. и продолжает цикл публикаций автора на эту тему. Исследование опирается на историко-филологи-ческие методы, которые помогают установить направление языкового влияния при контактирова-нии генетически родственных языков. Успешному применению указанных методов способствует использование данных исторических словарей восточнославянских и западнославянских языков с большой глубиной диахронии и широким кругом памятников письменности разных жанров и различного происхождения. Эта информация помогает выявлять межславянские заимствования и верифицировать результаты предшествующих исследований.
В публикации на материале дипломатической корреспонденции Московского государства рас-сматривается происхождение и история четырех лексем: навезенье ‘пребывание в неволе, в плену, в заключении’, надарити / надарыти ‘одарить, наделить чем-л.; подарить что-л.’, новокрещенецъ / но-вокщенецъ ‘тот, кто недавно крестился, принял христианство; лицо, перешедшее в христианство из другого вероисповедания’, новообранный ‘вновь избранный, новоизбранный’ во всех контактиро-вавших языках: русском, польском, письменности Великого княжества Литовского, а также белорус-ском и украинском языках. Цель автора – доказать, что эти слова являются лексическими заимство-ваниями из польского языка. Исследование основано на тщательном сопоставлении данных разного типа словарей русского, белорусского, украинского и польского языков, что позволило доказать неисконность рассматриваемых лексем в русском языке и установить источник заимствования, а также выявить посредническую роль письменности ВКЛ в польско-русских языковых контактах.
В результате анализа материала было установлено, что все четыре лексемы, вероятнее всего, яв-ляются полонизмами, при этом слова надарити / надарыти, новокрещенецъ / новокщенецъ и ново-обранный проникли в русский письменный язык XVII в., по-видимому, благодаря посредничеству письменности ВКЛ. Кроме того, для лексемы надарити / надарыти была конкретизирована хро-нологическая характеристика, а для слова новообранный удревнено время появления его в русском письменном языке.
Материалы данной публикации могут быть использованы для дополнения и уточнения информа-ции этимологических и исторических словарей славянских языков.
This paper is devoted to the problems of complex inter-Slavic language contacts in the 17th century and continues the author’s cycle of publications on this topic. The study is based on historical and philological methods that help to establish the direction of language influence when genetically related languages contact. The successful application of these methods is facilitated by the use of historical dictionaries of the West Slavic and East Slavic languages with a great depth of diachrony and a wide range of written monuments of different genres and various origins. This information helps to identify inter-Slavic language borrowings and verify the results of previous studies.
The paper examines the origin and history of four words found in the Muscovite diplomatic correspondence: navezenie ‘captivity, imprisonment’, nadariti / nadaryti ‘to give, to bestow’, novokreščeniec ‘neophyte; Anabaptist’, novoobrannyj ‘newly elected’ in all contacting languages: Russian, Polish, the written language of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania as well as Belarusian and Ukrainian. The author aims at proving that these words are lexical borrowings from the Polish language. The study is based on a careful comparison of data of various types of dictionaries of the Russian, Belarusian, Ukrainian, and Polish languages, which made it possible to prove the foreign origin of these tokens in the Russian language and to establish the source of borrowings as well as to identify the intermediary role of the written language of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in Polish–Russian language contacts.
As a result of the study, it was found that all four lexemes are Polonisms. It was also established that the words nadariti / nadaryti, novokreščeniec, and novoobrannyj were introduced to the Russian written language of the 17th century, most likely due to the mediation of the written language of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In addition, the time of appearance of the word nadariti / nadaryti in the Russian written language was specified, and an earlier chronology was established for the word novoobrannyj.
The materials in this publication can be used to supplement and clarify the information of the etymological and historical dictionaries of the Slavic languages.
Десять темных мест в поэзии О. Мандельштама: комментарии и расшифровка
Ten Dark Places in O. Mandelstam’s Poetry: Comments and Transcript
Предложен ряд решений, проливающих свет на темные и спорные места в десяти стихотворных текстах выдающегося русского и советского поэта О. Э. Мандельштама, критически проанализи- рованы существующие в современной специальной литературе трактовки таких мест. Выявлены тактики, реализующие характерную для позднего Мандельштама «установку на загадку» (О. Ронен), определены базисные функции данной установки в его поэтике. Как показал анализ, основной из таких тактик является метафора, различными способами затемненная, а потому допускающая вари- ативность трактовок либо в той или иной степени герметичная, т. е. закрытая для исчерпывающего и однозначного истолкования. Такие «темные» метафоры, основной субъект которых не поддается уверенной экспликации, поэт именовал «гераклитовыми».
В статье приведены доводы в пользу того факта, что внутренняя форма термина гераклитова метафора восходит к прозванию раннеантичного греческого философа Гераклита Эфесского – σκοτεινός ‘темный’. Среди применяемых О. Э. Мандельштамом способов затемнения семантических переносов наиболее востребованными, а значит, характерными для его авторского идиостиля ока- зались: 1) недостаточность контекста, в частности незамкнутый характер метафор указанного типа; тщательно «припрятанная», т. е., как правило, не более чем однословная, аллюзийная опора на прецедентный текст, зачастую малоизвестный, а значит, недоступный для широкой читательской аудитории; 3) «замаскированное» указание на отдельный элемент (или элементы) той актуальной для поэта бытовой либо исторической конситуации, с опорой на которую может быть достигнуто адекватное понимание текста.
Это означает, что трактовка, более или менее отвечающая авторскому замыслу, облигаторно предполагает применение контекстуального, конситуативного либо интертекстуального анализа построенных поэтом семантических переносов, в частности «гераклитовых метафор», анализ же семантических переносов настоятельно требует применения трансформационного анализа; соот- ветственно, удаленность исследователя от указанных лингвистических методов, прежде всего от экспериментальных, т. е. дистрибутивного и трансформационного анализа, если не лишает ясной перспективы, то существенно затрудняет дальнейшее герменевтическое осмысление творческого наследия позднего Мандельштама, т. е. тех текстов, которые были написаны им после 1920 года.
Исследование показало, что неясность целого ряда таких текстов, иногда вплотную приближаю- щаяся к сфере герметизма, имеет определенное функциональное обоснование. Установка на загадку, или, в античной терминологии, «темный намек» (κάλυμμα, συγκάλυμμα), в подавляющем большин- стве случаев используется в стихотворных текстах О. Э. Мандельштама не как привычный атрибут эзопова языка (мнение Н. Струве), а в эстетических целях, т. е. как прием, который придает тексту эмоционально минорный, стилистически приподнятый, нередко профетический оттенок, характер энигмы.
A number of solutions are proposed that shed light on the dark and controversial passages in ten poetic texts of the outstanding Russian and Soviet poet O. Mandelstam. The existing interpretations of such passages in modern special literature are critically analyzed. The tactics that implement the characteristic for late Man- delstam “orientation to riddle” (O. Ronen) are identified, the basic functions of this orientation in his poetics are determined. As the analysis has shown, the main of these tactics is a metaphor that is in various ways darkened, and therefore allows for variability of interpretations, or is more or less hermetic, i.e. closed to an exhaustive and unambiguous interpretation. Such “dark” metaphors, the main subject of which does not lend itself to confident explication, the poet called “heraclitic”.
