Project

Nationalisms and emerging ideologies, migration of peoples, major cultural and political upheavals: Late Antiquity is undoubtedly an age of great change, which shaped European culture in the following centuries. Supported by the NextGenerationEU program, the project will provide the first Latin digital glossary focused on the historical transition of Late Antiquity. As a scientific resource, the glossary will be built on the basis of lexicographic work carried out on a selection of Latin texts in prose and poetry from the period between the 3rd and 7th centuries AD. These texts hold significant literary value as they encapsulate the essence of the Late Antique transition, interpreting its complexities, and introducing or redefining expressions and imagery that have since permeated our lexicon and cultural ethos. As part of its public engagement mission, the project LaLaLexiT includes a podcast and dissemination activities.

Glossary and archives

Outcomes

Publications

• G. Cattaneo, M. Venuti (edd.), “Lessico latino e transizione tardoantica”. Atti del convegno LaLaLexiT (Venezia, 23-24 settembre 2025), Venice forthcoming
• A. Arrighini, The LaLaLexiT Digital Glossary: Users’Manual, UMANISTICA DIGITALE 23 (2026), pp. 227-234 (ISSN 2532-8816)
• G. Cattaneo, N. Rosso, DigilibLT. A Digital Library, UMANISTICA DIGITALE 23 (2026), pp. 23-30 (ISSN 2532-8816)
• DigilibLT. Biblioteca digitale di testi latini tardoantichi, 2026-. Online una nuova versione aggiornata.
• E. Ferrarini, D. Manzoli, P. Mastandrea, M. Venuti (edd.), "Venanzio Fortunato tra il Piave e la Loira". Atti del terzo convegno internazionale di studi, Venezia, Edizioni Ca' Foscari, 2026
• M. Venuti (ed.), “LaLaLexiT. Late Latin Lexicon in Transition. Glossario digitale” [ITA]. Venezia, Edizioni Ca’ Foscari, 2025–
• A. Arrighini, "Querolus sive Aulularia". Introduzione, testo critico, traduzione e commento. Venezia, Edizioni Ca' Foscari, 2025
• G. Cattaneo, “Lessico della transizione, lessico in transizione nel 'De transitu Hellenismi ad Christianismum' di Guillaume Budé", in G. Abbamonte, M. Pade, J. Ramminger, F. Stok (eds), “Il lessico latino dall’Umanesimo all’età moderna”, Frascati: Accademia Vivarium Novum, 2025

Events

2026

• 8/06/2026 - Martina Venuti, "Veliuolus. Dal cielo al mare, e ritorno. Storia di una parola antica " [ITA]
  III International Congress "Il valore dell'acqua. Stato dell'arte e nuove prospettive di ricerca", University of Milan

• 2-3/02/2026 - M. Venuti, “Le anime morte: esegesi allegorica e rappresentazione degli inferi nella tarda antichità latina”
  International conference "Lasciare ogni speranza? Visioni dell'aldilà e destino dei dannati dall'Antichità al Medioevo", University of Bari

Previous events

Dissemination

"PODCAST LaLaLexiT"
(in collaboration with Radio6023) - forthcoming

"Rinascita, confine, ma anche legge, impostore, traduttore". Italian words with a long history rooted in antiquity and the Latin language. But when, and through what events, did the meanings of these concepts come to be defined?
In the LALALEXIT project podcast, Martina Venuti, Alice Borgna, Alessandro Barbero and Edoardo Camurri will take you on a journey to discover the history of some particularly significant Latin words from the so-called Late Antique Transition. 

“Est modus in verbis! Studying the Latin Lexicon”
PCTO (Paths for Transversal Skills and Orientation) project

Why is the lexicon important? When we say "Latin," what do we mean? Which Latin are we referring to? There is the Latin of the oldest inscriptions, the Latin of Virgil, the Latin of Isidore of Seville, the Latin of doctors and lawyers, and even that of the Church. How many lives does a word have?
This project focuses on the lexicon as a fundamental tool for approaching the Latin language and understanding its diachronic evolution. It aims to enhance participants' awareness of the linguistic and cultural developments of Latin words and expressions in Italian.

Team

Scientific International Advisory Board

• Prof. Laura Carnevale [ITA], University of Bari Aldo Moro
• Prof. Donato De Gianni, University of Cagliari
• Prof. Massimo Gioseffi [ITA], University of Milan
• Dr. Roberta Marchionni [DEU], Thesaurus Linguae Latinae
• Prof. David Paniagua Aguilar [ESP], Universidad de Salamanca