Lorenzo Valla and Isidore of Seville

Lorenzo Valla in his De Linguae latinae elegantiis is highly critical of previous Latin grammatical studies. In particular Valla seeks in this linguistic treatise to revise for his contemporaries the teachings of Donatus, Servius, and Priscian which he found in conflict with his ideal of classical Latin usage; and in general he seeks to complement the extant grammatical tradition of antiquity. In Book VI of the Elegantiae Valla treats topics explicitly drawn from ancient grammatical sources, which he further explicates and clarifies. Moreover, many of the topics of Books I–III are drawn from these same sources, as Valla's frequent citation of them indicates. In contrast with ancient and imperial grammarians, Isidore of Seville is named only twice in the Elegantiae. In the preface to Book II (II. praef. 41). Valla brands him ‘indoctorum arrogantissimus, qui quum nihil sciat, omnia praecipit.’ He mentions Isidore once more when rejecting an ‘inept’ etymology of oratio from oris ratio (VI. 36.217). Despite the paucity of explicit references to Isidore in the Elegantiae, however, a comparison of Valla's and Isidore's linguistic discussions suggests that Valla intended a direct response to Isidore's verbal distinctions (differentiae), definitions, and etymologies in his own section on signification, Books IV and V of the Elegantiae.