View source for Priscian

{{Short description|6th-century Latin grammarian}}
{{distinguish|Priscian of Lydia}}
[[Image:Priscianus della Robbia OPA Florence.jpg|thumb|270px|right|Priscian, or the Grammar, relief from the bell tower of [[Florence]] by [[Luca della Robbia]]]]
'''Priscianus Caesariensis''' ({{floruit|AD 500}}), commonly known as '''Priscian''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|p|r|ɪ|ʃ|ən|}} or {{IPAc-en|ˈ|p|r|ɪ|ʃ|i|ən|}}), was a [[Latin]] grammarian and the author of the ''Institutes of Grammar'', which was the standard textbook for the study of Latin during the [[Middle Ages]]. It also provided the raw material for the field of [[Modistae|speculative grammar]].

{{anchor|History|Biography}}

==Life==
The details of Priscian's life are largely unknown. Priscian was born and raised in the North-African city of [[Caesarea in Mauretania|Caesarea]] (modern [[Cherchell]], Algeria), the capital of the Roman province of [[Mauretania Caesariensis]], which during his lifetime would be under the control of the [[Vandalic Kingdom]]. He was probably of Greek descent.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wilkes |first=J. |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FDrgCgAAQBAJ&dq=priscian+greek+origin&pg=PA29 |title=Fifty Key Thinkers on Language and Linguistics |date=2012 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-70750-6 |editor-last=Thomas |editor-first=Margaret |pages=29 |language=en |chapter=Aelius Donatus (Fourth Century CE) and Priscian (Sixth Century CE)}}</ref> According to [[Cassiodorus]], he taught Latin at [[Constantinople]]<ref>Keil, ''Gr. Lat.'' vii. 207</ref> in the early sixth century.{{sfn|Jones|1964|p=991}} His minor works include a [[panegyric]] to [[Roman Emperor Anastasius I|Anastasius]] (491&mdash;518), written about 512,{{sfn|Lejay|1911}} which helps establish his time period. In addition, the manuscripts of his ''Institutes'' contain a subscription to the effect that the work was copied (526, 527) by Flavius Theodorus, a clerk in the imperial secretariat.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=360}}

=={{anchor|De Constructione|Institutiones Grammaticae}}<!--linked-->Works==
[[File:Firenze, prisciano, institutiones grammaticae, 1290 ca. 01.jpg|thumb|300px|''Institutiones Grammaticae'', 1290 circa, [[Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana]], Florence]]
Priscian's most famous work, the ''Institutes of Grammar'' ({{langx|la|Institutiones Grammaticae}}), is a systematic exposition of Latin grammar. The dedication to Julian probably indicates the consul and patrician, not the author of a well-known epitome of [[Justinian I|Justinian]]'s ''Novellae'', who lived somewhat later than Priscian. The grammar is divided into eighteen books, of which the first sixteen deal mainly with sounds, word-formation and inflexions; the last two, which form from a fourth to a third of the whole work, deal with syntax.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=360}}

Priscian's grammar is based on the earlier works of [[Aelius Herodianus|Herodian]] and [[Apollonius Dyscolus|Apollonius]]. The  examples it includes to illustrate the rules preserve numerous fragments from Latin authors which would otherwise have been lost, including [[Ennius]], [[Pacuvius]], [[Lucius Accius|Accius]], [[Lucilius]], [[Cato the Elder|Cato]], [[Trajan]], and [[Marcus Terentius Varro|Varro]]. But the authors whom he quotes most frequently are [[Virgil]], and, next to him, [[Terence]], [[Cicero]], [[Plautus]]; then [[Lucan (poet)|Lucan]], [[Horace]], [[Satires of Juvenal|Juvenal]], [[Sallust]], [[Statius]], [[Ovid]], [[Livy]] and [[Persius]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=360}}

