Introduction to the problem of African Latin
Béla Adamik (University ELTE Budapest, Hungary)
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I. The problem of African Latin according to the metalinguistic evidences.
1. Sittl (1882) 92f: ‘Tumor Africus’: „So konnte es kommen, dass man ihn für die
Eigentümlichkeit einer blossen Rhetorenschule, etwa dem Asianum genus der Griechen
vergleichbar, ausgab, obgleich, wer auch nur oberflächlich mit einer semitischen Sprache
vertraut ist, den spezitisch semitischen Charakter dieses Schwulstes nicht verkennen kann. An
die Spitze stelle ich die Verbindung eines synonymen Genitivs mit einem Substantive, wobei
die Abstrakta vorherrschen;”
E.g. Apuleius, De Platone 1,12: ad aevitatem temporis, but also Lucretius 1,558: aetas …
temporis, Firmicus Maternus (of Syracusa) 219,24: temporis aetas, cf. Kroll (1897) 584f.
cf. Svennung (1935) 211: Genitivus inhaerentiae: „echtlateinische … Abundanz” E.g.
Palladius: mora temporis (= tempus), saevitiae ira (= saevitia)
2. Sittl (1882) 101f: „die Zusammenstellung verschiedener Grade (…) Hier stehen die
Afrikaner wieder in der ersten Linie. (…) Der Superlativ wird mit dem Positiv verbanden,
wobei letzterer meistens voranssteht” E.g. Apuleius, Metamorphoses 9,37: „saevis () et
ferocissimis canibus”
but cf. Epistulae D. Bruti ad Ciceronem: „genus hominum () seditiosum et incertissimum” or
Bellum Alexandrinum 3,1: „homines ingeniosi atque acutissimi” cf. Kroll (1897) 586f.
3. Apuleius, Florida 20: Tota civitas eruditissimi estis, penes quos omnem disciplinam
pueri discunt, iuvenes ostentant, senes docent. Carthago provinciae nostrae magistra
venerabilis, Carthago Africae Musa caelestis, Carthago Camena togatorum. („For you, her
citizens, are full of learning to a man, your boys learn, your young men display, and your old
men teach all manner of knowledge. Carthage is the venerable instructress of our province,
Carthage is the heavenly muse of Africa, Carthage is the fount whence all the Roman world
draws draughts of inspiration.”)
4. Apuleius, Florida 9: Quis enim vestrum mihi unum soloecismum ignoverit? quis vel
unam syllabam barbare pronuntiatam donaverit? quis incondita vel vitiosa verba temere
quasi delirantibus permiserit blaterare? (“For what man among you would pardon me one
solecism or condone the barbarous pronunciation of so much as one syllable? Who of you will
suffer me to stammer in disorderly and faulty phrases such as might rise to the lips of
madmen?”)
5. Norden (1923) 596f: "der bombastische und zugleich gezierte Stil der Afrikaner nichts
ist als der griechische Asianismus (Manierismus) in lateinischem Gewände (…) nur höre man
auf, von einer in Afrika geborenen Latinität zu reden. Ich werde weiterhin beweisen, daß
derselbe Stil später in Gallien herrschend wurde; daß er uns zuerst in Afrika begegnet, hat
nichts Befremdliches.”
6. African authors
Historians: Suetonius, Florus, Apuleius, Fronto, Aurelius Victor
Grammarians: Nonius Marcellus, Sulpicius Apollinaris, Marius Victorinus, Pompeius,
Martianus Capella, Priscianus
Lawyers: Aemilius Papinianus
Introduction to the problem of African Latin
Béla Adamik (University ELTE Budapest, Hungary)
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Christian authors: Tertullianus, Minucius Felix, Cyprianus, Arnobius, Lactantius,
Augustinus
7. Kroll (1897) 590: „es wäre Unrecht zu leugnen, dass in der Zeit des Apuleius und
Tertullian die Ansätze zu einer Sonderentwicklung des in Afrika gesprochenen Lateins
vorhanden gewesen sein können. Aber das uns überkommene sprachliche Material ist nicht
der Art, dass es uns gestattet, über diese Dialekticismen mehr zu erfahren als einige unsichere
Einzelheiten.”
