Humanidades

The Tabula Veliterna: A sacred law from Central Italy

2026-06-12T00:00:25Z

[EN] This is a study of the Tabula Veliterna, a legal document found in Velletri and referring to the safeguard of the goods of the goddess Declona and the measures to be taken in case of theft or profanation thereof. I shall undertake a radically different approach to syntax, phonetics and morphology. In turn, some of the conclusions may have some bearing on our conception of Sabellic phonetics and phonology

The back vowels of South Oscan: a Study in Oscan Epigraphy, Phonology and Etymology

2026-06-12T00:00:24Z

[EN] The Oscan inscriptions of Lucania and Bruttium are written in the Greek (specifically Ionic) alphabet. However, the values of some letters are still disputed, since they seem to vary according to personal choice on the part of the scribal schools or to dialectal differences not always easy to track down. Oscan back vowels, which, for all we know, were only three, /o/, /u/ and /uː/, are not always consistently spelt, and this has made etymological speculation a hard task. While the choice of letters may occasionally depend on the individual carvers, the recognition of apparent inconsistencies often depends on objectionable etymologies. In this work I shall try to show that the spelling of the back vowels in South Oscan is certainly less arbitrary than assumed in previous accounts, that dialectal differences cannot be convincingly identified, and, crucially, that the precise, and in principle phonemic, value of individual letters or groups of letters can only be determined by comparing the use of other letters in the same texts or in texts presumably coming from the same workshops or the same areas. I shall distinguish a group of texts in which the vowels /o/ and /u/ are respectively rendered <ω> and (especially in Central Lucania) from another group in which they are rendered and (Southern Lucania and Bruttium). I shall conclude that two different regional alphabets, a “Lucanian” and a “Bruttian” one, can be identified. As regards new etymologies, the origin of the divine name διομανας, long believed to be the Sabellic cognate of L. domina, will be addressed. In the light of recent epigraphic discoveries, I shall additionally call attention to the existence of a hitherto overlooked Oscan magistracy, whose name goes back to Proto-Sabellic *puklīno- and is built from a collective noun *puklā ‘youth’, a possibility supported by a new look at the form prupukid in the cippus abellanus. An alternative reading of σκαλαπ(ονις) ολκϝηις as σκαλαπο(νις) [π]ακϝηις in the new apograph of Anzi is proposed, which falls into line with occurrences of the same name in other Lucanian texts and reveals the importance of the gens Scalponia. The fact that this text forms part of a larger monument (ST Lu 39) underpins the hypothesis that <ω> was not introduced in Lucania before 200 BC.

The sibilant sounds of Hispano-Celtic: phonetics, phonology and orthography

2026-06-12T00:00:23Z

[EN] On the strength of both recent discoveries concerning the use of the Latin alphabet in different places of Central Hispania to write official documents in Celtiberian and the new readings of indigenous names on inscriptions belonging to Latin, not Celtiberian, epigraphy, some novel reflections on Celtiberian phonology are in order. Epigraphic and linguistic considerations in turn lead to a refinement in the delimitation of Hispano-Celtic regions. These attend to dialectal differences and to the emergence and stabilisation of scribal habits. New etymologies for some hitherto uninterpreted or even misinterpreted personal names are put forward. Some of these have the comparative advantage of matching inherited Celtic forms surviving in Insular Celtic and Gaulish. Finally, three new readings are proposed: BVGANSONIS, CLOVSOCVM and AISAE, possibly also VXSEISVS

Some Linguistic Considerations on a New Celtiberian Bronze

2026-06-12T00:00:22Z

[EN] This work tackles a preliminary linguistic analysis of a new Celtiberian bronze in the Latin alphabet, probably dating back to the mid 1st c. BC. As usual with objects that remain in private hands and cannot be directly studied by professionals, doubts on its authenticity will predictably hover over any attempt to interpret it. However, many traits of the text merit comment. The onomastic and appellative material of the new bronze will prove instrumental in confi rming the existence of a western Celtiberian dialect, spoken by the Arevaci, characterised by: a) early loss of fi nal dental sounds; the only case of fi nal -􀶌, 􀵺􀶍􀶍􀵾􀶌, goes back to a heteromorphemic sequence -t-s and must consequently be ascribed to the phoneme /sː/ (which had a tense articulation, probably a geminate in intervocalic position), refl ected by -s in Early Celtiberian; b) monophthongisation of all instances of an inherited diphthong /e/, shared by the rest of Celtic Hispania (<􀵾􀶂> refl ects the emergence of secondary diphthongs: the forms 􀵽􀶂􀵺􀶂􀶇􀶂􀶆, 􀵺􀶇􀵾􀶂􀶍􀶍􀶂􀶊 show the eff ects of the sound change -χt- > -t- well known from Brittonic and Romance); c) fi nal nasals haphazardly show up as -􀶆, -􀶇 or are even omitted, which is suggestive of their weakness. By contrast, the tendency of the cluster -t- to assibilation is not detectable. The study will also confi rm that forms, including a number of proper names, hitherto poorly or not attested in Hispano-Celtic are, in fact, to be traced back to Proto-Celtic. It goes without saying, this bronze has not been cleaned and the readings may change over time, pending a thorough revision of better photographs or direct handling of the object.