The paper provides arguments in favour of the fact that the internal form of the term heraclitic metaphor goes back to the nickname of the early antique Greek philosopher Heraclitus of Ephesus – σκοτεινός ‘dark’. Among the applied by O. Mandelstam methods of darkening of semantic transfers were the most popular, and therefore characteristic for his author’s idiostyle: 1) the lack of context, in particular, the non-closed nature of metaphors of type mentioned above; 2) carefully “hidden”, i.e., as a rule, no more than a one-word, allusive reliance on a precedent text, often little-known, and therefore inaccessible to a wide readership; “disguised” indication of a separate element (or elements) of the actual for the poet everyday or historical consituation, based on which an adequate understanding of the text can be achieved.
This means that the interpretation that more or less corresponds to the author’s intention obligatorily involves the use of contextual, consituative, or intertextual analysis of the semantic transfers constructed by the poet, in particular, “heraclitic metaphors”, while the analysis of semantic transfers obligatorily requires the use of transformational analysis. Accordingly, the researcher’s remoteness from the above-mentioned linguistic methods, primarily from experimental, i.e., distributive and transformational analysis, if not de- prives of a clear perspective, then significantly complicates further hermeneutical understanding of the cre- ative heritage of the late Mandelstam, i.e., those texts that were written by him after 1920.
The study has shown that the darkness of a number of such texts which sometimes comes close to the sphere of hermeticism has a certain functional justification. “Orientation to riddle”, or, in ancient terminol- ogy, “dark hint” (κάλυμμα, συγκάλυμμα), in the vast majority of cases is used in the poetic texts of O. Man- delstam not as a familiar attribute of the Aesop language (opinion of N. Struve) but for aesthetic purposes, i.e. as a technique that gives the text an emotionally minor, stylistically elevated, often prophetic shade, the character of Enigma.
Интенсификаторы в русском языке XXI века: словообразование, семантика, синтагматика и динамика оценки**
Larisa Viktorovna Ratsiburskaya, Marina Vsevolodovna Sandakova
Исследование выполнено в русле актуального антропоцентрического направления в лингвистике и связано с изучением активных процессов в современном русском языке, отражающих динамику русского национального менталитета и русской языковой картины мира. В статье рассматривается такое глубинное свойство русской речи, как эмоциональность, которая проявляется в языковых ка-тегориях оценочности и интенсивности.
Цель исследования – установление связи между категориями оценочности и интенсивности на материале словообразовательных и лексико-семантических единиц из лексикографических источ-ников и медийных текстов.
В результате исследования охарактеризованы словообразовательные и лексико-семантические интенсификаторы в функционально-прагматическом аспекте. К словообразовательным интенси-фикаторам относятся словообразовательные аффиксы, аффиксоиды (в основном размерно-оценоч-ной семантики) и отдельные способы словообразования (в частности некоторые разновидности способа сложения). К лексическим интенсификаторам относятся отдельные виды лексем: оценочно универсальные интенсификаторы; интенсификаторы, тяготеющие к выражению положительной или отрицательной оценки (в определенном контексте); интенсификаторы, выражающие (по сво-ей семантике) положительную или отрицательную оценку. В статье показано такое расширение функционального диапазона интенсификаторов, как оценочная амбивалентность размерно-оце-ночных аффиксов, оксюморонность и амбивалентность лексических интенсификаторов.
Одним из векторов развития лексических интенсификаторов является синтагматическое рас-ширение, в результате которого в речи возникают и закрепляются всё новые словосочетания, не соответствующие традиции употребления и нарушающие сложившиеся правила лексической со-четаемости, закрепленные в словарях. Расширение сочетаемости служит условием семантических и оценочных трансформаций интенсификатора. Употребление интенсификатора в оценочно дис-сонирующем окружении выполняет в тексте определенные прагматические и стилистические цели (повышение экспрессивности текста, создание эффекта оксюморона, иронии или шутки). При этом обилие таких употреблений в медийных, художественных тестах и в разговорной речи, а также по-вторяемость моделей синтагматического смещения говорит о динамике развития оценки в классе лексических интенсификаторов в русском языке новейшего периода. Оценочное расширение, когда «положительно ориентированные» интенсификаторы вторгаются в зону негативных явлений, и на-оборот, негативные характеристики – в зону явлений позитивных, рассматривается как тенденция к снятию оценочных ограничений и к универсализации оценки.
Явления, описанные в статье, в целом показывают развитие семантической категории интенсив-ности в русском языке XXI века, находящее выражение в динамике таких ее составляющих, как способы словообразования, словообразовательные единицы, лексические единицы.
The research is based on the current anthropocentric trend in linguistics and is related to the study of active processes in the modern Russian language reflecting the dynamics of the Russian national mentality and the Russian linguistic image of the world. The paper considers such a deep property of Russian speech as emotionality, which is manifested in the language categories of evaluation and intensity.
The purpose of the research is to establish the relationship between the categories of evaluation and intensity based on the material of word-building and lexical-semantic units from lexicographic sources and media texts.
As a result of the research, word-building and lexical-semantic intensifiers are characterized in the functional-pragmatic aspect. Word-building intensifiers include word-formative affixes, affixoids (mainly of dimensional-evaluative semantics), and various means of word-building (in particular, some varieties of composition). Lexical intensifiers include certain types of lexemes: evaluative universal intensifiers; intensifiers that tend to express positive or negative evaluation (in a certain context); intensifiers that express (by their semantics) positive or negative evaluation. The paper shows such an extension of the functional range of intensifiers as the estimated ambivalence of dimensional-evaluative affixes, oxymoron quality, and the ambivalence of lexical intensifiers.
One of the vectors of the development of lexical intensifiers is syntagmatic expansion, which results in emerging in speech and fixing new word combinations that do not correspond to the tradition of usage and violate the established rules of lexical compatibility fixed in dictionaries. The combinability extension serves as a condition for semantic and evaluative transformations of the intensifier. The use of an intensifier in an evaluative dissonant environment fulfils certain pragmatic and stylistic goals in the text (increasing the expressiveness of the text, creating the effect of an oxymoron, irony, or joke). The abundance of such instances of use in media texts, literary works, and spoken language as well as the repeatability of syntagmatic bias models indicates the dynamics of evaluation in the class of lexical intensifiers in the Russian language of the modern period. Evaluation expansion, when “positively oriented” intensifiers invade the zone of negative phenomena, and vice versa, negative characteristics in the zone of positive phenomena, is considered as a tendency to remove evaluation restrictions and to universalize evaluation.
The phenomena described in the paper generally show the development of the semantic category of intensity in the Russian language of the 21st century, which is expressed in the dynamics of its components, such as word-building means, word-building units, and lexical units.
