Diminutives in -culus.

Their Metrical Treatment in Plautus

Author(s): W. M. Lindsay
Source: The Classical Review, Vol. 6, No. 3 (Mar., 1892), pp. 87-89
Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Classical Association
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/693168
Accessed: 09-11-2019 06:57 UTC

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 THE CLASSICAL REVIEW. 87

to correct the case (sof

Tay ,rat8',
the 'Ycvatos
noun 44' '(as
a ' & itn
8 cTo Sec
xiii. 5 and elsewhere)7rCVKat,;
and read '0 9rcplt
r7T 6 K. KE cE (intrans.)7TVY
86o'c7ri KaSEcTa'7
&. E4AEtE TrVpKad*.;
A. P. vii. 277 (Sect.'how3.the xxi.
girl, over1).
whom Hymenaeus was
rejoicing with his
For rts $' iv o s vavnWE; torches, for Mr.
(which her (I say)
Macthe
kail finds to be merely 'extremely
kinsman was setting ellip
alight the funeral-fires.'
cal ')I should read
vs r tvos, vavyy';The resumption
comparing
though of Thv
grammatically -ratS' by TvS' crt,
Sect.
slightly irregular, 3.
is
xlix. i. effective. The opposition between the
Tis TrV0o Ceva, yVaLt, IIapl?'v VrO Ktova KECatorches
; of Hymen and the funeral torches is
'Who and whose son are you ?' is asked as clear as the opposition in the next two
lines.
because the epitaph regularly gave the two
names (Sect. 3. xii. i. Aio'XXov EikopiwrvoA. P. vii. 410 (Sect. 4. xi. 3).
etc.). 4 and T are frequently confused.
MS. Pa.KXOgs TE' 7 p9 L I' KaTe7O? XOpOV.
A. P. vii. 712 (Sect. 3. xl.). The MS. Jacob's Tpvy?LKOV is too remote.
reading is Why not 8 p 9 0 ' v I cf. o'rvc Pw/caplqo'Te; etc.
N'va BavK80o~; f/L. t7roXKXavoV 58 7rapep- A. P. ix. 314 (Sect. 6. xiv. 4).
MS.
SinceJvyXpb
lvXppvs8can
r.aaEs
well Kpava Z r7with
dispense o toits
a X c ".
'ac-av Tr6K KaTa y-/ TOVr O XEyOLX 'AtSa," noun (Theog. 263), and since 'rb seems very
OcTKaVOs Eo', 'AtSa" 7a Sr 7ot KakX 7a apposite to the sense, I look for the correc-
tion in dialectical forms, and should read
w~porra
8 q ray av BavKO3g
rvaLO, y "yEXEOV7T
'Y/E"vatoq - 7 ,Xav
E 'a'tI S8eOro
7rMvKaLt, vxphrv ' dXpa
vrro(ro)rdTyc K in
results Kpa r a Vr 7 a 7 o" Ty L.
1i'rodXEL.
=Av' E7rL KaSUTra' scf*XEyE irvprda^1a-
For rrpoo6yo, 'ministers,' v. Lid. and Sc.
KaL O /LEV, J WYbLEvaLE, -yw v uoXrratov Lo8aV
rrpoo'ywo i. 4.
fs Opqvwv yocprv 001ypla ~uEO pup6o'o-ao. A. P. vi. 147. (Sect 7. xii. 3).
Bergk's correction of 1. 3 into ah 8E MS. Yt?VWO-KEL t VS 8 ' ipa XJ0' K al l V
rTOLKpXa oLa9a"' op/jVTL is displeasing for several
reasons (i.) a self-complacent epithet nrarta,
RatherT.../Luto-b
read Ka It Porson. TiLov Jacobs.
9 8 tAt rbratT^m, ' ask
applied by the inscription to the tomb is in (it) back from him twice over.'
bad taste and quite unusual ; (ii.) the A. P. ix. 270 (Sect. 10. viii. 1, 2).
omission of the article with p&vr7T, and the MS. KGWLcLOw, XP'O-ELOV " ;'TrEp(OrV XOp V
aarpwr
plural dayyXovrT- with neuter subject o-dparaa
are both objectionable; (iii.) the corruption XAv'o- r, oi' JXXrov Xa$ c papv-
is not accounted for.
vaodpos.
The cause of corruption lay in the dia-
lectical forms. Erinna is an early writer, Read X A dpap vvE K xdpo%, ' nor hath
drunken torpor trodden me heavily down.'
whose Doric would be fairly strict. The
Kapos
first source of the error lies in her use of Kd
K and Kpa,rLawq
POI probably are akin.
led to confusion of A variant
the end of
= av. opwvrT is 3rd plur. subjunctive. the verse.
KAAA rose from KAM: and we should read A. P. vii. 731 (Sect. ii. vi. i.).
TasE 8, 0 o K a /Ap c' OEpOVrTL K.T.X.:
MS. *AurckXos 40s jqsy Ka./aKI 'TrIpt'lpa t
' and they who see this monument will pro-
claim the most cruel fate of Baucis ? avr .
The 5th and 6th lines should, I think, be Read a r oT , ' merely.'
read T. G. TUCKER.