The Use of San in the Lugano Alphabet. A Survey of Cisalpine Celtic Onomastics

2026-06-12T00:00:15Z

[EN] The so-called “Lugano alphabet” is a northern Italian script that derives from the Etruscan alphabet. It was used to write Celtic texts belonging to the Lepontic language, uncovered in the centre of the Gallia Transpadana (Lombardy in Italy and Ticino in southern Switzerland), ranging from the 6th c. to the 1st c. BC, and a later variety called Cisalpine Gaulish, again located in the Transpadana (Lombardy and Piedmont in Italy), whose earliest texts date from the 4th c. BC, and which represents a later wave of immigrants or invaders. This dialect is distinguished from the former by a few morphological traits, like the patronymic suffi x -iknovs. Lepontic -alo-. While the Lugano script is deciphered in its entirety, some pending issues remain as to the actual use of some of its letters, its evolution and possible external infl uence from related alphabets. This work will address the problem of the so-called “butterfl y sign,” a letter transliterated as <ś>, which shows diff erent shapes, some of them easily confusable with , and goes back to Greek san. For the “butterfl y sign” a high number of synchronic values and etymological origins has been proposed. The article attempts to show that its use overlaps with that of zeta, transliterated as . Both may have had a single value, and the refl ected phoneme is in both cases a voiceless aff ricate that goes back to Indo-European /st/, /ts/ or /ds/, to epenthesis of /t/ in a sequence *-ns#, or to aff rication of /d/ in coda position. The author also evaluates the possibility that the occurrence of san and tau gallicum in some contexts, specifi cally in codas, is due to mere phonemic reallocation not mediated by sound change.

La traza de una girola en la Torre del Ángel de la catedral de Cuenca (España)

2026-06-05T00:00:17Z

[ES] Las trazas de arquitectura, que hoy llamaríamos planos, ayudaban al maestro a reflejar todo su ingenio e inventiva para “vender” su proyecto al mecenas correspondiente, o para defender su posición en caso de pleito o conflicto por la obra en cuestión. Una planta de iglesia de tres naves con girola, en principio podría hacer referencia a cualquiera de las dos cuestiones arriba planteadas y no supondría mayor misterio. Sin embargo, si esta traza no se localiza en un pleito o contrato, sino que se encuentra incisa sobre los paramentos de una construcción a la que, inicialmente, no parece estar haciendo referencia, la trama se complica un poco más. En esta última línea se enmarca la traza de una iglesia de tres naves con girola localizada en la pared de la Torre del Ángel de la catedral de Cuenca (España), que ha ocasionado un gran interés, así como numerosas dudas acerca de su realización. Cuándo se hizo, quién la realizó y por qué, son las cuestiones que han suscitado mayor preocupación. Esta muchas veces ha derivado en la necesidad de buscar la autoría del diseño, o su relación con algún edificio concreto ya construido, dejando de lado, quizá la propia traza. En este trabajo, trataremos de poner en valor, precisamente, este dibujo, sin olvidarnos de aquellas teorías vertidas al respecto, pero focalizando el interés en el propio diseño. [EN] The architectural traces, which today we would call plans, helped the master mason to reflect all his ingenuity and inventiveness in order to “sell” his project to the corresponding sponsor, or to defend his position in the event of a lawsuit or conflict over the work in question. A church plan with three naves and an ambulatory could in principle refer to either of the two issues raised above and would not be a great mystery. However, if this layout is not located in a lawsuit or contract but is found incised on the walls of a construction to which, initially, it does not seem to be making reference, the plot becomes a little more complicated. In this last line is the outline of a church with three naves and ambulatory located on the wall of the Angel’s tower of the cathedral of Cuenca (Spain), which has caused great interest, as well as numerous doubts about its construction. When it was made, who made it and why, are the questions that have given rise to the greatest concern. This has often led to the need to seek the authorship of the design, or its relationship with a specific building already built, perhaps leaving aside the design itself. In this work, we will try to highlight precisely this drawing, without forgetting the theories that have been put forward in this respect but focusing our interest on the design itself.

