Notes to Dasumia inscription

Notes to Inscription for Dasumia Soteris

Di Manes, m. pl.: the spirits of the dead, the divine spirits; the abbreviation DM or the full phrase in the dative is regularly found at the head of tombstone inscriptions from the end of the 1st century BCE to the end of the 2nd century CE.

Dasumia, -ae f.: gens Dasumia. Upon manumission, a freedwoman adopted the feminine form of her master’s nomen as her first name, followed by her slave name. Since Dasumia is called libertae by her husband, she was probably his slave whom he freed so that he could marry her.

Soteris, -idis f.: female savior, deliverer. Soteris, her slave name, is a derivation from the Greek. She may have been Greek by birth, although under the empire it was fashionable to give slaves Greek names regardless of their origin.

optimus, -a, -um: best, noblest, most excellent; the superlative form of bonus.

coniunx, -iugis m. f.: spouse; husband, wife.

sanctissimus, -a, um: most blameless, pious, virtuous; superlative of sanctus.

benemerens, -entis: deserving well, estimable; sometimes written as two words or simply abbreviated: BM

Calistus, -i m.: Calistus. Dasumius’ husband was a freedman whose cognomen, Calistus, was his slave name. Upon manumission he adopted the praenomen (Lucius) and the nomen (Dasumius) of his former master.

ullus, -a, -um: any at all.

querella, -ae f.: complaint; lament; difference of opinion; grievance.

opto, -are, -avi, -atum: wish, choose, prefer; the participle is followed by ut, introducing two pluperfect subjunctive clauses that express Calistus's desire (fuisset, reliquisset).

sibi reflexive pronoun, dative case: to himself, herself, themselves. The pronoun refers to Calistus, the subject of the main clause optans, whose thought is expressed in the subordinate clause fuisset.

potius adverb: rather; introduces Calistus' preference to what actually happened (quam. . .reliquisset).

superstes, -itis: remaining alive; surviving; the adjective modifies ipsa, the subject of fuisset, and is followed by the dative of the person outlived.

se: Since the two reflexive pronouns refer to two different people, grammatically Calistus needed to write either me or eum instead of se. He seems to have preferred the alliterative se sibi, which visually captures his bond with Dasumia.

relinquō, -linquere, -līquī, -lictum: leave behind; abandon, forsake; the subject of the verb is ipsa, to whom the reflexive sibi refers.