Кирилична частина Реймського Євангелія – важлива пам’ятка давньоруськоукраїнської книжної писемності
The Cyrillic Part of the Reims Gospel as an Important Monument of Ancient Ruthenian- Ukrainian Bookwriting
У статті проаналізовані орфографічні та мовні особливості кириличної частини Реймського Єван- гелія. На сьогодні досліджувана пам’ятка у славістиці дискусійна, остаточно не розв’язане питання ні про місце і час її створення, ні про писця. Думки дослідників з цього приводу надто різняться: одні вчені вважають, що книгу привезла до Франції донька українського князя Ярослава Мудрого Анна, вийшовши заміж за французького короля Генріха І; інші це заперечують, і пов’язують її ство- рення з ім’ям святого Прокопія з Чехії, який, згідно із вкладним записом, написаним наприкінці глаголичної частини, написав це Євангеліє. Існує також гіпотеза про сербське походження книги.
Ми проаналізували різні гіпотези від початків наукового вивчення Реймського Євангелія (В. Ган- ка, О. Соболевський, Л. Леже та ін.), до подальших (Ю. Шевельов, П. Курінний, Л. Жуковська, I. Тот та ін.) та останніх (Є. Луняк, В. Александрович, Т. Миронова, Е. Біккініна та ін.) студій. Урахували й критично осмислили висновки дослідників, які в різні роки вивчали палеографічні, графічні та орфографічні та мовні характеристики рукопису. Уперше в славістиці звернено увагу на порівняння аналізованого Євангелія з орфографічно-лінгвістичними особливостями пам’яток київської писем- ної школи та виявленими в тексті властиво українськими діалектними особливостями.
Зроблено висновок, що згадувані в Реймському Євангелії діалектні особливості мають відповід- ність у точно локалізованих та датованих київських пам’ятках другої частини ХІ століття. Не дає підстав вивести книгу за межі ХІ ст. й орфографія рукопису, а порівняння з орфографічними особ- ливостями точно датованих та локалізованих Остромирового Євангелія, Ізборників Святослава, Архангельського Євангелія навпаки дає багато підстав для узагальнення про раніший час створен- ня Реймського Євангелія від названих пам’яток, оскільки явно виділяється низкою оригінальних написань: одноєровість, закінчення рядків на голосний та приголосний, майже цілковита відсут- ність йотованих, характерне уживання діакритичних знаків. Пам’ятка творена в час, коли устале- ної давньоруської редакції церковнослов’янської мови ще не було. Писець, вочевидь, сам творив руський писемний узус і вводив перші орфографічні руські писемні особливості. Писцем рукопису був русин, найімовірніше, киянин.
The present paper analyzes the orthographic and linguistic features of the Cyrillic part of the Reims Gospel. Today, this monument is controversial in Slavic studies: the problems of the place and time of its creation and the questions about its writer have not been finally resolved yet. The opinions of researchers on this subject are very different: some scholars believe that book was brought to France by the daughter of Ukrainian Prince Yaroslav the Wise, Anne, who married the King of France Henry I. Others deny this idea and associate its creation with the name of St. Procopius from Bohemia, who allegedly wrote this Gospel, according to the appendix placed at the end of the Glagolitic part. There is also a hypothesis about the Serbian origin of the book.
We analyzed various hypotheses, starting from the early studies of the Reims Gospel (V. Hanka, O. Sobolevsky, L. Leger, etc.), to subsequent ones (Yu. Shevelyov, P. Kurinny, L. Zhukovskaya, I. Tóth, etc.) and recent studies (E. Lunyak, V. Alexandrovich, T. Mironova, E. Bikkinina, G. Prikhodko, M. Fougeron, etc.). The conclusions of researchers who studied the palaeographic, graphic, orthographic, and linguistic characteristics of the manuscript in different years were taken into account and critically comprehended. For the first time in Slavic studies, attention was paid to the comparison of the analyzed Gospel with the orthographic and linguistic features of the monuments of the Kyiv written school and the Ukrainian dialectal features.
It is concluded that the dialectal features observed in the Reims Gospel correspond to accurately dated and localized Kyiv monuments of the second part of the 11th century. The orthography of the manuscript does not make it possible to take the book outside the 11th century. A comparison with orthographic features of Ostromir Gospel, Svyatoslav’s Collected Works, and Archangel’s Gospel gives many grounds for generalization about the earlier time of creation of the Reims Gospel. It is clearly distinguished from the above-mentioned monuments by a number of original writings: singularity, the ending of lines on vowels and consonants, almost complete absence of iotated, the characteristic use of diacritical marks, etc. The monument was created at a time when there was no established Old Ruthenian edition of the Church Slavonic language. Apparently, the writer created the Ruthenian written usus by himself and introduced the first Russian orthographic features. The writer of the manuscript was a Ruthenian, most likely a Kyivan.
Устойчивые сравнения с компонентом-ориентализмом – этносимволом Украины
Stable Comparisons with Oriental Components – Ethnic Symbols of Ukraine
Неоспоримым является тот факт, что в результате многовековых исторических, культурных и со-седских контактов в языки славян в довольно большом количестве проникали ориентализмы – слова, принадлежащие к разным группам тюркских, а также иранских и арабо-семитских языков. Они прочно закрепились в лексическом составе славянских языков как в своем исконном значении (соответствующем языку-оригиналу), так и в переосмысленном, по-новому интерпретированном на славянской почве. Этой теме посвящено немало лингвистических и культурологических работ. Украинский язык в этом плане не исключение.
Историческая лексикология изучает причины, время и пути проникновения и адаптации ори-ентальной лексики в украинском языке. Заимствования из ориентальных языков составляют зна-чительный пласт украинской лексики. Судьба заимствований различна: они либо остались в язы-ке-реципиенте экзотизмами, либо в результате экстралингвистических факторов усвоились им настолько, что стали символами национальной культуры. Показательна в этом плане, например, судьба ориентализмов лелека ‘аист’, кобза и сурма в Украине. Одна из частотных ассоциаций с этой страной – образ запорожского казака в широченных шароварах с неотъемлемым атрибутом – та-баком.
Цель настоящего исследования – выявление семантико-функциональных особенностей ориен-тализмов в украинских устойчивых сравнениях. В данной статье на примере этих лексических еди-ниц рассматривается фраземообразующий потенциал и семантико-функциональные особенностиэтих заимствований-ориентализмов, ассоциирующихся с Украиной, в составе сравнительных кон-струкций. Анализируются как устаревшие устойчивые сравнения, так и активно употребляющиеся в наши дни. Приводятся возможные культурологические и историко-этимологические коммента-рии к устойчивым сравнениям, толкуется значение компаративных оборотов и компонентов, вхо-дящих в них.
