Francesco Perono Cacciafoco
Francesco Perono Cacciafoco (born November 12, 1980, Genoa, Italy) is an Italian philologist and linguist, known in the field of Indo-European linguistics for having developed the New Convergence Theory (NCT, in Italian Teoria della Conciliazione).[1]
Perono Cacciafoco has received his master's degree in classical philology and literature and his PhD in Greek and Latin philology and literature and linguistics at the University of Pisa (Pisa, Italy). He is currently a research fellow at the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore.
His main contribution to historical linguistics is inherent in the development of the New Convergence Theory about the origins of Indo-European languages.[2] Perono Cacciafoco, through the analysis of remote (prehistoric) roots of toponyms (place names), hydronyms (names of rivers and bodies of water), and oronyms (names of mountains), tries to reconstruct the 'making' of Indo-European languages through a methodology that takes into account the epistemological achievements of the previous theories so far proposed.[3]
The New Convergence Theory (NCT)[edit]
The NCT aims, in fact, to develop a new outlook about the origins, movements, and settlement dynamics of Indo-European populations, using data from different databases in order to develop an all-embracing method, which can reconstruct the prehistoric etymology of European place names and find a sort of conciliation between the different epistemological approaches in Indo-European linguistics. Following this interpretation it is possible to postulate contacts, in ancient times, among different linguistic families, Indo-European and Semitic (even during the movements of the Indo-Europeans), and interchanges of onomastic and toponymic roots, names, and words between the two families.[4]
Two of the most relevant methodological foundations of the NCT are the notions of "reuse" and "refunctionalization", applied to onomastic roots (especially in the field of prehistoric toponymy, hydronymy, and oronymy) and borrowed (mutatis mutandis) from classical philology, where they are mainly related to the 'seriality' of the 'formulaic' verses in the Homeric poems.[5]
Trying to reconcile the opposite pan-Indo-European and pan-Semitic approaches, the NCT investigates possible linguistic contacts and exchanges, in prehistoric times, between the Indo-European and the Semitic linguistic families, in the original phases of the Proto-Indo-European and (proto)-Semitic, or, according to another possible definition, pre-proto-Indo-European and (proto)-Semitic.
The New Convergence Theory, therefore, tries to find a reconciliation between apparently irreconcilable approaches in Indo-European linguistics, as the pan-Indo-European[6] and the pan-Semitic (by Giovanni Semerano and his followers). That theory applies historical phonetics to the basic semantic methodology of Claudio Beretta and can link the divergent (between themselves) approaches and reconstructions by Marija Gimbutas and Colin Renfrew, without denying the achievements of the Paleolithic Continuity Paradigm (Continuity Theory) by Mario Alinei and his School (allowing to recostruct, in this way, a lot of otherwise etymologically unexplicable prehistoric roots). The studies of Perono Cacciafoco about the *alb- root[7] (hydronymic remote root), e.g., have opened a new path in the dicothomy Indo-European / Semitic (with the innovative hypothesis of an Anatolian prehistoric contact), inaugurating an epistemological pattern applicable also to the dicothomy Indo-European / pre-Indo-European (referred, for example, to his studies on the *borm- root).[8]
Indo-European Populations and Semitic Populations[edit]
It seems, in fact, plausible to hypothesize contacts during the supposed prehistoric Indo-European migrations, perhaps in the Middle East or in the Northern Africa, between the same Indo-Europeans and the Semites. During these 'meetings' (maybe clashes), also not automatically connectable with the main Indo-European settlement dynamics (perhaps peripheral displacements or expansions), speakers belonging to the two linguistic families may have exchanged, in a natural process, elements of their vocabularies and borrowed words (especially in order to indicate specific places or specific objects). These loan-words (witnessed by onomastic roots) would have been, subsequently, naturally inserted by speakers in their respective language systems, phonetically adapted, reused, and refunctionalized in order to meet the needs of the related 'destination languages'.[9]
Indo-European Populations and Pre-Indo-European Populations[edit]
This dynamics could have been repeated after the 'arrival' of the Indo-Europeans in their territories, with the so-called pre-Indo-European populations, in a dichotomy pre-Indo-European / proto-Indo-European. Indo-European could be considered, according to this approach, the fusion of the proto-Indo-European with the pre-Indo-European also through the reuse and refunctionalization model. It is, therefore, possible to define this Indo-European as proto-Indo-European, considering the proto-Indo-European as the result of the 'merger' of pre-Indo-European linguistic elements with the pre-proto-Indo-European.[10] Pre-proto-Indo-European would be, therefore, the result of the contacts of the 'original' Indo-European with the (proto-)Semitic language(s).
