Linguistic thought in Rome before Varro
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Abstract
The aim of this paper1 is to explore the beginning of the linguistic debate in Rome during the Republican Age. Retracing the evidence on the first Roman grammarians offered by Suetonius in De grammaticis et rhetoribus, we analyse the progressive development of the grammatical discipline from a role of ancilla poesis to an autonomous field of study. The poets Livius Andronicus and Ennius are remembered by Suetonius, gramm. 1, 1-2 as the first to have provided a contribution to the studium grammaticae. We discuss this contribution in detail and add similar hints from Naevius, Accius and Lucilius. We also highlight the development of a theory and practice of etymology in Aelius Stilo, up to the dispute between anomaly and analogy. Moreover, our reading leads to the revaluation of ancient grammarians neglected until now, such as Antonius Gnipho, Valerius Cato, and above all Staberius Eros, an analogist who prefigures some of the concepts that will find a full arrangement in Varro’s De lingua Latina. Here we point out a first definition of the Latin concepts of inflection, derivation, as well as the intuition of the universality of grammar.
Abstract
The aim of this paper1 is to explore the beginning of the linguistic debate in Rome during the Republican Age. Retracing the evidence on the first Roman grammarians offered by Suetonius in De grammaticis et rhetoribus, we analyse the progressive development of the grammatical discipline from a role of ancilla poesis to an autonomous field of study. The poets Livius Andronicus and Ennius are remembered by Suetonius, gramm. 1, 1-2 as the first to have provided a contribution to the studium grammaticae. We discuss this contribution in detail and add similar hints from Naevius, Accius and Lucilius. We also highlight the development of a theory and practice of etymology in Aelius Stilo, up to the dispute between anomaly and analogy. Moreover, our reading leads to the revaluation of ancient grammarians neglected until now, such as Antonius Gnipho, Valerius Cato, and above all Staberius Eros, an analogist who prefigures some of the concepts that will find a full arrangement in Varro’s De lingua Latina. Here we point out a first definition of the Latin concepts of inflection, derivation, as well as the intuition of the universality of grammar.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Preface V
- Contents IX
- List of tables XI
- Clause relations in Ancient Greek Grammatical tradition? 1
- Linguistic thought in Rome before Varro 51
- Ῥῆμα and Λόγος in Aristotle: what can (or cannot) they mean? 75
- ἐμπειρία, τέχνη, and beyond. Recent controversies on the ‘analogy vs. anomaly quarrel’ in historical and theoretical context 95
- On the metalinguistic passage from διάβασις and μετάβασις by Apollonius Dyscolus to transitio by Priscian 117
- ‘Quis vel qui’. A controversial classification in Latin grammatical sources 151
- List of Contributors 203
- Index Rerum et Nominum 205
- Index Auctorum Antiquorum et Locorum 211
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Preface V
- Contents IX
- List of tables XI
- Clause relations in Ancient Greek Grammatical tradition? 1
- Linguistic thought in Rome before Varro 51
- Ῥῆμα and Λόγος in Aristotle: what can (or cannot) they mean? 75
- ἐμπειρία, τέχνη, and beyond. Recent controversies on the ‘analogy vs. anomaly quarrel’ in historical and theoretical context 95
- On the metalinguistic passage from διάβασις and μετάβασις by Apollonius Dyscolus to transitio by Priscian 117
- ‘Quis vel qui’. A controversial classification in Latin grammatical sources 151
- List of Contributors 203
- Index Rerum et Nominum 205
- Index Auctorum Antiquorum et Locorum 211