Исследование показало, что рассмотренные ориентализмы настолько прочно вошли в фонд украинского языка, что давно не воспринимаются в языке-реципиенте как чужеродный элемент, напротив, они стали этносимволами в украинской лингвокультуре, продуктивными в словообразо-вательном плане (это осталось за рамками статьи), функционируют в устойчивых сравнениях, в том числе образно-поэтических. Однако этномаркированность, видимо, и наложила ограничения на их фразеологический потенциал: по сравнению с ориентализмами, не ставшими маркерами украин-ской культуры (барабан, базар, кавун, казан и пр.), они фразеологически менее активны, не частотны в составе украинских устойчивых сравнений в качестве эталона, мерила действия, качества и т. д.
It is an undeniable fact that as a result of centuries of historical, cultural, and neighbourly contacts, Orientalisms penetrated the languages of the Slavs in quite large numbers. They are firmly fixed in the lexical structure of Slavic languages both in their original meaning (corresponding to the original language) and in a sense reinterpreted on Slavic soil. Numerous linguistic and culturological works are devoted to this topic. The Ukrainian language is no exception in this regard.
Historical lexicology studies the causes, time, and ways of penetration and adaptation of Orientalisms in the Ukrainian language. Borrowings from Oriental languages make up a significant layer of the Ukrainian vocabulary. The fate of borrowings varies: they eithe r remained exoticisms in the recipient language or as a result of extralinguistic factors, they were assimilated so much that they became symbols of national culture. For example, the fate of Orientalisms leleka ‘stork’, kobza, and surma in Ukraine is indicative in this regard. One of the frequent associations with the country is the image of Zaporozhian Cossacks in wide bloomers with an integral attribute – tobacco.
The purpose of this study is to identify the semantic and functional peculiarities of the Ukrainian Orientalisms in comparison. In this paper, using the example of these lexical units, we consider the phrase-making potential as well as the semantic and functional features of these borrowed Orientalisms associated with Ukraine, as part of comparative constructions. The paper deals with both outdated similes and those that are actively used nowadays. In addition to this, the author gives possible culturological, historical, and etymological comments to similes, showing the meaning of phraseological units and components that are parts of similes.
The study demonstrates that the analyzed Orientalisms have been so firmly established in the foundation of the Ukrainian language that they are not perceived in the recipient language as foreign elements. On the contrary, they have become ethnic symbols in Ukrainian linguistic culture, they are productive in derivational terms (the paper does not deal with this question), and operate in stable compa risons, including imagery and poetry. However, their ethnosymbolic features, apparently, have imposed restrictions on their phraseological potential: in comparison with Orientalisms that have not become markers of Ukrainian culture (baraban, bazar, kavun, kazan, etc.), they are phraseologically less active, not frequent a s part of stable comparisons referring to a standard, measure of action, quality, etc.
Формальна і семантична структури дериватів y говорах української мови: проблема кореляції
Formal and Semantic Structures of Derivatives in the Dialects of the Ukrainian Language: the Problem of Correlation
У статті порушено проблему кореляції формальної і семантичної структур дериватів. Дослідження здійснено на прикладі прикметників, дериватів із коренем -гор- (-гір-, -гур-), які входять до складу словотвірного гнізда з вершиною гора ‘гора’, ‘верхня частина’ і репрезентують семантичну опозицію ‘верx’ ↔ ‘низ’.
Корпус прикметників із коренем -гор- (-гір-, -гур-) формує понад 60 одиниць, які описують орієнтацію об’єктів у просторі, окреслюють просторову кваліфікацію об’єкта та моделюють си-стему координат мовної (а радше діалектної) картини світу. Детально проаналізовано семантику прикметників першого та другого ступенів деривації (гíрний / гóрний, горáвий, горúстий, горíшний, гірськúй, гóряний, горíський тощо); префіксально-суфіксальних форм (згíрний, згірнúстий, загíрний, нагíрний, пагористий та ін.) та композитів (крутогóрий, плоскогíрний, простогíрний тощо). Семан-тичну структуру прикметників проаналізовано в межах двох семантичних субкомплексів, а саме: ‘верхня / нижня частина об’єкта’ та ‘верхня / нижня межа’. Значення прикметників структурова-но єрархічно. Усі значення (компоненти семантичної структури) ілюструють приклади, засвідчені в говірках української мови. Зафіксовані значення представляють різні аспекти життя українців.
Проаналізовані мовні одиниці відтворюють діалектні особливості, зокрема семантичні, харак-терні для говорів південно-західного наріччя української мови. Джерелами дослідження слугували історичні та регіональні словники (Є. Желехівський, С. Недільський, П. Білецький-Носенко, Д. Яворницький, Б. Грінченко та ін.), а також діалектні тексти та лінгвістичні атласи. Семантичні зміни, виявлені на підставі аналізу історичних джерел і пам’яток української мови від ХІ ст., зафік-совано на різних історичних етапах. Це дало змогу не тільки окреслити особливості діалектної кар-тини світу діалектоносіїв, відмінності у їхньому світогляді, знаннях та колективному досвіді, а й репрезентувати особливості діалектної номінації, деривації та семантики.
Діалектні відомості подано в семи порівняльних таблицях, які фіксують деривацію та семантику аналізованих лексем, а також семантичні зміни прикметників гíрськúй / гóрський, горíшний. Задоку-ментовано найдавніші фіксації дериватів від ХІ ст. та семантичну еволюцію слів. Аналіз формальних і семантичних структур дериватів підтвердив, що семантика базового слова є основою для форму-вання семантики дериватів.
This paper deals with the problem of correlation between the formal and semantic structure of derivatives. The paper suggests examples of derivative of the root -гор- (-гір-, -гур-) and represents the semantic opposition ‘top’ ↔ ‘bottom’ – fragments of the derivative clusters of the base words of the opposition гора ‘mountain’, ‘top’.
The corpus of adjectives with the root -гор- (-гір-, -гур-) amounts to more than 60 units. It describes the orientation of objects in the space as well as identifies the spatial qualification of an object and models the coordinate system of the linguistic (resp. dialectal) worldview. The author scrutinizes the semantics of the adjectives: unprefixed derivatives of the 1st and 2nd degrees of derivation (гíрний / гóрний, горáвий, горúстий, горíшний, гірськúй, гóряний, горíський, etc.); prefixal-suffixal formations (згíрний, згірнúстий, загíрний, нагíрний, пагористий, etc.), and compounds (крутогóрий, плоскогíрний, простогíрний, etc.). The semantic structure of adjectives is analyzed within two semantic subcomplexes: ‘the top of the object’ and ‘high / low limit’. The subcomplexes unite the meanings of the adjectives, which are structured hierarchically. All meanings (components of the semantic structure) are illustrated by examples of dialectal speech. These meanings represent different aspects of the Ukrainians’ life.
The analysed units represent semantic and typical features for the south-western dialects of the Ukrainian language. The sources of the study are historical and regional dictionaries (by Ye. Zhelekhivskyi, S. Nedilskyi, P. Biletskyi-Nosenko, D. Yavornytskyi, B. Hrinchenko, etc.) and texts as well as linguistic atlases. Semantic changes, as based on the analysis of historical sources and manuscripts of the Ukrainian language from the 11th century, were recorded at different historical stages. It is possible to identify the specific features of the perception of the world and differences in the worldview of dialect speakers, their knowledge, and collective experience, and represent the specific features of dialect nomination, derivation, and semantics.
