Ricerc@Sapienza

The Byzantine Treatise De magistratibus populi Romani by Joannes Lydus provides wide and reliable informations about the ancient office of quaestores parricidii, as well as an interesting paretymology of the word parricida, whose origin is still unsolved. A philological consideration of the varia lectio contained in the codex unicus Caseolinus (Bibl. Nat. suppl. gr. 257; IX-X century), allows to argue for the existence of an early Latin form (quaestores) pārĭcīdiī with ancient /a:/ in the first syllable followed by a single /r/.

This paper deals with Nigidius’ fragment 9 Swoboda, which is included in a passage of Nonius’ De compendiosa doctrina (p. 58,12-16 Lindsay). Although the text is very brief, many emendations have been proposed throughout the centuries. The passage seems very obscure in terms of its textual coherence. A new reading, including a brief extract from the Carmen Saliare contained therein, pays attention to the consensus codicum. The passage is interpreted in terms of

L'articolo torna sul complesso problema dell'etimologia del nome del 'parricida' nel latino arcaico presente nella tradizione delle antichissime 'Leges regiae'.