The grammar was quoted by several writers in Britain of the 8th century - [[Aldhelm, Bishop of Sherborne|Aldhelm]], [[Bede]], [[Alcuin]] - and was abridged or largely used in the next century by [[Rabanus Maurus|Hrabanus Maurus]] of Fulda and [[Servatus Lupus]] of Ferrières. About a thousand manuscripts exist, all ultimately derived from the copy made by Theodorus. Most copies contain only books I&mdash;XVI; these are sometimes known as the ''Priscianus Major'' ("Greater Priscian"). Others contain only books XVII and XVIII along with the three books to Symmachus; these are known as his work ''On Construction'' (''{{lang|la|De Constructione}}'') or the ''Priscianus Minor'' ("Lesser Priscian"). A few copies contain both parts. The earliest manuscripts are from the 9th century, though a few fragments are somewhat earlier.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=360}}

Priscian's minor works include:{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=360}}
* Three treatises dedicated to Symmachus (the father-in-law of [[Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius]]): on weights and measures; on the metres of [[Terence]]; and the ''Praeexercitamina'', a translation into Latin of Greek rhetorical exercises from [[Hermogenes of Tarsus|Hermogenes]].
* ''De nomine, pronomine, et verbo'' ("On noun, pronoun, and verb"), an abridgment of part of his ''Institutes'' for teaching grammar in schools
* ''Partitiones xii. versuum Aeneidos principalium'': another teaching aid, using question and answer to dissect the first lines of each of the twelve books of the [[Aeneid]]. The metre is discussed first, each verse is scanned, and each word thoroughly and instructively examined.
* The poem on Anastasius mentioned above, in 312 [[hexameter]]s with a short iambic introduction
* A translation in 1087 hexameters of the verse-form geographical survey by [[Dionysius Periegetes]].

==Legacy==
Books XVII & XVIII of the ''Institutes'', his work ''On Construction'', was part of the [[core curriculum]] of the [[University of Paris]] in the 13th century and [[Roger Bacon]]'s lectures for the class were the probable origin of his own ''[[Overview of Grammar]]'', one of the first expositions on the idea of a [[universal grammar]].

[[Dante]] places Priscian in Hell among the sodomites in Canto XV of his ''[[Inferno (Dante)|Inferno]]''.<ref>[[Dante]], ''[[Inferno (Dante)|Inf.]]'', Canto XV, l. 109.</ref> Dante's contemporaries knew of no historical evidence that Priscian was a sodomite.<ref>{{cite journal |author-last=Boswell |author-first=John E. |author-link=John Boswell |title=Dante and the Sodomites |journal=Dante Studies |issue=112 |year=1994 |page=65 |jstor=40166490 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40166490 |access-date=May 28, 2023}}</ref> [[Giovanni Boccaccio]] suggested that Priscian was placed here to signify teachers of grammar in general, who were reputed to frequently sexually abuse their young students.<ref>{{cite journal |author-last=Boswell |author-first=John E. |author-link=John Boswell |title=Dante and the Sodomites |journal=Dante Studies |issue=112 |year=1994 |page=68 |jstor=40166490 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40166490 |access-date=May 28, 2023}}</ref>

==Editions and translations==

'''Editions'''
* Prisciani caesariensis grammatici opera ... Edited by Augustus Krehl. Lipsiae: Weidmann, 1819–20.
* Prisciani institutionum grammaticalium librorum I-XVI, indices et concordantiae. Curantibus Cirilo Garcia Roman, Marco A. Gutierrez Galindo. Hildesheim, New York: Olms-Weidmann, 2001, {{ISBN|9783487113081}}
* Prisciani institutionum grammaticalium librorum XVII et XVIII, indices et concordantiae. Curantibus Cirilo Garcia Roman, Marco A. Gutierrez Galindo, Maria del Carmen Diaz de Alda Carlos. Hildesheim, New York: Olms-Weidmann, 1999.
* Prisciani Caesariensis opuscula. Critical edition edited by Marina Passalacqua with commentary in Italian. Roma: Edizioni di storia e letteratura, 1987 (vol. I: De figuris numerorum. De metris Terentii. Praeexercitamina; vol. II: Institutio de nomine et pronomine et verbo partitiones duodecim versuum aeneidos principalium)

