Olga Spevak – författare

This book investigates the properties of Latin nouns that have a systematic correspondence with a clause structure - referred to as verbal nouns - on the basis of data from a range of text types, both narrative and technical. Olga Spevak explores the much-debated concepts of ''abstract nouns'' in general and ''verbal derivatives'' in particular, and shows that syntactic parameters are helpful in establishing a better classification for what have traditionally been called nomina actionis. She adopts a descriptive approach and provides methods and criteria for identifying these nouns and for distinguishing them from nouns with concrete reference. This distinction is important both for a full understanding of Latin texts and for the presentation of the words themselves in dictionaries. The analysis reveals that verbal nouns, gerunds, gerundives, participles in participial clauses, and in part also infinitives, are competing expressions with a low degree of ''sententiality''; they serve to condense clausal expressions, to varying extents, and they form a system in which the elements are partly overlapping and partly complementary. The fact that Latin does not have a verbal noun available for every verb can therefore be understood as simply a facet of this complex system.

This book investigates the properties of Latin nouns that have a systematic correspondence with a clause structure - referred to as verbal nouns - on the basis of data from a range of text types, both narrative and technical. Olga Spevak explores the much-debated concepts of 'abstract nouns' in general and 'verbal derivatives' in particular, and shows that syntactic parameters are helpful in establishing a better classification for what have traditionally been called nomina actionis. She adopts a descriptive approach and provides methods and criteria for identifying these nouns and for distinguishing them from nouns with concrete reference. This distinction is important both for a full understanding of Latin texts and for the presentation of the words themselves in dictionaries. The analysis reveals that verbal nouns, gerunds, gerundives, participles in participial clauses, and in part also infinitives, are competing expressions with a low degree of 'sententiality'; they serve to condense clausal expressions, to varying extents, and they form a system in which the elements are partly overlapping and partly complementary. The fact that Latin does not have a verbal noun available for every verb can therefore be understood as simply a facet of this complex system.

​​This volume is a pilot study that aims to explore the language used in various domains of Roman law prior to the publication of the Digest, the language of which has been described by Kalb (1888). It is the outcome of an international and interdisciplinary workshop held at the University Toulouse Jean Jaurès (21–22 September 2023). It aims at exploring the language of legal texts and the passages that reproduce or refer to it. Special attention is paid to the identification of legal elements and to the context of their use. This volume explores various sources that have not been brought together until now: (i) epigraphically attested material, comprising official documents such as Roman statutes from the Republican period, and private legal documents such as contracts on wax tablets or papyri, curse tablets, especially the so-called ‘prayers for justice’; (ii) literary texts in which legal elements are used (Quintilian, among others). It has two objectives: on the one hand it concentrates on various lexical, morphological, and syntactic features of Latin legal texts; on the other hand, it discusses the interaction between Roman legal practice and linguistic expressions.