STEPHANUS ON THE BOOK "ON INTERPRETATION" [Aristotle pages 16a4, 6, 7]

p. 16a4 ...and written things [are symbols] of those in the voice. He did well to say "written things" folio 38v and neither "letters" nor "elements." This is because the word "letter" original: "gramma" primarily signifies the shape and the character of an engraving, just as the Poet Homer, Iliad 11.388 says:

"Now, having merely scratched original: "epigrapsas" the sole of my foot, you boast in vain."
In a secondary sense, "letter" signifies the vocalization and its phonetic power. Conversely, the "element" original: "stoicheion" primarily signifies the vocalization and the power—such as whether these elements can be arranged and spoken together or not—and signifies the written character only in a secondary sense. To avoid ambiguity, therefore, he said neither "elements" nor "letters," but "written things." For the written thing—that is, the shape itself—is a symbol of the names. It is not the vocalization; for the vocalization is a part of the spoken voice. These are the views of Ammonius the philosopher.

But our teacher likely referring to John Philoponus says that Aristotle used "written things" loosely instead of "letters," since a "thing being written" does not yet exist while it is being made. How can that which does not yet exist be a symbol of something? Secondly, how can they prove that a "letter" primarily signifies one thing and secondarily another, while the "element" is the opposite? None of the ancient philosophers or commentators said this, neither Alexander nor Porphyry.

p. 16a6 Yet those things of which these are primarily signs—the same for all—are the affections of the soul. He said that nouns and verbs are "primarily" signs of thoughts original: "noemata," mental concepts, because they are signs of actual things only secondarily. For of these four levels: 1. Written marks, 2. Spoken words, 3. Mental thoughts, 4. External objects, some only express original: "exangellousin," report or announce, such as written things; others are only expressed, such as objects; and others both express and are expressed, such as thoughts and spoken words.

They express what comes before them, and are expressed by what comes after them. For example, since thoughts are second in line after objects, but first before spoken words and letters, they express the objects, but are expressed by the spoken words and the written things. Again, folio 39r spoken words in the same way express both objects and thoughts, but are expressed by written things. However, objects never "express" anything, since nothing exists before them in this linguistic chain, nor are written things "expressed" by anything, since they have nothing following them. In the order of nature, the object original: "pragma" is prior to the others. For first there must be, for sake of example, a horse; then the thought concerning it; after the thought of the horse comes the name; and after the name come the letters, if indeed there are letters at all.

p. 16a7 And those things of which these are likenesses—the things themselves—are already the same. It should be noted that he called thoughts "likenesses" original: "homoiomata" of objects, while nouns...