DIMINUTIVES IN -CULUS. THEIR METRICAL TREATMENT IN PLAUTUS.

THE termination -culus, -culum in Latin

the first class belong words like vehiculumn,
sometimes represents the Indo-European'that by which one is carried'; poculum,
suffix -tlo, which indicates the instrument 'that out of which one drinks'; cubiculum,
with which an action is performed or the ' the place where one lies down'; periculum
place of its performance, sometimes the from *perior, peritus, experior; oraculum
suffix -colo, a compound of two Indo-Euro-from orare. To the second, Diminutives
pean Diminutive Suffixes -co and -lo. Tolike corculum, uxorcula, sucula. These two
TT 2

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 88 THE CLASSICAL REVIEW.

classes of terminations are not distinguished the Palatine MSS. give mettlliculum, which
by us in our ordinary practice of writing would have to be scanned as a trisyllable.
Latin; they show however in the hands of But the Ambrosian palimpsest has melculum ;
Plautus a notable difference of metrical and this form is expressly attested for this
treatment. For in his verses the first suffix very passage by Priscian (Inst. iii. 27, p.
102, 17 H). So that Goetz is right in
appears normally'as one syllable, -clus, -clum,
the second as two syllables -culus, -culum. restoring melculum to Cure. 11 :
Thus Plautus has always vehilum, with ex dilci oriundum mulculo dulci meo,
that monosyllabic form of the suffix which where the Palatine MSS. again offer the
we find invariably, when by Dissimilation form melliculum, but where the Ambrosian
the cl is changed to cr, e.g. in ambulacrum, palimpsest is not available for counter-
evidence.
'a place for walking in,' for *ambulaclum,
while Diminutives like auricula, pulvisculus Stich. 91 appears in two Palatine MSS.
retain the disyllabic suffix in his playsCas
and D in this form :
6sculum. Sat 'st mihi osc(u)li v6stri. Qui
persistently as agricola, incola, or any other
compound of the verb colo. This distinctionamab6, pater,
is however apt to be obscured by the work- but B and the Ambrosian palimpsest have
ing of two laws of Latin Phonetics: the 6sculurn. Sat est 6sculi mihi v6stri...,
first, that the combination of letters cl, and this, the undoubtedly right reading, is
being inconvenient for pronunciation, was in accepted by editors.
ordinary speech liable to be helped by a In Rud. 1170 :
parasitic vowel, and to become cul, so that
sdcula. Quin tu i dierecta ctin sucula et
the suffix -clo would become disyllabic cum p6rculis,
-culus, -culurm; the second, that an un- if the first syllable of sucula be long, we
accented vowel after a long accented syllable shall have to scan saic(u)la. Long iZ is
was in danger of suffering Syncope (e.g. indicated by the Romance languages, for the
rigorigo,pirigo, etc., which occur in Plautus in Vulgar Latin prototype of Provencal sulha
this older form, were by the time of Terence must have been sftc(u)la (Gr6ber A.L.L. v.
contracted into the classical iurgo, purgo), so p. 483); but the short quantity of the
that it is conceivable that the Diminutive vowel is supported by such words as
siicerdae.
suffix, or rather double suffix, -colo might in
certain cases be reduced to the form -clus,
In Cas. 917, Schoell, who quite departs
-clum. Let us examine how far these two
from the MSS. in this and the neighbouring
processes have in the time of Plautuslines,
ob- makes the metre iambic,
scured the original formation of these amdbo, mea uxorcla, inquam,
words. but the text of the whole passage is too
doubtful to give even a slight measure of
And first, do we find the Diminutive suffix
-co-lo contracted in his verses? Such con- certainty to this abnormal form of the
traction is suggested by the reading of Diminutive.
the
IMSS. in It is clear then from a consideration of
Asin. 666 dic igitur me tuum phsserc(u)- these examples that the balance of pro-
lum, gallinam, coturnicem.1 bability is against the use of the contracted
Pers. 310 ecquid quod mandavi tibi ? estne form of the Diminutive double suffix -co-lo
in te spec(u)lae? Abito. by Plautus. The same applies to other
but in both cases the line is altered in the examples of -culus, -culum, where the vowel
Ritschl edition :-- between c and I is original and not parasitic.
dic igitur me passerculum, gallinam, cotur-A word like porculus where the Diminutive
nicem. (Goetz and Loewe) suffix -lo is added to the Stem porco- is not
ecquid quod mandavi tibi est nunc speculae
contracted to porclus any more than cor-culum
in te ? Abito. (Ritschl) - to corclum, a fact which will make us
It will be seen that the other apparentsuspicious
in- of Rassow's explanation of pani-
culum in Mil. 18 :
stances of contraction have even slighter
authority. Thus in Cas. 837 quasi v-ntus folia aut pdniculum tect6rium.
In this line hassow (de Plauti Substan-
meim corculdm, melcudiim, verculum. Hedls tu,
1 The word passerculum occurs only once againtivis
in p. 637) takes paniculum to be the
Diminutive, not of panus, but of panicum,
Plautus, in v. 694 of this play. Here the MSS.
give :-- 'panic grass.' In the Dictionaries panicum
hir1ndinem, monerulam, pultillum, passerculum,is usually given with the second syllable
which will not scan. The change to passerculum putil-
short, but the Romance forms of the word,
lum (Goetz and Lowe) is simpler than that to
putillulum passrclum. e.g. Ital. panico, show that it must have

