Defining the art of grammar: Ancient perceptions of γραμματική and grammatica – 2014

Trouvé dans la liste des livres de la BMCR du mois d’avril, un livre concernant les perceptions anciennes de la grammaire (livre qui a déjà trouvé son recenseur) :

Seppänen Minna, Defining the art of grammar: Ancient perceptions of γραμματική and grammatica, Annales Universitatis Turkuensis B 379, 2014Il s’agit d’une thèse de doctorat, publiée dans les annales de l’Université de Turku, en Finlande. Fait notable, on peut la trouver en ligne gratuitement au format PDF, ou l’acheter sur la boutique en ligne de l’Université (pour la modique somme de 15€ plus des frais de port qui ont l’air à peu près aussi élevés).

Résumé

The subject of this dissertation, which belongs to the field of Classical Philology, are the definitions of the art of grammar found in Greek and Latin sources from the Classical era to the second century CE. Definitions survive from grammarians, philosophers, and general scholars. I have examined these definitions from two main points of view: how they are formed, and how they reflect the development of the art itself.

Defining formed part of dialectic, in practice also of rhetoric, and was perceived as important from the Classical era onwards. Definitions of grammar seem to have become established as part of preliminary discussions, located at the beginning of grammatical manuals (tékhnai, artes). These discussions included certain principal notions of the art; in addition to the definition, a list of the parts of the art was also typically included. These lists were formed by two different methods: division (diaíresis, divisio) and partition (merismós, partitio). Many of the grammarians may actually have been unfamiliar with these methods, unlike the two most important scholars of the Late Republic, Varro and Cicero. Significant attention was devoted to the question whether the art of grammar is based on lógos or empeiría. This epistemological question had its roots in medical theories, which were prominent in Alexandria.

In the history of the concept of grammatiké or grammatica, three stages become evident. In the Classical era, the Greek term is used to refer to a very concrete art of letters (grámmata); from the Hellenistic era onwards it refers to the art developed by the Alexandrian scholars, a matter of textual and literary criticism. Towards the end of the Hellenistic era, the grammarian also becomes involved with the question of correct language, which gradually begins to appear in the definitions as well.

Sommaire

1. INTRODUCTION p.1

1.1 The aim of the thesis p.  1
1.2 Sources p. 2
1.3 The ancient theory of defining and definitions p. 5
1.3.1 Defining and the art of dialectic p. 5
1.3.2 Defining and the art of grammar p. 14

2. THE ART OF GRAMMAR IN THE MAKING p. 18

2.1 A starting point: what makes an expertise? p. 18
2.2 Ancient historiography of the early art of grammar p. 19
2.3 Plato and Aristotle p. 22
2.4 The Stoics p. 28

3. HELLENISTIC ΓΡΑΜΜΑΤΙΚΗ p. 32

3.1 Eratosthenes p. 32
3.2 Aristophanes and Aristarchus p. 37
3.3 Crates of Mallus p.  40
3.4 The art of grammar according to Dionysius Thrax p. 48
3.4.1 The man and his work p. 48
3.4.2 Dionysius’ definition of grammar and the empiricist movement p. 53
3.4.3 The parts of grammar p. 65
3.5 Sextus Empiricus and the tradition of attacks against the arts p. 72
3.6 The definitions of grammar in Adversus mathematicos p. 77
3.6.1 Ptolemaeus the Peripatetic p. 77
3.6.2 Asclepiades of Myrlea p. 80
3.6.3 Chaeris p. 83
3.6.4 Demetrius Chlorus p. 87
3.7 The grammatical manual of Asclepiades of Myrlea p. 90
3.8 Philosophers’ definitions of grammar p. 98

4. THE ROMAN GRAMMATICAL EXPERIENCE p. 104

4.1 Suetonius’ professors p. 104
4.2 Other scholars in Rome p. 117
4.3 Varro on the art of grammar p. 122
4.3.1 The definition of grammatica p. 122
4.3.2 Other definitory notions p. 131
4.3.3 De lingua Latina and grammatical questions p. 144
4.4 Cicero and litterarum cognitio et poetarum p. 148
4.5 Tyrannion’s definition of γραμματική p. 155
4.6 Dionysius of Halicarnassus and γραμματική p. 162

5. THE ART OF GRAMMAR IN THE FIRST TWO CENTURIES CE p. 166

5.1 Philo of Alexandria and the boundaries of γραμματική p. 166
5.2 Seneca’s trivial grammatica p. 171
5.3 Pliny the Elder on Latinus sermo p. 175
5.4 Quintilian on grammatice in the education of an orator p. 183
5.4.1 The parts of grammatice p. 184
5.4.2 Criteria for acceptable language p. 192
5.4.3 The status of grammatice p. 195
5.5 Aulus Gellius and grammatici p. 200

6. QUESTIONS OF METHODOLOGY : THE CASE OF APOLLONIUS DYSCOLUS p. 206

6.1 Apollonius Dyscolus and his work p. 206
6.2 The rationalist approach p. 208

7. CONCLUSION p. 216

INDEX LOCORUM p. 224
BIBLIOGRAPHY p. 240

 

 

 

Julie Damaggio

Doctorante de l'Université Paris-Sorbonne, prépare une thèse d'édition des fragments d'Aelius Stilo et enseigne dans un collège de l'Isère ; co-rédactrice en chef du carnet Grammaticalia.

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