Friday, November 5, 2010

Ligurrio etc.

On pg. 79 fn. 58 I cite the form ligūriō in connection with the development of medial *gh.  However, the best attested spelling for this verb and apparently for its close relatives scaturriō and scalpurriō is with two r's.  Not surprisingly none of these verbs or their derivatives are attested in inscriptions, but the oldest codex of Terence the 4th/5th century Codex Bembinus has geminate -rr- at lines 235 (ABLIGURRIERAT) and 936 (LIGURRIUNT) of the Eunuchus. I don't yet know what to make of these forms from the historical point of view.  Given my stated views on the littera rule, I'm not keen on deriving them from -ūriō.  The image of l. 235 above is scanned from Sesto Preste, 1970. Il codice di Terenzio vaticano latino 3226. Vatican City: Biblioteca apostolica vaticana.

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