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 THE CLASSICAL REVIEW. 89
been long. Rassow's hypothesis would combination cl in other words, not formed
then necessitate the questionable scansionby means of the suffix -clo, is kept free from
panic(u)lum. Biicheler too reads circlos inthe parasitic vowel. Vinclum, for instance,
in Accius Trag. 100 R. (ap. Nonium), wherewhich adds the suffix -lo to the stem vinc-
the MSS. of Nonius show circulos. But the(Brugmann, Grundriss ii. p. 192), assumes
true reading is probably circos. the trisyllabic form only in one passage,
As regards the suffix -clo the number 6f Capt. 204, and there at the end of the line.
instances of the expanded form -culus, Goetz's alteration of the MSS. reading in
-culum is large enough to show that a Mil. 1006 is then unnecessary. He reads
rigorous law is out of the question. Cubi-tum haec celocula, illa absente, sdbigit me ut
culum, for instance, with the probable amem. Hercle hdnc quidem, to avoid the
exception of Cas. 965, always appears as a scansion celoc(u)la, which would be required
quadrisyllable in Plautus. But there are by the reading indicated by the MSS.:
indications of a tendency on his part to use tum n Iae celoc(u)la, illa adtemn absente,...
the expanded forms (especially when a long Celocla must have been the original form,
vowel precedes, according to Spengel ad for the word is made by adding the Diminu-
Adelph. 304) rather at the end of a line ortive suffix -ld to the stem celoc-, and we
a hemistich than elsewhere ; in other words, should expect to find it without the parasitic
to treat the use of them as a licence, only to vowel in the middle of the line.
be resorted to in cases of metrical necessity, In conclusion I would suggest that these
For example, periclum is the normal form ofconsiderations may throw some light on the
the word, while periculum occurs perhapsformation of a word, which has been a great
only at the end of a line or hemistich.1 puzzle to etymologists, the word cacula, 'a
Capt. 740 is a good example of this soldier's servant.' It occurs in Trin.
distinction : 721:
periclum vitae meae tuo stat periculo ; video caculam militarem me futurum haud
and it is only at the end of a line that the 16ngius.
phrase nullumst periclum (e.g. Pseud. 1076) The Dictionaries give the word with its
becomes nullum periculumnst (e.g. Capt. 91). first syllable short, apparently following
Poculumn too shows this full form usually in Quicherat, who in his Thesaurus supports
a similar position, while saeclum (for *sai- this quantity by the wrong reading cum
tlom ; see Wharton, Etynma Latina) is never matre et caculis (for casulis), Juv. 9. 61.
a trisyllable at all. (Trin. 283 is a very But the second Argument of the Pseudolus
doubtful exception.) In Men. 841 mihi dx contains the word twice, in both cases with
oraculo imperas (oraculo B, oraclo CD) is the first syllable long :-
changed by Schoell to th mi ex oraclo im- vv. 14-15 dat subditivo caculae cum
peras ; and tabernaclum, the form required symbolo (MSS. subditicio)
in Amph. 428, is the reading of one Palatine len6nemfallit sgcophanta cacula,
MS., and of the editors, in v. 426, while the so that the scansion in the line of the
five-syllabled tabernaculum appears at the Trinummus must be cdc(u)1a. This disy
end of a line, Trin. 726. Similarly the bic form must have been the original fo
of the word, so that cacula represents
1 The two apparent exceptions are Rud. 169, Pers.
524 (in the Ambrosian palimpsest); but in both earlier
of cacla, not cacola.
these the editors read periclo. W. M. LINDSAY.

ERRORS DUE TO CHANGE OF ALPHABET.

IT is generally admitted that in our text

MSS. must go back to an original
of Homer many errors are due to Attic MS., which was not 'trahiscribed' u
mistakes
in transcription from the older the
intosense
the of Attic as a living language
Euclidean alphabet. But the samelost,
principle
or else it must be considered that the
cannot be safely extended to the textsscholar
modern of is in a position to correct
Thucydides and the Tragedians. To assume
blunders in idiom which universally passed
muster in
e.g. that Thucydides wrote TON meaning the time of Demosthenes. Since
TaV,
that this was wrongly transcribedthe o'dv. and adoption of the new alphabet in
official
appears in this erroneous form in all403
our MSS.,
B.C. probably marked the completion of
involves the following dilemma.its
Either all
ascendancy, we may fairly assume that

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