, also written , is

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

for "scattered fragments" (also scattered limbs, members, or remains) and is used to refer to surviving fragments of ancient poetry, manuscripts, and other literary or cultural objects, including even fragments of ancient pottery. It is derived from , a phrase used by

Horace Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 – 27 November 8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). The rhetorician Quintilian regarded his ...

, a Roman poet.

Ancient and medieval poetry, literature, and manuscripts

Fragments of ancient writing, especially ancient Latin poetry found in other works, are commonly referred to as ''disjecta membra''. The terms ''disiecta membra'' and ''disjecta membra'' are paraphrased from the Roman lyric poet

(65 BC – 8 BC), who wrote of in his ''Satires'', 1.4.62, referring to the "limbs of a dismembered poet". In full, the term originally appeared as , in reference to the earlier Roman poet

Ennius Quintus Ennius (; c. 239 – c. 169 BC) was a writer and poet who lived during the Roman Republic. He is often considered the father of Roman poetry. He was born in the small town of Rudiae, located near modern Lecce, Apulia, (Ancient Calabria, ...

. Although Horace's intended meaning remains the subject of speculation and debate, the passage is often taken to imply that if a line from poetry were torn apart and rearranged, the dismembered parts of the poet would still be recognisable. In this sense, in the study of

literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to includ ...

, ''disjecta membra'' is often used to describe the piecing together of ancient fragments of an identifiable literary source. Similarly, isolated leaves or parts of leaves from ancient or medieval manuscripts may also be termed ''disjecta membra''. Scholars have been able to identify fragments now held in different libraries that originally belonged to the same manuscript.

Pottery

Scholars have long referred to

sherd In archaeology, a sherd, or more precisely, potsherd, is commonly a historic or prehistoric fragment of pottery, although the term is occasionally used to refer to fragments of stone and glass vessels, as well. Occasionally, a piece of broken ...

s of

ancient Greek pottery Ancient Greek pottery, due to its relative durability, comprises a large part of the archaeological record of ancient Greece, and since there is so much of it (over 100,000 painted vases are recorded in the Corpus vasorum antiquorum), it has ex ...

as . They have studied fragments of ancient Greek pottery in institutional collections, and have attributed many such pieces to the artists who made them. In a number of instances, they have been able to identify fragments now in different collections that belong to the same vase.

References

Latin words and phrases History of poetry Archaeological terminology Medieval manuscripts {{latin-vocab-stub

Ancient and medieval poetry, literature, and manuscripts

Pottery

See also

References