A New Convergent Model[edit]
The theoretical hypothesis of possible remote (linguistically productive) contacts between pre-proto-Indo-European and (proto-)Semitic offers a new model to analyze the differentiations of linguistic families after the original spread of Homo sapiens from Africa, a model that is not 'absolute', but that can give useful and versatile contributions (to be applied on a case-by-case basis) in order to reconstruct historical-linguistic developments and naming processes in Indo-European and Semitic areas.[11]
The NCT, in fact, postulates the possible 'making' of Indo-European, before the differentiation of the same in the various Indo-European languages, through two 'epochal passages', the formation of a sort of proto-Indo-European after contacts between pre-proto-Indo-European and (proto-)Semitic, and the 'set up' of Indo-European before the differentiation in the various Indo-European languages through contacts and exchanges of the common Indo-European (proto-Indo-European) with Pre-Indo-European, with the overlap of the first on the second.
Toponyms, hydronyms, and oronyms are now studied, according to the principles of the NCT, through a convergent approach, not strictly limited to the 'pure' etymological reconstruction, but involving the analysis of possible linguistic contacts and the evaluation of the features of the territories contextual to the place names, river names, and mountain names. Historical Geography, Historical Topography, Historical Cartography, and Landscape Archaeology give, therefore, their essential contribution to the historical study and etymological reconstruction of place names, river names, and mountain names. Historical Semantics allows a further evaluation of the links and of the likeness between the reconstructed (possibly original, i.e. prehistoric) meaning of a place name and the features - developed over the millennia - of the territory and landscape in which the analyzed place (or river, or mountain) is located.
The New Convergence Theory (NCT) should not be confused with the Anatolian hypothesis by Colin Renfrew and/or with the so-called "Convergence Theory"[12] (in any case taken into account).
Perono Cacciafoco has given specific examples inherently in the application of the NCT in a series of scientific papers about, among other topics, the toponymic-hydronymic root *alb-.[13]
Notes[edit]
- ↑ Cf., e.g. «Acta Linguistica. Journal for Theoretical Linguistics», 8 3 (2014), pp. 79–98, link here.
- ↑ Cf. Francesco Perono Cacciafoco, Beyond Etymology: Historical Reconstruction and Diachronic Toponomastics through the Lens of a New Convergence Theory, in «Acta Linguistica. Journal for Theoretical Linguistics», 8 3 (2014), pp. 79–98, link here; Francesco Perono Cacciafoco, Toponymic Convergence. Place Names and the Root *alb- in Prehistoric Liguria, in «Facta Universitatis. Series Linguistics and Literature», 11 2 (2013), pp. 91-106, link here.
- ↑ Cf. Francesco Perono Cacciafoco, Ancient Names Origins. Water Roots and Place-Names in the Prehistoric Ligurian Context, in «Review of Historical Geography and Toponomastics», VIII 15-16 (2013), pp. 7-25, link here; Francesco Perono Cacciafoco, Water Place Names in the Pre-Latin Ligurian Context. A Study in Prehistoric Toponomastics and Semantics, in «Problems of Onomastics / Voprosy Onomastiki», 2 15 (2013), pp. 91-107, link here.
