Iranian Philology and Linguistics by Marco Fattori
Indo-Iranian Journal, 2025
In this article the so far unexplained Old Persian verbal form amūθa 'he fled' is interpreted as ... more In this article the so far unexplained Old Persian verbal form amūθa 'he fled' is interpreted as an imperfect built on an inchoative present stem from the Iranian root *mauH- 'to move'. Starting from the observation that, in Old Persian, an outcome -θa- instead of -sa- for the Indo-Iranian suffix *-sća is phonologically irregular in this position, a morphological explanation is proposed. It is argued that the stem mūθa- is a recent formation, not inherited from the Proto-Iranian stage. This finding is framed within a broader discussion on the historical development of the inchoative suffix in the Iranian languages, distinguishing between old inchoatives, i.e. formations inherited from a pre-historical stage (Indo-Iranian, sometimes even Proto-Indo-European) and recent inchoatives, i.e. new formations productively built in historical times.
Indo-European Linguistics, 2024
In this article the interpretation of the Armenian verb karem ‘be able’ as a borrowing from Parth... more In this article the interpretation of the Armenian verb karem ‘be able’ as a borrowing from Parthian kar- ‘do’ is discussed. It is argued that the verb was borrowed into Armenian with the meaning ‘be able’ assumed by Parthian kar- in the so-called “potential” construction. Then, some reflections are offered on the theoretical issues raised by this peculiar case, claiming that it can be effectively described in the framework of Diasystematic Construction Grammar. Finally, some remarks are added on the Iranian origin of Arm. bawem ‘suffice, be enough’ and kari ‘strongly, very much’, claiming that, despite being derived from the same roots involved in the “potential” construction, these words did not follow the same borrowing path as karem.
Indogermanische Forschungen, 2024
This article deals with a number of Middle and New Iranian words of doubtful etymology for which ... more This article deals with a number of Middle and New Iranian words of doubtful etymology for which a derivation from Ir. *hakat ‘together, at once’ is proposed. Its possible reflexes in Western Iranian witness a development towards a conditional or temporal meaning (Parth. ag ‘if’, NP aknūn ‘now’), but remnants of the old meaning ‘together’ could be identified in MP ag(e)nēn ‘together’ and in the Arm. loanword hakaṙak ‘opposite, against’. In Eastern Iranian it seems to have undergone grammaticalization and developed into a preverb (Khot. gga ) or a preposition (Sogd. ku ‘towards’, Orm. ku- ‘to, on etc.’, Ishk. kI ‘to, on, for’, Zeb. ka ‘id.’). Especially in this latter group of languages, Ir. *hakat shows an evolution largely comparable to that of *hačā ‘from’, which, according to most scholars, belongs to the same root.
Iran and the Caucasus, 2024
In this article the possible Iranian etymology of three hitherto unexplained Old Armenian words i... more In this article the possible Iranian etymology of three hitherto unexplained Old Armenian words is discussed: Arm. aptak “slap, blow” < Ir. *apitāka-, to be compared with Man.Parth. and MP abdāg “assailant”; Arm. žapawēn “hem, border” compound of Parth. *žī(h), equivalent of NP zeh “string, hem, decoration” + Arm. apawēn “cover, shelter, refuge”; Arm. xawsim “to speak” from a metathetic form of MIr. *wā̆xs-, inchoative formation from the root *vac- “to speak”. Finally, Szemerényi’s convincing explanation of Arm. awgnem “to help” and zawravign “aid, helper, defender” as related to an OIr. noun *abigna- “helper” attested in several anthroponyms (e.g. OP Bagābigna-) is reaffirmed and substantiated since it remained mostly unnoticed in the subsequent literature.
Orientalia, 2023
This article deals with the identification and explanation of several Iranian words and names pre... more This article deals with the identification and explanation of several Iranian words and names preserved in Greek sources (απομεναμα < OP *apām vauvīnām māha ‘Month of the Good Waters’; πισάγας < OIr. *pisanga- ‘leper, spotted’; Τέασπις < OP *Θiyāvāspi-; ψιττάκη < OIr. *xšviftakā̆- ‘sweet, nectarous (bird)’; *τίγρης < OIr. *tigra- ‘sharp, pointed’). For each of them, a thorough discussion is provided on the problems connected to the transmission within the Greek tradition and to the ultimate Iranian etymology.