The dialectal data provided in the 7 comparative tables of the lexeme’s derivation and semantics, and what is more, semantic changes of the adjectives гíрськúй / гóрський and горíшний. The oldest fixations of derivatives from the 11th century and the semantic evolution of the words are documented. The analysis of the formal and semantic structures of derivatives proved that the semantics of the base word is the basis for the formation of the semantics of derivatives.
Abstract
In this article, two important newspapers of the Habsburg monarchy – the Wiener Zeitung (previously: Wien[n]erisches Diarium) and the Preßburger Zeitung – are related to each other in several aspects. After a historical overview of the context in which these periodicals were created and taking into account the research literature already available, the first step was to look for parallels in their formal design. Since both newspapers have also been digitally made accessible in full text recently, it was also possible to determine approximately how frequent direct mutual references to the other periodical occur by means of so-called distant reading procedures. Close reading methods were then used to examine and interpret the corpus-based references. This comparative approach with digital methods allows the synoptic examination of individual text passages and thus offers new insights into the complex relationship between the Wiener Zeitung and the Preßburger Zeitung in the 18th century.
Abstract
The phenomenon of transculturalism is capable of activating and generating meaning within various spaces, levels and layers of literature. The study discusses different levels of transculturalism through certain authors and texts in Slovakian Hungarian literature, along with transcultural authorial identity, the transcultural meaning-making machinery of texts, transcultural practices of the social context, and transcultural directions and gaps in reception. The purpose of the paper is to classify some of the transcultural phenomena we encounter and to unravel the relevant conceptual and interpretative levels.
Abstract
The history of American-Hungarian relations has enjoyed renewed interest in the past thirty years. Despite this fact, there are still many uncovered or poorly documented episodes and persons concerning this academic territory. This article wishes to shed some light on one such character and period. It was in 1922 that the United States and Hungary established official diplomatic relations for the first time. Consequently the two countries exchanged ministers; thus, a long line of American ministers began to come and reside in Hungary. The very first of them was Theodore Brentano, who served five years in Budapest, between 1922 and 1927, but who seems to have disappeared from historical memory in both countries. Since 2022 marks the centenary of establishing diplomatic relations between the two countries, this article will introduce Theodore Brentano, the first American minister for Hungary and his work there. Brentano's years coincided with momentous events in Hungary in the post-Trianon era and were a time of relatively active relations between Washington and Budapest. Using primary and secondary sources alike, this article will hopefully illustrate a sorely missed part of the history of American-Hungarian history and rekindle interest in what took place a century ago.
Abstract
This paper examines expletive negation in root clauses (surprise negation sentences and wh-exclamatives) in Hungarian. We argue that Hungarian has three distinct negation positions, each corresponding to a truth-reversal operation on a different level. When the negator nem ‘no’ is merged in the CP layer (in the head position of the Speaker Deixis Phrase), this yields surprise negation sentences, corresponding to negation at the level of presuppositions (expletive negation). The negator being merged as the head of NegP within the extended TP yields standard negation (at the propositional level). In wh-exclamatives, the negator is head-adjoined to T0, which results in negation at the level of implicatures (expletive negation). In addition to pointing out this mapping between syntactic position and semantic-pragmatic interpretation, we also argue that the data from Hungarian present a strong case against a raising analysis of expletive negation.
Abstract
In realizational theories of morphology, different opinions exist on the relationship between phonology and Vocabulary Insertion. On the one hand, there are separational theories like Distributed Morphology (Halle & Marantz 1993), which assume that Vocabulary Insertion does not interact with the phonological component of the grammar. These theories predict that the properties of a language's regular phonology never play a role when vocabulary items (VIs) are inserted. The opposite view is held by integrational theories as, for instance, proposed in Wolf (2008). These theories assume that the general phonology of a language can influence Vocabulary Insertion. Based on adjectival agreement in the language Vata, I propose an integrational model that assumes that Vocabulary Insertion applies in an Optimality-Theoretic (Prince & Smolensky 1993) phonology, where regular phonological constraints are active. I propose that the phonology consists of two levels: one level where VIs are inserted and one level for regular phonology.
Abstract
The subject of this contribution is Alexander/Sándor Albrecht’s musical output from the 1920s in the context of the development of the composer’s musical style, his life and the social and political changes in Bratislava after 1918. Albrecht returned to Pressburg/Pozsony in 1908 after his studies in Budapest and devoted his organisational and artistic activity to the city; in 1921 he became the conductor at the Kirchenmusikverein (until 1952), a traditional music institution of the city. In 1920s Albrecht also achieved the creation of his own musical style. Coming out from a base of late Romanticism, Albrecht applied in that time the modernistic principles to his œuvre. In 1924 he wrote his mature Piano Suite, and in 1926 his Sonatina for 11 Instruments, an interesting piece of well-balanced formal and harmonic innovations, and one of the first pieces for chamber ensemble (after Schoenberg’s Kammersinfonie) in the Central European context. In 1929 Albrecht’s oratorio-like Marienleben: Three Poems after R. M. Rilke for soprano, mixed chorus and orchestra was successfully premiered. The present study contains detailed analyses of these three pieces, which are the most outstanding and distinctive works by the composer.
„And that is how my first records appeared under the name of Dr Richard Strauss“
George Szells und Richard Strauss’ Einspielung von Don Juan (1916)
Abstract
The paper deals with the first recording of Richard Strauss’s tone poem Don Juan, of which the first half (i.e. the first two of a total four sides of this 1916 78-rpm recording) has repeatedly been said to be conducted not by Richard Strauss, but by George Szell who served as Strauss’s assistant at the Berlin court opera at that time. By a close examination of written accounts, I wish to clarify the background of this narrative which Peter Morse, somehow misleadingly, has called an “old story” as early as in 1977, though it seems that it was not given currency prior to the late 1960s when Szell himself mentioned the recording en passant during an interview. In a second step, comparative analyses of certain sections from both this 1916 and Strauss’s later recordings of Don Juan will not only proof Szell’s participation, but aim at determining the respective interpretational concepts in their differing performance choices. Finally, further comparison between Szell’s later Don Juan recordings (1943, 1957, 1969) and selected performances by contemporary conductors intends to help situate Szell within the Austro-German Espressivo tradition, whereby the detailed analysis of tempo-dramaturgical strategies in these recordings will itself contribute to a differentiation of the frequently simplified notion of “Espressivo.”
Abstract
Ernst von Dohnányi's brilliant instrumentation skills were already recognized by his contemporaries. His former disciple and first monographer Bálint Vázsonyi published an anecdote, according to which Béla Bartók considered the orchestral version of Ruralia hungarica (op. 32) as the first truly “orchestrated” Hungarian symphonic work. Nevertheless, neither Dohnányi's own orchestration practices nor the transcriptions he prepared for symphony orchestra from the works of other composers have been studied. This paper examines two of these orchestrations, made in 1928 on the occasion of the Schubert Centenary – Dohnányi's orchestral transcriptions of the Fantasy in F Minor, originally written for piano four hands, and the piano cycle Moments musicaux – both being virtually unknown to the public. The analysis also provides an insight into Dohnányi's interpretation of Schubert, including his approach to the Austrian composer.
