Turbela in Apuleius’ Novel

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St. Petersburg State University

Turbela in Apuleius' Novel

Svetlana S. Dubova

St. Petersburg, Russian Federation

Abstract

The contribution deals with the word turbela and its stylistic coloring: after Plautus (meaning `disturbance') it is attested in the writings of Apuleius and other late authors. Nevertheless, there is no consensus among the researchers concerning its semantic and stylistic characteristics in the Metamorphoses: even if it is a borrowing from Plautus, it has a different meaning (`a crowd') and may not be a colloquialism. In support of it being borrowed, one may refer to Apuleius' fondness for Plautine vocabulary and the testimony of Festus, who also points at the archaic nature of the word. The changing of meaning does not pose a serious problem, as it can be explained by the possibility of a metonymic transfer and Apuleius' avocation of using wordplays and redefining semantic meaning. The article also discusses the spelling issue, evident in many cases of words in -ela. Confusion between abstract nouns in -ela and diminutives in -ella can be discovered early in antiquity, so there is no opportunity to make a distinction between turbela and turbella. The idea of the colloquiality of the suffix -ela and possible diminutive meaning of the word are deemed unjustified: in most instances, the context does not suggest that turbela is to be regarded as a diminutive, and words in -ela are attested in a number of writings where colloquial words would seem improper.

Keywords: archaic vocabulary, colloquialisms, diminutives, Apuleius, Plautus, Ammianus Marcellinus.

Аннотация

Turbela в романе Апулея

Светлана Сергеевна Дубова

Санкт-Петербургский государственный университет,

Российская Федерация, , Санкт-Петербург

В данной статье рассматривается слово turbela и его стилистическая окраска. После Плавта, который использует его в значении «суматоха», оно засвидетельствовано в произведениях Апулея и других поздних авторов. Среди исследователей нет общего мнения по поводу семантических и стилистических характеристик данного слова в «Метаморфозах». Даже если turbela является заимствованием из Плавта, у Апулея оно, очевидно, имеет другое значение («толпа») и едва ли может быть разговорным. В пользу того, что слово надо признать заимствованием, говорят и частые заимствования Апулеем лексики Плавта, и свидетельство Феста, который отмечает архаическую природу слова. Изменение значения не может служить помехой: перемену можно объяснить возможностью метонимического переноса, словесной игрой или переосмыслением. В дискуссии о семантике turbela значимость приобретает, кроме прочего, и орфографическая проблема -- возможность turbela c геминатой (ll). Сходная трудность возникает при рассмотрении и других слов на -ela. Смешение абстрактных существительных на -ela и деминутивов на -ella обнаруживается уже в архаическую эпоху, поэтому разграничить слова turbela и turbella не представляется возможным. Утверждения о том, что суффикс -ela является просторечным, а само слово имеет уменьшительное значение, следует признать недостаточно обоснованными: как показывает контекст, в большинстве случаев ничто не указывает на уменьшительное значение turbela, а слова на -ela засвидетельствованы в текстах, в которых коллоквиализмы выглядели бы неуместными.

Ключевые слова: архаическая лексика, вульгаризмы, деминутивы, Апулей, Плавт, Ам- миан Марцеллин.

Examination of Apuleius' vocabulary often entails a problem of distinction between archaisms and vulgarisms. It is especially critical when one tries to label a rare word, not attested in the Latin literature before Apuleius apart from comedies. By the second century AD comedic vocabulary could be perceived as archaic, even though there can be no doubt that Plautus and Terence used colloquial language in their plays. The case of turbela in this regard is exemplary.

In the Metamorphoses Apuleius uses this word three times:

Cum ... vicum quempiam frequentem et nundinis celebrem praeteriremus, inter ipsas turbelas Graecorum genuino sermone nomen augustum Caesaris invocare temptavi (3. 29. 2).

“When we were passing through a thronged village, filled with market-goers, in the very midst of these crowds I tried to shout the august name of Caesar in my Greek native tongue.”

Denique tanti doloris impatiens populi circumfluentis turbelis immisceor et ... sic indaginis principes dehortabar: «O grande» inquam «et extremum flagitium, magnam et vere pretio- sam perdimus bestiam» (4. 20. 6).

