Maria Chriti | Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (original) (raw)

Papers by Maria Chriti

El concepto de hombre divino en el mundo antoguo y su reception, eds. Marco Alviz Fernandez & David Hernandez de la Fuente, 2024

This article deals with the theological/metaphysical and also the orthological/scientific approac... more This article deals with the theological/metaphysical and also the orthological/scientific approaches to language by Aristotle's Alexandrian Neoplatonic commentators.

Simplicité et complexité des langues dans l’histoire des théories linguistiques, dir. par Émilie Aussant, John E. Joseph & Chloé Laplantine. Paris : SHESL (HEL Livres, 3), pp. 299-318, 2023

In this paper an attempt is made to contextualize the views of the Neoplatonic commentator Porphy... more In this paper an attempt is made to contextualize the views of the Neoplatonic commentator Porphyry concerning language's progression from simplicity to complexity, into the curricula of the Alexandrian School of philosophy, in terms of proceeding from simple to complex philosophical reflection and reasoning. "Simple words" are considered by Porphyry and later Neoplatonic commentators as the subject-matter of the Categories, while the "more complex" level of human signification, i.e., the "second imposition of words", is considered as the subject-matter of the second logical work, i.e., On Interpretation. Given the established sequence of the treatises in the Organon within the Neoplatonic curricula, the importance of this linguistic step from simplicity to complexity can be related to the respective progress in thinking and reasoning.

The Descent of the Soul and the Archaic. Katabasis and Depth Psychology, , eds. P. Bishop, T. Dawson, L. Gardner, Routledge, 2022., 2022

Neoplatonic katabasis of the soul to the world of senses from the perspective of Depth Psychology.

Religions 13.2: Special Issue, Conversion Debates in Hellenistic Philosophy and Early Christianity, ed. by Eva Anagnostou, Georgios Steiris, Georgios Arabatzis, https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/13/2/172/htm, 2022

Aristotle is presented as adopting the concept of a 'specialist name-giver' by his Neoplatonic co... more Aristotle is presented as adopting the concept of a 'specialist name-giver' by his Neoplatonic commentator Ammonius of Hermeias, who attempts to reach a compromise between the linguistic views of Plato and those of Aristotle.

Labyrinth

This article deals with the English translations of the adverb oikeiôs in Aristotle's texts. ... more This article deals with the English translations of the adverb oikeiôs in Aristotle's texts. In chapter 7 of the Categories, Aristotle advises speakers to create words if necessary (7a5-7), on the condition that the new word is given oikeiôs. However, the English translations does not render in an accurate way what Aristotle wants to express regarding name-giving, since the adverb oikeiôs, deriving from the adjective oikeios, denotes 'property' and 'familiarity', the second meaning obviously originating from the first. Oikeiôs is crucial for us to comprehend Aristotle's concept of name-giving, since he combines it with forms of the verbs apodidômi ('to define') or legô, more than eight times in this particular chapter, where he is concerned with correct linguistic rendition. In sense of 'familiarity', oikeiôs sheds more light on the philosopher's semantic theory in On Interpretation, helping us to understand exactly how Aristotle conceived...

Beitrage Zur Geschichte Der Sprachwissenschaft, 2014

Beitrage Zur Geschichte Der Sprachwissenschaft, 2011

Archetypes, Concepts and Contexts, 2011

De Gruyter "Ancient Greek theories and practices of etymology" eds. A. Zucker and C. LeFeuvre, 2020

The subject of this paper is Aristotle's etymological/semantic policies in name-assigning, as con... more The subject of this paper is Aristotle's etymological/semantic policies in name-assigning, as considered by his Neoplatonic commentator Ammonius of Her-meias, the head of Alexandria's school, whose positions and methods were formed according to a particular exegetical tradition. The present discussion does not concern approaches to a certain etymologi-cal decoding, but the relation between etymology and onomastics, i.e., the use of given etymologies in attribution of names, as practiced by Aristotle and acknowledged by Ammonius, an interpretation intrinsically related to the debate over the natural or conventional character of language. Ancient etymology in general was connected with the issue of the nature of language through a process of philosophical osmosis, cast in terms of the relation between words and their signifieds; this is why both Aristotle's formulations and Ammonius' comments on them should be contextualized historically and philosophically. Ancient Greek etymologies in general depict aspects of philosophical reflection on language. However, authors of antiquity did not aim at reconstructing the origins of a word, 1 as contemporary etymological research is bound to do, but they were interested in the relation between a word and its meaning, 2 a meaning that ancient etymologists were not interested in identifying, since they concentrated on detecting its relation with a specific vocal sound. This is why linguistically "incorrect" etymologies were accepted, even more than one, for one and the same word, as long as they could give to ancient thinkers "sound" reasons for a word's relation to its signified. Ineke Sluiter could not have put it more aptly: 3 ancient etymology is about semantics, in the sense that what is investigated is the meanings' connections to respective words.  1 See the characteristic examples given by Sluiter 2015, 902 ff.

