Explaining verbal humour to the audience - The case of Plautine neologisms

Abstract

Plautus frequently uses new word formations to increase the comicality of his plays. Such facetious neologisms must have been understood by the audience, otherwise the jokes in the comedies would not have made any sense. However, there are a few passages in which the author explains his newly-coined lexemes through the words of the characters in the plays. This article analyses these utterances, trying to explain why Plautus decided to unveil his process of word creation in these particular places, what function the neologisms have in the dramatic text, how the writer denotes and describes the neologisms, and whether it helps spectators to recognise and appreciate his verbal humour. Most of these passages concern legal neologisms (intestabilis - Pl. Cur. 30-32; parenticida - Epid. 349-351; rabo - Truc. 687-690) and one of them contains a comic name/title (Subballio - Ps. 607-609). The playwright explains the etymology of the new Latin words or shows how he has adapted Greek wordplay (arrabo-rabo) for Roman spectators. These riddle-like explanations are composed following the pattern of identification motifs. Their main goal is to intensify the power of the jokes and their impact on the audience.