The Art of Grammar

2nd century BCE, first treatise on Greek grammar, attributed to Dionysius Thrax

For works in Latin by this title, see Ars grammatica.

The Art of Grammar (Ancient Greek: Τέχνη Γραμματική Téchnē Grammatikḗ) is a treatise on Ancient Greek grammar, attributed to Dionysius Thrax, who wrote in the 2nd century BC.

## Contents

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It is the first work on grammar in Greek, and also the first concerning a Western language.[citation needed] It sought mainly to help speakers of Koine Greek understand the language of Homer, and other great poets of the past.[1] It has become a source for how ancient texts should be acted out based on the experience from commonly read ancient authors.[2] There are six parts to understanding grammar including trained reading by understanding the dialect from certain poetical figures.[3] There is a nine-part word classification system, which strayed away from the previous eight-part classification system.[4] It describes morphological structure as containing no middle diathesis.[5] There is no morphological analysis and the text uses the Word and Paradigm model.[6][7]

## Translation

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It was translated into Syriac by Joseph Huzaya of the school of Nisibis in the 6th century.[8] It was also translated into Armenian.[9]

## References

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1. ^ "The Art of Grammar", Encyclopædia Britannica. 2010. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 15 July 2010.
2. ^ Mitchell, Jack (2015). "Literary Performance in the Imperial Schoolroom as Historical Reënactment: The Evidence of the Colloquia, Scholia to Canonical Works, and Scholia to the Techne of Dionysius Thrax". American Journal of Philology. 136 (3): 469–502\. doi:10.1353/ajp.2015.0012. ISSN 1086-3168. S2CID 170141521.
3. ^ "Die Fragmente des Grammatikers Dionysios Thrax", Die Fragmente des Grammatikers Dionysios Thrax. Die Fragmente der Grammatiker Tyrannion und Diokles. Apions Glossai Homerikai, Berlin, New York: DE GRUYTER, pp. 1–78, 1977, doi:10.1515/9783110855135.1, ISBN 9783110855135, retrieved 2021-12-08
4. ^ Schenkeveld, Dirk M. (1983). "Linguistic Theories in the Rhetorical Works of Dionysius of Halicarnassus". Glotta. 61 (1/2): 67–94\. ISSN 0017-1298. JSTOR 40266622.
5. ^ Farina, Margherita. "Diathesis and Middle Voice in the Syriac Ancient Grammatical Tradition: The Translations and Adaptations of the Téchne Grammatiké and the Arabic Model." Aramaic Studies, vol. 6, no. 2, 2008, pp. 175-193.
6. ^ Niederehe, Hans-Josef; Koerner, E. F. K. (1990). History and Historiography of Linguistics: Papers from the Fourth International Conference on the History of the Language Sciences (ICHoLS IV), Trier, 24-28 August, 1987. John Benjamins Publishing. ISBN 978-90-272-4541-0.
7. ^ Wolanin, Hubert. "Ancient Greeks on compounds: Aristotle, Dionysius Thrax, Apollonius Dyscolus." (2017).
8. ^ Margherita Farina (2008), "Diathesis and Middle Voice in the Syriac Ancient Grammatical Tradition: The Translations and Adaptations of the Téchne Grammatiké and the Arabic Model", Aramaic Studies, 6 (2): 175–193, doi:10.1163/147783508X393039, S2CID 161176275.
9. ^ "Armenian Early Printed Books (armbook)". greenstone.flib.sci.am. Retrieved 2023-12-14.

## External links

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*  Greek Wikisource has original text related to this article: Τέχνη Γραμματική
*  English Wikisource has original text related to this article: The grammar of Dionysios Thrax
* Art of Grammar in Greek on Bibliotheca Augustana
* The Grammar of Dionysios Thrax, translation by Thomas Davidson
* The Grammar of Dionysius Thrax, translation by Anthony Alcock

Authority control databases

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* VIAF

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* France
* BnF data
* Israel

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* Yale LUX

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