Labyrinth, 2019

This article deals with the English translations of the adverb oikeiôs in Aristotle's texts. In c... more This article deals with the English translations of the adverb oikeiôs in Aristotle's texts. In chapter 7 of the Categories, Aristotle advises speakers to create words if necessary (7a5-7), on the condition that the new word is given oikeiôs. However, the English translations do not render in an accurate way what Aristotle wants to express regarding name-giving, since the adverb oikeiôs, deriving from the adjective oikeios, denotes 'property' and 'familiarity', the second meaning obviously originating from the first. Oikeiôs is crucial for us to comprehend Aristotle's concept of name-giving, since he combines it with forms of the verbs apodidômi ('to define') or legô, more than eight times in this particular chapter, where he is concerned with correct linguistic rendition. In sense of 'familiarity', oikeiôs sheds more light on the philosopher's semantic theory in On Interpretation, helping us to understand exactly how Aristotle conceived of conventionality, i.e., combined with familiarity.

Blityri, 2019

the subject of this paper is the way that Neoplatonic commentators on Aristotle treat the word cl... more the subject of this paper is the way that Neoplatonic commentators on Aristotle treat the word classes that designate the philosopher's categories. In the Categories Aristotle provides us with the first "model" of a conceptual classification. these classes are designated by specific linguistic utterances, the possible categorization of which has been puzzling thinkers and scholars ever since antiquity: why did the philosopher choose these specific terms for his categories? Neoplatonic philosophers who comment on the first logical treatise believe that only certain linguistic utterances can render Aristotle's ten classes and their approach emerges from: i) the treatment of the Categories' purpose, as related to the subject matter of On Interpretation; ii) their discussion of the 'parts of expression' (lexis) in connection with the grammatical 'parts of speech' (logos).

Μελέτες για την Ελληνική Γλώσσα, 2019

This article focuses on Aristotle's linguistic theory and practice from the perspective of his fa... more This article focuses on Aristotle's linguistic theory and practice from the perspective of his famous "semantic passage". Broadly speaking, Aristotle considers all the basic aspects of human language. Nevertheless, philosophy also owes Aristotle another 'linguistic contribution', which consists in the attribution of new terms in as many fields as he explored and there still is much to be investigated regarding Ar-istotle's own linguistic behavior in terms of his name-assigning policies. The present research method concerns: (a) The construction of a theoretical semantic background drawing on his "se-mantic passage" par excellence, where he declares the conventional character of human language, but also on his approaches to the concept of 'signify' (σημαίνω) as "to make someone's mind stand still", as well as his formulations on "ὀνοματοποιεῖν"; In the Categories he advices name-givers to create names "οἰκείως", an adverb which Aristotle often combines with forms of the verbs ἀποδίδωμι ('to define') and λέγω, so as to express that something is rendered in accordance with a certain semantic and verbal proximity of his current linguistic use. In general terms, the factors of 'human convention', 'name-assigning' and 'properly' can tell us a lot about the theoretical background that Aristotle must have stepped on when he suggested terms, either by extending the meaning of known utterances, or by coining new ones. (b) The character that could be decoded in Aristotle's processes of name-assigning. It is therefore an aim of the present research to give an-as overall as possible-account of Aristotle's onomastics, regarding the 'procedure' that he seems to have followed in exploiting conceptual and verbal affinities that he had at his disposal, as a 'tool' to investigate reality even more profoundly. 1. Εισαγωγή: ιστορική αναδρομή Ο Αριστοτέλης συνέβαλε με ιδιαίτερο τρόπο στον αρχαίο φιλοσοφικό στοχασμό για τη γλώσσα.2 Για να γίνει κατανοητή, ωστόσο, η συμβολή του αυτή, θα πρέ-1 Για μια πιο εκτεταμένη εκδοχή της έρευνας αυτής, της οποίας το αντικείμενο ήταν η πρακτική της ονοματοδοσίας από τον Αριστοτέλη βλ.

Contribution to the collective volume "Aristotle and His Commentators. Studies in Memory of Paras... more Contribution to the collective volume "Aristotle and His Commentators. Studies in Memory of Paraskevi Kotzia" (eds. P. Golitsis & K. Ierodiakonou), W.de Gruyter, 2019.

Aristotle 2400 Years, May 23-28 2016, ed. by D. Sfendoni-Mentzou. Aristotle Universuty of Thessaloniki, Interdisciplinary Centre for Aristotle Studies. , 2016

International Conference on Etymological Theories and Practice in Greek. Friday 18th & Saturday 1... more International Conference on Etymological Theories and Practice in Greek. Friday 18th & Saturday 19th March 2016, Beaulieu/mer (France).