“Finally, unable to bear such distress, I mingled with the crowds of people going around and tried to dissuade the leaders of the raid, crying: «What a huge disgrace! We are killing such a large and truly valuable animal»”.

Postquam vos . castra nostra remeastis, immixtus ego turbelis popularium dolentique atque in- dignanti similis arbitrabar super investigatione facti cuius modi consilium caperetur (7. 1. 4).

“After you returned to our camp, I joined the crowds of people and, pretending to be sad and indignant, tried to find what kind of measures would be taken to investigate the crime”.

As is evident from these contexts, Apuleius uses turbela in the sense `a crowd, a multitude of people, unlike Plautus, who instead prefers turbela when he describes some disturbance and confusion (Bac. 1057; Ps. 110).1 The semantic difference cannot be an insuperable obstacle to understanding turbela as a loan word borrowed by Apuleius among many other Plautine lexical elements, as it can be easily explained as a metonymic transfer. Apuleius indeed likes to use common words in an unusual sense allowed by semantics: candidatus `dressed in white' (Met. 9. 12. 4), semenstris formed by semi- + -menstris, not sex + mensis (Met. 11. 4. 1). Both meanings belong to the word turba which could have been the origin of the diminutive turbella, if it is, in fact, a diminutive. We also find turbela in Festus' De verborum significatu (484 L): turbelas dixisse antiquos, quas nunc turbas ap- pellamus, testis est Plautus in Pseudolo. Festus does not mark it as a diminutive, as he does, for instance, in cases of blandicella (verba blanda per deminutionem sunt dicta) or curric- ulus (deminutivum est a curro), but he evidently points at the archaic nature of the word that could be generally associated with Plautus' language. The Groningen commentary on book 4. 1-27 considers Festus' passage to be problematic due to orthographic differences: It is notable that both times turbela is found in slaves' lines. Hijmans et al. 1977, 154. while the manuscripts of Plautus' plays suggest turbella, we read turbela in Festus and Apuleius. It gives us the opportunity to regard turbela and turbella as two different words (also allowing us to assume that turbela is an Apuleian neologism cf. Zimmerman 2000, 414.). Still, it seems more probable that we are dealing with the same word. Turbela and turbella are considered one word in most dictionaries (not in Du Cange).

The spelling differences pose a problem which cannot be solved. K. Lachmann discusses the word luela in his commentary to Lucr. 3. 1014: referring to “orthographia vulgaris” of those manuscripts that he studied, he claims that one ought to write a single letter l if it follows a long vowel and a double l if it follows a short vowel (in Lachmann's opinion turbella should be written). Lachmannus 1850, 203-205. This rule does not explain the muddle in the manuscripts which is present in case of all the words in -ela: even clientela is attested with double l (though only in the 8th century). Vertegaal 2015, 77. Virtually, ancient grammarians (Flavius Caper (GL 7. 96), Marius Victorinus (Ars 80), Beda Venerabilis (De orthographia 45), Alcuin (De or- thographia 26)) supposed that these words were to be written with a single l. Cassiodorus explains this more thoroughly (De orth. GL 7. 159): querella apud antiquos per unum l scribebatur, sicut suadela tutela candela corruptela, quamvis usus sibi etiam apud eos vin- dicaret ut aliqua in figura deminutivorum per duo l scriberentur, ut capella fabella tabella. nunc autem etiam querella per duo l scribitur.

The assumption that turbela could allude directly to Plautus is supported both by Festus and the rarity of the word itself. At the same time, Apuleius is particularly fond of it: we read it three times in the Metamorphoses and also in the De Deo Socratis (12) where turbela is used in its usual, Plautine, meaning `disturbance, agitation':

Ac ne ceteros longius persequar, ex hoc ferme daemonum numero poetae solent haudqua- quam procul a veritate osores et amatores quorundam hominum deos fingere: hos prosperare et evehere, illos contra adversari et adfligere; igitur et misereri et indignari et angi et laetari om- nemque humani animi faciem pati, simili motu cordis et salo mentis ad omnes cogitationum aestus fluctuare, quae omnes turbelae tempestatesque procul a deorum caelestium tranquillitate, exulant.

