Heller's Enquiry On Nenia And Festus

Heller’s document was written in 1939. Similarly, John North does an enquiry on nenia and Festus in a 2015 article called, “Roman Funeral Rituals and the Significance of the Nenia.” Therefore, until recently, the search for the meaning of the termnenia continues. For Heller, the original, core meaning of nenia is like “plaything.” But ThomasHabinek says, “In any case, the earliest attestations of the term nenia all accord with the meaning ‘end,’ either concretely, as in ‘last bit of the entrails’ [anus] or ‘funeral song’ or more abstractly, as in ‘finale.’” According to Habinek nenia could also mean anus. However, in Cicero’s time the word nenia meant “funeral songs.” Cicero points out that nenia is Roman funeral customary songs, and he adds
It is, then, important to know about Festus and Paul the Deacon and their work before we see what they have written on nenia for better clarity. Sextus Pompeius Festus was a Roman grammarian most probably from the early 2nd Century CE, perhaps from Narbo, in Gaul. Festus abridged the great work of Verrius Flaccus (55BCE- 20 CE). Flaccus was one of the prominent Roman grammarians of his time, and he was also the tutor of the grandsons of Caesar Augustus, during his reign. Flaccus is known for his writings in Latin language and he is best known for his now lost lexicon called,De verborum significata (On the Meaning of Words). Verrius Flaccus’ lexicon was the first of its kind which alphabetized the words in Latin and gave meanings comprehensively. It is told that his work was so massive that it had four volumes only on the letter A. Festus abridged this lexicon from 40 volume work to a 20 volume work, which was called in the same name, De verborum significata. Festus’ work also suffered same fate of his predecessor’s. Only a damaged copy of Festus’ work was found in the early middle ages in a very damaged state. This document was called Codex Farnesianus from the 11th Century AD, which only contains the alphabetized entries from M to V, and that too not in a good condition, which survived many ordeals of ages and
He is known for his other works such as Historia Langobardorum and Historia Romana. Interestingly, Paul the Deacon abridged Festus’ work in the time of Charlemagne to be given as a gift to the Emperor, which was called as Epitome Festi De verborum siginificata. Therefore, the surviving works on nenia, from Festus, and Paul the Deacon could in some way be attributed even to Verrius, as both of their writings were its abridgements in one sense. Therefore, both these writings could explain the meaning of nenia from the 1st Century AD, at least