The Monastic Rules of Visigothic Iberia - eTheses Repository ...

genealogia, et de sua gente fatetur esse principes: alius de parentibus, alius de germanis,
alius de cognatis, alius de fratribus et consanguineis, et idoneis”; 552 “et non matrem, non
germanam, non uxorem, non filiam, non propinquam, non extraneam, non ancillam, non
qualecunque genus mulierum uiris ministrare in infirmitate mandamus”; 553 “Si quis sane ex
nobis contra regulam occulte cum parentibus, germanis, filiis, cognatis, uel propinquis, aut
certe cum fratre secum habitante consilium de absente supradicto Patre nostro inierit,
habeas potestatem in unumquemque qui hoc facinus tentauerit, ut per sex menses indutus
tegmine raso aut cilicio, discinctus, et discalceatus, in solo pane et aqua, in cella obscura
excommunicatus sit”. 554 In one of these cases, the term is used alongside frater. This is
possibly a case of synonymy, or possibly because it had some other meaning. It nevertheless
still clearly indicates some sort of family relationship.
With regard to vocabulary, then, the monastic rules offer some interesting insights.
First, they can be seen to be texts that are fully reflective of the period in which they were
written. This includes the use of vocabulary associated in particular with Christianity, but
also Germanic borrowings. Second, their language, which previously in this chapter had
been argued to be reflective of the spoken register, shows many changes that are either
indicative of later Latin prose more generally, or else reflective of changes that would
eventually occur in Romance. Third, despite these phenomena, the Latinity of the monastic
rules nevertheless has much in common with its classical counterparts, a detail that will be
discussed further in Chapter Six.
552 Common Rule 13.
553 Common Rule 17.
554 Pactum.
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