|
| latin
puns |
Date: Fri, 6 Aug 1993
From:
Robin Mitchell
Subject:
Latin puns
Does
anybody know of anything decent on puns in Latin literature?
Especially Vergil (yes, puns in Vergil).
Date:
Sat, 7 Aug 1993
From:
Bill Kupersmith
Subject:
Puns in Virgil
I
cannot recall whether Virgil is included, but the most elaborate
recent book I know on puns in Latin literature is Frederick Ahl,
Metaformations: Soundplay and Wordplay in Ovid and other Classical
Poets (Cornell Univ. Press, 1985). Personally, I was extremely
sceptical of some of Ahl's assertions, and it is very hard to
imagine that the Romans really created puns when one word had a
short vowel and the other a long vowel.
Date:
Sun, 8 Aug 1993
From:
Walter Moskalew
Subject:
Re: Latin puns
I dug around in this area a couple years ago for a note on wordplays
in Aeneid 2 (CQ 40 [1990] 275-79). Perhaps some of the references
there will be useful: - F. Ahl, Metaformations (Cornell, 1985),
while focusing primarily on Ovid, also comments on puns in other
Latin authors, including Vergil. - J. M. Snyder, Puns and Poetry in
Lucretius (Amsterdam, 1980). - P. Friedla"nder, "The
pattern of Sound and Atomistic Theory in Lucretius" AJP 62
(1941) 16-34. For examples of aetiological and etymological wordplay
see - J. Marouzeau, Quelques aspects de la formation du latin
litteraire (Paris, 1949) 71-79. - W.F. Jackson Knight, Roman Vergil
(London, 1944) 197-206. - J.S.T. Hanssen, "Virgilian Notes",
SO 26 (1948), 113-125. - E. Kraggerud, "Einige Namen in der
Aeneis", SO 36 (1960) 30-39. - H. Morland, "Zu den Namen
in der Aeneis", SO 36 (1960) 21-29. - " " , "Zu
einigen Stellen in der Aeneis", SO 48 (1973) 7-23. _ " "
, "Nisus, Euryalus und andere Namen in der Aeneis", SO 33
(1957) 87-109. Also - E.L. Brown, Numeri Vergiliani, Coll. Latomus
63 (Brussels 1963) in discussing the acrostic in Geo.1.429-434
comments, I believe (I don't have the book here), on *virgineum*
(1.430) as a pun on Vergil's nickname Parthenius because of his
maidenly appearance (Vit. Donat. 36?), although it could also be a
refernce to Parthenius of Nicaea. Line 1.437 echoes a line of
Parthenius. The whole passage is also discussed by Farrell in his
recent book (but I don't recall if he talks about puns much). Sorry,
I should have directed you straight to Richard Thomas' commentary on
Geo. 1.427-37. All in all it is a mixed bag.
Date:
Sun, 8 Aug 1993
From:
"P. Lowell Bowditch"
Subject:
Re: Latin puns
Hi
Robin, Frederick Ahl's book on Ovid, --Metaformations--(I think),
has much on puns.
Date:
Mon, 9 Aug 1993
From:
Donald Lateiner
Subject: Re: Latin puns
The
bibliography to Ahl's book on Ovid should offer reff. on Latin puns,
a branch of various kinds of wordplay. Entries under paronomasia in
Volkmann, Die Rhetorik, etc., or even Wilkinson, _Golden Latin
Artistry_ might offer something. Powell once wrote an article on
puns in Herodotus and I believe there is an article on wordplay in
Homer, but I don't have the reff.
Date:
Mon, 9 Aug 1993
From:
"S. Georgia Nugent"
Subject:
Re: Latin puns
On
puns, in addition to Fred Ahl's Metaformations, you might also want
to check the proceedings of a conference organized by Fred and the
proceedings of which were edited by Jonathan Culler: _On Puns: the
Foundation of Letters_ (Blackwell, 1988). My recollection is that
Fred gave a paper on Latin--though the conference included
everything from that to Derrida as commentator...