“And not to go through the other instances, from this number of demons poets are accustomed to making up gods as haters and lovers of certain men (which is not far from the truth), so they favor and raise some but oppose and afflict others. Therefore, they have pity, fall in rage, get perturbed, feel joy and experience all affections of the human soul; affected by similar passions of the heart and mind, they wallow in the surge of thoughts of every kind. All these commotions and storms are far distant from the tranquility of celestials.”

This passage had a great influence on Saint Augustine who retells and discusses it multiple times using turbela in the same meaning (De civ. D. 8. 17; 8. 18; 9. 3; 9. 8; 10. 27). This Plautine meaning is also used by Gaudentius when he refers to the commotion of the mind (Brix. serm. 19). Apart from that, turbel(l)a = `disturbance' is attested beyond the period of antiquity. Capitularia Caroli C. tit. 17, Baldricus Dolensis in Vita Roberti de Arbrisello (with procella as a variant reading). The Groningen commentary on book IV of the Metamorphoses also mentions cod. P of Vet. Lat. II Macc. 15. 29 (Hijmans et al. 1977, 154). It is hard to explain how this rare word found itself in the text of the Vetus Latina: even though it is true that the Vetus Latina has many words which are less common than their synonyms in the Vulgate (Burkitt 1896, 13), the text is still a quite literal translation, unlikely to use borrowings from Plautus. The only one instance besides Apuleius where we can read turbela as `a crowd' is a passage in the Res Gestae by Ammianus Marcellinus (14. 10. 2):

Herculanus advenit protector domesticus, Hermogenis ex magistro equitum filius, apud Constantinopolim, ut supra rettulimus, popularium quondam turbela discerpti. stylistic metonymic transfer deminitive

“Herculanus arrived, protector domesticus, the son of Hermogenes, former commander of the cavalry, who (as we have related before) was once torn to pieces by a crowd in Constantinople.”

Ammianus must have recounted this incident in full in the previous (non-extant) part of his work. The context actually does allow us to understand turbela both in its classical meaning (`disturbance') and Apuleian (`crowd'), as it all comes down to the meanings of the word turba. Turba is widely used for denoting a civil disorder or a riot (as synonym for seditio).8 However, it is not right to equate turbela with turba: turbela is undoubtedly a very rare word and plays its special role in the text, even if it is simply dictated by mannerism. It is common knowledge that Ammianus was not averse to borrowing lexical elements from various Latin authors, including Apuleius and Plautus. M. Hertz gives extensive and convincing lists of borrowings (where he includes turbela).9 E. E. L. Owens points out the similarity between Ammianus' popularium turbela and Apuleius' turbelis popularium (Met. 7. 1.4).10 This makes it tempting to believe that it was Apuleius (and not Plautus) who influenced Ammianus' choice of words, and turbela in the Res Gestae means `a crowd'.

The question of the correct spelling (single or double l) ultimately resolves into the question of meaning, namely, is the word turbela a diminutive? The Forcellini dictionary states that it is, also making reference to G. Vossius. In his Etymologicon linguae latinae (s. v. turba) he compares this word with other diminutives like popellus, tenellus, umbella, and not with abstract nouns in -ela like suadela, loquela etc.11 Conceivably, his opinion is founded on his personal idea about the meaning conveyed by turbela. It appears that the spelling confusion was caused by the fact that the unproductive suffix -ela could be mistaken for the diminutive suffix as early as antiquity.12 This vacillation between different suffixes is a conundrum for it is hard to imagine it in a language where the distinction in vowel length and gemination is relevant, let alone the semantic differences. Still, in some cases this addlement is evident: for example, querela is attested in manuscripts 195 times with a single letter l and 186 times with a geminate.13 Consequently, this poses the question of semantic subtleties even in the Plautus' plays.

