Romanitas: Studies in Romance linguistics Ed. by Ernst Pulgram (review)

718 LANGUAGE, VOLUME 62, NUMBER 3 (1986) discovery; the history of the Etruscan alphabet and its use in the Tables (more than half the Tables are written in the Etruscan script, while the remaining ones are in the Latin alphabet); and a critical bibliography. This section is very nicely documented, covering the external history of the Tables in admirable detail. P has included sharp reproductions of old correspondence , bills of sale, and manuscript reproductions from various early editions ofthe Tables, including that of Lepsius from 1841. P's bibliography of modern works on the Tables is very scant; however, works after Lepsius will be covered in another volume. Part II, 'Edizione e commento paleografico', deals with the physical characteristics ofthe Tables ; their grouping, ordering, and chronology; and the alphabets as they are represented in the various tablets. Here P sets the stage for the careful edition ofthe Tables which follows (177214 ). He shows, by reference to Maggiani's appendix of blown-up photographs, how certain corrections, erasures, and emendations have been made in the originals, and how these have been interpreted in various editions of the Tables . Characters ofinterest are highlighted in the text in boldface, and thus can be easily located in the photos in the appendix. This exposition of epigraphical practice is done in such a way that it not only serves as a guide to specific problems in the Tables; it also provides a lesson in how serious epigraphical work should be carried out. In addition to the photos of distorted letters, the volume is accompanied by an album of amazingly clear photographs of the seven Tables . They are large enough to be read easily, and are worth the price of the book themselves. [Philip Baldi, Pennsylvania State University.] Le Iscrizioni Sudpicene, I: Testi. By Anna Marinetti. (Lingue e iscrizioni dell'Italia antica, 5.) Firenze: Olschki, 1985. Pp. 301. L 65,000. M is A. Prosdocimi's student at the University of Padua; and his guidance is apparent in this carefully crafted, well designed discussion of the inscriptions of South Picenum. These inscriptions have been known and studied since the mid-19th century, though they have been classified in a variety of groupings with other dialects (including East Italic, Sabellic, Praetuttian , and Umbrian), and according to confusing criteria (phonetics, epigraphy, place and personal names). For M, the inscriptions of South Picenum constitute a variety ofItalic with a dialectal coloring, which she defines as 'northern Italic', and which she views 'come rappresentante di un gruppo lingüístico piuttosto omogeneo a cui anche l'umbro a noi noto partecipa ' (42). The book has four principal sections, followed by an appendix of 43 close-up photographs of the inscriptions themselves. Part I, 'Rassegna degli studi', deals with the various editions of the inscriptions and the bases for the proposed classifications of the dialects represented . This is followed by a discussion of S. Picene safino as an equivalent of La. Sabino-; this is a bit of phonetic (and cultural) evidence for M's grouping of S. Picene with Umbrian. Part II, 'Grafía e struttura délie iscrizioni', handles the complexities ofthe epigraphical evidence , complete with alphabetic tables (59-60) and grammatical exposition. This is followed by a discussion of the internal structure of the inscriptions , and the problems of interpretation which each presents. Part III, 'Edizione', is M's reformulation, according to explicit criteria (157-9), of the various inscriptions. This is particularly well done; at the beginning of each discussion, M references all previous editions for comparison, and discusses differences from earlier editors concerning the individual inscriptions. A drawing of each inscription is presented with the discussion , allowing easy comparison with analyses of M's predecessors. Part IV, 'Appendice', contains bibliographic information, a concordance, and even a discussion of disputed forms referenced to earlier editions. Like Prosdocimi's Tavole Iguvine, Marinetti's Iscrizioni Sudpicene represents a high standard of philological, historical, and epigraphical research, essential to continued progress in our understanding ofthe fine details of Italic and Indo-European studies. [Philip Baldi, Pennsylvania State University.] Romanitas: Studies in Romance linguistics . Ed. by Ernst Pulgram. (Michigan Romance studies, 4.) Ann Arbor: Dept. of Romance Languages , University of Michigan, 1984. Pp...