Abstract
In the German-speaking countries during the morally uninhibited years of the Weimar Republic, the opposing cultural epochs of Expressionism and Neue Sachlichkeit dominated the aesthetic landscape. Opera was a central proponent of both movements, as implemented by the Expressionist practitioners and those who favored the subsequent topical and objectifying Zeitoper that sought to move away from representations of psychological distortion to depict social realism that emphasized mechanical technology and lighter, popular narrative themes. Max Brand’s famous Zeitoper, Maschinist Hopkins, will be analyzed to illustrate how it bore fundamental trace elements back to Alban Berg’s Expressionist opera Wozzeck, and likewise, how Hopkins in turn influenced Berg’s second opera Lulu, to constitute a linear association of narrative, music, and theatrical design that simultaneously conformed to and defied the operatic models that all three operas are historically associated with. It will also be suggested that both composers were consequentially influenced by Richard Wagner, promoting vestiges of an even older lineage, which contributed to this association between the three operas at a time when Wagner was less applicable to the trends of innovation and progress.
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to clarify the compositional process of the revised version of Liszt's Cantico del Sol di San Francesco d’Assisi, especially focusing on the little-known manuscripts preserved in Weimar, Budapest and Leipzig. The author confirmed for the first time that the “Leipzig copy” of the work also includes Liszt's handwriting. Surely both manuscripts in Weimar and Leipzig are Stichvorlagen for the first edition. The latter is the revised vocal score with accompaniment either on piano or organ. Definitely Liszt also checked the engraver's manuscript of the vocal score for himself. On September 6, 1881 to Carolyne, Liszt wrote the following: “I am going to write the arrangement for piano and organ of the new definitive version of the Cantico di San Francesco.” It is very likely that this arrangement means the “Leipzig copy,” not the piano solo version. Therefore, the date of composition of the latter should be reconsidered. On the other hand, the autograph fragment for orchestra in Budapest is an important correction to the missing manuscript between the early version and the revised one.
Abstract
In this paper the musicographic significance of the essays on music and the musical criticism of Hungarian novelist Géza Csáth is discussed on the basis of lexicographic entries and the few scholarly papers in which some of his views are present. The picture of this music critic is completed by a brief account of the problems of a stylistic determination of his literary œuvre, as well as of the importance of psychoanalysis for his artistic creativity and activity. There are three main problems in Csáth's writings on music: support of modernism in music, advocacy of national style in artistic music, and emphasis on the importance of artistic individualism; while the first two problems are mentioned in several scholarly works, the third – Csáth's insistence on artistic individualism – has not been the subject of musicological consideration. Likewise, Géza Csáth's aesthetic views on music have not even been identified, though he was a highly educated critic who was among the first to recognize the importance of Béla Bartók and to support impressionism, expressionism and tendencies towards atonal music. Csáth's aesthetic attitudes were clearly influenced by Darwinism and the positivism of the late nineteenth century; yet, in his essays on music, we find much more than an organicistic and psychologistic interpretation, and that is a deeper understanding of the connection between artistic music, the cultural climate, and the changing needs of audiences at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Abstract
This paper attempts to stress that the composer Luigi Nono never overlooked early music, particularly Renaissance music, and his avant-garde works were created on the basis of late Renaissance and early Baroque music. Furthermore, this paper has tried to shed light on the relationship between music and space, which was an essential parameter of musical composition in the twentieth century as well as in the Renaissance. The sound modulated by live electronics transports the listener into synesthetic and perceptive listening and sonic space. As a result, it is demonstrated that Nono indicated the power and fascination of the voice, the polychoral structure, and the influence of the interaction between sound and space in his Prometeo.
Abstract
In the second half of the nineteenth century, the Habsburg Monarchy was a political entity giving home to great numbers of people of different nationalities and ethnicities. However, the dominant power in the structure of this multi-ethnic state was reserved for the Germans. Yet, the ever more emphatic demands of ethnic groups of other origins for more autonomy had a serious impact on the political and cultural supremacy of the Germans. Based on this recorded background, I will examine in the context of my paper to what extent Viennese music criticism of Franz Liszt’s symphonic programme music proves to be influenced by the reception of his national facets of identity. To do justice to this concern, the first step is to gain an overview of what statements were made during the journalistic discourse on Liszt’s symphonic programme music regarding its nationality. Building on this, it will be determined what function these statements had in the argumentative mediation of the aesthetic judgement on Liszt’s programmatic compositions. Against the political background outlined above, the question arises as to whether the Hungarian-national facet of Liszt’s identity in particular was instrumentalized by Viennese critics in order to strengthen negative judgments about his œuvre by means of a politically motivated German-nationalist narrative.
2018 Symposium Classicum Peregrinum: “Blessings and Curses in Antiquity”
June 21–24, 2018 Lonato del Garda, Italy
Abstract
The discovery of the fountain of Anna Perenna in Rome in 1999, and especially the presence there of curse tablets, establishes that she was known as a religious presence in the time of Ovid and, presumably, of Vergil. This paper seeks to examine the depictions we find of her in the works of Ovid, Vergil, and in Statius’ Punica 8.
Abstract
According to Durkheim, the notion of ‘sacred’ is per se ambivalent, because it includes antinomic notions such as the pure and the impure. This theory would be justified by the original ambiguity of the Latin sacer. Only one case is always quoted: the peculiar condition of the homo sacer, a criminal consecrated to the gods. But the ambiguity of the sacer is not a problem for the Romans. The uncertainties of modern interpretation stem from the fact that this consecratio of a criminal is often explained as a sacrifice, but the destiny of the homo sacer is more analogous to the fate reserved for the violators of international treaties: on the profane side, the culprit is deprived of his citizenship and becomes a foreigner. Nor, however, is he accepted by enemies. In the same way, from an anthropological point of view, the consecrated person stays on a liminal stage: he remains forever in an uncertain gap between the sphere of men and the world of the gods. There is no ambiguity of the sacred because the homo sacer could not really reach the gods or pollute them.
Abstract
In Virgil's Eclogues curses and blessings are the heritage of the Theocritean tradition, which in turn reproduced a common feature in folk poetry. But in comparison to Theocritus, who uses these topics to give his poems a folkloric flavour, the Latin poet treats them in a very different way, removing excessively vulgar phrases from his verses, and using curses and blessings in order to give voice to deep feelings on the part of his characters. Sometimes these τόποι express positive or negative hopes in a contrasting pattern (in ecl. 3. 89–91; 7. 21–28, and, first of all, 1. 59–66, which is a special case), while sometimes there is only a positive (ecl. 5. 60–61, 65 and 76–77; ecl. 9. 30–31) or negative (ecl. 8. 52–58) view. The most common figure of speech for curses and blessings is the adynaton.
