__NOTOC__ Publius Consentius was a 5th-century

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

grammarian Grammarian may refer to: * Alexandrine grammarians, philologists and textual scholars in Hellenistic Alexandria in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BCE * Biblical grammarians, scholars who study the Bible and the Hebrew language * Grammarian (Greco-Roman ...

and the author of two treatises, which are perhaps the fragments of a complete grammar: ''Ars de duabus partibus orationis, nomine et verbo'', on the noun and the verb, which was much used during the

Carolingian The Carolingian dynasty ( ; known variously as the Carlovingians, Carolingus, Carolings, Karolinger or Karlings) was a Frankish noble family named after Charles Martel and his grandson Charlemagne, descendants of the Arnulfing and Pippinid c ...

period, and ''Ars de barbarismis et metaplasmis'', on barbarisms and

metaplasm A metaplasm is almost any kind of alteration, whether intentional or unintentional, in the pronunciation or the orthography of a word. The change may be phonetic only, such as pronouncing ''Mississippi'' as ''Missippi'' in English, or acceptance ...

. The latter refers to a third essay, ''De structurarum ratione'', on the structure of sentences, which, if ever published, no longer exists. ''Nomine et verbo'' was published by Johann Sichard at

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

in 1528 and subsequently, in a much more complete form, in the collection of Helias van Putschen, who had access to manuscripts that he used to rectify many deficiencies, large and small. ''De barbarismis'' was discovered by Andreas Wilhelm Cramer in a

Regensburg Regensburg (historically known in English as Ratisbon) is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the rivers Danube, Naab and Regen (river), Regen, Danube's northernmost point. It is the capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the ...

manuscript now at

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

, and it was published at

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

Philipp Karl Buttmann Philipp Karl Buttmann (5 December 1764 – 21 June 1829) was a German philologist of French Huguenot ancestry (original family name "Boudemont"), born in Frankfurt am Main. He was educated in his native town and at the University of Göttingen, ...

in 1817.''

Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology The ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'' is a biographical dictionary of classical antiquity, edited by William Smith (lexicographer), William Smith and originally published in London by John Taylor (English publisher), Tayl ...

'',

William Smith William, Willie, Will, Bill, or Billy Smith may refer to: Academics * William Smith (Master of Clare College, Cambridge) (1556–1615), English academic * William Smith (antiquary) (c. 1653–1735), English antiquary and historian of University C ...

, editor. Consentius is believed to have lived at

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

in the middle of the fifth century, and may have been the poet Consentius, his son, or his grandson. The poet and his grandson were praised by

Sidonius Apollinaris Gaius Sollius Modestus Apollinaris Sidonius, better known as Sidonius Apollinaris (5 November, 430 – 481/490 AD), was a poet, diplomat, and bishop. Born into the Gallo-Roman aristocracy, he was son-in-law to Emperor Avitus and was appointed Urb ...

, but the son may be the best candidate for the grammarian. According to

Johann Albert Fabricius Johann Albert Fabricius (11 November 1668 – 30 April 1736) was a German classical scholar and bibliographer. Biography Fabricius was born in Leipzig, son of Werner Fabricius, director of music in the church of St. Paul at Leipzig, who was the ...

, in some manuscripts the grammarian is styled not only ''vir clarissimus'', the ordinary appellation of learned men at that period, but also ''quintus consularis quinque civitatem'', indicating that he had achieved high office and imperial favor. Consentius the son rose to high honor under

Valentinian III Valentinian III (; 2 July 41916 March 455) was Roman emperor in the Western Roman Empire, West from 425 to 455. Starting in childhood, his reign over the Roman Empire was one of the longest, but was dominated by civil wars among powerful general ...

, who named him ''

Comes Palatii A count palatine (Latin ''comes palatinus''), also count of the palace or palsgrave (from German ''Pfalzgraf''), was originally an official attached to a royal or imperial palace or household and later a nobleman of a rank above that of an ord ...

'' and dispatched him upon an important mission to

Theodosius II Theodosius II ( ; 10 April 401 – 28 July 450), called "the Calligraphy, Calligrapher", was Roman emperor from 402 to 450. He was proclaimed ''Augustus (title), Augustus'' as an infant and ruled as the Eastern Empire's sole emperor after the ...

. Some of Consentius' ideas are surprisingly modern. He explicitly differentiates signifié and signifiant, the word itself and the thing signified by it. He explains

grammatical gender In linguistics, a grammatical gender system is a specific form of a noun class system, where nouns are assigned to gender categories that are often not related to the real-world qualities of the entities denoted by those nouns. In languages wit ...

by saying that masculine or feminine gender was ''ascribed'', either randomly or by some consensus (''seu licenter seu decenter''), to some entities which lack natural gender.

Notes

References

* * * * * At JSTOR.

External links

Corpus Grammaticorum Latinorum
complete texts and full bibliography. Year of birth missing Year of death missing Ancient linguists Grammarians of Latin 5th-century writers in Latin {{Europe-linguist-stub

See also

Notes

References

External links