Full text loading...
-
Gerardus Joannes Vossius (1577-1649) and the Study of Latin Grammar
- Source: Historiographia Linguistica, Volume 15, Issue 1-2, Jan 1988, p. 109 - 128
Abstract
SUMMARYGerardus Joannes Vossius (1577-1649) published his De arte grammatica libri septem in 1635. From the second edition in 1662 the work became known as Vossius's Aristarchus. This important Latin grammar of Vossius, and also his other publications devoted to Latin, have their particular place in the evolution of grammatical studies in the 17th century. Vossius's works were used in the first place because in them he had given a complete survey and systematization of all the scholarly information concerning Latin existing up to his own days. Neoscholastic Aristotelism was the philosophical basis of his treatment with Latin language and grammar. However, we find at the same time in Vossius's work sometimes hints at a new approach to the study of Latin grammar. He followed in many respects the new directions pointed out by men like Scaliger and Sanctius. Thus, on the one hand, Vossius stood in the Humanist tradition of his day while, on the other, his work could be used profitably also by the Port-Royal grammarians and other philologist of the late 17th and 18th centuries. Following an appraisal of Vossius's place in the Humanist tradition and of the contribution he made in his Aristarchus, the paper deals at some length with the analogy principle as used by Vossius and his successors. It concludes with sections on the evolution of grammatical ideas in the 17th and early 18th centuries marked especially by the tradition associated with the works of Sanctius, Vossius, and Port-Royal.RESUMEEn 1635, Gerardus Joannes Vossius (1577-1649) publia son ouvrage De arte grammatica libri septem. Des la parution de la deuxieme edition en 1662, l'ouvrage fut connu sous le nom de Aristarchus. Cette grande Gram-maire latine de Vossius aussi bien que ses autres publications sur la langue et la grammaire latines ont une place importante dans revolution des etudes grammaticales du XVIIeme siecle. Tout d'abord on s'est servi des ou-vrages de Vossius parce qu'ils donnaient un tableau complet et systemati-que de toutes les etudes scientifiques de latin existant a cette epoque-la. L'aristotelisme neo-scolastique fut la base philosophique de son etude de la langue et de la grammaire latines. Cependant, on trouve en meme temps dans l'oeuvre de Vossius parfois une nouvelle approche de la grammaire la-tine. A nombreux d'egards il a suivi les nouvelles directions indiquees par des erudits tels que Scaliger et Sanctius. Ainsi Vossius se trouvait d'une part dans la tradition humaniste de son epoque et d'autre part son oeuvre pouvait servir aux grammairiens de Port-Royal et aux autres philologues du XVIIeme et du XVIIIeme siecles d'outil important. Apres une description de la place de Vossius dans la tradition humaniste et de son ouvrage Aris-tarchus, I'article traite du principe analogique applique par Vossius et ses successeurs. Dans les dernieres parties on donne un apercu de revolution de la theorie grammaticale marquee par la filiation Sanctius - Vossius -Port-Royal.