1887
Volume 13, Issue 2-3
  • ISSN 0302-5160
  • E-ISSN: 1569-9781
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Abstract

SUMMARYModern researchers in the fields of rhetoric, linguistics, and parody analysis are still using the four categories of alteration which Quintilian called the quadripertita ratio, namely, adiectio, detractio, transmutatio, and immutatio. It therefore appears worth while to trace the history of this system of categories back to antiquity.In this paper examples are presented to illustrate the use of these categories in rhetoric and grammar. Next an attempt is made to develop an account of the evolution of this system. Most of the available data derive from late antiquity only, but with the help of Quintilian we are able to date the system back to the first century A.D. Karl Barwick and Hermann Usener, dealing with the history of grammar in antiquity, have proposed even earlier periods for the origin of these categories of alteration. Barwick went as far back as the Stoic dialectic of the second century B.C. (Diogenes of Babylon), but no clear evidence has been adduced for this early date. Usener traces the system back to the first century B.C., a date which is more plausible even though still speculative. According to Barwick, Caecilius of Calacte (first century B.C.) introduced these four categories into rhetoric.Attestations beyond the first century B.C. point in a Peripatetic direction; for the Stoics no evidence has been found for the presence of this system of categories. Yet it can be traced in both the Physics and the Poetics of Aristotle. Indeed, Plato is already familiar with these categories, and as a result, most probably the Sophists of the fifth century B.C. were also.RÉSUMÉLes quatre transformations adiectio, detractio, transmutatio et immutatio sont utilisées de manière inchangée en rhétorique moderne, en linguistique et dans l'étude de la parodie. Il semble donc valoir la peine de rechercher l'histoire de ce système de transformations dans l'Antiquité.On donne d'abord des exemples de son utilisation en rhétorique et en grammaire. Puis on tente d'ébaucher l'histoire de l'évolution du système. Les témoignages conservés nous viennent essentiellement de l'Antiquité tardive, mais grâce à Quintilien, on arrive à dater ce système du 1er siècle après J.C. Les modèles de grammaire antique développés par Karl Barwick et Hermann Usener nous mènent au-delà de Quintilien. Barwick voit déjà ces transformations dans la dialectique stoïque du 2e siècle avant J.C. (Diogène de Babylone). In n'en existe cependant pas de preuves indubitables. Usener, lui, les fait remonter à Tyrannion (1er siècle avant J.C.) — approche tout aussi spéculative, mais qui paraît plus plausible. Comme le prouve Barwick, c'est Caecilius de Calacte (1er siècle avant J.C.) qui a introduit ces quatre transformations dans la rhétorique.Au-delà du premier siècle, les documents nous orientent vers Peripatos. Quant aux stoïciens, on ne peut prouver qu'ils aient utilisé ce système de transformations — qu'on perçoit nettement, en revanche, dans la Physique et la Poétique d'Aristote. Mais Platon connaît déjà ces transformations ainsi sans doute que la sophistique du cinquième siècle.

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/content/journals/10.1075/hl.13.2-3.05ax
1986-01-01
2024-03-19
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  • Article Type: Research Article
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