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Vt saepe homines aegri morbo gravi… Dai latini aegri ed aegroti al greco αἶγροι: significati e technicality
Bonati, Isabella
2025
Abstract
The present article offers a linguistic investigation of two Latin pathological terms: aeger and aegrotus when referring to a physical disease. Although the meaning of these adjectives overlaps, the analysis of their occurrences in literature reveals a difference in their degree of technicality and their belonging to distinct linguistic registers: aeger is found in high poetry and technical prose, whereas aegrotus oc¬curs in less ‘elevated’ genres, such as comedy and satire. Of particular interest is the appearance of αἶγροι – a Greek transliteration of aegri adapted to the morphological system of the target language – in some ‘medical ostraca’ unearthed in the Roman praesidium of Mons Claudianus, in the Eastern Egyptian Desert. This article will also shed light on the socio-linguistic value of such attestations, in parallel with the occurrences of the word aegri in other documentary papyri from a military context.
Il presente articolo offre un’indagine linguistica di due vocaboli patologici latini: aeger ed aegrotus quando definiscono una malattia fisica. Per quanto il significato di questi aggettivi sia sovrapponibile, l’analisi delle occorrenze in letteratura rivela una differenza nel grado di technicality di essi e l’appartenen¬za a registri linguistici distinti: aeger si riscontra nella poesia alta e nella prosa tecnica, mentre aegrotus ricorre in generi meno ‘elevati’, quali la commedia e la satira. Di spiccato interesse è poi la comparsa di αἶγροι – translitterazione in greco di aegri adattata al sistema morfologico della lingua di arrivo – in alcuni ‘ostraca medici’ rinvenuti nel praesidium romano di Mons Claudianus, nel de¬serto orientale egiziano. Questo articolo farà inoltre luce sul valore socio-lingui¬stico di tali attestazioni, in parallelo con le occorrenze del vocabolo aegri in altri papiri documentari di contesto militare.
The present article offers a linguistic investigation of two Latin pathological terms: aeger and aegrotus when referring to a physical disease. Although the meaning of these adjectives overlaps, the analysis of their occurrences in literature reveals a difference in their degree of technicality and their belonging to distinct linguistic registers: aeger is found in high poetry and technical prose, whereas aegrotus oc¬curs in less ‘elevated’ genres, such as comedy and satire. Of particular interest is the appearance of αἶγροι – a Greek transliteration of aegri adapted to the morphological system of the target language – in some ‘medical ostraca’ unearthed in the Roman praesidium of Mons Claudianus, in the Eastern Egyptian Desert. This article will also shed light on the socio-linguistic value of such attestations, in parallel with the occurrences of the word aegri in other documentary papyri from a military context.
Journal
Publisher
EUT Edizioni Università di Trieste
Source
Isabella Bonati, "Vt saepe homines aegri morbo gravi… Dai latini aegri ed aegroti al greco αἶγροι: significati e technicality" in: "ERAT OLIM. Nuovi materiali e contributi per la storia della narrativa greco-latina 5 (2025)", EUT Edizioni Università di Trieste, Trieste, 2025, pp. 124-142
Languages
it
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
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