Duties and Epistolarity. Semantic Transformations of officium in Latin Epistolography, IV–V c.
Duties and Epistolarity. Semantic Transformations of officium in Latin Epistolography, IV–V c.

Summary/Abstract: This paper deals with a group of Latin substantives which acquired a new meaning and became, in effect, synonyms for epistula in letter collections of the fourth and fifth centuries. The semantic development of these words, which designate in their original meaning as nomina abstracta the reciprocal character of some kind of relationship (family, friendship, patronage) is examined on the ground of semantic changes of officium, a concept of central importance for the Roman world. It has been demonstrated that officium as a common word denoting ‘a letter’ occurs for the first time in the correspondence of Q. Aurelius Symmachus and, later, in the letters of Christian authors of the fourth and fifth centuries. The rethinking of the concept of officium by Symmachus is viewed in the context of several fixed semantic oppositions that became an integral part of the content of the Christian letter.

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