ABSTRACT
Anselm's theory of words and signification says more about the way in which he viewed the world than about medieval ideas on grammar or logic. D. P. Henry carries on in his discussion of Anselm's distinction between the common use of certain words and expressions and the more learned approach, to argue that this sort of language has many different benefits. While Henry's emphasis on the importance of the De Grammatico for understanding medieval philosophical logic may prove of some value, treating the De Grammatico to that end alone is rather unsatisfying. The De Grammatico, then, is not primarily about paronymy or about grammar, but, as argued, about method. Augustine had worked on a theory of words and signification which led more immediately than Anselm's De Grammatico into direct theological application. Words are likenesses, Anselm explains, of that which they signify and 'the degree of truth of every likeness and image depends on the degree of its imitation of its object'.
