Linguistic Texts of Roman Antiquity. Collecting fragments, sources and lexicon in a digital environment

Introduction

All modern histories of Western linguistics start with its Greek origins (5th - 3rd cent. BC) and then, after mentioning the Latin Republican polymath Varro (1st cent. BC), jump several centuries to explore only some prominent, late figures (4th - 6th cent. AD). The aim of the LiTeRA project is to provide a holistic perspective on the birth and configuration of Roman linguistic science (2nd cent. BC - 3rd cent. AD), an essential moment in the evolution of Western culture.

Objectives

Although we have inherited valuable sources from the late Latin grammatical tradition, this project will shed light on the overlooked works of the preceding Republican and early imperial periods. This vast body of texts has not survived in their entirety but has been excerpted and quoted in late normative handbooks, commentaries, and lexica.

LiTeRA’s three interrelated objectives illuminate how the history of ancient Roman linguistic thought can be substantially rewritten by mobilizing:

1. A heuristic step: to collect all of the foundational fragmentary texts of Latin grammar, written by a hundred authors and transmitted in the source-texts of late antiquity;
2. A hermeneutic step: to contextualize the interpretation of the lost texts, extending the sources of Latin grammar to the wider context of ancient Roman scholarship;
3. A historical step: to reconstruct the evolution of Latin grammatical terminology from its historical roots in the reference corpus of source-texts to its modern conceptualization.

Methodology

LiTeRA’s unique approach to decipher the internal correlations between these related corpora, which are not at all mutually exclusive, will necessitate new methodologies that consider their textual polyphony and intricate technical vocabulary.

Conclusion

LiTeRA demonstrates that examining these interconnected issues can only be accomplished in a digital environment that guarantees the interoperability of its objects.