La sintassi “nascosta” dei grammatici latini: evidenze terminologiche a proposito della praepositio

Abstract

The present study aims at contributing to the reconstruction of the development of the Western syntactic thought, through an analysis of the metalanguage used by late-antique and medieval grammarians about the category of government and, in particular, the relation between praepositio and casus. Through the textual analysis of the descriptions of prepositions within the artes of Marius Plotius Sacerdos, Maximus Victorinus, and Audax, it is possible to find various metaterms that interestingly convey the idea of government between prepositions and their case-inflected nominals. Crossing the boundary of the mere linearity of linguistic items, the metaterminological use of the grammarians reveals a complex description of the relations inherent to what is understood, in modern terms, as prepositional phrase. This description turns out to involve a striking double perspective (hierarchical/symmetrical) on the syntactic relation between praepositio and casus.