Date:
Mon, 9 Aug 1993
From:
"Barry Powell, Classics"
Subject:
Re: Latin puns
I know that Bruce Louden down in Texas (Trinity, I think) has been
working on word play in the Odyssey and, I think, published some of
his findings (sorry, don't know where).
Date:
Wed, 11 Aug 1993
Group
From: jim ohara
Subject:
Re: Latin puns
This
is a late reply to Robin Mitchell's request for info on puns in
Latin poetry. It may get a little lengthy so quick browsers may want
to bail out soon because I hope to paste in some bibliography. As
David Sider noted, I am close to completion of a monograph
tentatively titled "True Names: Vergil and the Alexandrian
Tradition of Etymological Wordplay". I discuss over 400
examples in Vergil, although some are not convincing examples, and I
have an intro. on wordplay before Vergil. For now, I'll try to paste
in an abreviated bibliography, but my e-mail skills are limited and
the colleague who knows how to do this right is not here, so this
bibliography may look as though it's been typed by Richard Thomas.
So here goes. (For many of these, the thing to do is to check in the
index. Oh, and someone expresses doubts about puns with words with
different quantitit eses: they certainly exist. The Greeks and
Romans didn't ignore quantity, as some of us do, but they could make
puns or etymological suggestions about words with diff. vowel
quantities, just as they could make puns or etymologies between
words with different but arguably similar consonants. On this see
Ahl, Ross Virgil's Elements, and Thomas' review of Harrison) Ahern,
C.F. 1991. "Horace's Rewriting of Homer in Carmen 1.6." CP
86:301-14. Bartelink, G.J.M. 1965. Etymologisering bij Vergilius.
Mededelingen der Kon. Ned er. Akad. van Wetenschappen. Deel 28,
no.3. Amsterdam. Boyd, B.W. 1983. "Cydonea Mala: Vergilian
Word-play and Allusion." HSCP 87:169-7 4. _____. 1984. "Tarpeia's
Tomb: A Note on Propertius 4.4." AJP 105:85-86. Cairns,
Francis. 1973. "Catullus' basia poems (5, 7, 48)." Mnem.
26:15-22. _____. 1979. Tibullus: A Hellenistic Poet at Rome.
Cambridge. _____. 1989. Virgil's Augustan Epic. Cambridge. Connors,
Catherine M. 1991. "Simultaneous Hunting and Herding at Ciris
297-300. " CQ n.s. 41:556-59. _____. 1992. "Seeing
Cypresses in Virgil." CJ 88:1-17. Culler, Jonathan, ed. 1988.
On Puns: The Foundation of Letters. New York/Oxford. Due, O.S. 1973.
"Zur Etymologisierung in der Aeneis." Pp. 270-79 in
Classica et Mediaevalia Francisco Blatto Septuagenario Dedicata.
Gyldendal. Eden, P.T. 1975. A Commentary on Virgil: Aeneid VIII.
Mnem. Supplement 35. Leide n. Egan, R. 1983. "Arms and
Etymology in Aeneid 11." Vergilius 29:19-26. Farrell, Joseph.
1991. Vergil's "Georgics" and the Traditions of Ancient
Epic: The Art of Allusion in Literary History. Oxford. Feeney, D.C.
1986A. "'Stat magni nominis umbra.' Lucan on the Greatness of
Pompe ius Magnus." CQ 36:239-43. _____. 1991. The Gods in Epic:
Poets and Critics of the Classical Tradition. Oxford. Fordyce, C.J.
1977. P. Vergili Maronis Aeneidos Libri VII-VIII with a Commentary .
Edited by John D. Christie. Hardie, Philip R. 1986. Virgil's Aeneid:
Cosmos and Imperium. Oxford. ______. 1987. "Ships and ship
names in the Aeneid." Pp. 163-71 in Homo Viator: Classical
Essays for John Bramble. Edited by M. Whitby, Philip Hardie, and M.
