Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
Abstract This paper explores linguistic change and cultural integration (esp. Romanization and De-Romanization) as reflected in the non-standard Latin inscriptions from Mogontiacum (modern Mainz) (first cent. BC to eighth cent. AD). Since Mainz was pivotal for defence and operations against Germanic people east of the Rhine, Roman military and the Germanic element play a greater role than in Cologne and Trier. In the Early Empire, the military was the biggest factor of integration and mobility, for people and cults from both local, Celtic and Germanic, and remote, esp. eastern origin. The Early Empire inscriptions yield more archaic features than those from Cologne and Trier ( ai ) whereas curse tablets, found in the Isis and Mater Magna sanctuary, offer a copious corpus of substandard language, unique on the west bank of the Rhine (first attestation of aphaeresis, semivocalization of i ). Christian funerary inscriptions document a more advanced phonetic stage (nearby merger, raisings ē > ī and ō > ū , first firm evidence for palatalization and semivocalization of u in the area) and a new pronominal paradigm (unisex nominative qui vs. oblique hunc ) as well as the take-over, Christian conversion and entry into the clerical hierarchy by a Frankish warrior elite, reflected in Germanic spellings of appellatives and OHG devoicing of stops in names.
Lothar Willms (Fri,) studied this question.