No.35 Seminar ： Language in Religious Context: Voices from Ancient Italy
- Wolfgang de MELO (University of Ghent),Kanehiro NISHIMURA（The Hakubi Center),Brent VINE (UCLA / Kyoto University)
- 2012/02/07 4:00pm
- The Hakubi Center (iCeMS West Wing 2F, Seminar Room)
- English
Summary
Italy in the first millennium BCE was a melting pot of languages such as the Italic dialects (e.g., Latin and Umbrian; Indo-European), Greek (Indo-European), Etruscan (of unknown origin), and other languages (e.g., Venetic) that are Indo-European though their status as members of the Italic branch has not been ascertained. Thus, Latin was also only one of these languages, geographically limited to the area called Latium, which includes the city of Rome. The Greeks started their colonies in Italy as early as in the eighth century BCE and contributed not only material culture but also alphabets. Soon thereafter, other languages adopted this writing system and used it to further their intellectual activities. A part of these records has reached us in the form of inscriptions and manuscripts. Though the genre of the remaining texts is wide-ranging, it is an undeniable fact that the religious thought of that period played an important role in their drafting. The study of vocabulary / idioms related to religions and their formulaic style is crucial for understanding the culture of Ancient Italy. On the other hand, the question of how religions affect language by means of both standardizing formula and contextual specificity emerges. This seminar is based on such a perspective and devoted to illustrating linguistic features engendered by language usage within a specific religious context. This will lead to a better understanding of how the mental activities of human beings and languages relate to each other.
This seminar will be organized as an international colloquium. The main part of the program consists of lectures by three speakers: Wolfgang de Melo from Europe, Brent Vine from USA, and Kanehiro Nishimura, a member of the Hakubi Center and the organizer of the event.
- Wolfgang de MELO (University of Ghent):
“Venetic Dedicatory Inscriptions – Language in Context”
- Kanehiro NISHIMURA (The Hakubi Center):
“Latin Mārs and Māvors: Language in Hyper-religious Context”
- Brent VINE (UCLA / Kyoto University):
“Bird-watching in Ancient Italy: Some Umbrian and Roman Augural Vocabulary”