Whitby. Harrison, S.J. 1991. Vergil: Aeneid 10. With Introduction,
Translation, and Com mentary. Oxford. Jacobson, H. 1982. "Vergil,
Georgics 3,280-81." MH 39:217. Keith, A.M. 1991. "Etymological
Play on Ingens in Ovid, Vergil, and Octavia." AJ P 112:73-76.
_____. 1992. The Play of Fictions: Studies in Ovid's "Metamorphoses"
Book 2. Ann Arbor. Kenney, E.J. 1989. "A Prophet without
Honour?" CQ 39:274-75. Knight, W.F.J. 1944. Roman Vergil.
London. Koster, S. 1983. "Die Etymologien des Properz."
Pp. 47-54 in Tessera: Sechs ge zur Poesie und poetischen Theorie der
Antike. Erlanger Forschungen: Reihe A Geisteswissenschaft en 30
Erlangen. Kraggerud, E. 1960. "Einige Namen in der Aeneis."
SO 36:30-39. _____. 1965. "Caeneus und der Heroinenkatalog,
Aeneis VI 440 ff." SO 40:66-71. Lascu, N. 1961. "Ovidio
linguiste." Studii Clasice 3:305-311. McKeown, J.C. 1987. Ovid:
Amores. Vol. I: Text and Prolegomena. Liverpool. _____. 1989.
__________. Vol. II: A Commentary on Book One. Leeds. M?rland, H.
1956. "Die Hyrtacide in der Aeneis." SO 32:69-80. _____.
1957. "Nisus, Euryalus und Andere Namen in der Aeneis." SO
33:87-109. _____. 1960. "Zu den Namen in der Aeneis." SO
36:21-29. _____. 1964. "Zu Aeneis VI 601ff." SO 39:5-12.
_____. 1965. "Zur Aeneis (IX 772; IV 236)." SO 40:72-74.
_____. 1968. "Die Carmina des Horaz in der Aeneis." SO
42:102-12. _____. 1973. "Zu Einigen Stellen in der Aeneis."
SO 48:7-23. Moskalew, W. 1990. "Myrmidons, Dolopes, and
Danaans: Wordplay in Aeneid 2." CQ 4 0:275-79. Myers, K.S.
1992. "The Lizard and the Owl: An Etymological Pair in Ovid,
Metamor phoses Book 5." AJP 113:63-68. O'Hara, James J. 1990.
Death and the Optimistic Prophecy in Vergil's "Aeneid."
Princeton. _____. 1990A. "The Significance of Vergil's Acidalia
mater, and Venus Erycina in Catullus and Ovid." HSCP 93:335-42.
_____. 1990B. "Etymological Wordplay in Apollonius of Rhodes,
Aeneid 3 and Georg ics 1." Phoenix 44:370-76. _____. 1990C. "Homer,
Hesiod, Apollonius, and Neritos ardua at Aeneid 3.271."
Vergilius 36:31-34. _____. 1992. "Naming the Stars at Georgics
1.127-28 and Fasti 5.163-82." AJP 113 :47-61. Porte, Danielle.
1985. L' tiologie religieuse dans les "Fastes" d'Ovide.
Paris. Putnam, M.C.J. 1965. "The Riddle of Damoetas (Virgil,
Ecl. 3, 104-105)." Mnem. 18:150-54. _____. 1986. Artifices of
Eternity: Horace's Fourth Book of Odes. Ithaca/London. _____. 1990.
"Virgil's Lapiths." CQ 40:562-66. Rehm, B. 1932. Das
geographische Bild des alten Italiens in Vergils Aeneis. Phil ologus
Suppl. Band 24, Heft 2. Leipzig. Roessel, D. 1990. "The
Significance of the Name Cerinthus in the Poems of Sulpic ia."
TAPA 120:243-50. Rosen, R.M., and J. Farrell. 1986. "Acontius,
Milanion and Gallus: Vergil Ecl. 10.52-61." TAPA 116:2 41-54.
Ross, David O., Jr. 1973. "Uriosque apertos: A Catullan Gloss."
