Abstract
Italic rituals of purification by fire are attested in the Iguvine Tables, a repertoire of sacred texts managed by the "Atiedian Brethren" of the Umbrian city of Iguvium. These rituals can be understood in greater depth in light of the actual language of ritual. This paper reviews earlier work on the sacral language of the Tables and considers anew the syntax of the fire ritual as it plays out in the prescriptive formulations written in the Latin and the native Umbrian alphabets.
Highlights
In the text written in the Latin alphabet, the cringatro that is mentioned in section Da becomes in section Db the implied direct object of a second occurrence of the verb anouihimu, meaning ‘he shall put it on’: so, here in section Db, the Adfertor is being instructed to put on the cringatro—putting it on his right shoulder, as we read in the wording destrame scapla anouihimu ‘he shall put it on [anouihimu] his right shoulder’
I published a study of a fire ritual that we see described and prescribed in the Iguvine Tables, a set of ancient sacred texts stemming from the Umbrian city of Iguvium
I have often returned to this study in teaching-andlearning experiments that I have designed for analyzing the use of ritual language in traditional societies
Summary
In the text written in the Latin alphabet, the cringatro that is mentioned in section Da becomes in section Db the implied direct object of a second occurrence of the verb anouihimu, meaning ‘he shall put it on’: so, here in section Db, the Adfertor is being instructed to put on the cringatro—putting it on his right shoulder, as we read in the wording destrame scapla anouihimu ‘he shall put it on [anouihimu] his right shoulder’.
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