Universa Philosophia

Hence the Summulists seized an occasion for trifling. But briefly I say that the judgment of appellations depends for the most part on the idiom of languages. In general, however, this equivocation arises from the conjunction of two adjectives, as Petrus magnus est musicus, vel Petrus est musicus magnus: when the adjective name (which is the cause of the equivocation, because it can appellate either a substantive or another adjective) is placed on the side of the subject, it appellates the subject itself materially, and applies its signification to it, not by reason of the other adjective, as Petrus magnus, est logicus, that is, Petrus longus, qui est corpore magno, est logicus, for the word magnus is placed as a property of Peter and a distinction from thin or small Peter. But when the appellating name is placed on the side of the predicate, then it appellates the other predicate, and appellates the subject not by reason of itself, but by reason of the other predicate, as Tullius magnus fuit orator, because it is placed there as a co-predicate to signify the excellence of Tullian oratory. But when it is not perceived whether the appellating name is placed on the side of the subject or of the predicate, then prudence is needed: for if the speech is serious about someone's learning or probity, the name appellates with reference to the predicate, as magnus orator Tullius, or magnus Tullius orator, that is, Tullius excelluit maxime eloquentia; but if the speech is jesting or ironical, it appellates the subject itself, as if you say of a stupid tall man, iste est Scholasticus magnus; likewise if the speech is to distinguish one from another, for example, you see two men, and say, ille magnus est musicus, ille parvus est medicus, then magnum and parvum appellate not music or medicine, but the quantities of the men.