Latin Language Ma
A.Y. 2024/2025
Learning objectives
The course aims at providing students with a deep linguistic education, concerning in particular the Latin language and its history. Such education will enable students to understand and make critical use of original sources (both literary and documentary ones); furthermore, it is needed in order to have a deep and critical knowledge of Italian, and of all romance languages.
Expected learning outcomes
Knowledge: Thorough knowledge of: (1) Latin phonology, morphology, syntax, even concerning their more complex and problematic aspects; (2) the general categories of linguistic description and analysis, which apply both to Latin and to other (ancient and modern) languages.
Skills: The students are able to: (1) grasp the linguistic and stylistic features of texts pertaining to different times and genres, based also on comparison between different texts; (2) understand and translate into Italian any text, however difficult it is; (3) when possible, place texts in their socio-linguistic context; (4) make a careful use of critical editions, commentaries, studies. Students are actively involved in class activities and are asked to present texts, so that they get accustomed to face texts autonomously, both finding and taking advantage of any bibliographical instrument that is useful in view of linguistic analysis.
Skills: The students are able to: (1) grasp the linguistic and stylistic features of texts pertaining to different times and genres, based also on comparison between different texts; (2) understand and translate into Italian any text, however difficult it is; (3) when possible, place texts in their socio-linguistic context; (4) make a careful use of critical editions, commentaries, studies. Students are actively involved in class activities and are asked to present texts, so that they get accustomed to face texts autonomously, both finding and taking advantage of any bibliographical instrument that is useful in view of linguistic analysis.
Lesson period: First semester
Assessment methods: Esame
Assessment result: voto verbalizzato in trentesimi
Single course
This course can be attended as a single course.
Course syllabus and organization
Single session
Responsible
Lesson period
First semester
Course syllabus
In section A (20 hours, addressed to students of 'Lettere moderne' exclusively) some key-topics relating to Latin language and its diachronic change are dealt with in depth: e.g., word order; word formation; the structure of complex sentences; verbal aspect; Latin apophony and Indoeuropean apophony.
In sections B-C (40 hours), passages from Petronius' Satyricon (cena Trimalchionis) will be read and analyzed, as bearing witness to a language which results from a refined merge of imitation of colloquial language and literary artificium. Critical edition: Konrad Müller, Petronii Arbitri Satyricon reliquiae, Berlin, Boston 1995. Commentaries: Gareth Schmeling, A commentary on the Satyrica of Petronius, Oxford 2016 (on the whole Satyricon); G.F. Gianotti (ed.), La cena di Trimalchione : dal Satyricon di Petronio, Aci Reale-Roma 2013 (on the cena Trimalchionis). Schmeling is available online, through the Minerva website.
Students who cannot attend classes will have to examine a selection of chapters (to be determined after the end of the course), based on at least one of the above mentioned commentaries.
In sections B-C (40 hours), passages from Petronius' Satyricon (cena Trimalchionis) will be read and analyzed, as bearing witness to a language which results from a refined merge of imitation of colloquial language and literary artificium. Critical edition: Konrad Müller, Petronii Arbitri Satyricon reliquiae, Berlin, Boston 1995. Commentaries: Gareth Schmeling, A commentary on the Satyrica of Petronius, Oxford 2016 (on the whole Satyricon); G.F. Gianotti (ed.), La cena di Trimalchione : dal Satyricon di Petronio, Aci Reale-Roma 2013 (on the cena Trimalchionis). Schmeling is available online, through the Minerva website.
Students who cannot attend classes will have to examine a selection of chapters (to be determined after the end of the course), based on at least one of the above mentioned commentaries.
Prerequisites for admission
A deep knowledge of the history of the Latin literature, and of Latin language (phonology, morphology, syntax). It is compulsory for all students to have passed the written test (translation from Latin into Italian) which is preliminary to the exam of 'Latin literature' (MA).
Teaching methods
Frontal teaching is integrated with active cooperation by students. The focal points of the teaching method are: 1) on behalf of the teacher, texts' presentation, through: loud reading, translation (aiming also at remarking the impossibility of an univocal word-for-word translation), linguistic analysis, mainly dwelling on the problematic aspects of linguistic doctrine; 2) on behalf of the students, an active cooperation is stimulated unceasingly, in both translation and analysis of texts; moreover, some texts are presented by students, taking advantage of bibliographical materials found by themselves.
Teaching Resources
Instructions vary, depending on the student's MA.
Students of MA 'Filologia, storia e letterature del mondo classico' (ECTS 6/9); MA 'Lettere moderne' (ECTS 6/9), just in case they have already taken an exam of Latin language during their BA:
1) translation from Latin of Lucretius, De rerum natura, book V. Suggested editions: Lucrezio, De rerum natura. Libro quinto, commento e note di C. Giussani e E. Stampini, Torino Loescher 1959; Lucretius, De rerum natura 5, edited with a translation, introduction and commentary by M.R. Gale, Oxford 2009.
