During the Middle Ages, the various sciences shared both basic concepts and terminology without losing their autonomy. Between 1260 and 1330 grammatica speculativa, which had evolved under the influence of dialectic, asserted its independence while keeping the terminology common to philosophy and theology. This mixed autonomy and interdependence is demonstrated by the evolution and use of the term, modus significandi. The term was not proper to grammar: it is found in discussions of the sign in theology and philosophy. In these discussions, the philosopher or theologian in question often rested his case on grammatical considerations. At the beginning of our period, modus significandi is opposed in grammar to significatum, while, after 1280 or thereabouts, the significatum is termed modus significandi passivus and the modus significandi becomes modus significandi activus. It would seem that this change is due to certain implications in the way in which the Latin gerund was employed by scholastic theologians. In any case, the term, modus significandi, undergoes a parallel development in grammar, theology and philosophy; and, at the same time, is studied under different aspects according to the discipline in question. In grammar at the beginning of our period, in appearance modus significandi is a morphological concept, while, in the work of Gerson (1426), it is certainly of syntactic relevance.
(1079–1142). (1135–37?)Dialectica. Ed. by L. M. de Rijk. Assen: Van Gorcum 1970.
Albertus Magnus
(1200?-1280?)Opera omnia. Paris: Vivès 1890–99.
Pseudo-Albertus Magnus
1285?Quaestiones Alberti de modis significandi. Ed. by L. G. Kelly. Amsterdam: Benjamins 1977.
Aquinas, Thomas
(1255?-1274) Commentaria in Aristotelem. Opera omnia I–III Vatican City: Polyglot Press 1882–84.
Aquinas, Thomas
(1255?-1274) Quaestiones disputatae. Ed. by R. Spiazzi. 21 vols. Turin: Marietti 1964–65.
Aquinas, Thomas
(1255?-1274) Summa theologiae. Ed. by P. Caramello, 31 vols. Turin: Marietti 1962–63.
Bacon, Roger
(1214–1294?). 1265?Summa grammatica. Ed. by Robert Steele. Oxford: Clarendon Press 1940.
Boethius Dacus
1270Modi significandi sive quaestiones super Priscianum maiorem. Ed. by Jan Pinborg & Heinrich Roos. (= Corpus Philosophorum Danicorum Medii Aevi, 6.) Copenhagen: Gad 1969.
Bursill-Hall, G. L.
1971Speculative Grammars of the Middle Ages: The doctrine of the partes orationis of the Modistae. The Hague: Mouton.
Deniers, G. E.
1932 “Les divers sens du mot ratio au moyen âge: Autour d’un texte de Maître Ferrier de Catalogne (1275)”. Etudes d’histoire littéraire et doctrinale du treizième siècle, 1 série, 150–89. Paris: Vrin & Ottawa: Institut d’études médievales.
1967 “A Medieval Controversy concerning the Nature of General Grammar”. GL 71.79–104.
Pseudo-Grosse teste
1260? “Tractatus de grammatica”. Eine fälschlich Robert Grosseteste zugeschriebene spekulative Grammatik. Ed. by Karl Reichl. Munich-Paderborn-Vienna: Schöningh 1977.
Ioannes Dacus
1280?Joannis Daci opera. 21 vols. Ed. by A. Otto. (= Corpus Philosophorum Danicorum Medii Aevi, 1.) Copenhagen: Gad 1955.
Ioannes Stobnicensis
1300?Generalis doctrina de modis significandi grammaticalibus. Metrificale Marka z Opatowca i trataty grammatyczue. Ed. by R. Gansiniec, 149–54. Wroclaw: Polish Academy of Sciences 1960.
Kelly, L. G.
1972 “De modis generandi: Points of contact between Noam Chomsky and Thomas of Erfurt”. FoL 51.225–52.
Kelly, L. G.
1975 “Augustine and Saussurean Linguistics”. Augustinian Studies 61.45–64.
Kelly, L. G.
1977 “La Physique d’Aristote et la phrase simple dans les ouvrages de grammarie spéculative”. La grammaire des modistes aux idéologues ed. by André Joly, 107–24. Villeneuve-d’Ascq: Publications de l’Université de Lille III.
Martinus Dacus
1280?Martini de Dacia opera. Ed. by H. Roos. (= Corpus Philosphorum Danicorum Medii Aevi, 2.) Copenhagen: Gad 1961.
Michel de Marbais
1280?Summa modorum significandi. MS Lat 16222. Paris: Bib. Nationale.
Pinborg, Jan
1964 “Was heisst Modus Significandi?” Fides quaerens intellectum. Festschrift tilegnet Heinrich Roos, S.J., 66–84. Copenhagen: Arne Frost-Hansen.
Pinborg, Jan
1973 “Some Syntactic Concepts in Medieval Grammar”. Classica et Medievalia Francisco Blatt Septuagenario dedicata, 496–509. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
Simon Dacus
1270?Simonis Daci opera. Ed. by A. Otto. (= Corpus Philosphorum Danicorum Medii Aevi, 3.) Copenhagen: Gad 1963.
Thomas of Erfurt
1310?Grammatica Speculativa. Ed. & transl, by G. L. Bursill-Hall. London: Longmans 1972.
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Bursill-Hall, Geoffrey L.
1995. Linguistics in the Later Middle Ages. In Concise History of the Language Sciences, ► pp. 130 ff.
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