Priscian
Priscianus Caesariensis (fl. AD 500), commonly known as Priscian (/ˈprɪʃən/ or /ˈprɪʃiən/), was a Latin grammarian and the author of the Institutes of Grammar, which was the standard textbook for the study of Latin during the Middle Ages. It also provided the raw material for the field of speculative grammar.
Life
The details of Priscian's life are largely unknown. Priscian was born and raised in the North-African city of
Works
Priscian's most famous work, the Institutes of Grammar (
Priscian's grammar is based on the earlier works of
The grammar was quoted by several writers in Britain of the 8th century -
Priscian's minor works include:[5]
- Three treatises dedicated to Symmachus (the father-in-law of Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius): on weights and measures; on the metres of Terence; and the Praeexercitamina, a translation into Latin of Greek rhetorical exercises from Hermogenes.
- De nomine, pronomine, et verbo ("On noun, pronoun, and verb"), an abridgment of part of his Institutes for teaching grammar in schools
- Partitiones xii. versuum Aeneidos principalium: another teaching aid, using question and answer to dissect the first lines of each of the twelve books of the Aeneid. The metre is discussed first, each verse is scanned, and each word thoroughly and instructively examined.
- The poem on Anastasius mentioned above, in 312 hexameters with a short iambic introduction
- A translation in 1087 hexameters of the verse-form geographical survey by Dionysius Periegetes.
Legacy
Books XVII & XVIII of the Institutes, his work On Construction, was part of the
Editions and translations
Editions
- Prisciani caesariensis grammatici opera ... Edited by Augvst Krehl. Lipsiae: Weidmann, 1819–20.
- Prisciani institutionum grammaticalium librorum I-XVI, indices et concordantiae. Curantibus Cirilo Garcia Roman, Marco A. Gutierrez Galindo. Hildesheim, New York: Olms-Weidmann, 2001, ISBN 9783487113081
- Prisciani institutionum grammaticalium librorum XVII et XVIII, indices et concordantiae. Curantibus Cirilo Garcia Roman, Marco A. Gutierrez Galindo, Maria del Carmen Diaz de Alda Carlos. Hildesheim, New York: Olms-Weidmann, 1999.
- Prisciani Caesariensis opuscula. Critical edition edited by Marina Passalacqua with commentary in Italian. Roma: Edizioni di storia e letteratura, 1987 (vol. I: De figuris numerorum. De metris Terentii. Praeexercitamina; vol. II: Institutio de nomine et pronomine et verbo partitiones duodecim versuum aeneidos principalium)
German Translations
- Schönberger, A. 2009. Priscians Darstellung der lateinischen Pronomina: lateinischer Text und kommentierte deutsche Übersetzung des 12. und 13. Buches der Institutiones Grammaticae, Frankfurt am Main: Valentia. ISBN 978-3-936132-34-2(books XII-XIII; first translation into a modern language.)
- Schönberger, A. 2008. Priscians Darstellung der lateinischen Präpositionen: lateinischer Text und kommentierte deutsche Übersetzung des 14. Buches der Institutiones Grammaticae, Frankfurt am Main: Valentia, 2008, ISBN 978-3-936132-18-2(book XIV; first translation into a modern language.)
- Schönberger, A. 2010. Priscians Darstellung der lateinischen Konjunktionen: lateinischer Text und kommentierte deutsche Übersetzung des 16. Buches der Institutiones Grammaticae, Frankfurt am Main: Valentia. ISBN 978-3-936132-09-0(of book XVI; first translation into a modern language.)
- Schönberger, A. 2010. Priscians Darstellung der lateinischen Syntax (I): lateinischer Text und kommentierte deutsche Übersetzung des 17. Buches der Institutiones Grammaticae, Frankfurt am Main: Valentia. ISBN 978-3-936132-10-6(book XVII = first book of the "Priscianus minor"; first translation into a modern language.)
- Schönberger, A. 2010. Priscians Darstellung des silbisch gebundenen Tonhöhenmorenakzents des Lateinischen: lateinischer Text und kommentierte deutsche Übersetzung des Buches über den lateinischen Akzent, Frankfurt am Main: Valentia. ISBN 978-3-936132-11-3(De accentibus; first translation into a modern language).
- Schönberger, A. 2014: Zur Lautlehre, Prosodie und Phonotaktik des Lateinischen gemäß der Beschreibung Priscians. In: Millennium. Vol. 11, pp. 121–184.
French translations
- Priscien, Grammaire. Livre XIV - XV - XVI, Paris: Vrin 2013.
- Priscien, Grammaire. Livre XVII – Syntaxe I, Paris: Vrin 2010.
Notes
- ISBN 978-1-136-70750-6.
- ^ Keil, Gr. Lat. vii. 207
- ^ Jones 1964, p. 991.
- ^ Lejay 1911.
- ^ a b c d e Chisholm 1911, p. 360.
- Dante, Inf., Canto XV, l. 109.
- ^ Boswell, John E. (1994). "Dante and the Sodomites". Dante Studies (112): 65. Retrieved May 28, 2023.
- ^ Boswell, John E. (1994). "Dante and the Sodomites". Dante Studies (112): 68. Retrieved May 28, 2023.
References
- ISBN 0631149651
- Lejay, Paul (1911), Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 12, New York: Robert Appleton Company , in Herbermann, Charles (ed.),
Attribution
- public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911), "Priscian", Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 22 (11th ed.), Cambridge University Press, p. 360 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
Further reading
- M. Baratin, B. Colombat, L. Holtz, (eds). 2009. Priscien. Transmission et refondation de la grammaire, de l'antiquité aux modernes, Brepols Publishers. ISBN 978-2-503-53074-1.
- Luhtala, Anneli. 2005. Grammar and Philosophy in Late Antiquity. A Study of Priscian's Sources. John Benjamins. Series: Studies in the history of the language sciences; 107. Preview available at Google Books as of February 2011.
External links
- Priscian's works in Latin at The Digital Library of Late-Antique Latin Texts—DigilibLT
- Rhetores latini minores, Carl Halm (ed.), Lipsiae in aedibus B. G. Teubneri, 1863, pp. 551-560.