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Play on the Proper Names of Individuals in the Catullan Corpus: Wordplay, the Iambic Tradition, and the Late Republican Culture of Public Abuse*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 June 2014

Jennifer Ingleheart
Jennifer Ingleheart*
Affiliation:
Durham University
*
jennifer.ingleheart@durham.ac.uk
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Abstract

The paper explores the significance of names and naming in Catullus. Catullus’ use of proper names, and in particular his play on the connotations of the names of individuals who are attacked within his poems, has not been fully explored to date, and the paper identifies several examples of such play which have not previously been recognized. The paper examines Catullan wordplay in the context of both the iambic tradition and the public abuse culture of the late Roman Republic.

Keywords

Catullusetymologywordplaycognominaiambic poetryRepublican oratory
Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Roman Studies , Volume 104 , November 2014 , pp. 51 - 72
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2014. Published by The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies 

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Footnotes

*

Earlier versions of this paper were delivered at the Work in Progress Seminars at the Universities of Edinburgh and Durham in 2010–11, and at the Annual Classical Association Conference in Durham in 2011; I am grateful to audience members for their helpful suggestions. My biggest debt of thanks is owed to Stephen Heyworth for his careful reading of earlier drafts of this paper, and to the anonymous JRS readers, whose comments have helped me towards a final version.

References

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