XXVI. Internationales Kolloquium des “Studienkreis ‘Geschichte der Sprachwissenschaft’” (SGdS) R... more XXVI. Internationales Kolloquium des “Studienkreis ‘Geschichte der Sprachwissenschaft’” (SGdS)
REFLECTIONS ON LANGUAGE AND LINGUISTIC THEORIES: Concepts and Controversies from Antiquity to Present Times
16–19 July 2015 Berlin (Germany)
Compound utterance vs compound meaning: a Neoplatonic controversy
Dr Maria Chriti (Centre for the Greek Language, Thessaloniki)
The concept of ‘composition’ (συμπλοκή), i.e. the ‘combination/bringing together’ of two or more utterances or meanings is one of the basic aspects of linguistic utterance which reflects the respective aspect of human thinking. The specific concept has its own tradition in the history of ancient Greek reflection, as it was discussed by Parmenides, Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics and the Grammarians.
The Neoplatonic commentators on Aristotle treat the “combination in utterances” from a very specific perspective, which is its distinction from “combination in meanings”, as is obvious from their commentaries on Aristotle’s Categories, On Interpretation, Physics. Having as their departing points various Aristotelian remarks, they formulate their approaches on the controversy between a compound utterance and a compound meaning, following mainly two directions:
A) The character of the controversy itself, concerning i) the disconnection between a compound word and its one and only meaning and ii) the disconnection between a definition (= a “composition” of words) and its non-compound meaning.
B) The distinction between compound utterances and compound meanings, in the frame of Aristotle's approach to categorical statements in On Interpretation. This second treatment concerns: i) “compositions” of utterances which are not, however, compositions of meanings that could render a categorical statement, i.e., “apparent verbal compositions/categorical statements”, which are ― in fact ― not such in terms of meaning; ii) utterances that consist of only one word but which, nevertheless, constitute “compositions” of categorical statements, because one of the necessary components is implied. In the first case there is a composition of utterances but not of meanings and in the second case there is not a composition of utterances, but one of meanings.
What’s more, the Neoplatonists define that the two types of “compositions” (verbal and mental) belong to different research fields.

Θα ήθελα να ευχαριστήσω θερμά την Οργανωτική Επιτροπή που μου έδωσε την ευκαιρία να συμμετάσχω στ... more Θα ήθελα να ευχαριστήσω θερμά την Οργανωτική Επιτροπή που μου έδωσε την ευκαιρία να συμμετάσχω στο Συνέδριο αυτό στη μνήμη της Βούλας Κοτζιά. Το θέμα για το οποίο επέλεξα να μιλήσω άπτεται δύο εκ των βασικών ερευνητικών και διδακτικών πεδίων ενδιαφέροντος της δασκάλας μου: α) νεοπλατωνικοί υπομνηματιστές του Αριστοτέλη και β) αρχαίες γλωσσοθεωρητικές προσεγγίσεις (φιλοσοφία της γλώσσας). Η Βούλα Κοτζιά είναι αυτή που εισήγαγε και συστηματοποίησε τη διδασκαλία και τη μελέτη των νεοπλατωνικών υπομνηματιστών του Αριστοτέλη στο Τμήμα Φιλολογίας του Πανεπιστημίου που φέρει το όνομα του φιλοσόφου: όσοι ασχοληθήκαμε με τα κείμενα αυτά και ήρθαμε σε επαφή με το πλούσιο υλικό που παρέχουν στην έρευνα το οφείλουμε σε αυτή• ωστόσο, έδειξε έντονο ενδιαφέρον και για τις αρχαίες γλωσσικές θεωρίες, κάτι το οποίο πιστοποιείται από τα μαθήματα που δίδαξε και, κυρίως, από τα σχετικά άρθρα και τις μεταπτυχιακές εργασίες και διατριβές που επέβλεψε.

Neoplatonic Schools of Athens and Alexandria functioned under the guidelines of specific curricul... more Neoplatonic Schools of Athens and Alexandria functioned under the guidelines of specific curricula; these were structured according to the specific scholars' interest in explaining Plato on the basis of Aristotle, formulating their approaches and views in the literary genre of commentary on philosophical treatise; in the frame of the specific hermeneutical orientation, a study of the relation between things, concepts and words was developped by the Neoplatonic commentators on Aristotle. The specific linguistic reflexion mainly concerned the subject of each treatise in the Organon, which should be in concordance with their "Neoplatonic" interpretation of Aristotle, ruled by concrete principles. One of the most interesting views their practices of interpretation resulted to, is the concept of 'language for the language': Porphyry, whose writings admittedly followed most of the Neoplatonic philosophers in the Schools of Athens and Alexandria, defined the difference between using language to signify things via concepts (the subject of Categories, the first treatise of the Organon) and using language to talk about language (the subject of On Interpretation, the second treatise of the Organon). This "metalanguage" only consists of "names" and "verbs", the two kinds of spoken sounds which can express all the data of experience according to the Neoplatonics.

El concepto de hombre divino en el mundo antoguo y su reception, eds. Marco Alviz Fernandez & David Hernandez de la Fuente, 2024

This article deals with the theological/metaphysical and also the orthological/scientific approac... more This article deals with the theological/metaphysical and also the orthological/scientific approaches to language by Aristotle's Alexandrian Neoplatonic commentators.

