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Linguistic Characteristics of Inscriptions of Roman Celeia
and its Surroundings as a Source
for the Study of Romanization in the Celeian Area

Julijana Visočnik, Ljubljana 2007.

The title refers to a PhD thesis, which was finished in February 2007, to provide a basis for a corpus of the Roman inscriptions from Celeia and its territory - they are ca. 500 - which is to be finished in the near future.

The southernmost Norican town of Celeia, which became municipium in the time of the emperor Claudius (municipium Claudium Celeia), was in the pre-Roman period one of the most important centres of the Celtic Taurisci. It became the administrative centre for a broad area of southern Noricum, thus acquiring the role of fons et origo for its Romanization.


Map of the Celeian region.

The precise division of the names into three big groups (tria/duo nomina, names with peregrine filiation, and single names) is necessary for the transparency of certain Romanization aspects. The collected names document the intertwining of the Latin (Roman) and autochthonous habit of name giving, which illuminates an interesting way of melting the two cultures. The group tria/duo nomina can be further subdivided into:

  • names with imperial gentilicia;
  • names with pseudogentilicia;
  • names with other Italic gentilicia;
  • two-part names, which combine two names but these are not family and personal names proper.


Tria/duo nomina in the town and in ager
–similarities and differences.

Tria/duo nomina in the town and in ager
– similarities and differences.

Composition of inhabitants within the city
according to names.

Composition of inhabitants in ager
according to names.

Two points are evident: first, Italic immigrants primarily settled down in the town; and second, pseudogentilicia are more typical for the ager than the town. The distribution of the Italic gentilicia indicates which Italic families were active in the colonization of the Celeian area: Albinii, Pompeii, Varii, Cassii, Rufii, Matii, Petronii, and others. Immigrants, whose arrival implied Romanization, mostly came from northern Italy: Aquileia, Tergeste, etc.

TThe names with the s.c. peregrine filiation are divided according to the source of individual component parts (Latin, Celtic). Single names occur throughout all periods; the social status of an individual inhabitant depends on the period. In the town Latin names prevail, in ager Celtic; the share of Greek names is the same in both. .


CIL III 5232, funerary monument for Caius Iulius Vepo as an example of early Romanization of this area.

As expected, a larger proportion of Roman citizens in the town indicates that the town was romanized sooner and more comprehensively.


CIL III 143671, urn for Valerius and his family as an example of an inscription containing numerous mistakes.This inscription is an exception; generally such inscriptions contain only one (or possibly two) linguistic errors.

The inscriptions in Celeia are written in Vulgar Latin; its numerous characteristics are evident mostly in phonetics, orthography, and morphology. These peculiarities are often perceived as errors, while actually they are valid as deviations from the accepted norms of classical Latin. A distinction can be made between two types of errors: the first are s.c. technical errors; the second are of the linguistic nature, and occurred under the influence of the spoken language; these are found primarily in the inscriptions commissioned by ordinary people. As expected, more such errors occur in the inscriptions from the Celeian surroundings.


CIL III 143671, transcription.

The analysis of the vocabulary, linguistic peculiarities, and names in the inscriptions of Celeia confirms the important role played by the town in promoting the Romanization in southern Noricum. The process of acculturation became particulary intensive after the annexation of Noricum to the Roman Empire ca 15 BC, when Latin rapidly spread from northern Italy to Celeia and from there to the countryside, at first along the main roads and later into the remote, difficult-to-reach parts of Celeian ager. Both, the Italic immigrants and the local elite, played an important role in this development.

References

  • LAZAR, I. 2002, Celeia. - In: M. Šašel Kos, P. Scherrer (eds.), The Autonomous Towns of Noricum and Pannonia. Noricum, Situla 40, 71-101.
  • ŠAŠEL, J. 1970, Celeia. - In: RE Suppl. XII, 139-148 (= Opera Selecta, Situla 30, Ljubljana 1992, 583-587).
  • VISOČNIK, J. 2007, Linguistic Characteristics of Inscriptions of Roman Celeia and its Surroundings as a Source for the Study of Romanization in the Celeian Area. Ljubljana. (Unpublished PhD thesis, in Slovene, with relevant bibliography)

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