Latin Forms of Address: From Plautus to Apuleius

427 Pages·2002·4.39 MB·English

by  Eleanor Dickey

LATIN FORMS OF ADDRESS
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Latin Forms of Address
From Plautus to Apuleius
ELEANOR DICKEY
OXPORD
UNIVERSITY PRESS
OXFORD
UNIVERSITY PRESS
Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP
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Published in the United States
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© Eleanor Dickey 2002
The moral rights of the author have been asserted
Database right Oxford University Press (maker)
First published 2002
First published in paperback 2007
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Data available
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Dickey, Eleanor.
Latin forms of address: from Plautus to Apuleius / Eleanor Dickey.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and indexes.
i. Latin language—Address, Forms of. 2. Latin language—Social aspects—Rome.
3. Social interaction—Rome. 4. Forms of address—Rome. 5. Names, Personal—Rome.
6. Names, Latin. I. Title.
PA2343.D53 2002
478-dc21
Typeset by SPI Publisher Services, Pondicherry, India
Printed in Great Britain
on acid-free paper by
Biddies Ltd., Guildford & King's Lynn
ISBN 978-0-19-924287-0 (Hbk.) 978-0-19-923905-4 (Pbk.)
1 3579 10 8642
Dedicated to my grandparents,
Samuel Dickey
and
Louise Atherton Dickey,
whose inspiration and example
made this book possible.
May it be worthy of their memory!
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I N writing this book I have had the privilege of being aided
and advised by scholars far greater than I, whose generosity in
sharing their detailed knowledge of a wide variety of subjects
has transformed this work into something that I could never
have produced unaided. To these men and women I owe an
enormous debt; the words I can find to thank them here are in
no way capable of expressing the full extent of my heartfelt
gratitude. At the same time, none of these people can be held
responsible for any errors which remain in this work.
J. N. Adams of All Souls College Oxford generously laid
aside his own research to read and provide detailed comments
on the entire work, giving me the benefit of his superb
knowledge of non-literary Latin and scholarship on that sub-
ject, as well as his impeccably high standards. He also advised
me on data collection and provided me with many references
which I could not otherwise have found; his advice and
criticisms have saved me from many pitfalls and pointed the
way to some significant insights.
Philomen Probert of Wolfson College Oxford took time away
from finishing her own dissertation to read a draft of the entire
book; she offered many valuable suggestions and criticisms.
Her encouragement and willingness to discuss my ideas as I
was collecting and analysing the data also improved the book
greatly.
Richard Burgess of the University of Ottawa provided me
with suggestions for the improvement of Chapter 2 and gave
me much assistance with the complexities of imperial titula-
ture, as well as checking all my translations with meticulous
care. His encouragement and support were also invaluable, as
was his patient, prompt, and knowledgeable assistance with the
computer problems which plagued this project.
Nicholas Horsfall read drafts of most of this book and
provided me with provocative comments and many references
to bibliographical material which I would not otherwise have
Acknowledgements vii
found; his generosity and kindness to a younger scholar whom
he has never even met were remarkable.
Glen Bowersock of the Institute for Advanced Study was
kind enough to read and comment on Chapter I, as well as
giving me extensive help with epigraphical sources. I am
extremely grateful to him for taking the time to share with
me his vast knowledge of Roman history and the Latin
language, and for being an inspiration to work with.
Miriam Griffin of Somerville College Oxford kindly looked
at part of Chapter 2 and made some invaluable corrections,
for which I am extremely grateful. Jim McKeown of the
University of Wisconsin read and commented on several
chapters, generously sharing with me his detailed knowledge
of Latin poetry, while Louise Stephens of the University of
Ottawa found time in her hectic schedule to critique my
translations (much to their benefit). Oxford University Press's
anonymous second reader also made a number of valuable
suggestions.
Anna Morpurgo Davies of Somerville College and Donald
Russell of St John's College Oxford advised me on organ-
ization, data collection, and the use of individual texts, giving
me the benefit of their wisdom and immense knowledge.
Heinrich von Staden, Joachim Szidat, Julia Gaisser, and
David Langslow took time to answer various questions, make
suggestions, discuss problems, and give me the benefit of their
expertise; they too have improved the final product, and I am
very grateful to them.
The librarians of the Institute for Advanced Study, espe-
cially Marcia Tucker, gave me help far beyond the call of duty
and made it possible for this book to draw on resources which I
could never have obtained on my own. Often, when this work
is more complete than others on a given point, much of the
credit should go to them. The librarians of the Bodleian and
Ashmolean libraries in Oxford were also extraordinarily help-
ful, especially Jacqueline Dean and Mary Sheldon-Williams;
this book would be woefully incomplete were it not for their
unusual competence and unfailing kindness.
Heather Watson copy-edited the text with a combination of
intelligence and meticulous thoroughness that earned her my
admiration as well as my gratitude, and Hilary O'Shea, Jenny
viii Acknowledgements
Wagstaffe, and Enid Barker all displayed remarkable kindness
and efficiency during the publication process. David Yerkes
generously provided much-needed help with proofreading.
Heartfelt thanks go also to the Institute for Advanced Study
and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, which provided me
with a year of incredibly productive research time and with
much-needed encouragement to write the best book that I
could. Additional funding was provided by the University of
Ottawa and by the Province of Ontario through the medium of
the John Charles Polanyi prizes. Stephen Colvin and the
members of the Yale classics department deserve many
thanks for making it possible for me to use the resources of
Yale University while collecting data, and I am very grateful
for having been allowed to use the facilities of Merton College
and the Centre for Linguistics and Philology on my trips to
Oxford.
Many of my former colleagues in the erstwhile Department
of Classical Studies at the University of Ottawa offered me
encouragement and support at a very difficult time in all of our
lives and made it possible for me to continue with this book; I
am grateful to them for their kindness.
Last but not least, my mother, Barbara Dickey, has been
unwavering in her support in times of trial and deserves many
thanks for her encouragement.
CONTENTS
List of Tables xi
Introduction 1
The sociolinguistic study of address forms 3
Categories of address 5
Rules of address 7
Lexical versus address meaning 10
Register 13
Other linguistic contributions 17
Previous work on Latin forms of address 20
The scope of this study 21
Latin literature and its presentation of the address
system 30
Part I. Addresses 39
1 Names 41
2 Titles 77
3 Kinship Terms no
4 Terms of Endearment, Affection, and Esteem 129
5 Insults 163
6 Other Addresses 186
7 The Use of mi and o 214
Part II. Interactions 231
8 Addresses between Known People without any
Special Attachment to One Another 233
9 Addresses to Strangers and Nameless Characters 246
10 Addresses between Relatives 257
11 Addresses between Spouses and Others with a
Romantic Interest 276