8. Löfstedt (1959) 42: „SITTL's theory, propounded when he was only twenty years old,
was subjected to a searching criticism by KROLL (Rh. Mus. LII, pp. 569 ff.), but had already
been retracted by SITTL himself in a remarkable palinode (BURSIAN'S Jahresber. LXVIII
(1892), pp. 226 ff.; 236). The theory of African Latin now has no more than a historical
interest, but it is instructive from the standpoint of methodology, as showing how easily one
can generalize from a number of peculiarities in certain writers and be led thereby to false
conclusions.”
9. Hieronymus, Comm. in Gal. 357A (PL 26): unum est quod inferimus, et promissum in
exordio reddimus, Galatas excepto sermone Graeco, quo omnis Oriens loquitur, propriam
linguam eamdem pene habere quam Treuiros, nec referre, si aliqua exinde corruperint, cum
et Aphri Phoenicum linguam nonnulla ex parte mutauerint, et ipsa Latinitas et regionibus
quotidie mutetur et tempore.
(‘There is one point which I make and deal with as promised in the exordium, namely that the
Galatians, if one leaves aside the Greek language, which the whole of the Orient speaks,
retain their own language, which is almost the same as that of the Treveri, and that it does not
matter if they have corrupted it in some way, since even the Afri have changed the language
of the Phoenicians to some extent, and Latinity itself daily changes by region and with the
passing of time’) cf. Adams (2007) 116.
10. Historia Augusta, Septimius Severus 19.9: canorus uoce, sed Afrum quiddam usque ad
senectutem sonans (‘tuneful in voice, but sounding somewhat African right up to old age’),
Sept. Sev. 15.7 cum soror sua Leptitana ad eum uenisset uix Latine loquens, ac de illa
multum imperator erubesceret . . . redire mulierem in patriam praecepit (‘when his sister
from Lepcis had come to him scarcely speaking Latin, the emperor was greatly embarrassed
by her and instructed her to return home’). Cf. Adams (2007) 260.
11. Pompeius, GL V.286.34–287.6: labdacismus est ille, qui aut per unum l fit aut per
duo; sed per unum, si tenuius sonet, per duo, si pinguius sonet. puta llargus; debemus dicere
largus. ut pingue sonet; et si dicas llex non lex: uitiosa sunt per labdacismum. item in gemino l
[quando fuerint duo l ], si uolueris pinguius sonare, si dicamus Metelus, Catulus. in his etiam
agnoscimus gentium uitia; labdacismis scatent Afri, raro est ut aliquis dicat l: per geminum l
sic locuntur Romani, omnes Latini sic locuntur, Catullus, Metellus.
(‘That is labdacism, which is effected either by a single l or by a double l. It is effected by a
single l if the sound is thinner (than the norm). It is effected by a double l if the sound is fatter.
Take for example llargus: we should say largus. The result [of the double l] is that the sound
is fat. And for example if you were to say llex not lex. These are faulty pronunciations by
labdacism. Likewise in the case of double l, if you want to say the sound more fatly but we
were to say (instead)Metelus, Catulus, [that would be the inverse form of labdacism]. In these
matters we also recognise the faults of (different) peoples. Africans abound in labdacisms. It
is only rarely that anyone says a (single) l [in words such as Metelus and Catulus]. By means
Introduction to the problem of African Latin
Béla Adamik (University ELTE Budapest, Hungary)
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of a double l the Romans and all Latins pronounce Catullus and Metellus.’) Cf. Adams (2007)
265ff.
12. Isidorus (Etym. 1.32.8): labdacismus est, si pro una l duo pronuntientur, ut Afri
faciunt, sicut colloquium pro conloquium; uel quotiens unam l exilius, duo largius proferimus.
quod contra est; nam unum largius, duo exilius proferre debemus.
(‘Labdacism is when instead of one l two are pronounced, as is done by Africans, as for
example in colloquium for conloquium; or when we say one l more thinly or two more
thickly. This is the opposite (of what is required), for we should say one more thickly and two
more thinly.’). Cf. Adams (2007) 267f.