Ricerche Linguistiche, 2024
This paper aims to provide a new edition of paragraph 70 of the Old Persian version of the Bisotu... more This paper aims to provide a new edition of paragraph 70 of the Old Persian version of the Bisotun inscription (DB/OP IV ll. 88-92). Although this badly preserved passage received an enormous scholarly attention, only a few researchers could directly examine the inscription, and their editions differ significantly from one another. In absence of good published photographs, it is currently impossible to critically evaluate the reliability of these editions and propose new readings based on a first-hand inspection of the stone. To overcome this inconvenience, this article includes a full photographic documentation of the passage and a detailed discussion of each reading. Since this new examination of the inscription resulted in the improvement of several readings, the edition is followed by a commentary where a possible interpretation of the newly read words is offered.
ARTA, 2023
This article presents some new philological observations on three Achaemenid texts from Susa (DSe... more This article presents some new philological observations on three Achaemenid texts from Susa (DSe, DSi, A2Se) based on a new inspection of the inscriptions. These include the edition of previously unpublished fragments and the attribution of previously misplaced fragments to the texts under examination. For each inscription, a brief epigraphic, philological and linguistic commentary is provided.
Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae, 2023
This article deals with a pre-Sasanian inscription written in Middle Persian script recently publ... more This article deals with a pre-Sasanian inscription written in Middle Persian script recently published by N. Sims-Williams, who named it 'Persis 2'. First, some observations on the reading and interpretation of the text are proposed. Then, it is argued that the instances of final-y in this inscription could correspond to a phonetic notation of the oblique singular ending-ē, hitherto only reconstructed for proto-Middle Persian. Finally, a discussion on the origin of heterographic writing with respect to the graphical representation of Iranian morphological endings is proposed, in the attempt to explain why a final-y for the ending -ē is not regularly noted in all the comparable documents from the middle Arsacid period.
BSOAS, 2023
This article deals with the identification and interpretation of two rare Middle Persian words. F... more This article deals with the identification and interpretation of two rare Middle Persian words. Firstly, some attestations of the as yet unrecognized word <hs'lyh> hassārīh are discussed, showing that it means "direction". Then, a semantic analysis of its underived counterpart hassār is carried out, as a basis for an etymological proposal. Finally, it is argued that hassār descends from Old Persian *haçā-sāra-"(having the head) in the same direction", and a possible reconstruction of the semantic development of the word is provided.
Studi e Saggi Linguistici, 2023
So far, no definitive explanation has been given for the fact that Iranian loanwords in Classical... more So far, no definitive explanation has been given for the fact that Iranian loanwords in Classical Armenian are very often assigned to a morphological class reflecting the corresponding Old Iranian declension. This has rightly been regarded as problematic because the loanwords entered Armenian in the Middle Iranian period, when Western Iranian dialects had already lost final syllables. In this article, it is argued that the correspondence between Armenian and Iranian stem vowels could be inferred from the Oblique Plural case, which probably preserved traces of the Old Iranian declension still in the 1 st century AD.
Rivista degli Studi Orientali, 2022
In this article it is argued that the Old Persian inscriptions labelled AmH, AsH, D2Ha, D2Hb, A2H... more In this article it is argued that the Old Persian inscriptions labelled AmH, AsH, D2Ha, D2Hb, A2Hc and A1I are all modern forgeries, whose production was inspired by the discovery of the genuine inscription DHa, published in 1926. First, an overview of the known information concerning the alleged finding of these objects is offered, pointing out that all the previous attempts to provide a historically plausible reconstruction of their original location and function are unconvincing or selfcontradictory. Subsequently, it is shown that all these inscriptions share some palaeographic features which are otherwise unattested in the corpus of authentic Old Persian inscriptions. Instead, these features only appear in some modern manuals available to the public in the years when these objects were reportedly found, which constitutes crucial evidence against their authenticity.
Archivio Glottologico Italiano, 2022
This article aims to show that in the late Achaemenid period the draft copy of the Old Persian te... more This article aims to show that in the late Achaemenid period the draft copy of the Old Persian text of royal inscriptions was usually written in Aramaic script and then transposed into cuneiform. It is argued that such two-step process can account for many unexpected forms found in the texts which cannot be ascribed to a late linguistic stage.
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 2023
The aim of this article is to show that in Achaemenid Elamite the sign <MAN> had a secondary phon... more The aim of this article is to show that in Achaemenid Elamite the sign <MAN> had a secondary phonetic value /me/. The evidence collected in support of this claim consists mainly in Elamite transcriptions of Iranian words in the Achaemenid Royal Inscriptions and in the Persepolis administrative texts, which are impossible or very difficult to account for only contemplating the usual value /man/.
