Features of Vulgar Latin in the inscriptions of Naissus

Abstract

The epigraphic material from the region of Naissus, in spite of its relative scarcity and poor state of preservation, offers valuable examples of Vulgar Latin usage. Interesting phenomena include an instance of the imperial name Pertinax in the form Pertenax, which may be due to a vulgar reinterpretation of the name (‘Very Tough’, cf. Constans, Valens, sim.) and may imply rhizotony (Perténax); the adjective superstantes ‘survivors’, apparently the issue of two consequent vulgar developments, superstes > superstens (hypercorrect spelling) > superstans (false analogy); an isosyllabic 3rd declension nominative singular, Melioris (from the name Melior), as well as a 3rd decl. dative singular generi from the 2nd decl. noun gener ‘son-in-law’; an early borrowing from Germanic, brutes ‘daughter-in-law’; a ‘weak’ future participle, sequiture, for secuturae; the bastard noun volumptas, cf. voluntas and voluptas; a correlative construction with sic...sic for quemadmodum...sic; and the verb adjuvare followed by a dative, which illustrates a vulgarism known from the Glossaries. Another kind of vulgarity, which is rather a matter of simplicity than purely linguistic incompetence, is found in cases such as an epitaph whose dedicator calls herself bene merita; or a semi-metric inscription-a commaticum-whose actual text may be the outcome of tampering with a regular epigraphic poem