13. Pompeius, GL V.285.5–7 est alter (barbarismus), qui fit in pronuntiatu. plerumque
male pronuntiamus et facimus uitium, ut breuis syllaba longo tractu sonet aut iterum longa
breuiore sono.
(‘there is another (barbarism), which is committed in pronunciation. Often we utter a bad
pronunciation and commit the fault of sounding a short syllable long or, again, a long syllable
short’). Cf. Adams (2007) 263.
14. Sergius, GL, IV. 522: syllabas natura longas difficile est scire ("it is difficult to know
which syllables are naturally long"). Cf. Herman (2000) 28.
15. Consentius, GL V. 392. 3: ut quidam dicunt ‘piper’ producta priore syllaba, cum sit
breuis, quod uitium Afrorum familiare est
(‘as some people say piper with a long first syllable, when it is short, a vice which is
characteristic of Africans’),
392. 11 ut si quis dicat ‘orator’ correpta priore syllaba, quod ipsum uitium Afrorum speciale
est
(‘as if someone were to say orator with a short first syllable, a vice which is particular to
Africans’). Cf. Adams (2007) 263f.
16. Sacerdos (GL, VI.493-94) : barbarismus nostri temporis "barbarism of our time," cf.
Herman 2000: 28 and Adamik (2014)
causā labōrō (– – |∪ – –) > causă labōrō (– ∪ ∪ | – –).
perspĭcere possit (– ∪ ∪ ∪ – –) > perspīcere possit (– – ∪ ∪ – –)
17. Augustinus, De musica 2.1.1 itaque uerbi gratia cum dixeris cano uel in uersu forte
posueris, ita ut uel tu pronuntians producas huius uerbi syllabam primam, uel in uersu eo loco
ponas, ubi esse productam oportebat, reprehendet grammaticus, custos ille uidelicet historiae,
nihil aliud asserens cur hanc corripi oporteat, nisi quod hi qui ante nos fuerunt, et quorum libri
exstant tractanturque a grammaticis, ea correpta non producta usi fuerint.
(‘And so, for example, when you say cano or happen to use it in verse, such that you either
lengthen in pronunciation the first syllable of this word or place it in verse in a position where
it should be long, the grammarian, that guardian of tradition, will find fault with you, giving
no other reason why it should be shortened except that those who have come before us and
whose books survive and are handled by the grammarians have treated it as short not long.’).
Cf. Adams (2007) 261.
18. Augustinus, Doctr. christ. 4.10.24: cur pietatis doctorem pigeat imperitis loquentem
ossum potius quam os dicere, ne ista syllaba non ab eo, quod sunt ossa, sed ab eo, quod sunt
ora, intellegatur, ubi Afrae aures de correptione uocalium uel productione non iudicant?
Introduction to the problem of African Latin
Béla Adamik (University ELTE Budapest, Hungary)
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(‘Why should a teacher of piety when speaking to the uneducated have regrets about saying
ossum (‘bone’) rather than os in order to prevent that monosyllable (i.e. ŏs ‘bone’) from being
interpreted as the word whose plural is ora (i.e. ōs ‘mouth’) rather than the word whose plural
is ossa (i.e. ŏs), given that African ears show no judgment in the matter of the shortening of
vowels or their lengthening?’), Cf. Adams (2007) 261ff.
19. ǫs [ↄs] ‘bone’ vs. ọs [os] ‘mouth’ - ŏs ‘bone’ = ōs ‘mouth’ [os]
20. cl. Latin > vulgar Latin: ḗ í > ẹ, é > ę; ṓ ú > ọ, ó > ǫ; ē e i > ẹ, ō o u > ọ
Sardinian Latin/Romance: ī i > i, ē e > e, ā a > a, ō o > o, ū u > u
21. Herman (200) 32: „Vowel quality in Sardinia remained as it had been all along, even
though the length distinctions were lost here as everywhere else”
22. Adams (2007): 262f: „The Sardinian system attracts attention in the present context.
Could it be that African Latin had the same or a similar vowel system, and that Augustine’s
remark about ŏs / ōs should be read in that light as an indication that in Africa long and short
o had fallen together? (…) Certainly Augustine’s assertion is consistent with a vowel system
of the Sardinian type…”
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