Per exempla: The Forms and Uses of Example Markers in Latin

Abstract: The ways in which exemplification is performed in Latin deserve close investigation for several reasons. First, this complex discourse operation features in almost every argued text but is essentially neglected in Latin syntax handbooks. Second, Latin authors employed a variety of example markers, but only sparse comments on individual forms can be found in the lexica and literature. Moreover, most European languages use adverbials containing epigones of the noun exemplum to introduce examples, but expressions like Eng. for example or It. per esempio have no direct Latin antecedents. To address these understudied issues, the present paper provides a corpus-based analysis of the different words (e.g., ut, velut, sicut), phrases (e.g., exempli gratia, verbi causa), and constructions (e.g., ut puta, si dicas) exploited to mark the exemplifying sequence. The discussion will cover the classification, emergence, and multiple roles of these functional signals in different textual genres, with special attention to grammatical treatises, where examples are fundamental for the description and explanation of linguistic phenomena. The results will be relevant not only for Latin but also for understanding the evolution of example markers in general.