WHAT TERMS DID THE ANCIENT WRITERS USE FOR LETTERS? LATIN TERMINOLOGY

Ancient writers used different terms for letters. Unlike the Greek language, in which we find many terms in the meaning of letters used by Greek authors, there are only two terms for the letter used by Latin writers. These are epistula and litterae, one of which is the Greek word ἐπιστολή. The word litterae in the plural has many meanings, one of which is “letter”, “written message”. Most Roman authors consistently used this plural form to refer to a single letter, besides the Roman poet Ovid, who used the singular to refer to a single written message and the plural for several letters. Some authors used the both terms equally without any difference, but some of them had their favorite word for a letter, either epistula or litterae. As in the early period of ancient literature Plautus used the word tabella for a letter as metonymy, i.e. it is used in reference to writing materials, such as clay or wooden tablets