The phrase 'traditional grammar' refers to the body of knowledge about the correct use of word-forms and syntax transmitted in the West at least since the early Middle Ages for the study of Latin and Greek and whose categories were used as a template for the study of other languages. It has long been recognised that traditional grammar shares numerous terms and concepts with the linguistic studies of the Stoics, and this chapter examines the relations between them.

SOURCES

As is so often the case with Hellenistic philosophy, the dearth of reliable, high-quality, first-hand material is a serious obstacle to reconstructing Stoic thought in this area. No Stoic grammatical treatise of any period survives; indeed, only one text with what can be called, broadly, grammatical interests is extant in even something like its original form; in any case this book of Chrysippus’ Logical Questions (PHerc 307) belongs rather in what moderns would call philosophical logic and the philosophy of language – although this overlap is significant in itself (see Section 2.2).