Mnem. 26:60-62. _____. 1975. Backgrounds to Augustan Poetry: Gallus,
Elegy, and Rome. Cambridge. _____. 1987. Virgil's Elements: Physics
and Poetry in the 'Georgics.' Princeton. Shechter, S. 1975. "The
Aition and Virgil's Georgics." TAPA 105:346-91. Sider, D. 1988.
"Vergil's Aeneid and Hesiod's Theogony." Vergilius
34:15-24. Snyder, Jane. 1980. Puns and Poetry in Lucretius' De Rerum
Natura. Amsterdam. Thomas, Richard F. 1982A. "Catullus and the
Polemics of Poetic Reference." AJP 103:144-54. _____. 1982B. "Gadflies
(Virg. Geo. 3.146- 48)." HSCP 86:81-85. _____. 1988. Virgil:
Georgics. 2 vols. Cambridge. _____. 1988B. "Vergil's 'White
Bird' and the Alexandrian Reference (G. 2.319-20) ." CP
83:214-17. _____. 1992. Rev. of Harrison (1991). Vergilius
38:134-44. Van Sickle, John. 1978. The Design of Virgil's Bucolics.
Rome. Weber, C. 1990. "Some Double Entendres in Ovid and
Vergil." CP 85:209-14. _____. 1991. "Dodona Reneges: A
Neglected Oxymoron in Georgics 1.149." CP 86:323 -27. West, D.
1969. "Multiple-Correspondence Similes in the Aeneid." JRS
59:40-49. Williams, R.D. 1960. P. Vergili Maronis Liber Quintus.
Oxford. Reprinted Bristol 1981. _____. 1961. P. Vergili Maronis
Liber Tertius. Oxford. Reprinted Bristol 1981. _____. 1973. The
Aeneid of Vergil. 2 vols. Basingstoke/London. _____. 1979. Virgil:
The Eclogues and Georgics. New York/London. Wlfflin, E. 1887. "Das
Wortspiel im Lateinischen." Sitzungsberichte der kn. baye r.
Akad. der Wissenschaften (philos.-philol. und histor. Classe)
2:187-208. Woodhead, William D. 1928. Etymologizing in Greek
Literature from Homer to Philo Judaeus. Toronto.
Date:
Thu, 12 Aug 1993
From:
Don Fowler
Subject:
Re: Latin puns
I've only just come back on the list, so I've missed what started
the thread on Latin puns: forgive me if what I want to ask has been
raised already. In the latest LCM, William Levitan points out that
the opening of Juno's first speech in the Aeneid, men' incepto
desistere ..., in the opening MENIN plays on the opening word of the
Iliad. Similar stuff about Eclogue 10.22 tua cura Lycoris with kora
in Theocritus 1. 82 etc was pointed out by John Randall in an early
issue of the same journal, as I dimly recall. Is there a general
treatment of this phenomenon? Other good examples? It's an extreme
form of the commoner bilingual pun, but the most interesting
examples are where there is no semantic link between the words, but
the contexts can be related.
Date:
Thu, 12 Aug 1993
From:
Robin Mitchell
Subject:
Re: Latin puns
Following
up on Don's interesting point, I've noticed in Ahl's book a
treatment of how Latin poets evoke Greek roots and double entendres.
Date:
Thu, 12 Aug 1993
From:
"Richard F. Thomas"
Subject: latin puns
i really like levitan's MENIN reported by don fowler and forthcoming
in LCM. virgil's tua cura Lycoris and its relationship to
theocritus' kora came out in david ross, backgrounds to augustan
poetry (on jim 'hara's very useful bibliogr aphy), a book with much
similar material which came out a year or two before LCM started up,
and whose usefulness was not much reduced by the wretched gallus
papyrus that appeared three years after ross.
Date:
Fri, 13 Aug 1993
From:
Bill Kupersmith
Subject:
Re: Latin puns
"In the latest LCM, William Levitan points out that the
opening of Juno's first speech in the Aeneid, men' incepto desistere
..., in the opening MENIN plays on the opening word of the Iliad."
