Research
Department Research
The Oxford Latin Syntax
Under the direction of Harm Pinkster ( University of Amsterdam), the University of Chicago is hosting the Oxford Latin Syntax project. A descriptive grammar of Latin, the Oxford Latin Syntax covers more or less the same period as the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae, from the earliest documents till roughly A.D. 500, although the emphasis will be on the period between 200 BC and AD 200. It is meant to replace the German Latin Syntax by Raphael Kühner, revised by Carl Stegmann before the first World War (Hannover 1912, 2 vols.).
The Syntax is intended for professionals, both linguists and Latinists. It puts the emphasis on the normal constructions, giving a few numbered typical examples, including the oldest and the latest attestations, with translations, and an explanation of how the constructions worked, were distributed, and developed over time. To give more perspective, additional examples are added without further comment. While avoiding formalism, useful modern linguistic concepts will be used, if necessary with an explanation of how they relate to traditional terminology. The index will allow those not familiar with modern linguistic terminology to find the relevant pages using traditional terminology. The theoretical framework will be functional, which means that discourse phenomena, pragmatic, and stylistic factors will get due attention. The grammar aims to cover all text types, not only the literary ones, and will include inscriptional and other directly transmitted material.
The project is generously supported by the Salus Mundi Foundation and the Syntax will be published by Oxford University Press.
The Complete Works of Lucius Annaeus Seneca Translated into English and Published in 8 Volumes
Edited by Elizabeth Asmis, Shadi Bartsch, Martha C. Nussbaum, and David Wray
This project will publish the complete works of the Stoic philosopher and playwright Lucius Annaeus Seneca ("Seneca the Younger") in authoritative, modern English translations. The translations are intended to be used by Latinless college students and by instructors in comparative literature, classics, philosophy, and drama courses as well as by more advanced students and professionals reading in Latin who wish to cite an authoritative translation. The translated texts will be supplemented by introductions and notes appropriate to the intended audiences. While one purpose of the project is to make available high-quality translations to Latinless readers, the other, more tacit purpose is to restore Seneca's oeuvre to the stature it enjoyed prior to the nineteenth century, and to introduce Seneca’s voice to a new generation of readers in philosophy, literature, drama, and the humanities.