Modistae

The Modistae were medieval grammarians who explained how words signify through corresponding modes of understanding and being. Their theory treated grammar as a universal structure grounded in reality and thought.

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Modus significandi: A mode by which a word signifies an object, shaped by how the object is understood. It names the grammatical mode at the center of Modistae theory.
Aristotelian realism: The view that reality has structures independent of the mind and language. Modistae theory grounds linguistic distinctions in the structures of being.
Priscian: A late-antique Latin grammarian whose Institutiones grammaticae became a standard medieval grammar textbook. Modistae commentary developed through close engagement with his influential grammatical work.
Thomas of Erfurt: A medieval grammarian traditionally associated with the influential treatise De modis significandi. His treatise is the clearest systematic presentation of Modistae doctrine.
Modists: A name commonly used for medieval grammarians who studied modes of signifying. This near-synonym is often applied to the Modistae themselves.
Modus intelligendi: A mode of understanding through which the mind apprehends an object. It connects how things are understood to how words signify them.
Transcendentals: Properties such as being, unity, and truth traditionally said to apply to everything. Their account of being draws on the shared structures expressed by transcendentals.
Donatus: A fourth-century Roman grammarian whose elementary Latin textbooks shaped medieval instruction. His grammatical tradition formed part of the curriculum the Modistae sought to theorize.
Martin of Dacia: A thirteenth-century Danish grammarian and philosopher associated with speculative grammar. His writings helped establish the Modistae account of modes of signifying.
Donatus's Ars Minor: A concise Latin grammar textbook traditionally attributed to Aelius Donatus. Its practical teaching approach contrasts with the Modistae search for philosophical foundations.