ABSTRACT

The First Book of Genesis in the Bible, with its reference to the Tower of Babel and the confusion of tongues, shows that there was a realization of the diversity of tongues, coupled with clear appreciation of the all-important role that language plays in human coordinated activity, and even a longing for universal linguistic understanding. To the present-day linguist, the value of Probus’ contribution is that he gives both the “correct” and the “incorrect” forms (sometimes he reverses them), and the “incorrect” versions are often the direct and immediate forerunners of later Romance forms. In the matter of linguistic consciousness, Priscian, a grammarian of the sixth century a.d., offers a division of words into roots and endings which reminds one of the present-day morphemic theory, and goes far beyond an earlier attempt by Aristotle. The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries displayed much interest in languages and linguistics, but lacked a workable, working methodology.