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Article published In: Historiographia Linguistica
Vol. 38:1/2 (2011) ► pp.5–36

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Heritage and Innovation in the Grammatical Analysis of Latin

The Ars Ambrosiana commentary (6th/7th century) on Donatus (ca. 350 A.D.)

 | Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
Published online: 26 May 2011
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https://doi.org/10.1075/hl.38.1-2.01vis
Summary
The Ars Ambrosiana is an early medieval Latin grammatical commentary on Donatus’ Ars maior, written in Northern Italy in the 6th or 7th century A.D. In comparison with preceding grammatical commentaries, the Ars Ambrosiana displays a much more profound Christian-exegetical way of thinking. This study opens with an overview of the historicalcultural context of the grammatical commentary and of the general way of thinking of its anonymous author. The remainder of the article consists in an analysis of the, to some extent highly original, framework which the author uses for describing the Latin language, illustrated by a brief study of the terms agnitio (“recognition”) and nuntiatio (“[linguistic] form”), and their combinations with the adjectives specialis (“special”) and tota (“entire/ whole”).
Résumé
L’Ars Ambrosiana est un commentaire grammatical latin du haut moyen âge sur l’Ars maior de Donat ; le texte a été rédigé en Italie du Nord, au VIe ou VIIe siècle. En comparaison avec les commentaires grammaticaux antérieurs, l’Ars Ambrosiana fait preuve d’une approche exégétique chrétienne nettement plus prononcée. La présente étude fournit d’abord un aperçu du contexte historico-culturel du commentaire grammatical analysé ici et des conceptions générales de son auteur anonyme. La suite de l’article consiste en une analyse du dispositif, très original à certains égards, que l’auteur applique à la langue latine, illustrée par une brève étude des termes agnitio (“compréhension”) et nuntiatio (“forme [linguistique]”), et leur combinaison avec les adjectifs specialis (“spécial”) et tota (“entier/tout”).
Zusammenfassung
Die Ars Ambrosiana ist ein lateinischer grammatischer Kommentar zur Ars maior des Donatus, der im 6. oder 7. Jahrhundert in Nord-Italien verfasst wurde. Im Vergleich zu früheren grammatischen Kommentaren weist die Ars Ambrosiana eine tiefer gehende christlich- exegetische Denkweise auf. Der vorliegende Beitrag bietet zuerst einen Überblick über den historischen-kulturellen Kontext dieser grammatischen Abhandlung und einen Einblick in die Denkweise des anonymen Autors. Danach wird die Vorgehensweise des Autors bei der, zeitweilig sehr originellen, Beschreibung der lateinischen Sprache hervorgehoben, welche durch eine kurze Untersuchung der Termini agnitio (“Verstehen”) und nuntiatio (“[sprachliche] Form”) und ihre Verbindung mit den Adjektiven specialis (“speziell”) und tota (“ganz/vollständig”) illustriert wird.
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