'''Latin/German editions'''
* Schönberger, A. 2009. ''Priscians Darstellung der lateinischen Pronomina: lateinischer Text und kommentierte deutsche Übersetzung des 12. und 13. Buches der'' Institutiones Grammaticae, Frankfurt am Main: Valentia. {{ISBN|978-3-936132-34-2}} (books XII-XIII; first translation into a modern language.)
* Schönberger, A. 2008. ''Priscians Darstellung der lateinischen Präpositionen: lateinischer Text und kommentierte deutsche Übersetzung des 14. Buches der Institutiones Grammaticae'', Frankfurt am Main: Valentia, 2008, {{ISBN|978-3-936132-18-2}} (book XIV; first translation into a modern language.)
* Schönberger, A. 2010. ''Priscians Darstellung der lateinischen Konjunktionen: lateinischer Text und kommentierte deutsche Übersetzung des 16. Buches der Institutiones Grammaticae'', Frankfurt am Main: Valentia. {{ISBN|978-3-936132-09-0}} (of book XVI; first translation into a modern language.)
* Schönberger, A. 2010. ''Priscians Darstellung der lateinischen Syntax (I): lateinischer Text und kommentierte deutsche Übersetzung des 17. Buches der'' Institutiones Grammaticae, Frankfurt am Main: Valentia. {{ISBN|978-3-936132-10-6}} (book XVII = first book of the "Priscianus minor"; first translation into a modern language.)
* Schönberger, A. 2010. ''Priscians Darstellung des silbisch gebundenen Tonhöhenmorenakzents des Lateinischen: lateinischer Text und kommentierte deutsche Übersetzung des Buches über den lateinischen Akzent'', Frankfurt am Main: Valentia. {{ISBN|978-3-936132-11-3}} (''De accentibus''; first translation into a modern language).

'''Latin/French editions'''
* Priscien, ''Grammaire. Livre VIII - Le verbe'', Paris: Vrin 2023.
* Priscien, ''Grammaire. Livre XI - XII - XIII - Les hybrides (participe, pronom)'', Paris: Vrin 2020.
* Priscien, ''Grammaire. Livre XIV - XV - XVI - Les invariables (préposition, adverbe et interjection, conjonction)'', Paris: Vrin 2013.
* Priscien, ''Grammaire. Livre XVII – Syntaxe I'', Paris: Vrin 2010.
* Priscien, ''Grammaire. Livre XVIII - Syntaxe II'', Paris: Vrin 2017.

==Notes==
{{reflist|30em}}

==References==
*{{citation|last=Jones |first=A.H.M. |author-link=A.H.M. Jones |year=1964 |title=The later Roman empire 284-602: A social, economic, and administrative survey |volume=II |location=Oxford |publisher=[[Basil Blackwell]] |page=991 |isbn=0631149651}}
*{{cite CE1913|last=Lejay |first=Paul |wstitle=Priscianus |volume=12|mode=cs2}}

'''Attribution'''
* {{EB1911 |wstitle=Priscian |volume=22 |page=360 |mode=cs2}}

==Further reading==
* M. Baratin, B. Colombat, L. Holtz, (eds). 2009. ''Priscien. Transmission et refondation de la grammaire, de l'antiquité aux modernes'', Brepols Publishers. {{ISBN|978-2-503-53074-1}}.
*Luhtala, Anneli. 2005. ''Grammar and Philosophy in Late Antiquity. A Study of Priscian's Sources''. John Benjamins. Series: Studies in the history of the language sciences; 107. Preview available at Google Books as of February 2011.
* Schönberger, A. 2014: ''Zur Lautlehre, Prosodie und Phonotaktik des Lateinischen gemäß der Beschreibung Priscians.'' In: ''[[Millennium (Zeitschrift)|Millennium]].'' Vol. 11, pp.&nbsp;121–184.

==External links==
* {{wikisourcelang-inline|la|Scriptor:Priscianus Caesariensis|Priscianus Caesariensis}}
*[https://digiliblt.uniupo.it/autore.php Priscian's works in Latin at The Digital Library of Late-Antique Latin Texts—DigilibLT]
*''Rhetores latini minores'', Carl Halm (ed.), Lipsiae in aedibus B. G. Teubneri, 1863, [https://books.google.com/books?id=srwUAAAAQAAJ pp. 551-560].

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Ancient linguists]]
[[Category:Grammarians of Latin]]
[[Category:6th-century writers in Latin]]
[[Category:Ancient Roman rhetoricians]]
[[Category:Compilers of works of quotations]]
[[Category:6th-century Byzantine writers]]