Roman Ars Grammatica

Abstract

The Roman ars grammatica comprises Roman grammatical works written between the 3rd and the 6th century a.d. The majority consists of descriptions of Latin morphology focusing on the word classes (‘parts of speech’), but many of the works also include treatments of phonology, metrics, and stylistics, including statements concerning ‘correct’ and ‘incorrect’ Latin. The Roman ars grammatica formed the grammatical metalanguage and, above all, the structural arrangement for elementary and advanced grammars and textbooks for language teaching in Western Europe for more than 1000 years.