Simplicité et complexité des langues dans l’histoire des théories linguistiques, dir. par Émilie Aussant, John E. Joseph & Chloé Laplantine. Paris : SHESL (HEL Livres, 3), pp. 299-318, 2023

In this paper an attempt is made to contextualize the views of the Neoplatonic commentator Porphy... more In this paper an attempt is made to contextualize the views of the Neoplatonic commentator Porphyry concerning language's progression from simplicity to complexity, into the curricula of the Alexandrian School of philosophy, in terms of proceeding from simple to complex philosophical reflection and reasoning. "Simple words" are considered by Porphyry and later Neoplatonic commentators as the subject-matter of the Categories, while the "more complex" level of human signification, i.e., the "second imposition of words", is considered as the subject-matter of the second logical work, i.e., On Interpretation. Given the established sequence of the treatises in the Organon within the Neoplatonic curricula, the importance of this linguistic step from simplicity to complexity can be related to the respective progress in thinking and reasoning.

The Descent of the Soul and the Archaic. Katabasis and Depth Psychology, , eds. P. Bishop, T. Dawson, L. Gardner, Routledge, 2022., 2022

Neoplatonic katabasis of the soul to the world of senses from the perspective of Depth Psychology.

Religions 13.2: Special Issue, Conversion Debates in Hellenistic Philosophy and Early Christianity, ed. by Eva Anagnostou, Georgios Steiris, Georgios Arabatzis, https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/13/2/172/htm, 2022

Aristotle is presented as adopting the concept of a 'specialist name-giver' by his Neoplatonic co... more Aristotle is presented as adopting the concept of a 'specialist name-giver' by his Neoplatonic commentator Ammonius of Hermeias, who attempts to reach a compromise between the linguistic views of Plato and those of Aristotle.

Labyrinth

This article deals with the English translations of the adverb oikeiôs in Aristotle's texts. ... more This article deals with the English translations of the adverb oikeiôs in Aristotle's texts. In chapter 7 of the Categories, Aristotle advises speakers to create words if necessary (7a5-7), on the condition that the new word is given oikeiôs. However, the English translations does not render in an accurate way what Aristotle wants to express regarding name-giving, since the adverb oikeiôs, deriving from the adjective oikeios, denotes 'property' and 'familiarity', the second meaning obviously originating from the first. Oikeiôs is crucial for us to comprehend Aristotle's concept of name-giving, since he combines it with forms of the verbs apodidômi ('to define') or legô, more than eight times in this particular chapter, where he is concerned with correct linguistic rendition. In sense of 'familiarity', oikeiôs sheds more light on the philosopher's semantic theory in On Interpretation, helping us to understand exactly how Aristotle conceived...

Beitrage Zur Geschichte Der Sprachwissenschaft, 2014

Beitrage Zur Geschichte Der Sprachwissenschaft, 2011

Archetypes, Concepts and Contexts, 2011

De Gruyter "Ancient Greek theories and practices of etymology" eds. A. Zucker and C. LeFeuvre, 2020

The subject of this paper is Aristotle's etymological/semantic policies in name-assigning, as con... more The subject of this paper is Aristotle's etymological/semantic policies in name-assigning, as considered by his Neoplatonic commentator Ammonius of Her-meias, the head of Alexandria's school, whose positions and methods were formed according to a particular exegetical tradition. The present discussion does not concern approaches to a certain etymologi-cal decoding, but the relation between etymology and onomastics, i.e., the use of given etymologies in attribution of names, as practiced by Aristotle and acknowledged by Ammonius, an interpretation intrinsically related to the debate over the natural or conventional character of language. Ancient etymology in general was connected with the issue of the nature of language through a process of philosophical osmosis, cast in terms of the relation between words and their signifieds; this is why both Aristotle's formulations and Ammonius' comments on them should be contextualized historically and philosophically. Ancient Greek etymologies in general depict aspects of philosophical reflection on language. However, authors of antiquity did not aim at reconstructing the origins of a word, 1 as contemporary etymological research is bound to do, but they were interested in the relation between a word and its meaning, 2 a meaning that ancient etymologists were not interested in identifying, since they concentrated on detecting its relation with a specific vocal sound. This is why linguistically "incorrect" etymologies were accepted, even more than one, for one and the same word, as long as they could give to ancient thinkers "sound" reasons for a word's relation to its signified. Ineke Sluiter could not have put it more aptly: 3 ancient etymology is about semantics, in the sense that what is investigated is the meanings' connections to respective words.  1 See the characteristic examples given by Sluiter 2015, 902 ff.

Labyrinth, 2019

This article deals with the English translations of the adverb oikeiôs in Aristotle's texts. In c... more This article deals with the English translations of the adverb oikeiôs in Aristotle's texts. In chapter 7 of the Categories, Aristotle advises speakers to create words if necessary (7a5-7), on the condition that the new word is given oikeiôs. However, the English translations do not render in an accurate way what Aristotle wants to express regarding name-giving, since the adverb oikeiôs, deriving from the adjective oikeios, denotes 'property' and 'familiarity', the second meaning obviously originating from the first. Oikeiôs is crucial for us to comprehend Aristotle's concept of name-giving, since he combines it with forms of the verbs apodidômi ('to define') or legô, more than eight times in this particular chapter, where he is concerned with correct linguistic rendition. In sense of 'familiarity', oikeiôs sheds more light on the philosopher's semantic theory in On Interpretation, helping us to understand exactly how Aristotle conceived of conventionality, i.e., combined with familiarity.

