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

These points are of particular importance because it was demonstrated previously that
a characteristic feature of the monastic rules is their desire for clarity. On the one hand, this
is typical of technical language, whose didacticism does not necessarily rule out literary
polish, but does require that information be conveyed appropriately in a manner that is
intelligible to its audience. On the other hand, it was shown in Chapter Five that Isidore in
particular was explicit about his monastic rule being easier to understand than the writings of
some of his predecessors (ut facillime intelligatis). It would make little sense, then, to use
forms that may not be understood by their audience.
6.8 Further Analysis of Use
The monastic rules employ verbs that possess both an active and deponent form:
nutrio / nutrior; reuerto / reuortor; mereo / mereor; uenero / ueneror; luxurio / luxorior;
perscruto / perscrutor; scisito / scisitor. There is nothing unusual in this, since it appears that
deponent verbs in Latin were prone to instability from the earliest evidenced period of the
language, with many deponent forms having active counter-parts: arbitror / arbitro; auguror
/ auguro; muneror / munero; populor / populo (after Clackson & Horrocks 2007: 224). In
addition, some verbs possessed semi-deponent forms, with a present active but a perfect
passive form, like the example of audeo, but ausus sum, and fido, but fisus sum. 558 This
suggests instability between the two forms from an early period. Alteration between
deponent and normal active forms of the same verb is evidenced in Classical writers, and is
558 The reason for this is probably because they descended from a Proto-Indo-European middle form,
although it is impossible to state why they were not generalised as active forms like the others, or else
a middle voice retained alongside the passive and active as in Greek and Sanskrit (Baldi 2002: 395-
396; see also Lehmann 1974; Parker 1976).
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