"Etiamsi cupimus risum tenere non possumus" : śmiech w kulturze starożytnego Rzymu

Abstract

Thanks to the development of Latin and the surviving literature, we can now study a wide spectrum of terms connected with laughter. It is possible to analyze the context of given fragments and the role of laughter in the ancient times. The aim of the paper is to discuss such notions as risus (laughter), cachinnus (ribald laughter), iocus (joke), lepos (witticism), dicacitas (malicious joke), cavillatio (joking), sal (clever wit), facetiae (comical situation) used by the Roman authors, such as Ovid, Cicero, Terence and Horace whose texts, among others, are analysed in this paper.