Antico indiano víbhakti- e greco πτÒσις : preistoria di due diverse metafore della flessione nominale

Abstract

The present paper aims to show how the idea of ‘nominal inflection’ and ‘grammatical case’ arose in India and Greece. Starting from a different milieu, it is also linked to different metaphors: the dismembering of the sacrificial fire in India and the falling of a body from an erected position (or from above) in Greece. While the first metaphor is perfectly clear in its lines of development, the second one gave rise to many explanations. Its birth could be due to a peculiar lecture of Homeric and Platonic texts made by Aristotle himself.