F. Conrad14 distinguishes a wide range of diminutives which he supposes to have no diminutive meaning. For instance, there is a particular group of words with such examples as cavilla, pauperculus, persolla, turbella.15 G. Strodach16 writes that the diminutive turbel- la was formed from the noun turbela a long time before Plautus, and turbella was regarded as a diminutive in his day. Therefore, G. Strodach does not call into question the diminutive meaning in Apuleius' Metamorphoses. J. Hanssen17 straightforwardly raises a question whether turbela is a diminutive or a verbal abstract felt as a diminutive (apparently with no doubt that the readers of both Plautus and Apuleius considered the word to be a diminutive). He also draws attention to another problematic word, fugella, which he places in the same category. Fugella is attested only twice, in Cato and Apuleius: Sed a benefactis, ab optimis artibus fugit maxima fugella perpetuissimo curriculo (Cato Orat. 81 = Priscianus Ammianus indeed uses turba in this meaning in the following passages: 14. 7. 15; 15. 7. 5; 17. 9. 5; 20. 4. 6; 22. 8. 49; 25. 3. 23. Hertz 1874, 267-268. Owens 1956, 100. Vossius 1695, 619.

GL 2. 87), cum a nobis regeretur, ad magistros itabat; ab iis nunc magna fugela in ganeum fugit (Apul. Apol. 98. 6). Apuleius is speaking here about his stepson Pudens who altered his behavior after he had fallen under Aemilianus' influence. Unfortunately, no context is known aboutfugella in Cato, though J. Hanssen believes that as fugella here does not refer to the real flight, Cato puts a diminutive next to maxima as a means of irony. Leumann 1977, 312; Zucchelli 1970, 34, n. 14. Vertegaal 2015, 9. Conrad 1930, 143. In his article he looks into Plautine words with diminutive suffixes which do have an appropriate “Gefuhlswert” but do not denote small dimensions. Still, the expression quantas turbellas in Pl. Ps. 110 provides a remarkable contrast thanks to the diminutive form, cf. Deufert 2002, 165. Strodach 1933, 63, n. 18. Hanssen 1951, 130.

Still, in spite of the confidence of the above-mentioned researchers concerning the diminutive meaning in Apuleius' Metamorphoses, it is hard to see it in the De Deo Socratis and Augustine's De Civitate Dei, where he obviously borrows from Apuleius. The Groningen commentary on book VII of the Metamorphoses points out that the word “seems to have some diminutive force” as it is used in the plural. Hijmans et al. 1981, 83. The diminutive meaning also fits the context quite nicely: the robber is eavesdropping on small groups of people discussing the robbery of Milo's house. On the other hand, the plural form does not really clarify the meaning in this case, especially when one notices that before Ammianus Marcellinus turbela is attested only in its plural form.

The question of diminutive undertones is closely related to the question of stylistic connotation: was turbela perceived as a vulgar or archaic word? R. T. Van der Paardt Van der Paardt 1971, 203. states that turbela is a diminutive and the suffix -ela is vulgar. L. Callebat did not agree with him, calling these statements “incertaine et arbitraire”, but he never presented his own opinion on the topic. Callebat 1972, 1105. L. Callebat did not include the word turbela in his treatise Sermo cotidianus dans les Metamorphoses d'Apulee (1968) which could mean that he did not consider it to be colloquial. Ronsch 1869, 45-47. Still, the Lewis and Short dictionary labels turbela (meaning `a bustle, stir, row') as used “only in vulg. lang”: Lewis, Short 1891, 1917. Marking -ela as a vulgar suffix, R. T. Van der Paardt refers to H. Ronsch, who gives a list of nouns in -ela.21 They are indeed mainly attested in the Late Latin and in comedic writers of the archaic period. Nevertheless, it does not mean that one can label them as vulgar. For example, loquela can be found in works which can hardly be described as colloquial: Verg. Aen. 5. 842, Ov. Tr. 5. 2. 68, Lucr. 1. 39. It is more likely that loquela is a poetic word with an archaic tint: quidam loqelam dixerunt verbum quod in lo- quendo efferimus (Varro Ling. 6. 57). Horace names the Venus' companion Peitho Suadela (Ep. 1. 638). There can also be no doubt that Festus regards the -ela words as archaic: con- fugelam antiqui confugium dicebant (35 L), custodelam dicebant antiqui, quam nunc dici- mus custodiam (44 L). As for turbela, it is improbable that it could be considered vulgar in Apuleius' De Deo Socratis or Augustine's De Civitate Dei.22 The Ernout-Meillet etymological dictionary marks as archaic such words as medela, loquela, suadela, custodela, fugela, leaving turbela unlabeled. However, it notes that the word was borrowed from Plautus by Apuleius: Ernout, Meillet 1951, 1251. A lot of words in -ela are attested mostly in the late authors, a number of them being juridical terms (mandatela, tutela, sequela). The Institutes of Gaius preserved the following formula for the conveyance of property to a fiduciary: familiam pecuniamque tuam endo mandatela tua custodelaque mea esse aio (2. 104); and juridical formulas are likely to contain archaic terms, not vulgar. Turbela is believed to be archaic by several researchers of Apuleian vocabulary, cf. Roncaioli 1966, 334; Gargantini 1963, 35.

