Texts

Ars grammatica

Donatus ortigraphus
  • Latin
  • prose

Latin treatise on grammar and written on the continent by an anonymous Irishman known in modern scholarship as Donatus ortigraphus (DO). The work is conceived as a dialogue between teacher and student, and the structure adopted for the treatment of its subjects is indebted to Donatus.

Title
Ars grammatica
The title that has any basis in the manuscripts is Eclogae de libris grammaticorum. [Donatus ortigraphus:] Ars grammatica is the editorial title used by Chittenden and Donatus ortigraphus is a common modern shorthand for the text. The orthographic variation ortigraphus for artigraphus may be a distinctly Irish feature. It is not to be confused with the text beg. Donatus artigraphus in Vatican MS Reg. lat. 980.
Author
Donatus ortigraphus
Donatus ortigraphus
(fl. c.815 and later)
Anonymous grammarian, probably of Irish origin, who worked on the continent and produced a grammatical treatise structured as a series of questions and answers, with ample citations from standard grammars such as Donatus and Priscian. The title Donatus ortigraphus is also applied as a shorthand for the work itself.

See more
Anonymous.
Manuscripts

Seven manuscripts, including:

ff. 121r–160v
rubric: ‘Egloge de libris grammaticorum’
ff. 77v–112v
rubric: ‘Incipit de partibus orationis’
beg. ‘Donatus ortigraphus dicit : Partes orationis sunt VIII’
ff. 1r–31v
Incomplete. First quarternion missing. The first portion (ff. 1r-16r) is followed by sections on the pronoun, verb, adverb, participle, conjunction and preposition (ff. 16r-31v). A later hand atttributes the work to Clemens Scottus.
Language
  • Latin
Date

Beginning of the 9th century, possibly earlier but later than Alcuin’s Priscian; perhaps around 815 (Chittenden 1982).

Form
prose (primary)

Classification

Sources

Primary sources Text editions and/or modern translations – in whole or in part – along with publications containing additions and corrections, if known. Diplomatic editions, facsimiles and digital image reproductions of the manuscripts are not always listed here but may be found in entries for the relevant manuscripts. For historical purposes, early editions, transcriptions and translations are not excluded, even if their reliability does not meet modern standards.

[ed.] Chittenden, John [ed.], Donatus ortigraphus: Ars grammatica, Corpus Christianorum, Continuatio Mediaevalis, 40:D, Turnhout: Brepols, 1982.
Additionally, a concordance to the edition was published by CETEDOC (1982).
[ed.] Esposito, Mario, “Hiberno-Latin manuscripts in the libraries of Switzerland (Part II)”, Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 30 C (1912–1913): 1–14.  
comments: March 1912
Internet Archive: <link>
8–14 Part of the text from the Bern MS (here wrongly identified with the grammar previously attributed to Clemens Scottus).
Translation wanted
Contributors
C. A., Dennis Groenewegen
Page created
November 2018, last updated: September 2023