Blityri, 2019

the subject of this paper is the way that Neoplatonic commentators on Aristotle treat the word cl... more the subject of this paper is the way that Neoplatonic commentators on Aristotle treat the word classes that designate the philosopher's categories. In the Categories Aristotle provides us with the first "model" of a conceptual classification. these classes are designated by specific linguistic utterances, the possible categorization of which has been puzzling thinkers and scholars ever since antiquity: why did the philosopher choose these specific terms for his categories? Neoplatonic philosophers who comment on the first logical treatise believe that only certain linguistic utterances can render Aristotle's ten classes and their approach emerges from: i) the treatment of the Categories' purpose, as related to the subject matter of On Interpretation; ii) their discussion of the 'parts of expression' (lexis) in connection with the grammatical 'parts of speech' (logos).

Μελέτες για την Ελληνική Γλώσσα, 2019

This article focuses on Aristotle's linguistic theory and practice from the perspective of his fa... more This article focuses on Aristotle's linguistic theory and practice from the perspective of his famous "semantic passage". Broadly speaking, Aristotle considers all the basic aspects of human language. Nevertheless, philosophy also owes Aristotle another 'linguistic contribution', which consists in the attribution of new terms in as many fields as he explored and there still is much to be investigated regarding Ar-istotle's own linguistic behavior in terms of his name-assigning policies. The present research method concerns: (a) The construction of a theoretical semantic background drawing on his "se-mantic passage" par excellence, where he declares the conventional character of human language, but also on his approaches to the concept of 'signify' (σημαίνω) as "to make someone's mind stand still", as well as his formulations on "ὀνοματοποιεῖν"; In the Categories he advices name-givers to create names "οἰκείως", an adverb which Aristotle often combines with forms of the verbs ἀποδίδωμι ('to define') and λέγω, so as to express that something is rendered in accordance with a certain semantic and verbal proximity of his current linguistic use. In general terms, the factors of 'human convention', 'name-assigning' and 'properly' can tell us a lot about the theoretical background that Aristotle must have stepped on when he suggested terms, either by extending the meaning of known utterances, or by coining new ones. (b) The character that could be decoded in Aristotle's processes of name-assigning. It is therefore an aim of the present research to give an-as overall as possible-account of Aristotle's onomastics, regarding the 'procedure' that he seems to have followed in exploiting conceptual and verbal affinities that he had at his disposal, as a 'tool' to investigate reality even more profoundly. 1. Εισαγωγή: ιστορική αναδρομή Ο Αριστοτέλης συνέβαλε με ιδιαίτερο τρόπο στον αρχαίο φιλοσοφικό στοχασμό για τη γλώσσα.2 Για να γίνει κατανοητή, ωστόσο, η συμβολή του αυτή, θα πρέ-1 Για μια πιο εκτεταμένη εκδοχή της έρευνας αυτής, της οποίας το αντικείμενο ήταν η πρακτική της ονοματοδοσίας από τον Αριστοτέλη βλ.

Contribution to the collective volume "Aristotle and His Commentators. Studies in Memory of Paras... more Contribution to the collective volume "Aristotle and His Commentators. Studies in Memory of Paraskevi Kotzia" (eds. P. Golitsis & K. Ierodiakonou), W.de Gruyter, 2019.

Aristotle 2400 Years, May 23-28 2016, ed. by D. Sfendoni-Mentzou. Aristotle Universuty of Thessaloniki, Interdisciplinary Centre for Aristotle Studies. , 2016

International Conference on Etymological Theories and Practice in Greek. Friday 18th & Saturday 1... more International Conference on Etymological Theories and Practice in Greek. Friday 18th & Saturday 19th March 2016, Beaulieu/mer (France).

XXVI. Internationales Kolloquium des “Studienkreis ‘Geschichte der Sprachwissenschaft’” (SGdS) R... more XXVI. Internationales Kolloquium des “Studienkreis ‘Geschichte der Sprachwissenschaft’” (SGdS)
REFLECTIONS ON LANGUAGE AND LINGUISTIC THEORIES: Concepts and Controversies from Antiquity to Present Times
16–19 July 2015 Berlin (Germany)
Compound utterance vs compound meaning: a Neoplatonic controversy
Dr Maria Chriti (Centre for the Greek Language, Thessaloniki)
The concept of ‘composition’ (συμπλοκή), i.e. the ‘combination/bringing together’ of two or more utterances or meanings is one of the basic aspects of linguistic utterance which reflects the respective aspect of human thinking. The specific concept has its own tradition in the history of ancient Greek reflection, as it was discussed by Parmenides, Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics and the Grammarians.
The Neoplatonic commentators on Aristotle treat the “combination in utterances” from a very specific perspective, which is its distinction from “combination in meanings”, as is obvious from their commentaries on Aristotle’s Categories, On Interpretation, Physics. Having as their departing points various Aristotelian remarks, they formulate their approaches on the controversy between a compound utterance and a compound meaning, following mainly two directions:
A) The character of the controversy itself, concerning i) the disconnection between a compound word and its one and only meaning and ii) the disconnection between a definition (= a “composition” of words) and its non-compound meaning.
B) The distinction between compound utterances and compound meanings, in the frame of Aristotle's approach to categorical statements in On Interpretation. This second treatment concerns: i) “compositions” of utterances which are not, however, compositions of meanings that could render a categorical statement, i.e., “apparent verbal compositions/categorical statements”, which are ― in fact ― not such in terms of meaning; ii) utterances that consist of only one word but which, nevertheless, constitute “compositions” of categorical statements, because one of the necessary components is implied. In the first case there is a composition of utterances but not of meanings and in the second case there is not a composition of utterances, but one of meanings.
What’s more, the Neoplatonists define that the two types of “compositions” (verbal and mental) belong to different research fields.

