Regimen vs. ordo: how to build phrases with words in ME grammars

The Latin terminology of medieval grammars is extensive and differ- entiated but still unexplored in its full extent. Its basis is the vocabulary and terminology of the two most-read and commented late antique grammarians Donatus and Priscian: their terminology changed over the centuries without fundamentally being renewed in some fields. However, from the Late Latin terminology, only a part of the technical vocabulary used in Latin at that time was incorporated into the grammars of the Middle Ages. These are mainly the expressions that belong to the basic elements of language teach- ing: the names of the parts of speech and their accidents as well as verbs and idioms used to represent grammatical issues. In contrast, technical terms of syntax are rarely used. Heinimann (1963: 24f.)1 points out that some of the syntactical terms, such as copula, antecedens, supinum, gerundium and ablativus absolutus appeared which Antiquity (Priscian) did not use at all or did not use in the same sense: these terms were introduced or defined in the time between Abaelard (copula) and Petrus Helias (supinum, gerundium, ablativus absolutus). In this paper, I focus my attention on the term regimen and its root-cognates, as well as on its relationship with the terms ordo and coniunctio, which take on a fundamental importance in the formulation of syntactic theories on language in the early Middle Ages2