Abstract
The aim of this paper is to underline some cultic features of the cult of the Great Gods of Samothrace, in its development between Hellenistic and Roman Age. In this regard, we analyze the mythological background of this cult, with particular reference to Trojan war and Aeneas saga and the influences on the cultic performances and ideology in Roman age. Our main goal is to show, through an analysis of the different syncretic cults (Dioskuroi, Penates, Lares) and the archaeological data, how the metaphors of sea and sailing influenced the transmission of this soteriological cult in Rome and how these cultural changes represent a weighty argument to demonstrate the very important revolution introduced by the Samothracian cult in the religious thought of classical world.
Abstract
I would like to focus my paper on several words belonging to the sphere of the “Sacred” as translated from Latin into Greek by Cassius Dio. Actually, the Severian historian has to translate, that is, to explain to Greek-speaking or -thinking readers terms like sacer, sacrosanctus (especially for the tribunician power), and augustus (particularly in connection with the name of the first emperor). We shall see that Cassius Dio knows very well the exact meaning of each and every one of these Latin words, but often distances himself from traditional Roman beliefs.
The celebration of the lizard:
The iconography and iconology of a magic ritual against the evil forces
Abstract
The aim of this paperis the analysis of the meaning of the iconography of the month of September in Late Antique Roman illustrated calendars. This image alludes to the apotropaic ritual of the grape harvest done through the suspension of a lizard above bunches of grapes or containers of wine. The use of this image attests to the continuity of the Dionysian cult in Late Antiquity, even if only at a popular level, because of the definitive affirmation of Christianity. At the same time, the new religion included this iconographic pattern, which has acquired an eschatological meaning related to eternal life.
Abstract
In the glyptic repertoire of roman-republican age, numerous subjects that must be recognized as amulets with probaskanica function. These objects are designed to protect the owner from the negative effects of the evil eye. The ridiculous and caricatural aspect often seen in these engraved gems characterized the grotesque and/or deformed beings such as hunchbacks, bald, dwarfs, pygmies. A further common typical element is the sexual hypertrophy, another characteristic that, in literature, has always been associated with a clear apotropaic function. From a functional perspective, all these features would contribute to identify these characters as useful expedients to ward off the charm. Instead, from a perspective of antithetical analogy, they communicate positive symbolic concepts, such as the fullness of life, fertility, rebirth and victory over death.
Thanks to the analytical study of some pictures engraved in gems conducted by the authors, it has been possible to define a singular set similar for style, subject and type of material, produced between the second and first century BC in the Italian peninsula. The paper intends to explain the figurative and material elements, both constant or variable, that contribute to reinforce the symbolic and amuletic meaning of these gems.
Abstract
The Roman father and son of the same name, P. Decius Mus, became paragon heroes by deliberately giving their lives in battle that Rome might win over a fierce enemy. Both engaged in a special ritual called devotio (from which our word “devotion” derives) to offer themselves to the gods of the Underworld, with whom regular people have very little interaction and to whom they rarely sacrifice. While the Mus family is the most famous for this act, it turns out the willingness to sacrifice oneself for Rome frequently occurs within stories of great patriots, including the story of Horatius Cocles, Mettius Curtius, Atilius Regulus, and even the traitors Coriolanus and Tarpeia.
Romans regarded self-sacrifice as a very high, noble endeavor, whereas they loathed and persecuted practitioners of human sacrifice. It is therefore quite amazing to read that the Romans thrice engaged in state-sponsored human sacrifice, a fact they rarely mention and generally forget. The most famous enemy practitioners of human sacrifice were the Druids, whom the Romans massacred on Mona Island on Midsummer Night's Eve, but the Carthaginians, the Germans, the Celts, and the Thracians all infamously practiced human sacrifice. To Romans, the act of human sacrifice falls just short of cannibalism in the spectrum of forbidden practices, and was an accusation occasionally thrown against an enemy to claim they are totally barbaric. On the other hand, Romans recognized their own who committed acts of self-sacrifice for the good of the society, as heroes.
There can be no better patriot than he who gives his life to save his country. Often the stories of their heroism have been exaggerated or sanitized. These acts of heroism often turn out to be acts of human sacrifice, supposedly a crime. It turns out that Romans have a strong legacy of practicing human sacrifice that lasts into the historic era, despite their alleged opposition to it. Numerous sources relate one story each. Collecting them all makes it impossible to deny the longevity of human sacrifice in Rome, although most Romans under the emperors were probably unaware of it. The paradox of condemning but still practicing human sacrifice demonstrates the nature of Roman religion, where do ut des plays a crucial role in standard sacrifice as well as in unpleasant acts like human sacrifice. Devotio was an inverted form of sacrifice, precisely because it was an offering to the gods of the Underworld, rather than to Jupiter or the Parcae. Romans may have forsaken devotio, but they continued to practice human sacrifice far longer than most of us have suspected, if one widens the current narrow definition of human sacrifice to include events where a life is taken in order to bring about a better future for the commonwealth, appease the gods, or ensure a Roman victory in battle.
Abstract
Vergil constructs Dido's curse on Aeneas in direct correspondence to Dido's personal experiences; it is thus a measured response to Aeneas' desertion, as it includes a desire that he suffer what Dido herself has endured. Because Dido had initially offered a union between the Trojans and Tyrians and considered herself and Aeneas married, her curse involves both their nations.
Abstract
This paper is focused on the context of an excavation where the Capitoline Philactery was found. It is a silver-inscribed foil, in the upper part we read a short Greek text, while in the lower one the text is written in Hebraic. The foil could protect from malaria.
It was found in Rome in the Esquilino quarter in 1874 inside a Mithraeum, that took place in the 3th–4th century within an area of Imperial property. To the same place converged the cult of salutary divinities as well and in the 4th–5th century some sacred artifacts were buried together before the abandonment of the Mithraeum itself, between them there was the Capitoline Philactery.
Abstract
This paper will focus on magic rituals aimed at causing maleficia in a specific area: Sardinia. Although difficult to retrace, there is some evidence, on the island, of the existence of forms of both necromancy and oracular divination that refer, with their own forms, to the culture spread in the Roman empire. Among the most significant documents, there are the tabellae defixionum, some epigraphic texts widely documented in the Roman world, and even earlier in the Punic world. The evidence, in this case, is quite interesting, also, because it reflects the combination of different cultures in Sardinia, whose results are “original”, also in the world of magic.
Abstract
A careful methodology can enable us to be confident in the idea, largely neglected by historiography, that Socrates understood the relationships between men, the gods and wealth, in a very different manner to that of the large majority of his contemporaries. While the latter thought that the rites could lead the gods to bring them prosperity, that wealth was a blessing, Socrates was convinced of the opposite: wealth was not, in his view, a blessing, and had nothing to do with the gods. This was able to draw a few Athenians to think that philosophy could threaten the practice of religious rituals.
