The suffix -́ena / -́ina in the extreme Southern varieties: forms and functions of a Grecism between preservation and innovation

Abstract

The subject of this article is the suffix -́ena (with the variants -́ina and -́ana) widespread in Italo-Greek and some extreme Southern Romance varieties. This suffix, first documented by Gerhard Rohlfs, is productive in onomastic domain only; specifically, added to the surname or nickname of the head of household, it creates an onomastic form attributed to the female member of the same family.

While the ascription of -́ena to the Greek matrix is beyond dispute, some historical-etymological and semantic-functional issues deserve to be thematized and explored. In particular, a more focused and detailed mapping of the functions (andronymic or patronymic) assumed by the suffix shows how the Grecism -́αινα was received differently in the Romance varieties of the extreme Southern Italy and, therefore, points out microvariation that is significantly projected on the chorographic plane, highlighting fractures and differentiated dynamics of Greek-Romance contact and preservation-innovation. Therefore, identifying the functional, as well as formal, archetype of the -́αινα suffix and following its developmental trajectories makes it possible to explain this microvariation, and to reconstruct another small piece of the linguistic history of Greek in contact with the Romance in Southern Italy.