I
don't want to sound too neo-classical, but personally I find it
extremely difficult to believe that any ancient reader with any
literary taste would have associated Juno's "me ne" with
Homer's "menin" and cannot imagine an artist of Virgil's
calibre making puns on the level of the schoolboy who confused "oves"
with "ova" and mistranslated the passage in Livy to say
that in the early Republic every Roman senator laid his own eggs.
Date:
Fri, 13 Aug 1993
From:
"C.G. BROWN"
Subject:
Re: Latin puns
I
was intrigued by the collocation of "literary taste" puns
in Bill Kupersmith's posting. "Literary taste" naturally
begs the question. Puns are not held in very high esteem now, nor
are classicists, who often have a reputation for making puns.
Contempt for word-play of this sort seems to be peculiarly modern,
and Vergil, like other poets influenced by the Alexandrians was not
averse to word-play. I found Levitan's note on Aen. 1.37 attractive.
After all Vergil has introduced Juno with heavy emphasis on her
anger (*saeuae memorem Iunonis ob iram* [4] ... *quo numine laeso*
[8] ... *tantaene animis caelestibus irae?* [10]). Moreover, there
are passages in which the word *menis* is used to evoke the *Iliad*.
The pun seems suited to Vergil's re-casting of the Iliadic wrath
theme.
Date:
Fri, 13 Aug 1993
From:
"Richard F. Thomas"
Subject:
latin puns
The
pun in virgil is not on "mene", but on elided "men(e)
in-". it's a real problem that we read the aeneid through
eliot's classicising, and therefore find that virgil "would not
do such and such". c brown is quite right to point to
hellenistic technopaignia, which virgil did not give up on after
reproducing aratus' acrostic with his sugnature in the georgics,etc.
back to bilingual punning/glossing, my favorite in virgil is geo.
1.491-2 sanguine . . . Haemi pingue scere. for catullus, dross on
uriosque apertos in mnemosyne ?1970-ish is good
Date:
Fri, 13 Aug 1993
From:
"Richard F. Thomas"
Subject: latin puns
another
one i like is at virg., geo. 1.336 Cyllenius [planet Mercury] erret
[i.e. planaw]
Date:
Sun, 15 Aug 1993
From:
Bill Kupersmith
Subject:
Latin Puns
"There is no kind of false wit which has been so recommended by
the practice of all ages, as that which consists of the jingle of
words, and is comprehended under the general name of punning. It is
indeed impossible to kill a weed, which the soil has a natural
dispositon to produce. The seeds of punning are in the minds of all
men, and though they may be subdued by reason, reflection and good
sense, they will be very apt to shoot up in the greatest genius,
that is not broken and cultivated by the rules of art. . . . "Aristotle,
in the eleventh chapter of his _Book of Rhetoric_, describes two or
three kinds of puns, which he calls paragrams, among the beauties of
good writing, and produces instances of them out of some of the
greatest authors in the Greek tongue. Cicero has sprinkled several
of his works with puns, and in his book where he lays down the rules
of oratory, quotes abundance of sayings as pieces of wit, which also
upon examination prove arrant puns. . . . "After this short
history of punning, one would wonder how it should be so entirely
banished out to the learned world, as it is at present, since it had
found a place in the writings of the most ancient polite authors. To
account for this, we must consider that the first race of authors,
who were the great heroes in writing, were destitute of all rules
and arts of criticism; and for that reason, though they excel later
writers in greatness of genius, they fall short of them in accuracy
and correctness. . . . It is no wonder therefore, that even such
authors as Isocrates, Plato and Cicero, should have such little
blemishes as are not to be met with in authors of a much inferior
character, who have written since those several blemishes were
discovered. I do not find that there was a proper separation made
between puns and true wit by any of the ancient authors, except
Quintilian and Longinus. But when this distinction was one settled,
it was very natural for all men of sense to agree in it."
(Joseph Addison, Spectator no. 61, May 10, 1711) As I remarked, too
much neo-classical literature may have affected my literary taste.