Abstract
This small study aims at clarifying some aspects of the encounter between Alexander the Great and the Celts on the Danube in 335 BC and the possible oath sworn by the Celts in order to seal their treaty with Alexander. The main idea is that the breaking of the oath works on the wrongdoer as a curse and the elemental gods of the Universe will seek and succeed in bringing about the evildoer’s destruction.
Abstract
The paper focuses on the occurrence of Castelluccian (Early Bronze Age) pebble pendants in sub-adult tombs found in Greek, but also indigenous sites in Sicily from 8th century BC onwards. These pebble-shaped pendants are made of various materials, especially alabaster and translucent stones. They are usually unearthed with shells, perhaps to form a single ornament, in close bond with selected people.
The occurrence in archaic infant burials, both in Greek and indigenous contexts, without being documented meanwhile, brings up a challenging issue: we can argue that these items, discovered accidentally in very ancient tombs, were considered to be old and therefore deemed particularly valuable also due to the intrinsic properties of the stones, being shiny and translucent. As a consequence (by drawing inspiration from native women's ancient knowledge?) they were probably conveyed a new meaning and turned into apotropaic amulets in order to protect children from diseases during life, and from perils in afterlife.
Abstract
This paper, which is a work in progress and a continuation of previous articles that were published on the Roman concepts of evocatio and devotio, will explore a new approach: the juridical context and implications of these religious and magical rituals. After reminding briefly the traditional interpretation (religious prayers pronounced only in a context of war) and the results of our previous articles (evocatio was not limited to military context, and evocatio and devotio included magical elements very similar to formulas of execration (defixiones), we will ask questions that seem to be innovative: on the one hand, “can we compare these prayers with juridical contracts?”, and on the other hand, “had these rituals juridical and political consequences?”, such as the loss of status of a person (in this case, the devotio of enemies) and the loss of status of a place/city (in the case of evocatio). Were these religious rituals a way of making possible the symbolical destruction of a territory and the transfer of a divinity's statue to Rome, and consequently a way of making possible the real destruction of this territory and justifying its conquest? To carry out this study, we will analyze different texts that mention evocatio and devotio, and we will contrast them with texts that refer to juridical concepts (such as consecratio capitis et bonorum, exsecratio, bellum iustum, and damnatio memoriae). We will also analyze the case of cities (Veii, Praeneste, Falerii Veteres, and Carthago) that probably lost their juridical and political status after a war and after religious rituals such as evocatio and devotio. It would not be the first time that religion was used for political reasons, to justify Roman imperialism.
Abstract
Some Roman rituals with political value ware provided with the power of a curse whose mechanics was similar to that of Greek defixiones. Those who injured a plebeian tribune were consecrated to the gods or to the gods of the dead. The consecratio of a man was sometimes enacted when the blood of a citizen or the tears of a parent were poured. Blood was particularly efficacious in unleashing a curse on the person responsible for something wrong and offensive to the gods and the Roman people.
Abstract
This work focuses on the analysis of a series of famous episodes that underline the prodigious birth and the exceptional destiny of Alexander the Great. First, the article examines the accounts of the Macedonian king's conception, due to the union of his mother Olympias with the king/magician Nectanebo, or with a snake, or with the god Ammon – depending on the different versions. Subsequently, the stories of the oracles foretelling Alexander's domination over the world and the premonitions that mark his rise to power are analyzed. Finally, the death omens are also taken into account. Summing up, this study deals with the elements related to Alexander's mythology and the reasons why the literary sources of the classical world present him as a being halfway between human and divine.
Abstract
This discussion examines the religious conflict between the cult and oracle of Glykon and its Epicurean opponents recorded in the second century CE satire, Alexander the False Prophet, by Lucian of Samosata. Following the market theory of religion approach, these groups can be understood to have been engaged in an intense and escalating struggle over followers, financial support, status, and, ultimately, for survival. For the oracle and Glykon's prophet, Alexander of Abonouteichos, this effort included the use of magical curses, which were deployed against their adversaries. As such, these circumstances represent an as-yet unrecognized agonistic context for cursing to take place in the Graeco-Roman world. Alexander's use of cursing also highlights previously overlooked aspects of his own connections to the practice of magic in Graeco-Roman antiquity.
Abstract
Curse tablets are artefacts of a very specific nature. They are generally interpreted as material expression of a particular magic action, usually performed by an individual. Such finds are especially interesting for the study because they represent an epigraphic monument, on the one hand, as well as a standard archaeological find with its specific context on the other hand.
A particularly interesting phenomenon is visible on curse tablets throughout the Mediterranean – the presence of mother's name to identify the victim of the curse. The “boom” of this phenomenon occurs in the 2nd century AD, but there also are much older examples, particularly from the 4th and 3rd century BC. In the 2nd century AD, the identification of the mother spread to Italy and the African provinces, where this kind of targeting became dominant. In my paper, I will focus on the later, Latin and Greek curse tablets in the Roman Empire.
Mothers' names were assigned to identify a particular person: This is interesting because patronyms were usually used in the Greco-Roman world as the identifier. The purposes of the curse tablets bearing the mother's name were thus different: the tablets were used in cases of private action in competition, love or trials linked to family affairs – all within a ritual framework. For this reason, this paper aims to observe the curse tablets as an important medium of the ritual practice which should enable us to answer the questions: Why should the name of the father, which is usually used, be replaced by the name of the mother? Could the reason for such replacement be the recognition of the mother as a mediator for targeting her child? Is this the most precise identification, as the mother is more accurately identifiable than the father? What does it tell us about the care-giving function of the mother within the family and about the authors of the curse tablets?
Who protects children in the Roman religion? From whom?
Some reflections concerning Carna, Ino, and Thesan, in connection with Mater Matuta
Abstract
If we think of child protection in the Roman religion, the first goddess that comes to mind is Mater Matuta. This paper, however, does not focus directly on Mater Matuta, but on other divine figures to some extent related to her: Carna, Ino, and Thesan.
Carna-Cranaë-Cardea, the nymph of the thresholds was celebrated on the calends of June, just ten days after the ceremony in the temple of Mater Matuta. The cult of Ino and Melicertes arose in Italy, where they were called by the Greeks Leukothea and Palaemon, and by the Romans Matuta and Portunus. Thesan was the Etruscan goddess connected with the Dawn, like Mater Matuta. To some extent, these divine figures are all related to kourotrophia.
Incidentally, I will try to suggest that the Roman religious calendar from the 1st of June to the 11th of June was full of details which might allude to one another, with the aim of underlining the importance of human and divine kourotrophia, by using the concept of intertext in literary criticism.
Abstract
The House of the Tribunus Laticlavius, a large building in the legionary fortress of Aquincum, has only been partially excavated, and this was in the 1970s. This short paper makes an attempt to understand its function and find its place in Roman architecture through a reconstruction of its floor plan and comparison with other prominent residential buildings of the period which share similar features. It appears very likely that the house is based on a loose adaptation of a Hellenistic model, tailored to the needs of high-ranking officers of the Roman army.
