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Contact Languages: Corinth
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This is an exert from thesis on linguistics. it is translated by me into English from its original language in German.
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Contact Language: CorinthThis project aims to identify and evaluate the Latin influence (lexical, morphological and syntactic)
on the Greek language as recorded in a selection of Greek inscriptions. The starting point is the epi-
graphic material produced in Corinth during the imperial era, from its re-foundation as a Roman
colony in 44 BC (which followed its destruction in 146 BC) until Late Antiquity (approximately until
AD 600).1
Corinth had been one of the most important centres during the Roman empire, for several reasons.
In a recent study, Millis (2010) has reviewed epigraphic and literary evidence previously misinter-
preted in its reference to the population of Corinth in Roman times and has shown that the “new”
colony was repopulated not mainly with Roman veterans, as claimed in the past, but with freedmen
who were Greek in origin.2 Corinth «was a hybrid of both cultures, in which one language [i.e. Latin]
became the mode of expression within the public sphere and another [i.e. Greek] within the private»
(Millis 2010: 31).
The peculiarity of Corinth in the oriental landscape can be exemplified by its religious organiza-
tion. Hupfloher (2008) presented an overview on how the two cultures mixed in the colony to the
level that we cannot simply talk about ‘romanization’ or ‘hellenization’ because the two phenomena
happened simultaneously. Basing her account both on literary evidence, Pausanias and Strabo, and,
above all, epigraphical evidence, mainly inscriptions in Latin, she showed how the two cultures
blended in the new colony. On the one hand, the evidence reveals that in the Roman colony the gods
venerated were not simply an imitation of the ones worshipped in Rome, but they belonged to four
groups: there were the ‘traditional’ Greek gods, such as Demeter, Kore and, above all, Poseidon, next
to Roman gods like Iuppiter Optimus Maximus and Ianus; there were also gods who were venerated
both in the East and in the West but whose origin was neither Greek nor Roman, i.e. Moirai, Tyche,
Isis and Sarapis, and, finally, imported gods from the South-East or East of the Empire, such as Ar-
temis of Ephesos and Apollo of Claros. Among the cults there were imported from Rome, the imperial
cult was one of the most significant. However, it was also developed in ways typical of the Greek
usage, like in the case of the deification of Octavia, Augustus’ sister and Marcus Antonius’ wife.
Pausanias informed us that a temple dedicated to her existed in Corinth, but she was never venerated
1
The choice of indicating AD 600 as an (approximate) cutoff date has been made following Dickey (Submitted version),
who took as a model the end date indicated by Adams (2007) and Souter (1949) in their account of the Latin language.
This has been made on the assumption that after that time we cannot be certain that contacts with the West involved the
“unitary” Latin, but they could have involved the Romance languages that were arising. Furthermore, the relationship
between the two areas which were formerly part of the Roman Empire progressively decreased, except for the temporary
‘Restauratio Imperii’ by Justinian: DICKEY: 10. This date is, however, just an approximate indication: some texts, espe-
cially the ones published by Sironen (2016), which date to a later period, will not be excluded a priori but they will be
still analysed, taking into account the peculiarities of the period they were written in.
2
More precisely, in the past, the analysis of literary evidence, which included passages from Strabo, Appian and Plutarch,
convinced scholars that the colony was populated by Romans. However, those passages discuss mainly Carthage’s pop-
ulation and only the similarity between the history of the two colonies was used to claim that Corinth’s situation was the
same as Carthage. On the other hand, a comparison between Corinth and another colony, i.e. Patras, has shown Millis
that while in Patras there were many funerary inscriptions for Roman veterans, they are absent from Corinth, where there
are many epitaphs for Greek freedmen instead. Furthermore, Millis has demonstrated, mainly through onomastic (and, in
general, epigraphic) evidence, that the freedmen were mostly Greek. Finally, the predominance of Greek over Latin in
graffiti on pottery, which Millis considers the expression of private language choices, demonstrated how the Greek ele-
ment was important in the new colony: MILLIS 2010, pp. 17-20, 22-24, 26-27.
1
,as a goddess in Rome.3 This usage resembles the reverence towards Roman people who played an
important role and reached integration in the province.4 The special situation of Corinth is also re-
flected in the names given to religious authorities. While some titles are entirely Latin, like augur,
sacerdos and sim., others show a peculiar mixture of languages: the most significant is theocolus
Iovis Capitolini, where we find the use of the Greek noun θεοκόλος/θεηκόλος (“servant of a god”)
transliterated and morphologically integrated into Latin next to the Roman god Iuppiter Capitolinus.5
Hupfloher informs us that Corinthians could have chosen an entirely Roman title, flamen Dialis,
which was adopted for example in the Roman colony of Narbo, but they preferred to use a partially
Greek designation adopting an uncommon Greek term used at Olympia.6 Finally, we can point out
that the Isthmian Games, which returned to Corinth short after its refoundation after a short period in
Sikyon, were an opportunity for contact between the Roman colony and the provincial elite, attracting
people from the East and the West.7
As for its importance as trade-centre, the city was located in a strategic area for commerce: it had
two harbours, Lechaeum on the Gulf of Corinth and Cenchreae on the Saronic Gulf.8 Also, its re-
foundation in the same place as the ancient city was due to its location: the colony «was founded for
its strategic commercial position in a relatively stable area» (Friesen 2010: 2) and it (and Carthage)
were «destined to flourish once again as commercial centers, as they had in the past» (Engels 1990:
16). Therefore, it maintained trade relations both by land, especially with the northern regions, and
by the sea with the east and the west.