Date:
Mon, 16 Aug 1993
From:
"Richard F. Thomas"
Subject:
latin puns
excellent
addison quote from bill kupersmith. i think the 17th and 18th
centuries are the prime culprits in making us look to virgil in such
a classicizing way. peter white' new book (harvard press later this
year?) will show that our vi rews of ancient patronage similarly
depend heavily on the fact that antiquity was rewritten in
contemporary political colors.
Date:
Sun, 15 Aug 1993
From:
David Sider
Subject:
bilingual puns
In
answer to Don Fowler: I think that Catullus' *odi et amo* echoes, in
reverse order, Philodemos epigram 11 Gow-Page, *omma kai w(i)dh,*
just as, more obviously, *nescio* echoes Phil.'s *ouk oida.*
Date:
Tue, 24 Aug 1993
From:
jim ohara
Subject:
Re: Latin puns
Another
posting into which I will attempt to paste a page or so about
Vergilian wordplay. First, though, could someone give me a complete
reference on Bill Levitan's LCM piece so I can ILL it? Second, some
have asked about other examples. In my manuscript on etymologi zing
in V., I have an entry on this, which I will paste into this note.
My limited skills may mean the thing looks nutty, even beyond the
fact that the Greek will become gibberish. Also, I don't have
references here for all the scholars who have noticed these things,
although I do under the imdividual entries. I've tried to type in
some extra info, but it may seem inadequate (Farrell = Geo book;
Thomas = comm., Sider = Vergilius, DuQ. = PLLS I think, Ross =
Back...grounds) Here goes: E. 8.58? omnia vel medium fiat mare
Vergil is adapting Theoc. 1.134, pnta d' &nalla g!noito, "let
all things become altered." He translates &nalla, "changed,"
as though it were $nlia, "in the sea;" Doig suggests that
this is improvement upon a model, not an error, and praises the way
Vergil's word-choice "evokes the picture of the sea
overwhelming or confusing all the old order." The resemblance
benalla, found in several manuscripts. Several passages like this
one in Vergil involve what we might call "mistranslation,"
"translation by homonym," or "translation with
paronomasia." The items in this list do not all involve the
same kind of w ordplay, but it may usefultohavethemlistedtogether.
See the entries for each for more information. At E. 2.3 and
elsewhere in the Eclogues, fagus, which in Latin should mean "beech,"isused
tocorrespond to fgow, "oak," as though fagus and fgow were
related etymologically (DuQuesnay).AtE.2.18, vaccinium, which in
Latin should describe a "bilberry which has pink flowers"
(Du Quesnay) is insteadusedheretocorrespondto jkinyow at Theoc.
10.28. At E. 10.22, tua cura Lycoris, the word cura is used to mean
amica for the first time in extant Latin. Vergil is translating
Theocritus 1.81-83, and tua cura Lycoris represents Theocritus' d!
tu kEra (Ros s) At G. 1.373, aeriae is used where one model at Il.
3.7 has 1!riai ((Farrell, I think)). G.1.277 has pallidus Orcus
where the model in Hesiod Opera 802 has Orkow. Vergil suggests a
connection between (or blurs the distinction between) Orcus the god
of the dead and Horcus the god of oath.G. 2.528, socii cratera
coronant, is "thought by some to be a mistranslation of the
Homeric line kohroim "nkrat0raw $pest!canto poto]o, 'the young
men filled the bowls with wine,' Il. 1.4 70, Od. 1.148" but
more likely reflects scholiastic debate on the word (Thomas).At G.
4.260-63, ut ... ut ... ut is used to correspond to okte ... okte
... okte in the model at Il.14.392-401(Farrell).AtA.6.273-81, two of
the figures at the entrance to the underworld, Curae and Letum, may
echo the sounds of the names of figures in Hes. Theog. 211ff., K0rew
and L.yh (Sider). At A. 9.716, Vergil's Inarime is a misreading or
reintAr[moiw at Il. 2.783. Knight (1944) 202, Bartelink (1965) 33,
Doig (1968) 3; cf. also Rank (1951) 79 o n a Homeric gloss of the
word $nlia. |
| Culled
from
classics.log9308a
and
classics.log9308b |
|