Etymologising on common nouns in Catullus

Abstract

The object of this paper is to explore Catullus’ use of etymology with common nouns. Twenty five case of etymologising on common nouns from Latin and Greek are discussed, followed by one case of e contrario etymologising (bracchium-leue, 64.332) and one example of double etymologising (mensis-Luna-metior, 34.16-8). The etymological wordplays are treated in order of appearance in the Catullan corpus. The wide use of etymology by Catullus demonstrates that it was a fundamental stylistic and thematic feature of his poetry, appearing both in the short and the long poems. Catullus employs well-known markers to highlight his etymologies. Parallels of these Catullan etymological wordplays have already occurred in comedy and will later appear in Augustan poetry. As a result, Catullus’ role as the intermediary between these two important stages of Roman etymologising is particularly significant.