Verbs of Memory in Latin

Résumé 0

A lexicological and semantic analysis of the Latin verbs related to memory discloses some strong trends: memini can be interpreted as “I have in mind (having remembered)”; commemini, “I have in my memory what I need in order to act”; reminiscor, “I am working on recovering the past”, whereas recordor refers to the action of memory when triggered by more complex traces. Other verbs express the action of working on and with the memory of others, rather than on one’s own recollections: a distinction is then made between activating the memory of others by means of speech (memoro, commemoro), or by concrete objects and situations (commoneo, commonefacio). The link between memory and speech expressed by memorare – commemorare is also found in commemoration, which intrinsically involves speech.