The Language of Saint Augustine’s Sermons and How He Became Familiar with Christian Latin
The Language of Saint Augustine’s Sermons and How He Became Familiar with Christian Latin

Summary/Abstract: In this article, I would like to emphasize that the language of Saint Augustine’s sermons was Christian Latin, given that in 4th century North Africa, bureaucratic practices, judicial discussions, school education and the spread of culture were conducted in Latin. However, alongside the “cult” of educated people, there was also the “sermo plebeius, vulgaris, cotidianus” of the common people, who often and lovingly embellished Latin grammar and words with Punic or Libyan reminiscences. However, there was also this third linguistic vein, that of “Libyan” or “barbarian”, about which very little is known since only a few rare inscriptions have been preserved and not a single literary piece. In the second part, I highlight the way in which Saint Augustine became familiar with Christian Latin. While in the works from Cassiciacum, Augustine’s language and style are still dominated by ancient and profane tradition – according to his own testimony –, we find that, in the works of the following years, they slowly and little by little approach the Christian tradition. His syntax that was so traditional in the works from Cassiciacum, conforms little by little to the current language use of his era. In the years after his baptism, Augustine not only objectively familiarizes himself with the idiom of the Christians, but struggles to overcome the linguistic and stylistic habits that made the adoption of a specific term difficult for the former rhetorician.

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