«Vulgo dicitur»: vulgarisms in legal Latin

Abstract

This paper is a contribution to the theory and history of the notion of “vulgarism”. Starting from a critical reflection on the concepts of Volkssprache, Umgangssprache, Vulgärsprache, gesprochene Sprache, and the analysis of the semantic values of the lexical family of vulgus in grammatical, rhetorical and literary sources, it focuses on the function of the expression vulgō dicitur in legal texts, especially Gaius' Institutes, the Theodosian Code and the Justinian corpus. This expression introduces words or sentences that belong to different social and cultural domains of Latin but all pertain to common and general use. This seems to reflect the influence of the rhetorical principles of clarity (luciditas) and propriety (proprietas) of expression on both the ideology and practice of legal language. Such principles had profoundly moulded the classical ideals of composition and in the legal context (especially in Justinian's corpus) became enriched by the crucial requirements of a successful public communication of the Empire which needed to reach the whole of the population within the Roman orbit with all its cultural and juridical diversity. The paper concludes by posing the problem of understanding the correspondence between the ideology unveiled by the expression vulgō dicitur and the effective use of the linguistic units of various rank it introduces. It is suggested that the meaning and function of the expression may have changed over time and that this could betray the deeper fragmentation of Latin that paved the way to the Romance volgari.