Θα ήθελα να ευχαριστήσω θερμά την Οργανωτική Επιτροπή που μου έδωσε την ευκαιρία να συμμετάσχω στ... more Θα ήθελα να ευχαριστήσω θερμά την Οργανωτική Επιτροπή που μου έδωσε την ευκαιρία να συμμετάσχω στο Συνέδριο αυτό στη μνήμη της Βούλας Κοτζιά. Το θέμα για το οποίο επέλεξα να μιλήσω άπτεται δύο εκ των βασικών ερευνητικών και διδακτικών πεδίων ενδιαφέροντος της δασκάλας μου: α) νεοπλατωνικοί υπομνηματιστές του Αριστοτέλη και β) αρχαίες γλωσσοθεωρητικές προσεγγίσεις (φιλοσοφία της γλώσσας). Η Βούλα Κοτζιά είναι αυτή που εισήγαγε και συστηματοποίησε τη διδασκαλία και τη μελέτη των νεοπλατωνικών υπομνηματιστών του Αριστοτέλη στο Τμήμα Φιλολογίας του Πανεπιστημίου που φέρει το όνομα του φιλοσόφου: όσοι ασχοληθήκαμε με τα κείμενα αυτά και ήρθαμε σε επαφή με το πλούσιο υλικό που παρέχουν στην έρευνα το οφείλουμε σε αυτή• ωστόσο, έδειξε έντονο ενδιαφέρον και για τις αρχαίες γλωσσικές θεωρίες, κάτι το οποίο πιστοποιείται από τα μαθήματα που δίδαξε και, κυρίως, από τα σχετικά άρθρα και τις μεταπτυχιακές εργασίες και διατριβές που επέβλεψε.

Neoplatonic Schools of Athens and Alexandria functioned under the guidelines of specific curricul... more Neoplatonic Schools of Athens and Alexandria functioned under the guidelines of specific curricula; these were structured according to the specific scholars' interest in explaining Plato on the basis of Aristotle, formulating their approaches and views in the literary genre of commentary on philosophical treatise; in the frame of the specific hermeneutical orientation, a study of the relation between things, concepts and words was developped by the Neoplatonic commentators on Aristotle. The specific linguistic reflexion mainly concerned the subject of each treatise in the Organon, which should be in concordance with their "Neoplatonic" interpretation of Aristotle, ruled by concrete principles. One of the most interesting views their practices of interpretation resulted to, is the concept of 'language for the language': Porphyry, whose writings admittedly followed most of the Neoplatonic philosophers in the Schools of Athens and Alexandria, defined the difference between using language to signify things via concepts (the subject of Categories, the first treatise of the Organon) and using language to talk about language (the subject of On Interpretation, the second treatise of the Organon). This "metalanguage" only consists of "names" and "verbs", the two kinds of spoken sounds which can express all the data of experience according to the Neoplatonics.

The third conference on ancient Greek and Byzantine etymologizing in Thessaloniki 2021.

Théories et pratiques étymologiques en grec : philosophie de la langue et jeux de mots. Eτυμολογι... more Théories et pratiques étymologiques en grec : philosophie de la langue et jeux de mots. Eτυμολογικές προσεγγίσεις και πρακτικές της ελληνικής γλώσσας· μεταξύ φιλοσοφίας της γλώσσας και λογοπαιγνίων

This paper attempts to contextualize the views of the Neoplatonic commentator Porphyry concerning... more This paper attempts to contextualize the views of the Neoplatonic commentator Porphyry concerning the progress from simplicity to complexity in language, into the curricula of the respective Schools of philosophy, in terms of proceeding from simple to complex philosophical reflection and reasoning. In his commentary on Aristotle's Categories, Porphyry formulates a theory about the way that the first words were attributed to things by human beings. Porphyry's "first imposition of words" regards simple utterances invented for things surrounding mankind, things that they could actually point to. However, after the "deictic" level of declaration, mankind reconsidered words in regard to their function within speech as related to their form and potential of combination: the "second imposition of names" is a categorization of words according to this very function, which depends on their form that renders them functional in particular ways within speech. The revisiting of the same words was now based on lack of simplicity, as Porphyry explains: words preceded by an "article" were called ὀνόματα, while those which could be inflected in a certain way were called ῥήματα. This second "name-giving" resulted to the language by which mankind could now refer to language itself and concepts, explaining how mankind firstly imposed a "core language" and then made the step to put in words the use of that language. Human progress in language is thus linked to a more sophisticated way of thinking, which goes beyond the simple deictic pointing of things. The progress from simplicity to complexity may, of course, be linked to Aristotle's treatment in his Poetics, where he treats the levels of a range of composite vocal sounds, the structure of linguistic expression.

