Daniela Urbanová

Latin curse Texts: Mediterranean Tradition and local diversity

There are altogether about six hundred Latin curse texts, most of which are inscribed on lead tablets. The extant Latin defixiones are attested from the 2nd cent. BCE to the end of the 4th and beginning of the 5th century. However, the number of extant tablets is certainly not final, which is clear from the new findings in Mainz recently published by Blansdorf (2012, 34 tablets),1 the evidence found in the fountain dedicated to Anna Perenna in Rome 2012, (26 tablets and other inscribed magical items),2 or the new findings in Pannonia (Barta 2009).3 The curse tablets were addressed exclusively to the supernatural powers, so their authors usually hid them very well to be banished from the eyes of mortals; not to speak of the randomness of the archaeological findings. Thus, it can be assumed that the preserved defixiones are only a fragment of the overall ancient production. Remarkable diversities in cursing practice can be found when comparing the preserved defixiones from particular provinces of the Roman ...

Some linguistic and pragmatic remarks on the tabellae defixionum

Abstract The present paper is devoted to the linguistic analysis of the tabellae defixionum, envisaging in particular some syntactic and semantic traits that might be considered as crucial for the analysis and interpretation of the curse tablets. In the first part, a basic description of the tabellae defixionum as to their historical and cultural context is provided; in the second part, cursing is analyzed according to the speech act theory; and in the third part some relevant features of the variety of Latin used are discussed, especially modality – the usage of the subjunctive mood and the semantics of the verb posse. Additional comments are given on the usage of negation, deixis and quantification.

Alcune particolarità della comparazione (quomodo – sic, quemadmodum – sic, ita uti – sic) in latino volgare, con particolare attenzione alle defixiones

La documentazione delle defixiones latine, recentemente accresciuta da nuove scoperte di materiale epigrafico provenienti da Roma, soprattutto dagli scavi della Fontana di Anna Perenna (pubblicati nel 2012, M. Piranomonte, J. Blansdorf) e dalla Germania – (Mogontiacum, l’odierna Mainz, Blansdorf 2012), che hanno portato alla luce un numero notevole di testi latini magici, offre un quadro originale dell’uso della comparazione nella lingua latina. Rispetto ai comuni documenti epigrafici, sono soprattutto le defixiones che usano la comparazione con quomodo – sic, ut – ita nella cosiddetta simile formula, attestata ormai in quasi tutte le province dell’Impero Romano. Com’e noto, i testi delle defixiones mostrano particolari formulari connessi alle procedure magiche e contengono spesso interessanti strutture complesse. La simile formula adopera la cosiddetta analogia persuasiva, con l’intento di influenzare gli eventi futuri secondo un modello illustrato in precedenza. Usa le completive di comparazione. In questo contributo verranno esaminate tutte le occorrenze delle completive comparative nei testi latini epigrafici, mettendo particolare accento sugli elementi del latino volgare.