Stylisation in Ennius

Thesis

This thesis examines stylised lexicon and semantics (with a brief consideration of selected morphological features) in Ennius’ Annals, tragedies in Greek dress, and Euhemerus, understood as a set of linguistic techniques employed to differentiate his diction from the standard Early Latin language of his time – that is, the Latin as reconstructed from literary and epigraphic texts produced in 240-81 BC. These corpora, which together constitute approximately 92% of Ennius’ extant word count, preserve numerous and relatively extended fragments, allowing for an outline of their linguistic profiles, although caution remains necessary in view of their fragmentary nature.

Following an initial screening of the evidence by means of a series of quantitative tests (described in the Introduction), stylised lexical items and semantic usages are identified through complex and individual analysis. The results are classified according to patterns and categories of stylisation (e.g. archaic, poetic, technical) across three chapters, each devoted to one corpus (Chapter 1: the Annals; Chapter 2: the tragedies in Greek dress; Chapter 3: the Euhemerus).

The analysis reveals three distinct linguistic profiles. While the register of the Euhemerus is clearly characterised by simplicity and immediacy, the linguistic differences between the Annals and the tragedies are subtler, owing to their shared broadly high-poetic register. However, the diction of the Annals proves to be more varied and creative, incorporating a range of distinctive borrowings, technicisms, and neologisms, whereas the tragedies display a more standardised high register, albeit with numerous elements associated with performative genres, such as drama and oratory, and direct speech. Moreover, the tragedies exhibit a higher frequency of phonetic effects, particularly alliteration, organised into a refined system of correspondences in highly emotive passages. I tentatively attribute these differences to the distinct modes of performance and reception of the two corpora (read versus performative), rather than to a diachronic development in Ennius’ style.

Authors: Oddi, L

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-bebky59jz
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: ennius; morphology; early Latin; semantics; tragedies; euhemerus; stylisation; lexicon; annals
• Subjects: Epic poetry, Latin; Philosophy, Ancient; Latin drama (Tragedy); Latin language