Consentius

{{Short description|5th-century Latin grammarian from Constantinople}} __NOTOC__ '''Publius Consentius''' was a 5th-century Latin grammarian 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 period, and ''Ars de barbarismis et metaplasmis'', on barbarisms and metaplasm. The latter refers to a third essay, ''De structurarum ratione'', on the structure of sentences, which, if ever published, no longer exists.<ref name="DGRBM"/>

''Nomine et verbo'' was published by Johann Sichard at Basel 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.<ref>{{cite book |editor-last1=Sichard |editor-first1=Johann |title=Disciplinarum liberalium orbis, ex P. Consentio et magno aurelio Cassiodoro |date=1528 |publisher=Johann Bebel |location=Basil |pages=3–24}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1= Putschen |first1= Helias van |title= Grammaticae latinae auctores antiqui |date= 1605 |publisher= Claude de Marne; and the heirs of Jean Aubry |location= Hanover |no-pp= yes |pages= cols. 2018–2074 |language=Latin}}</ref> ''De barbarismis'' was discovered by Andreas Wilhelm Cramer in a Regensburg manuscript now at Munich, and it was published at Berlin by Philipp Karl Buttmann in 1817.<ref name="DGRBM">''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'', William Smith, editor.</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1= Consentius |editor1-last= Buttmann |editor1-first= Philipp Carl |title= Ars Consentii V.C. de Barbarismis et Metaplasmis |date= 1817 |publisher= Dümmler |location= Berlin }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1= Mari |first1= Tommaso |title= A new manuscript of Consentius' De barbarismis et metaplasmis |journal= The Classical Quarterly |date= 2016 |volume= 66 |issue= 1 |pages= 370–375|doi= 10.1017/S0009838816000021 }}</ref>

Consentius is believed to have lived at Constantinople 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,<ref>{{cite book |last1= Sidonius Apollinaris |editor1-last= Lütjohann |editor1-first= Christian |title= Epistulae et carmina |date= 1887 |publisher= Weidmann |location= Berlin |chapter= Carmina 23. Ad Consentium |pages= 250–261 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1= Sidonius Apollinaris |editor1-last= Dalton |editor1-first= O. M. |title= The Letters of Sidonius |date= 1915 |publisher= Clarendon Press |location= Oxford |no-pp= yes |pages= vol. 2, pp. 142–144 |chapter= Book 8, letter 4. To his friend Consentius }}</ref> but the son may be the best candidate for the grammarian. According to Johann Albert Fabricius, 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.<ref>{{cite book |last1= Fabricius |first1= Johann Albert |editor1-last= Ernesti |editor1-first= Johann August |title= Bibliotheca latina |date= 1773–1774 |publisher= Weidmanns Erben und Reich |location= Leipzig |no-pp= yes |pages= vol. 3, p. 411 }}</ref> Consentius the son rose to high honor under Valentinian III, who named him ''Comes Palatii'' and dispatched him upon an important mission to Theodosius II.<ref name="DGRBM"/>

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 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.

==See also== * Consentia (gens)

==Notes== {{reflist}}

==References== *{{SmithDGRBM |title=Consentius}}

* {{cite book |author1= Consentius |chapter= Nomine et verbo |editor1-last= Keil |editor1-first= Heinrich |title= Grammatici latini |date= 1857 |publisher= B. G. Teubner |location= Leipzig |no-pp= yes |pages= vol. 5, pp. 339-385 }}

* {{cite book |author1= Consentius |chapter= De barbarismis et metaplasmis |editor1-last= Keil |editor1-first= Heinrich |title= Grammatici latini |date= 1857 |publisher= B. G. Teubner |location= Leipzig |no-pp= yes |pages= vol. 5, pp. 386-404 }}

* {{cite book |last1= Consentius |editor1-last= Mari |editor1-first= Tommaso |title= Consentius' De barbarismis et metaplasmis: Critical edition, translation, and commentary |type= doctoral dissertation |date= 2016 |publisher= University of Oxford |location= Oxford }}

* {{cite journal |last1= Fögen |first1= Thorsten |title= Der Grammatiker Consentius |journal= Glotta |date= 1997 |volume= 74 |issue= 3/4 |pages= 164–192 |jstor= 40267058 |url= https://www.jstor.org/stable/40267058 }} At JSTOR.

==External links== *[https://cgl.hypotheses.org/ Corpus Grammaticorum Latinorum]: complete texts and full bibliography.

{{Authority control}} Category:Year of birth missing Category:Year of death missing Category:Ancient linguists Category:Grammarians of Latin Category:5th-century writers in Latin