Compagni e altre metafore: la rete semantica della preposizione cum in Plauto

Abstract

In this essay we intend to provide a description of the semantic network of cum + ablative within the phase of Latin attested in the comedies of Plautus (between the 3rd and 2nd century BC). The preposition cum in Latin occurs in a number of functions, both semantic and grammatical, that have been addressed in traditional lexicons, grammars and studies, as well as in functionalist and typological linguistic literature. What is lacking in this panorama is an analysis of the behaviour of the preposition which, starting from the principles of embodiment and cognitive grammar, investigates its semantic network and attempts to motivate its polysemy and to analyse the semantic roles it helps to express.