- ↑ Cf. Francesco Perono Cacciafoco, Beyond Etymology: Historical Reconstruction and Diachronic Toponomastics through the Lens of a New Convergence Theory, in «Acta Linguistica. Journal for Theoretical Linguistics», 8 3 (2014), pp. 79-98, link here.
- ↑ Cf., e.g., Vincenzo Di Benedetto, Letteratura di secondo grado: l'Odissea fra riusi e ideologia del potere, in «Prometheus. Rivista quadrimestrale di studi classici», 25 3 (1999), pp. 193-225; Vincenzo Di Benedetto, Reuses of Iliadic Patterns in the Odyssey, in «Rivista di Cultura classica e medioevale», 43 1 (2001), pp. 7-14.
- ↑ Cf. the works of Gianfranco Forni, for example.
- ↑ Cf. references at n. 13.
- ↑ Cf. Beyond Etymology: Historical Reconstruction and Diachronic Toponomastics through the Lens of a New Convergence Theory, in «Acta Linguistica. Journal for Theoretical Linguistics», 8 3 (2014), pp. 79-98 link here; La radice pre-indoeuropea *borm- (> *bormo) in un idronimo ligure-piemontese [The pre-Indo-European *borm- (> *bormo) Root in a River Name between Liguria and Piedmont], in «Iter. Ricerche fonti e immagini per un territorio», 17, V / 1 (2009), pp. 15-24, link here.
- ↑ Cf. Francesco Perono Cacciafoco, Ferner Ursprung. Die "Wasserstädte" von Olbicella und die Wurzel von *alb-, in «Namenkundliche Informationen», NI 101 / 102 (2012 / 2013), pp. 76-96 link here; Francesco Perono Cacciafoco, Remote Origins. The Case of “Water Towns”, of Olbicella, and of Root *alb-, in «Annals of the University of Craiova. Series Philology, Linguistics / Analele Universității Din Craiova. Seria Ştiințe Filologice, Linguistică», XXXV 1-2 (2013), pp. 106-123, link here.
- ↑ Cf. Andrea Nanetti, Francesco Perono Cacciafoco, and Mario Giberti, Mapping and Visualizing Linguistic and Territorial Convergent Data: Imola and its Environment as a Case Study, academic communication given at the XXV International Congress of Onomastic Sciences - ICOS», Glasgow University, Glasgow, Scotland, UK, August 25–29, 2014.
- ↑ Cf. Francesco Perono Cacciafoco, Beyond Etymology: Historical Reconstruction and Diachronic Toponomastics through the Lens of a New Convergence Theory, in «Acta Linguistica. Journal for Theoretical Linguistics», 8 3 (2014), pp. 79-98, link here; Francesco Perono Cacciafoco, Origini remote. Il caso delle “Città d'Acqua”, di Olbicella e della radice *alb-, in «Linguistica Zero», 6 (2013), pp. 102-128, link here.
- ↑ Cf., e.g., Colin Renfrew, Archaeology and Language: The Puzzle of Indo-European Origins, Jonathan Cape, London 1987, link here; Colin Renfrew, Time Depth, Convergence Theory, and Innovation in Proto-Indo-European: 'Old Europe' as a PIE Linguistic Area, in Alfred Bammesberger and Theo Vennemann (Eds.), Languages in Prehistoric Europe, Carl Winter, Heidelberg, pp. 17-48, link here.