Huellas en Piedra: Monteas en el claustro de la Catedral de Cuenca

2026-06-05T00:00:15Z

[ES] Los magister operis se servían de lo que tenían más a mano para proporcionar a sus canteros los datos necesarios para realizar correctamente el corte de la piedra. En el Claustro de la Catedral de Cuenca, ejecutado por Juan Andrea Rodi con trazas de Juan de Herrera, hemos localizado una serie de monteas que merecen ser dadas a conocer para poner en valor esta tradición y con ello proteger estas huellas en piedra. [ES] The magister operis used what they had around to provide their stonemasons with the data to correctly perform the cutting of the stone. In the cloister of the Cathedral of Cuenca, executed by Juan Andrea Rodi with traces of Juan de Herrera, we have located a series of traces that deserve to be published to value this tradition and thereby protect these footprints in stone.

Instrucciones en piedra: algunas monteas en la catedral de Cuenca

2026-06-05T00:00:14Z

[ES] El uso de monteas se conoce desde época helenística. Sin embargo, con la llegada de los nuevos sistemas constructivos a la arquitectura moderna, su utilización cayó en desuso, reduciendo su importancia a meras huellas del pasado sin alma, sin nada que decir. Nosotros no pensamos eso, creemos que el hecho de que haya monteas escondidas entre los muros de muchas construcciones pétreas demuestra que su uso fue harto frecuente durante siglos. Además, de esta manera podemos acercarnos a los sistemas constructivos y a los encargados de la realización de la parte más práctica de la arquitectura. Entre los muros de la Catedral de Cuenca hemos podido localizar una importante serie de monteas, algunas de extrema belleza, que demuestran la cotidianeidad del uso de monteas en las construcciones en piedra en España. En este trabajo vamos a centramos en aquéllas localizadas en la llamada Casa del Sacristán; un total de diez monteas, de las cuales vamos a destacar siete. [EN] The use of traces is known since Ancient Greece. However, with the introduction of new construction systems in modern architecture, they foil into disuse reducing their importance to mere traces of thc past without a soul, without anything to say. Wc disagrec with this; we believe that the prcsence of traces hidden within thc walls of many stonc buildings shows that their use was very common for centuries. In addition, this idea allows us to get closer the buildnd systems and to those people responsable for carying out the practical part of the construction. Between the walls of the Cathedral of Cuenca we have been able to locate a number of important traces, sorne of extreme beauty, showing the everyday use of traces in stone buildings in Spain. In this paper we will focus on the ten traces located in the so-called Casa del Sacristán, of which we will highlight seven.

La complejidad de la palabra montea y los sinónimos que la rodean: una aclaración terminológica

2026-06-05T00:02:15Z

[ES] El término montea −así como sus sinónimos− tiene cierta controversia por varios motivos: es prácticamente exclusivo del ambiente artístico hispano, dejó de utilizarse de manera habitual al mismo tiempo que la cantería iniciaba su declive en pro de los nuevos materiales constructivos −como el hormigón−, su significado sigue generando confusión y son varios los sinónimos que se le adjudican −no siempre de manera correcta−. Este estudio propone una revisión de esta palabra, así como de sus distintos sinónimos en base a la experiencia adquirida con los numerosos casos prácticos localizados en algunos monumentos pétreos de gran interés. [EN] The word montea −as well as its synonyms− is somewhat controversial for several reasons: it is practically exclusive to the Hispanic artistic environment, it ceased to be commonly used at the same time that stonework began its decline in favour of new construction materials −such as concrete−, its meaning continues to generate confusion and there are several synonyms that are attributed to it −not always correctly−. This study proposes a revision of this word, as well as its different synonyms, based on the experience acquired with the numerous practical cases found in some stone monuments of great interest.

Alonso de Guardia: maestro cantero de posible origen navarro y autor de un manuscrito de cantería

2026-06-05T00:02:14Z

[ES] En 1993, Fernando Marías dio a conocer un cuaderno de cantería firmado por un tal “Alonso de Guardia”. A partir de entonces, varios investigadores se han interesado en el estudio de sus contenidos. Todos ellos coincidían en que no se sabía nada acerca de este maestro cantero. Por ello, muchos han considerado que la presencia de la firma en el manuscrito era una cuestión de propiedad –no tanto de autoría– y que, el supuesto apellido “de Guardia”, estaría, sobre todo, haciendo alusión a una posible procedencia geográfica. Sin embargo, una investigación reciente del cuaderno nos ha llevado a localizar a este maestro trabajando en Cuenca a finales del siglo xvi y, gracias a la documentación conservada, poder realizar una comparativa entre las firmas incluidas en el manuscrito y en la tasación de una obra, así como a establecer su procedencia navarra. [EN] In 1993, Fernando Marías revealed a notebook of stonework signed by a “Alonso de Guardia”. Since then, several researchers have been interested in studying its contents. All of them agreed that nothing was known about this master stonemason. For this reason, many considered that the presence of the signature on the manuscript was a question of ownership – not so much of authorship –and that the supposed surname “de Guardia” was, above all, alluding to a possible geographical origin. However, recent research intothe notebook has led us to locate this master working in Cuenca at the end of the 16th century and, thanks to the surviving documentation, to be able to compare the signatures included in the manuscript and in the appraisal of a work, as well as to establish its Navarrese origin.

