The Origins of Language: Ancient and Modern Theories in Dialogue

Abstract

The paper discusses theories of the origin of language and of the relationship between words and things in the Classical sources, including Plato’s Cratylus and Varro’s De Lingua Latina, and compares their ideas with those of modern linguistic science. The main debate in the ancient world was whether the connection between words and things was natural or conventional. The idea of a natural connection between words and things, as proposed by Cratylus in Plato, is rejected by Aristotle, but continues, in combination with some form of conventional theory, into Epicurean, Stoic (reflected also in Varro) and modern linguistic theories.