Grice e Terenzio

 To analyze Marcus Terentius Varro (Terenzio Varrone) through the brilliant analytical lens of Paul Grice and his chronicler Luigi Speranza, we must treat Varro not merely as an ancient cataloger of Latin, but as a foundational ordinary language philosopher [1].

Varro’s massive, partially surviving work, De Lingua Latina (On the Latin Language), is the earliest systematic attempt to reconcile the structural mechanics of a language with the psychological intentions of its speakers.

By mapping Varro’s terminology onto Grice’s theory of meaning and conversational implicature, we can decode the deep philosophical engines driving Roman grammatical thought.

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1. Impositio vs. Declinatio (The Gricean Meaning Split)

Varro famously divides the entire life cycle of language into two foundational axes: Impositio and Declinatio. This layout directly parallels Grice’s distinction between stable semantic meaning and active, intentional pragmatic use.

• Impositio (The Primary Naming / Imposition): This is the original historical act of assigning a spoken word to a thing or concept.
  • The Gricean Parallel: This represents Natural Meaning (\(M_{N}\)) or absolute Conventional Meaning. It is the baseline, literal code embedded in a word before human context alters it. Varro views impositio as a product of nature or ancient consensus—establishing the semantic truth conditions of a word.
• Declinatio (Inflection / Derivation): This is how a word bends, shapes, and shifts its form once it enters active speech. Varro splits this into two sub-categories:
  • Declinatio Voluntaria (Voluntary Inflection): When a speaker intentionally alters a word based on their own immediate communicative intent (e.g., creating a new poetic variant). This maps beautifully onto Gricean Speaker Meaning (\(M_{N}N\))—the meaning derived strictly from what the speaker intends the audience to understand in that specific moment.
  • Declinatio Naturalis (Natural Inflection): The automatic, rule-based grammatical shifts (like switching from singular to plural: homo to homines). This maps to structural syntax. [1]

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2. Ratio vs. Consuetudo (The Cooperative Principle)

A massive intellectual war raged in Varro's time between the Analogists (who believed language should follow strict, logical mathematical ratios) and the Anomalists (who believed language is chaotic and guided entirely by messy, everyday usage). [1]

Varro brilliantly synthesized the two camps using terminology that functions exactly like Grice’s Cooperative Principle:

• Ratio (The Logical Framework): The underlying structural rules of the language. If a language lacked ratio, it would lack clarity, causing a complete breakdown of the Maxim of Manner (be perspicuous, avoid ambiguity).
• Consuetudo (Custom / Ordinary Usage): The way real people actually speak on the streets of Rome. Varro famously argues that a speaker must not rigidly cling to logical ratio if it alienates the listener.
  • The Speranza-Grice Insight: To speak with a consuetudo that violates ratio is a textbook example of flouting a maxim. If a Roman uses a popular slang phrase or an ungrammatical idiomatic expression, they are violating the strict rules of ratio. However, because both speaker and listener operate under a shared consuetudo, the listener easily calculates the conversational implicatureand uncovers the intended meaning.

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3. Verba Propria vs. Verba Translata (Literalism vs. Trope)

Varro's terminology regarding word selection lays the groundwork for how Griceans understand figurative language and the Maxim of Quality (do not say what you believe to be false).

• Verba Propria (Proper / Literal Words): Words used in exact accordance with their original impositio. They communicate direct, literal semantic facts.
• Verba Translata (Transferred / Metaphorical Words): Words that have been physically "carried across" from their original domain to a new one.
  • The Pragmatic Breakdown: When a Roman writer uses a verbum translatum (e.g., describing a bitter political debate as a "storm"), they are uttering something that is literally false. In Gricean pragmatics, this overt flouting of the Maxim of Quality instantly flags to the listener that the speaker is not lying, but rather generating an implicature via a tropus. [1]

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4. Varro’s Structural Blueprint: A Scannable Matrix

Varronian Term	Linguistic Domain	Gricean / Pragmatic Counterpart	Function in Speech
Impositio	Etymology & Semantics	Conventional Semantic Meaning	Sets the literal, dictionary baseline of an utterance.
Declinatio Voluntaria	Morphology & Pragmatics	Speaker Meaning (\(M_{N}N\))	Allows the speaker's unique intentions to alter word forms.
Ratio	Grammar & Analogy	The Maxims of Manner & Quantity	Ensures logical clarity, structure, and efficiency.
Consuetudo	Sociolinguistics & Anomalism	The Cooperative Principle & Context	Establishes the shared cultural baseline that makes implicature possible.
Verba Translata	Rhetoric & Stylistics	Conversational Implicature (via Tropes)	Forces the listener to look beyond literal falsity to find meaning.

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The Ultimate Gricean Synthesis

Through the Speranza approach, we see that Varro’s De Lingua Latina is not just a book about Latin—it is a map of human communicative interaction.

Varro understood that language is a delicate, living contract between the rigid historical rules of the past (impositio and ratio) and the fluid, intention-driven psychological demands of the present (consuetudo and declinatio voluntaria). He proved that Romans did not just speak; they constantly negotiated meaning.

Where would you like to take this Grice/Speranza investigation next? We can explore Varro's specific views on how etymology reveals ancient intentions, or jump forward to how Quintilian turned Varro's verba translata into a weapon of legal rhetoric.