- ↑ Cf. Ferner Ursprung. Die "Wasserstädte" von Olbicella und die Wurzel von *alb-, in in «Namenkundliche Informationen» 101/102 (2012/2013), pp. 76-96, link here; Ancient Names Origins. Water Roots and Place-Names in the Prehistoric Ligurian Context, in «Review of Historical Geography and Toponomastics», VIII, 15-16 (2013), pp. 7-25, link here; Toponymic Convergence. Place Names and the Root *alb- in Prehistoric Liguria, in «Facta Universitatis. Series Linguistics and Literature», 11 2 (2013), pp. 91-106, link here; Water Place Names in the Pre-Latin Ligurian Context. A Study in Prehistoric Toponomastics and Semantics, in «Problems of Onomastics / Voprosy Onomastiki», 2 15 (2013), pp. 91-107, link here; Water Origins. The *alb- Root in the Pre-Latin Toponymy of Ancient Liguria, in «Acta Linguistica. Journal for Theoretical Linguistics», 7 1 (2013), pp. 70-86, link here; Remote Origins. The Case of "Water Towns", of Olbicella, and of root *alb-, in «Annals of the University of Craiova. Series Philology, Linguistics / Analele Universității Din Craiova. Seria Ştiințe Filologice, Linguistică», XXXV 1-2 (2013), pp. 106-123, link here; Origini Remote. Il caso delle "città d'acqua", di Olbicella e della radice *alb-, in «Linguistica Zero» 6 (2013), pp. 102-128, link here. Cf. also the Russian Wikipedia, at the page about the Ligurian language, paragraph 2, lines 16-17, and note n. 5, Лигурский язык (древний).
References[edit]
- Francesco Perono Cacciafoco, Beyond Etymology: Historical Reconstruction and Diachronic Toponomastics through the Lens of a New Convergence Theory, in «Acta Linguistica. Journal for Theoretical Linguistics», 8 3 (2014), pp. 79–98, link here.
- Francesco Perono Cacciafoco, Ferner Ursprung. Die "Wasserstädte" von Olbicella und die Wurzel von *alb-, in «Namenkundliche Informationen», NI 101 / 102 (2012 / 2013), pp. 76–96, link here.
- Francesco Perono Cacciafoco, Ancient Names Origins. Water Roots and Place-Names in the Prehistoric Ligurian Context, in «Review of Historical Geography and Toponomastics», VIII 15-16 (2013), pp. 7–25, link here.
- Francesco Perono Cacciafoco, Toponymic Convergence. Place Names and the Root *alb- in Prehistoric Liguria, in «Facta Universitatis. Series Linguistics and Literature», 11 - 2 (2013), pp. 91–106, link here.
- Francesco Perono Cacciafoco, Remote Origins. The Case of “Water Towns”, of Olbicella, and of Root *alb-, in «Annals of the University of Craiova. Series Philology, Linguistics / Analele Universității Din Craiova. Seria Ştiințe Filologice, Linguistică», XXXV 1-2 (2013), pp. 106–123, link here.
- Francesco Perono Cacciafoco, Water Place Names in the Pre-Latin Ligurian Context. A Study in Prehistoric Toponomastics and Semantics, in «Problems of Onomastics / Voprosy Onomastiki», 2 15 (2013), pp. 91–107, link here.
- Francesco Perono Cacciafoco, “Water Origins”: the *alb- Root in the Pre-Latin Toponymy of Ancient Liguria, in «Acta Linguistica. Journal for Theoretical Linguistics», 7 1 (2013), pp. 70–86, link here.
- Francesco Perono Cacciafoco, “Remote Origins”. The Case of “Water Towns”, of Olbicella, and of Root *alb-, in «Idil. Journal of Art and Language», II 8 (2013), pp. 217–241, link here.
- Francesco Perono Cacciafoco, Origini remote. Il caso delle “Città d'Acqua”, di Olbicella e della radice *alb-, in «Linguistica Zero», 6 (2013), pp. 102–128, link here.
- Francesco Perono Cacciafoco, La radice pre-indoeuropea *borm- (> *bormo) in un idronimo ligure-piemontese [The pre-Indo-European *borm- (> *bormo) Root in a River Name between Liguria and Piedmont], in «Iter. Ricerche fonti e immagini per un territorio», 17, V / 1 (2009), pp. 15–24, link here.
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