https://katabasisdepthpsychology.wordpress.com/

Περίληψη Οι ετυμολογικές προσεγγίσεις που διατυπώνονται σε κείμενα της αρχαίας ελληνικής γραμματε... more Περίληψη Οι ετυμολογικές προσεγγίσεις που διατυπώνονται σε κείμενα της αρχαίας ελληνικής γραμματείας απεικονίζουν σημαντικές όψεις του αρχαίου φιλοσοφικού στοχασμού για τη γλώσσα.Είναι εξαιρετικά σημαντικό να λαμβάνεται υπόψη ο ιδιαίτερος χαρακτήρας τους πριν από οποιαδήποτε απόπειρα πραγμάτευσής τους: αρχαίοι στοχαστές και συγγραφείς δεν αποσκοπούσαν στην ιστορική αποκατάσταση μιας λέξης, αλλά εστίαζαν στη διερεύνηση της σχέσης μεταξύ σημαίνοντος και σημαινόμενου, όπου το σημαινόμενο ήταν δεδομένο. Οι ετυμολογικές αναζητήσεις για την αρχαία ελληνική γλώσσα σε κείμενα ποιητικά, φιλοσοφικά, ιατρικά, ρητορικά κλπ. κυμαίνονται από αφηγήσεις που δικαιολογούν τη σύνδεση μιας λέξης με αυτό που σημαίνει, μέχρι λογοπαίγνια, αρκεί να δίνουν μια αποδεκτή φιλοσοφική και όχι γλωσσολογική εξήγηση για τη συγκεκριμένη σύνδεση. Αυτός είναι και ο λόγος για τον οποίο περισσότερες από μία ετυμολογίες υιοθετούνται συχνά για την ίδια λέξη. Παρόλο που ο όρος ετυμολογία χρησιμοποιείται για πρώτη φορά από τους Στωικούς, οι πρωιμότερες ετυμολογικές αναζητήσεις εντοπίζονται ήδη στον Όμηρο και στα αποσπάσματα των Προσωκρατικών, ενώ κατά την κλασική εποχή έχουμε ετυμολογικά παιχνίδια στον Αριστοφάνη και κείμενα όπως το χωρίο από τον Αγαμέμνονα του Αισχύλου, όπου ο χορός αναρωτιέται ποιος μπορεί να απέδωσε το όνομα Ἑλένη στη γυναίκα που προκάλεσε τόσα δεινά. Ωστόσο, η πρώτη σειρά ετυμολογιών απαντά στον Κρατύλο του Πλάτωνα, όπου αντιτίθενται οι δύο βασικές απόψεις για τη γλώσσα (φύσει ή θέσει) και η ετυμολόγηση θεωρείται ως μόνη οδός για να ανιχνευτούν τα «πρώτα θεία ονόματα» που δήλωναν την αληθινή φύση των πραγμάτων. Μετά τον Κρατύλο, ο Αριστοτέλης θα πει ότι η γλώσσα είναι συμβατική, αλλά δεν απομακρύνεται από την παραδοσιακή ετυμολογική προσέγγιση και υιοθετεί μάλιστα ετυμολογίες του Κρατύλου, για να φτάσουμε σε συγγραφείς όπως ο Γαληνός, ο οποίος κατακρίνει τις ισχύουσες μέχρι την εποχή του ετυμολογικές πρακτικές.