For all these reasons, Greek epigraphic texts produced in Corinth during the Roman empire de-
serve careful study, to shed more light on language contact between Greek and Latin in the Greek-
speaking East.
State of the art
In the past fifty years increasing attention has been paid to the question of language contact in antiq-
uity, especially in the Roman Empire. While it has always been acknowledged that Greek has had an
extensive influence on Latin, less attention has been paid to the impact of Latin on Greek. However,
some works have been written dealing with this issue, especially in recent times. The scholarly envi-
ronment has recently become increasingly aware that the Roman world was multilingual and this
context has at last started to receive the attention it deserves. This is also due to the results achieved
in the study of contact between modern languages, which will, therefore, be our starting point in the
presentation of the essential bibliography for any studies concerning language contact between Greek
and Latin.
1. Some basic concepts borrowed from modern sociolinguistics
3
Octavia was also worshipped in Athens and Hupfloher considers it a ‘regional custom’ more than a Corinthian use
because her daughter was born in Athens during her trip to Greece in 39/8 B.C.: HUPFLOHER 2008, p. 155.
4
HUPFLOHER 2008, pp. 151-156, 160.
5
According to Hupfloher, the term is attested only once in Greek in Kent (1966, n°207) from the beginning of A.D. III,
where we find θε-/ηκόλος / Κρόνῳ: HUPFLOHER 2008, p. 157, n.54.
6
HUPFLOHER 2008, pp. 156-158.
7
HUPFLOHER 2008, pp. 159-160. There is no agreement on when exactly the Isthmian games returned to Corinth. Hup-
floher informs us that scholars usually dated the return to a time between 7 B.C. and A.D. 3 but that Kajava (2002) has
published new evidence that supports an earlier date: HUPFLOHER 2008, p. 159.
8
BRILL’S NEW PAULY, Corinthus/Corinth.
2
, Modern sociolinguistics has contributed in many ways to the study of language contact between an-
cient languages.
Some of the most meaningful achievements have been obtained in the study of the motivations
for language choice in a bilingual (or multilingual) context. The choice of one language over another
can be determined by a process called “accommodation”, which happens in two opposite manners,
depending on the attitude of the actors of the conversation: the speaker can accommodate his speech
to the one preferred by the addressee («convergence») or he can decide to separate himself from the
addressee («divergence»), adopting a language or some features that his hearer could not understand
or could understand with difficulties.9 The question that scholars have asked themselves while stud-
ying this phenomenon is «to what extent does the individual wish to keep identifying with the group
or emphasize their own individuality and pass into the other group?» (Clyne 2003: 55). Examples of
convergence can be found in the capital of Belgium (where the most widespread languages are Dutch
and French): a citizen might choose to use Dutch when talking to a person coming from the Flanders,
where Dutch is the most used idiom, thinking that he/she is more proficient in Dutch than in French.10
Some of the factors that influence the language choice of modern speakers might have influenced the
use of ancient Romans and Greeks, as exemplified in the work of Adams (2003): e.g. socio-historical
factors, the status of the language in that area etc.11
Another factor which can influence language choice is the “domain” of an interaction. The
concept has been defined as follows by Fishman (1965: 75, italics in the original): «domain is a socio-
cultural construct abstracted from topics of communication, relationships between communicators,
and locales of communication, in accord with the institutions of a society and the spheres of activity
of a culture, in such a way that individual behavior and social patterns can be distinguished from
each other and yet related to each other». The idea has been defined starting from an analysis of the
socio-cultural context where language choice happens. Some domains have been identified by schol-
ars like Schmidt-Rohr in the study of some multilingual settings: family, religion, school, literature,
military, governmental administration etc. Significantly, similar situations, called «spheres of activ-
ity», were identified by anthropologists, psychologists and sociologists as «institutional contexts or
socio-ecological co-occurrences» (Fishman 1965: 73, italics in the original). Among the factors
which contribute to the definition of the domain, topic and role-relations have been presented by
Fishman as the easiest to define. As for the topic, in a multilingual society, the choice of the language
to use among people who are fluent in more than one language can rely on the specific argument that
they are discussing: for example, it might be easy to handle a discussion on economy in one language
due to the existence of a specialized terminology or to the fact that the actors of the conversation have
studied the issue in that specific language at school. For what concerns role-relations, «in certain
societies particular behaviors (including language behaviors) are expected (if not required) of partic-
ular individuals vis-à-vis each other» (Fishman 1965: 76, italics in the original). In the domain of the
9
This is based on one of the approaches adopted by linguists to study bilingualism, i.e. the ‘person-oriented’ approach.
The necessity to adopt a specific type of approach is due to the fact that nowadays, in several communities of the world,
«bilingualism is the norm, rather than the exception». This implies that the functioning of the languages requires some
«norms for the speakers, and a functional specialization of the languages involved»: APPEL-MUYSKEN 1987, pp. 22-31
(quotes from p.22).
10
APPEL-MUYSKEN 1987, p. 28.
11
The example of Dutch can be interesting for this study: while Dutch speakers have shifted to English in areas like US,
Canada and New Zealand, they were “successful” in competition to English in some areas of South Africa and in com-
petition with Malay in the Dutch East Indies because their language was the language of the rulers.CLYNE 2003, pp. 55-
57.
3
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