The Grammatical Fragment is a short, anonymous Greek treatise on grammar preserved in five passages. It belongs to the long tradition of Greek grammatical writing, which ranges from foundational works like Dionysius Thrax’s Art of Grammar to the advanced syntactical studies of Apollonius Dyscolus. As a grammatical treatise, its content logically encompasses standard topics of the discipline, including the analysis of language and the parts of speech, as well as principles of correct usage and morphology. The surviving text explicitly discusses the three persons of discourse, the three figures of word formation, and lists the eight parts of speech with examples. The work survives as a fragment, transmitted among the numerous anonymous grammatical texts and scholia preserved in Byzantine manuscripts, which compiled and commented upon earlier linguistic scholarship. While the specific influence of this fragment is untraceable, the collective corpus of ancient and Byzantine grammatical works was essential for preserving the Greek language, teaching rhetoric and philosophy, and transmitting classical literature through the medieval period and into the Renaissance.
| 1 | [Break in Text (point at which text breaks off for an unknown length)] πνεύματα δύο, δασύ, ψιλόν. [πρό]σωπα τρία , [πρῶ]τον ἀφ’ οὗ [ὁ λό]γος . δεύτερον [πρὸ]ς ὃν ὁ λόγος: [τρί]τον περὶ οὗ [ὁ λό]γος: σχήματα [τρί]α: ἁπλοῦν, σύνθετον, [πα]ρασύνθετον. ἁπλοῦν μὲν οἷον Μέμνων: σύνθετον δὲ [οἷο]ν Ἀγαμέμνων. [παρα]σύ[ν]θετον δὲ [οἷον Ἀγαμ]εμνονίδ[ης]. |
| 2 | [Break in Text (point at which text breaks off for an unknown length)] [Break in Text (point at which text breaks off for an unknown length)] μέρη τοῦ λόγ[ο]υ [ὀ]κ[τ]ώ: ὄνομα οἷο[ν] Σωκράτης: ῥῆμα οἷον ποιῶ, ποιεῖς, ποιεῖ. |
| 3 | μετοχή: οἷον ποιῶν, ποιοῦσα, ποι[ο]ῦν: ἄρθ〈ρ〉ον οἷον ὁ, ἡ , τό . ἀ[ντ]ω[ν]υ[μία] οἷον ἐμός . [ πρόθε] σις οἷον ἀ[ ] ἐπίρ‵ ρ ′ημα [οἷον ] σαφῶς α[ ] σύνδεσ[μος οἷον ] ρα . [ . ] . [ ] προσῳδίαι δ[ ] ὀξ‵ ε ′ῖα οἷον θεός, βαρεῖα οἷον εὐχή, περι[σ]πωμ[έ][νη οἷ]ον αθαι .... |
| (50) | [Break in Text (point at which text breaks off for an unknown length)] γένη τρία, ἀρσενικόν, θη[λ]υκόν, [οὐδέ]τερον. [ἀριθ]μοὶ τρε ‵ ῖ ′ς [ἑνικ]ός, [δυϊκ]ός, [πλη]θυντικός. [πτ]ώσεις πέ ντε ὀρθή, γενική, δοτική, αἰτιατικ[ή], [κλητική] [Break in Text (point at which text breaks off for an unknown length)] οπιρ πρ ο θ έ σει ς α ἱ π[ᾶσαι] δεκαοκτώ, [ὧ]ν μονο)ς ύ λλ α β οι [μὲν ἕξ, πρό ] ἐν , ἐξ , εἰ‵ ς ′ , σύν , π[ρός], δ ι ς ύλ λ α β ο ι δὲ δ[ώδεκα] ἀνά , κ α τά, διά, [ἀπό, ὑπό,] ἐ π ί , περ ί, ὑπ έ ρ, [παρ]ά, με τά, ἀ ν τί, ἀ μ φ ί. |
| (50) | δ ί φ θο γγ ο ι αἱ πᾶσα [ι] ἕνδε[κα ] [Break in Text (point at which text breaks off for an unknown length)] |
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