--- You wrote:
In the case of Vergil, it seems clear (assuming we identify the person
named as the poet) that Horace in Odes I.3 calls Vergil Vergil. So perhaps
it is as simple a thing as what people called these writers in ancient times.
I doubt that the Romans consistently called all people by
i agree with u entirely
From: Helen Conrad-O'Briain [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: VIRGIL: RE: Vergil's name
Date: Mon, 5 Aug 2002 21:05:30 +
I won't even attempt to scan Horace, but could it be a question of meter
that he uses he one rather
Virgil was highly regarded in medieval Wales and in Welsh his name comes out
as 'Pheryllt' or 'fferyll' and variants. However, the first vowel always
seems to be 'e', though an 'i' is possible in Welsh.
I imagine names were often recorded as heard, rather than as read, which
could account for
This one isn't quite so obscure. I believe that the i spelling came to be in
the 5th century AD (http://www.bartleby.com/65/ve/Vergil.html), when the Aeneid
was used as a sort of magic 8-ball. People would randomly open the Aeneid and
interpret the first line upon which their eyes fell. The
I don't think there is any rhyme or reason why we use the nomen for some
authors and the cognomen for others. We don't, for instance, call Ovid
Naso. We don't call Horace Flaccus. And we could find any number of
other instances in which this use of nomen rather than cognomen is our
preferred
