Alberti Magni De Vegetabilibus Libri VII

...and noted them in the index of subjects. Furthermore, the orthography and grammar of Albert do not differ much—which is consistent—from that which his contemporaries used. If, however, anyone should need to be taught the elements of Albertine diction, I urge him especially to remember these things: that you will believe the accusative with the infinitive to be almost unknown to Albert, who indicates such things very often with "quod" that/because; Albert indeed somewhat distinguished the words "quod" that, "quia" because, and "quoniam" since, but the codices barely distinguished them, wherefore we are often in doubt about them; he used participles very often in a varied and barbaric manner, e.g., "est habens" he is having = "est qui habet" he is who has; the infinitive, in the Teutonic manner, obtains the dignity of a noun, e.g., "dans esse" giving to be = "quae dat existentiam" which gives existence (I 7), "est inveniri" it is to be found = "potest inveniri" it can be found, "distare facit deficere" makes to be distant makes to fail (I 65); the subjunctive usually indicates doubtful or false matters, nor does it follow conjunctions in a certain way; the words "hic" this, "is" that, "ille" that one, "iste" that one are added very often and indiscriminately in the manner of recent languages, so that the reader is often deceived; the comparative is very often used for the superlative, e.g., "nobilior" more noble (VI 46), "maiores omnium" the greatest of all (VI 141), "fortius quod est in eo" the strongest which is in it (VI 425), "prae omnibus peior" the worst of all (VII 41).

Regarding the diction of Albert, I will add words which Bernardinus Plumatius of Verona once used when he was about to edit the logical works of Albert¹: „this most profound doctor uses Aristotelian words as if they were his own, and for that reason, he is difficult, disordered, obscure, and bar-

¹ This printed edition was published in the year 1506 in Venice by the heirs of Octavianus Scotus. It begins: "These are the works of Albert the Great pertaining to logic," and exhibits on folio 176: "a commentary on the books of the Prior Analytics of Aristotle, taken from the original written by the very hands of Albert himself."