2) study of one of the following histories of the Latin language: a] C. Santini, Lingue e generi letterari dalle origini agli Antonini, in P. Poccetti - D. Poli - C. Santini, Una storia della lingua latina: formazione, usi, comunicazione, Carocci, Roma 2003, pp. 235-376 (III capitolo); b] L.R. Palmer, La lingua latina, Einaudi, Torino 1977, parte I (Lineamenti di storia della lingua latina) (for English speaking students, L.R. Palmer, A History of the Latin Language, Faber and Faber, London 1954, part I); c] I. Mazzini, Storia della lingua latina e del suo contesto. Volume 1: linguistica e lingua letteraria, ed. Salerno 2007; d] I. Mazzini, Storia della lingua latina e del suo contesto. Volume 2: le lingue socialmente marcate, ed. Salerno 2010;
3) study of: A. Traina - G. Bernardi Perini, Propedeutica al latino universitario, Bologna, Patron, 1998, study of chapters 1-6.
4) the texts examined during classes of parts B-C, which will be published on the course website ( https://myariel.unimi.it/course/view.php?id=3395 ). Students must attend the parts B-C. Those who choose 'Latin language - 9 CFU', must ask the teacher for some further readings.
Students of 'Lettere moderne' (ECTS 6/9), if they have not taken the exam of Latin language during their BA:
1) study of: A. Traina - G. Bernardi Perini, Propedeutica al latino universitario, Bologna, Patron, 1998, capitoli 1-6;
2) translation from Latin of Cicero, Tusculanae disputationes, libro II, or Sallust, Bellum Catilinae.
3) the texts examined during classes, which will be published on the course website ( https://myariel.unimi.it/course/view.php?id=3395 ). Students of Lettere moderne ('Latin language MA' - 6 ECTS), if they have not taken an exam of Latin language in their BA, must attend part A, and then choose either part B or part C. Students of MA Lettere moderne' who choose 'Latin language - 9 CFU', must translate from Latin both Cicero, Tusculanae disputationes, libro II, and Sallust, Bellum Catilinae).
Students of MA 'Filologia, storia e letterature del mondo classico' (ECTS 6/9); MA 'Lettere moderne' (ECTS 6/9), just in case they have already taken an exam of Latin language during their BA:
1) translation from Latin of Lucretius, De rerum natura, book V. Suggested editions: Lucrezio, De rerum natura. Libro quinto, commento e note di C. Giussani e E. Stampini, Torino Loescher 1959; Lucretius, De rerum natura 5, edited with a translation, introduction and commentary by M.R. Gale, Oxford 2009.
2) study of one of the following histories of the Latin language: a] C. Santini, Lingue e generi letterari dalle origini agli Antonini, in P. Poccetti - D. Poli - C. Santini, Una storia della lingua latina: formazione, usi, comunicazione, Carocci, Roma 2003, pp. 235-376 (III capitolo); b] L.R. Palmer, La lingua latina, Einaudi, Torino 1977, parte I (Lineamenti di storia della lingua latina) (for English speaking students, L.R. Palmer, A History of the Latin Language, Faber and Faber, London 1954, part I); c] I. Mazzini, Storia della lingua latina e del suo contesto. Volume 1: linguistica e lingua letteraria, ed. Salerno 2007; d] I. Mazzini, Storia della lingua latina e del suo contesto. Volume 2: le lingue socialmente marcate, ed. Salerno 2010;
3) study of: A. Traina - G. Bernardi Perini, Propedeutica al latino universitario, Bologna, Patron, 1998, study of chapters 1-6.
4) the texts examined during classes of parts B-C, which will be published on the course website ( https://myariel.unimi.it/course/view.php?id=3395 ). Students must attend the parts B-C. Those who choose 'Latin language - 9 CFU', must ask the teacher for some further readings.
Students of 'Lettere moderne' (ECTS 6/9), if they have not taken the exam of Latin language during their BA:
1) study of: A. Traina - G. Bernardi Perini, Propedeutica al latino universitario, Bologna, Patron, 1998, capitoli 1-6;
2) translation from Latin of Cicero, Tusculanae disputationes, libro II, or Sallust, Bellum Catilinae.
3) the texts examined during classes, which will be published on the course website ( https://myariel.unimi.it/course/view.php?id=3395 ). Students of Lettere moderne ('Latin language MA' - 6 ECTS), if they have not taken an exam of Latin language in their BA, must attend part A, and then choose either part B or part C. Students of MA Lettere moderne' who choose 'Latin language - 9 CFU', must translate from Latin both Cicero, Tusculanae disputationes, libro II, and Sallust, Bellum Catilinae).
Assessment methods and Criteria
Oral examination, top grade 30/30 'e lode' (sufficiency: 18/30). It focuses both on texts examined by the teacher during classes, and on those translated autonomously by students: students must be able to read them aloud, to translate them, to comment upon them under the linguistic respect. The examination aims to verify: 1) the knowledge of general categories of linguistic analysis; 2) the students' ability: to describe the general categories of linguistic analysis by means of exact technical terms; to examine texts even in comparison to other ones, highlighting the differences and suggesting the possible reasons accounting for them. The exam can be held in Italian or English.
L-FIL-LET/04 - LATIN LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE - University credits: 9
Lessons: 60 hours
Professor:
Moretti Paola Francesca
Educational website(s)
Professor(s)
Reception:
On Thursdays. Students should email prof. Moretti in advance, to make an appointment.
via Festa del Perdono, at the Sezione di Filologia classica of the Dipartimento di Studi letterari ('cortile legnaia').