Un nuevo hallazgo epigráfico de Lucena (Córdoba): el epitafio de Deutera

2026-06-04T00:02:03Z

[ES] En este trabajo se presenta la edición de una nueva inscripción funeraria hallada recientemente en el término municipal de Lucena (Córdoba). Se trata de una estela de piedra caliza blanca que conserva el epitafio de una mujer llamada Deutera, datable en época julio-claudia. El hallazgo destaca por su interés onomástico, ya que la estructura uninominal del nombre sugiere una condición servil, reforzada por el origen griego del antropónimo, que se encuentra además poco documentado en la epigrafía hispana. Por consiguiente, su aparición en un contexto histórico tan temprano, en una zona de incipiente romanización, permite plantear su vinculación con una familia de ciudadanos romanos o profundamente romanizada. En este caso, se propone una posible relación con los Fuficii, una gens de probable origen itálico asentada posiblemente en Augusta Firma (Astigi), que habría poseído propiedades rústicas en el territorio actual de la Campiña Sur y Subbética cordobesas.

The One and the Many Borders of a Sari: Paratactics of Place and the Remapping of Rootlessness in Jhumpa Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies and The Namesake

2026-06-03T00:01:25Z

[EN] Estudio de realidades espaciales y comparativa literaria en las dos obras elegidas. La hipótesis es que Lahiri propone una versión propia de palimpsesto intercultural

A Fashionable India? Fossils and Re-Orientalisms in Aravind Adiga's The White Tiger and Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire

2026-06-03T00:01:32Z

[ES] Se estudian los fósiles y fetiches culturales en las dos novelas y en en los discursos mediáticos sobre ellas

Sarojini Naidu (1879-1949) Changing Tides and Wind-Blown Canopies of Crimson Gulmohurs: Paratactic Indianness and Empowering Womanhood in Sarojini Naidu’s Poetry

2026-06-03T00:01:31Z

[ES] Estudio crítico de la obra poética de Sarojini Naidu destacando los rasgos vernaculares y locales de su poesía en el contexto de India como conceptualización abstracta en el proceso de (post)colonización

Review of Mourning and Resilience in Indian Ocean Life Writing

2026-06-02T00:02:26Z

Review of Mourning and Resilience in Indian Ocean Life Writing, by Esther Pujolràs-Noguer and Felicity Hand, Palgrave MacMillan, 2024, 1–222 pp., ISBN 978-3-031-46344-0, ISBN 978-3-031-46345-7 (eBook)

El proceso para analizar la relevancia del uso de las TIC e IA en la adquisición autónoma del vocabulario alemán

2026-06-02T00:02:21Z

[SP] Este proyecto evalúa la integración de las TIC, la gamificación y la inteligencia artificial para mejorar la competencia léxica en alumnos universitarios de alemán nivel A1. El estudio se estructuró en tres fases progresivas que incluyeron un cuestionario inicial, un pretest, actividades de práctica autónoma y un postest final. Las TIC sirvieron para fomentar el aprendizaje activo y autodirigido de los participantes mediante diversas aplicaciones interactivas. Paralelamente, se empleó la herramienta ChatGPT para redactar y corregir textos paralelos, promoviendo la retroalimentación inmediata. Los análisis cualitativos y cuantitativos, como la prueba de Wilcoxon, demostraron un avance estadísticamente significativo en las calificaciones de los estudiantes. Finalmente, se constató un incremento notable en la motivación, el interés por el idioma y la confianza en la aplicación práctica del vocabulario [EN] This project evaluates the integration of ICT, gamification, and artificial intelligence to improve lexical competence in university students of German at the A1 level. The study was structured in three progressive phases, including an initial questionnaire, a pretest, independent practice activities, and a final posttest. ICT was used to foster active and self-directed learning among participants through various interactive applications. The ChatGPT tool was also used to draft and correct parallel texts, promoting immediate feedback. Qualitative and quantitative analyses, such as the Wilcoxon test, demonstrated a statistically significant improvement in student scores. Finally, a notable increase in motivation, interest in the language, and confidence in the practical application of vocabulary was observed.