Περίληψη Ο Αριστοτέλης είναι ο πρώτος διανοητής ο οποίος ασχολείται ρητά με τους βασικούς παράγον... more Περίληψη Ο Αριστοτέλης είναι ο πρώτος διανοητής ο οποίος ασχολείται ρητά με τους βασικούς παράγοντες αυτού που ονομάστηκε τον 20ό αιώνα «τρίγωνο της σημασίας»: τα πράγματα, τα αποτελέσματα της ανθρώπινης νοητικής δραστηριότητας (παθήματα τῆς ψυχῆς) και η γλωσσική έκφραση (τὰ ἐν τῇ φωνῇ / φωναί) διαπλέκονται στις αριστοτελικές διατυπώσεις του Περὶ ἑρμηνείας όσον αφορά την παραγωγή και την πρόσληψη της γλώσσας. Εκτός από την περίφημη «σημασιολογική ενότητα» της συγκεκριμένης πραγματείας, η οποία δικαιολογημένα έχει μονοπωλήσει το ενδιαφέρον των ιστορικών της γλωσσολογίας, οι απόψεις του Αριστοτέλη για τη σύνδεση γλώσσας, σκέψης και πραγματικότητας εντοπίζονται, επίσης, σε άλλα χωρία του Περὶ ἑρμηνείας, αλλά και στο Περὶ ψυχῆς και στις Κατηγορίες, ενώ διασταυρώνονται και από λεγόμενα του φιλοσόφου σε ποικίλα κείμενα. Έτσι, οι αριστοτελικές θέσεις όσον αφορά την προσέγγιση των τριών βασικών παραγόντων σήμανσης, θα μπορούσαν να συνοψιστούν ως εξής:-Τα αποτελέσματα των νοητικών μας διεργασιών συνδέονται με τα δεδομένα της πραγματικότητας με φυσικό και αντανακλαστικό τρόπο, ενώ η σύνδεση της σκέψης με τη γλώσσα δεν είναι φυσική, αλλά συμβατική·-παρόλο που η γλώσσα είναι συμβατική, δεν είναι απολύτως αυθαίρετη: η χρήση των λέξεων καθιερώνεται μέσω της συμφωνίας μεταξύ των μελών μιας γλωσσικής κοινότητας·-τόσο η παραγωγή της γλώσσας από έναν ομιλητή, όσο και η πρόσληψή της από έναν ακροατή βασίζονται στο «νοητικό περιεχόμενο» το οποίο πρέπει να εκφραστεί και να προσληφθεί: η ανθρώπινη γλωσσική επικοινωνία βασίζεται σε «κοινά περιεχόμενα» τα οποία αποτυπώνονται με κοινές για τα μέλη μιας γλωσσικής κοινότητας λέξεις ·-για τον συγκεκριμένο λόγο, απαραίτητη προϋπόθεση της γλωσσικής επικοινωνίας είναι η οικειότητα στη γλωσσική χρήση, με την έννοια της 'μη-απομάκρυνσης από το τρέχον γλωσσικό υλικό, μέσω του οποίου εκφράζονται κοινές για τους ομιλητές έννοιες', γλωσσικό υλικό με το οποίο είναι εξοικειωμένοι οι ομιλητές. Ο ίδιος ο Αριστοτέλης ακολουθεί στην πράξη όσα υποστηρίζει στη θεωρία, όπως φαίνεται από τις γλωσσικές του προτάσεις, οι οποίες ποτέ δεν απομακρύνονται από τη σύγχρονή του γλωσσική χρήση.

This contribution aims at shedding light on the etymological practices which seem to have been fo... more This contribution aims at shedding light on the etymological practices which seem to have been followed in the etymological "lexicon" by the grammarian Orion of Thebes (5 th c. AD). The direct textual transmission of this alphabetically arranged group of entries (rather short or more extensive) provides us only with a version of an epitome of the original work. The initial length and structure remains unknown.

The commentary on Aristotle's Categories under Olympiodorus' name, which is based on Olympiodorus... more The commentary on Aristotle's Categories under Olympiodorus' name, which is based on Olympiodorus' teaching (" ἀπὸ φωνῆς Ὀλυμπιοδώρου "), belongs to the series of the Neoplatonic commentaries that consider " words that designate things by means of mental states " as the treatise's purpose. Following the specific tripartite, which was firstly formulated by Ammonius of Hermeias (and followed, more or less, by the rest of the commentators at

Despite the long tradition of historiographical approaches to etymology, ancient etymological pra... more Despite the long tradition of historiographical approaches to etymology, ancient etymological practices are considered as many and diverse as are the texts where they occur and some of them still remain unrecorded. Contemporary scholars have pointed out the particularities and the multi-leveled character of ancient etymological approaches and policies. Therefore, treating ancient etymology from a historiographical perspective is a complex but also challenging research, since it can shed light on significant strands of both historiography of linguistics and ancient philosophy of language. In this paper, an attempt is made to explore the historiographical value of Aristotle's etymological usage, a linguistic practice which often results in the creation of new terms in his texts. Aristotle's major impact in many linguistic fields is indisputable; however, his own " etymological behaviour " hasn't been assessed in the frame of the historiography of etymology. Aristotle uses etymological affinities to suggest a new term, or to propose a new usage of an already existing ancient Greek word for a new concept that he wishes to treat: the general designation process that Aristotle seems to follow demands in many cases a newly proposed word/term, whether it is a new word, or a disposable one with a more subtle meaning. It is the etymological proximity between the word that he suggests and what is already named that constitutes the final step of his procedure of naming a " new concept " and he explicitly acknowledges his practice for the first time in ancient literature. Etymology provides the philosopher with the linguistic material that enables him to pick a suitable word or to invent a new one: the fact that Aristotle leans on existent words is due to their etymological content.

In Aristotle's semantic passage in On Interpretation, the text " with the greatest

In the course of preparing a new critical edition with linguistic and philosophical commentary of... more In the course of preparing a new critical edition with linguistic and philosophical commentary of the Etymological Lexicon of Orion.

To be read at ETYGR – 2018, 2nd International Conference on Etymological Theories and Practice in Greek.

A documentary series on the Greek alphabet, its history, the history of language and culture that... more A documentary series on the Greek alphabet, its history, the history of language and culture that affected contemporary civilization.