Iran and the Caucasus, 2022
This article presents an edition of the Elamite version of the inscription A2Ha, which has always... more This article presents an edition of the Elamite version of the inscription A2Ha, which has always been considered too badly preserved to be read. Starting from the newly established text, some remarks will be made on the interpretation of the final word of the inscription (melkanra) and on its Old Persian counterpart (vidītu), which is found in the partially identical text A2Sa.
Classical Philology and Linguistics by Marco Fattori
Studi e Saggi Linguistici, 2021
The aim of the present article is to offer a collection of the available data on IS, focusing esp... more The aim of the present article is to offer a collection of the available data on IS, focusing especially on the most relevant aspects from a linguistic point of view. Since many theories and beliefs about IS circulating in the literature have never been properly proved by means of a thorough analysis of the attestations, in parallel with the description of the phenomenology of IS a discussion of some traditional assumptions is included, in order to show which of them should be considered still valid and which are to be discarded instead. An overall interpretation of the phenomenon will not be proposed, because, in the author’s view, a satisfactory description of data must be pursued before and without being influenced by any hypothesis on them.
Materiali e discussioni per l'analisi dei testi classici, n. 82 (DOI: 10.19272/201901701007), 2019
This paper aims to offer a linguistic explanation for the unexpected use of the verb paro in Aen.... more This paper aims to offer a linguistic explanation for the unexpected use of the verb paro in Aen. 2.121.
Drawing on parallel passages in Homer, and comparing other cases of intransitive constructions of usually transitive verbs in Latin, the author argues that paro assumes here a reflexive meaning while maintaining an active
intransitive construction, which is technically called an ‘anticausative’ value.
Eikasmós, 2021
This article proposes a new textual reconstruction of Aesch. fr. 90 and the first line of fr. dub... more This article proposes a new textual reconstruction of Aesch. fr. 90 and the first line of fr. dub. 466 R.2, both attributed to Aeschylus by Stobaeus, based on the evidence provided by the socalled Greek-Coptic redaction of the Sententiae ascribed to Menander. By interpreting the vox nihili αισχυνου as a corruption of the lemma Αἰσχύλου, the article shows that this latter text should be considered as an independent witness of Aeschylus’ line.
Atti dell'Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei. Rendiconti della Classe di Scienze Morali, Storiche e Filologiche (s. 9, v. 29, f. 3/4, pp. 353-380), 2018
The present article aims to investigate how the passionate study of Homer affected the vernacular... more The present article aims to investigate how the passionate study of Homer affected the vernacular production of Angelo Poliziano, doubtlessly the most important humanist poet of his age. Some di-rect quotations are pointed out, but the analysis focuses mainly on the complex relationship between Homer and his Latin imitators, from Vergil to Statius, often taking advantage of the comparison with Poliziano’s translation of the Iliad in Latin hexameters. This last resource helps to a large extent in picturing the high degree of awareness shown by Poliziano towards Homer’s formulaic style, of-ten misinterpreted by his contemporaries. Through an accurate study of some passages of the Stanze it is shown that, even though some phrases do not perfectly match the Homeric diction, they serve the same narrative function as some common formulas. Allusions of this kind are somehow different from simple erudite quotations, and refer to a deeper level of intertextuality, aimed at characterising the text in a peculiarly aulic way, percieved as truly epic especially by learned poets and scholars of the time. Finally, such a study may shed some light on the first steps of the gradual reception of Greek poetry into Italian literature starting from the 15th century.
Books by Marco Fattori
Testi e manuali per l'insegnamento universitario del Latino n. 152, 2022
La pubblicazione del volume è stata finanziata con i fondi di Ateneo 2019 dell'Università degli S... more La pubblicazione del volume è stata finanziata con i fondi di Ateneo 2019 dell'Università degli Studi di Roma "Sapienza" nell'ambito del progetto "Tipologie di interferenza grafica nel mondo antico" (TIGMA) / "Types of Graphic Interferences in Ancient World" (TGAW).
Thesis Chapters by Marco Fattori
Uploads
Iranian Philology and Linguistics by Marco Fattori
Classical Philology and Linguistics by Marco Fattori
Drawing on parallel passages in Homer, and comparing other cases of intransitive constructions of usually transitive verbs in Latin, the author argues that paro assumes here a reflexive meaning while maintaining an active
intransitive construction, which is technically called an ‘anticausative’ value.
Books by Marco Fattori
Thesis Chapters by Marco Fattori
Drawing on parallel passages in Homer, and comparing other cases of intransitive constructions of usually transitive verbs in Latin, the author argues that paro assumes here a reflexive meaning while maintaining an active
intransitive construction, which is technically called an ‘anticausative’ value.