Adventures of a palaeolinguist
The curious bronze, knuckle-shaped object pictured is an ancient weight excavated from the east coast of Italy. The inscription scrawled along its side is written in the language of ancient people, known to the Romans as the Frentani.
It has an alphabet similar to Latin but actually reads from right to left, like mirror-writing. The second line is easily decipherable; it reads Frentiaís, meaning that the bronze was cast in Frentani territory. This object is one of the last remaining documents written in this ancient language.
However, scholars disagree about the interpretation of the first line. Dr James Clackson – from the Faculty of Classics at the University of Cambridge – is a palaeolinguist, who works on reconstructing these ancient languages which have long been lost in the dustbowl of history.
He will be giving a talk on his research combining classics, ancient history and linguistics on Monday, 24 October as part of the Festival of Ideas, the UK’s only festival devoted to the arts, humanities and social sciences.
http://www.cam.ac.uk/festivalofideas/whats-on/?uid=dbce003d-40ad-3550-b99b-f398128d851c&date=2011-10-24
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