Priscian’s Pronoun
Just received offprints of my paper on Priscian’s de pronomine, so I think I can now put up their electronic counterpart. Here’s the abstract:
Priscian’s Ars is generally considered the apogee of Latin grammar. Yet he himself claims to have followed in every respect the authority of Apollonius Dyscolus (Ars 13.24.7; al.). For a proper assessment of Priscian’s place in the history of linguistic thought, it is thus indispensable to clarify the relation between his and Apollonius’ œuvre. Focusing on books 12 and 13, I first present a list of all Apollonian passages translated or paraphrased by Priscian, and discuss one of these in more detail (Ars 13.15.9–28). I then analyze the order of Priscian’s exposition, and compare it with the structure of his Greek model. Finally I give two examples—the notions of figure and of reflexivity—to illustrate how, and why, their theories differ from one another. Thence I conclude that the currently fashionable view of Priscian as a foundational thinker, almost entirely detached from the Greek tradition, is mistaken, and that, on the contrary, he can only be understood against the backdrop of Apollonian grammar.
Friday, 26 February 2010 :: {Ancient Grammar} :: You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