Apuleius was definitely fond of the words in -ela, they are attested in all the extant works of his, but most often, in the Metamorphoses. For instance, we find medela 8 times in the Metamorphoses, once in the Apologia, once in the De Platone, tutela -- 14 times in the Metamorphoses, 3 times in the De Platone and twice in the De mundo.25 It is probable that Apuleius borrowed many of them from the archaic writers: a similar situation as with turbela can be found in other cases (before Apuleius custodela and cautela are attested only in Plautus, fugela -- only in Cato). Tertullian also has an inclination to the nouns in -ela: in his works we find such hapaxes as captatela, fovella, peccatella.26

It is natural that Apuleius felt the need for these words in order to provide greater lexical diversity. The fashion in which Apuleius puts together the words of different stylistic connotations shows that he uses the archaisms not so much as ancient elevated words, but as lexical elements which can strike the reader with the uncommonness in comparison with the usual vocabulary and give the sense of new and ever-changing form. Apuleius indeed likes to use different stylistically-colored cognates to describe the same objects and actions:

turba -- turbela (archaic) -- turbula (a non-diminutive coined by Apuleius) affamen (poetic neologism) -- affatus

altrinsecus (archaic) -- alterorsus (neologism, cf. altrovorsum in Pl. Cas. 555) amicimen (neologism) -- amictus antelucio (neologism) -- anteluculo (hapax)

asinarius (probably with an archaic tint)27 -- asininus -- asinalis (neologism)

barbitium (neologism) -- barba

canto -- cantito (archaic) -- cantilo (neologism)

cantamen (poetic) -- cantatio -- cantio

capillitium (neologism) -- capillamentum -- capillus

cavillatus (neologism) -- cavillum

circumcirca (archaic) -- circumsecus (neologism)

commino (neologism) -- promino (neologism) -- mino

commorsico (neologism) -- demorsico (neologism) -- morsico

domuscula (neologism) -- domuncula

efflicte (neologism) -- efflictim (archaic)

famulitio (neologism) -- famulitium (cf. famuletium in Paul. Fest. 77 L)

flammidus (neologism) -- flammeus

gaudialis (neologism) -- gaudibundus (neologism)

inalbeo (neologism) -- inalbo (neologism, cf. indalbo in Enn. Ann. 212)

infans -- infantilis (neologism) -- infantulus (neologism)

meaculum (neologism) -- demeaculum (hapax) -- remeaculum (hapax)

meditatus (neologism) -- meditatio

parciloquium (neologism, cf. Plautine pauciloquium, parumloquium)

polentacius28 (neologism, cf. polentarius in Pl. Curc. 295)

postica (neologism) -- posticula (hapax, cf. posticulum in Pl. Trin. 194; 1085)

See also Piechotta 1882, 28-29.

Vertegaal 2015, 38.

Gargantini 1963, 34.

A hapax (Met. 6. 19. 2), some editors prefer printing polentarius.

rumigo (neologism, cf. rumino) salebritas (neologism, cf. salebra) semiamputatus (neologism, cf. semiputatus) semisopitus (neologism) -- semisomnus subterrenus (neologism) -- subterraneus supplicue (neologism) -- suppliciter susurramen (neologism) -- susurrus tegile (neologism, cf. tegillum)

Given all the above considerations, it is logical to say that Apuleius must have borrowed the word turbela from Plautus and regarded it as an archaism. The assumptions of its vulgar nature are largely based on two weak arguments: diminutive meaning (not evident from the works of Apuleius) and the abundance of nouns in -ela in the Late Latin and comedic writers. In actuality, these words are present in the writings of all periods, and their context does not suggest that they were a part of the colloquial lexicon.

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