Diogenes Laërtius · fl. 3rd century CE
Lives of Eminent Philosophers 7.58 — Diogenes Laërtius on the Stoics
Translation by R. D. Hicks (1925)
Diogenes Laërtius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers 7.58
Reported speech · Diogenes Laërtius on the Stoics
A common noun or appellative is defined by Diogenes as part of a sentence signifying a common quality, e.g. man, horse; whereas a name is a part of speech expressing a quality peculiar to an individual, e.g. Diogenes, Socrates. A verb is, according to Diogenes, a part of speech signifying an isolated predicate, or, as others define it, an un-declined part of a sentence, signifying something that can be attached to one or more subjects, e.g. “I write,” “I speak.” A conjunction is an indeclinable part of speech, binding the various parts of a statement together; and an article is a declinable part of speech, distinguishing the genders and numbers of nouns, e.g. ὁ, ἡ, τό, οἱ, αἱ, τά.
Cite this passage
Diogenes Laërtius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers 7.58 (on the Stoics), tr. R. D. Hicks (1925)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/lives-of-the-stoics/7.58
Diogenes Laërtius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, Book VII, tr. R. D. Hicks (Loeb, 1925). Text: Perseus Digital Library (CC BY-SA 4.0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesDefines the Stoic grammatical categories: common noun, proper name, verb, conjunction and article. Examples are man, horse, Socrates and I write. Grammar reference, not advice.
Older wording
- “appellative”
- — a common noun naming a kind of thing
- “predicate”
- — the part of a sentence that says something about the subject
- “indeclinable”
- — a word whose form does not change
Themes and situations
- Speech and silence
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