Note 30 — APPENDIX
Reading edition
The etymological difficulty suggested by Lightfoot can hardly be pressed, considering the very free and rough way in which the Latin tongue was treated at a comparatively early date in the story of the Roman Empire, when grammar, spelling and prosody were frequently more or less disregarded, save in highly cultured circles. This striking disregard of all rules is very conspicuous in the numberless inscriptions and epitaphs found in the Roman Catacombs.
The early entries in the so-called Liber Pontificalis show the same utter disregard of grammar and spelling.