Odp: Praenestine fibula

----- Original Message -----

From: Gregory L. Eyink

To: cybalist@eGroups.com

Sent: Wednesday, March 15, 2000 7:02 AM

Subject: [cybalist] Praenestine fibula

Hi, gang! I have been reading this list with enjoyment for awhile now.
I am a theoretical physicist by trade, with just an amateur interest 
in historical Indo-European linguistics. I thought that I would break 
my silence to ask the experts a few questions. Here is a simple one: 

I was reading recently Andrew L. Sihler's "New Comparative Grammar 
of Greek and Latin" (Oxford, 1995). However, I was surprised by his 
assertion, made several times, that the famous archaic Latin inscription

       Manios med fhefhaked Numasioi

on the Praenestine fibula is a 19th century forgery! This example is 
always given as the earliest extant Latin, e.g. in Cyril's recent 
on-line comparative Latin grammar. I was thus even more surprised 
that Sihler did not give a published reference to support his assertion.
Does anyone have any information on this?

I'm also taken aback. If it's a hoax, it's the Piltdown Man of historical linguistics, no less. Everybody should have heard about it by now. Well, I haven't, and I've got some books published in recent years which mention the Praenestine inscription without questioning its authenticity. If Sihler gives no reference (and no circumstances of the forgery, I gather), it's perhaps a private theory of his. I'll ask my coleagues from Classical Philology.

 

Piotr