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Sicilicus

Diacritical mark in old Latin

Summary

Diacritical mark in old Latin

Field	Value
name	Sicilicus
unicode

A sicilicus was an old Latin diacritical mark, ****, like a reversed C (Ɔ) placed above a letter and evidently deriving its name from its shape like a little sickle (which is sicilis in Latin). The ancient sources say that during the time of the Republic it was placed above a geminate consonant to indicate that the consonant counted twice, although there is hardly any epigraphic or paleographic evidence available from such an early time. When such geminate consonants began to be represented during classical times by writing the letter twice, the sicilicus naturally fell into disuse in this function, but continued to be used to indicate the doubling of vowels as an indication of length, in the developed form of the apex. Fontaine suggests that Plautus alludes to the sicilicus in the prologue to Menaechmi.

References

Lewis and Short Latin Lexicon

Notes

References

Cf. [[John Edwin Sandys]], ''A Companion to Latin Studies'', Cambridge University Press 1910, §1099, p. 743, where specific instances are provided: {{CIL. 5. 1361, {{CIL. 10. 3743, {{CIL. 12. 414.
Cf. [[Isidore]] ''Etymologiae'' 1.27.29 ({{lang. la. ubi litterae consonantes geminabantur, sicilicum superponebant, ut 'cella', 'serra', 'asseres': ueteres enim non duplicabant litteras, sed supra sicilicos adponebant; qua nota admonebatur lector geminandam esse litteram); [[Nisos. Nisus]] fr. 5 Mazzarino in [[Velius Longus]] ''de Orthographia'' Keil 7.80; [[Gaius Marius Victorinus]] ''Ars Grammatica'' 4.2 Mariotti.
''[https://www.jstor.org/stable/292702 Apex and Sicilicus]'', [[Revilo P. Oliver]], The American Journal of Philology, Vol. 87, No. 2. (Apr., 1966), pp. 156-58. For a counter-view see [[Michael Fontaine]], [https://www.jstor.org/stable/4433712 '' ''Sicilicissitat'' (Plautus, ''Menaechmi'' 12) and Early Geminate Writing in Latin (with an Appendix on ''Men''. 13).''] ''Mnemosyne'', Volume 59, Number 1 (2006) pp. 104-5.
[[Michael Fontaine]], [https://www.jstor.org/stable/4433712 '' ''Sicilicissitat'' (Plautus, ''Menaechmi'' 12) and Early Geminate Writing in Latin (with an Appendix on ''Men''. 13).''] ''Mnemosyne'', Volume 59, Number 1 (2006) pp. 95-110.

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latin-script-diacritics palaeography

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