63 Colloquial and Li.. - Ganino.com

40 rolando ferri and philomen probert
at Gellius 19.10.9, where an unnamed grammaticus uses plebeium with
reference to the word praeterpropter (Gellius himself calls it usitatum
pervulgatumque verbum). From Gellius onwards, there are fewer clear
examples of the use of plebeius to characterise a form of language or
to connect it with a lower level of society (the plebs); Müller (2001:
91–2) suggests that one of the reasons is that plebs probably acquires
a Christian sense of ‘lay people’ (like Greek ); Christian authors
use the term plebeius sermo in a positive sense, for a stylistic level.
rusticus, subrusticum, rusticanus: the term (often qualifying sermo)
originally referred to language characteristic of rural areas rather than
the city of Rome, but by the classical period it has taken on the
meaning ‘incorrect, uneducated’; as such, it refers to a sociolect more
than a register, but it is often difficult to determine how much of
the earlier reference to regional variation is still present. Under the
Empire the term comes to refer to a register, that of everyday Latin as
opposed to the classical standard. (See Müller 2001: 29–78).
usus, usitatus (sermo, verbum), usitate: the prepositional phrase ex/in
usu is sometimes used for ‘from, in current usage, in the spoken
language’ (e.g. Charisius 271 Barwick). usitate ‘in common usage’ is
opposed to recte in Cic. Orat. 157 (where noveras is said to be the
‘right’ form, noras that which is ‘commonly used’).
vulgo, and all vulgus derivatives, are used with a wide and often inconsistent
range of meanings (Müller 2001: 117–75). The most common
phrases are vulgo dicitur, ut vulgus dicit, pervulgate, consuetudo/sermo
vulgaris (-ius). (1) ‘vulgarism’, in opposition to Latinum, Latine (at
all levels of the language, from pronunciation to morphosyntax and
lexical choice, as at Servius on Verg. Aen. 3.466 zemas enim vulgare
est non Latinum ‘indeed the word zema is the popular term, not
the proper Latin one [i.e. olla]’). The implication of a substandard
level of the language becomes increasingly frequent in late antique
sources. (2) ‘common, current usage’ with no pejorative implications
(Varro L. 8.66 sine reprehensione vulgo alii dicunt in singulari hac
ovi...alii hac ove ‘some say hac ovi in the singular, others hac ove,
neither form appearing to be wrong’; cf. also Quint. Inst. 4.2.58 verbis...vulgaribusetcotidianis,ofanarratio
in Cicero, quoted p. 24).
The oppositional system in which vulgus derivatives are used is also
crucial, as sometimes vulg- definitions are contrasted with archaic,
far-fetched, recherché choice of vocabulary (e.g. Gel. 9.1.8, where
Quadrigarius’ use of defendo ‘keep away from’ rather than ‘defend’
(hist. 85)issaidtobenon ex vulgari consuetudine sed admodum proprie