Ambiguity in words, § 1-3. Words divided. Compounded, 5, 6. Ambiguity of words in connection with one another, 7-13. Some remarks on ambiguity, 14, 15. 1. OF ambiguity the species are innumerable; insomuch that some philosophers think there is not a single word that has not more significations than one. But the genera of it are very few; for it arises either from words taken singly or in connection. 2. A single word gives rise to ambiguity, when it is a denomination for more things or persons than one, (the Greeks apply to such ambiguity the term homonymy) as Gallus; for as to this word, taken by itself, it is uncertain whether it means a bird, a native of a certain country, a proper name, or a person in a certain condition of body; and it is uncertain whether Ajax means the son of Oileus. Some verbs also have different meanings, as cerno. 3. Such ambiguity presents itself in many was; whence often arise disputes, especially with regard to wills, when persons who have the same name contend about their liberty, or succession to an inheritance; or when, from ambiguity in the expression, it becomes a matter of doubt what is bequeathed to any person. 4. Another source of ambiguity is, when a word has one signification if taken entire, and another if divided, as ingenua, armamentum, Corvinum. Such words can only give rise to silly cavillings, but the Greeks make them the origin of controversies in the schools: hence comes the well-known dispute about the ἀνλητρίς (aulētris), whether a hall (aulē) that had fallen three times (tris), or a female flute-player(aulētris), if she fell, was to be sold. 5. A third kind of ambiguity arises from compound words; for example, if a person should direct by his will, that his body should be buried in occulto loco, "in a sequestered spot," and should bequeath a portion of land round his tomb, to be taken from his heirs, as is usual, for the protection of his ashes, the expression in occulto, if taken as a compound word, inocculto, "unsequestered," might be the origin of a law-suit. 6. So, among the Greek rhetoricians, Λέων (Leon) and Πανταλέων (Pantaleon) have a contention, as it is doubtful whether the letter of a will signifies that all (panta) the possessions are left to Leon, πάντα Λέοντι (panta Leonti), or that the possessions are left Πανταλέοντι (Pantaleonti), to Pantaleon. 7. But ambiguity is more frequent is words put together; it sometimes arises from uncertainty with respect to cases, as in the verse, A io te, Aeacida, Romanos vincere posse, Sometimes from collocation, when it is doubtful to what word or words ought to be referred; and this very frequently happens when that which is in the middle may be connected either with what precedes or with what follows, as in the words of Virgil respecting Troilus, Lora tenens tamen, Where it may be asked, whether Troilus is dragged because he still holds the reins, or whether, though he still holds the reins, he is nevertheless dragged. 8. Hence is that case in the schools, that a man in his will ordered to be erected statuam auream hastam tenentem, where it is a question, whether it was to be a golden statue holding a spear, or a golden spear, with a statue of some other material. Ambiguity is caused still more frequently by an improper inflection of the voice, as in the verse, Quinquaginta ubi erant centum inde occidit Achilles. 9. Sometimes it is doubtful to which of two antecedents a word is to be referred, hence the scholastic case. "Let my heir be bound to give my wife a hundred pounds of the plate," quod elegerit, where it is doubtful to which of the two elegerit should be referred. But of the three last examples of ambiguity, the first may be corrected by a change of cases, the second by a separation or transposition of the words, and the third by some addition. 10. Ambiguity caused by the doubling of an accusative may be removed by the introduction of an ablative, as in the words, Lachetem audivi percussisse Demeam, may be altered to à Lachete percussion Demeam. However, as I remarked in the first book, there is a natural ambiguity in the ablative. For example, in the phrase Caelo decurrit aperto, it is doubtful whether per apertum Caelum, "through the open heaven," is meant, or quum Caelum apertum esset, "when the heaven was opened." 11. We may divide words from one another in pronunciation by taking breath or pausing. Thus we may pause after statuam, and then say auream hastam, or we may pause after statuam auream and then add hastum. In the third example, an addition may be made by inserting ipse after elegerit, "quod elegerit ipse," that the heir may be understood, or ipsa, that the wife may be understood. An ambiguity caused by the insertion of a superfluous word may be removed by withdrawing it, as in the phrase nos flentes illos deprehendimus. 12. Where it is doubtful what a word or phrase refers to and where the word or phrase itself is perhaps ambiguous, we may have to alter several words to make a correction, as in Hares mues dare illi damnas esto omnia sua. Cicero runs into this kind of fault, in speaking of Caius Fannius: "He, by the direction of his father-in-law, of whom, as he had not been elected into the college of augurs, he was not extremely fond, especially as he had preferred Quintus Scaevola, his younger son-in-law, sibi, to him, etc." For this sibi may refer either to the father-in-law or to Fannius. 13. Also, the lengthening or shortening of a syllable left dubious in any writing may be a cause of ambiguity, as in the word Cato, for it means one thing in the nominative, when its second syllable is short, and another in the dative or ablative, when that syllable is made long. There are many other species of ambiguity besides, which it is unnecessary to specify. 14. Nor is it of importance from whence ambiguity arises or how it is removed. It is sufficient that it presents two senses to the mind, and the mode of understanding the writing or the pronunciation is a matter of equal consideration for both parties in a suit. Therefore, in this position, it is useless to endeavor to turn the word or phrase in our own favor, for if that is possible, there is no ambiguity. 15. Every question of ambiguity, however, has respect to the following points: sometimes which of two interpretations is the more natural; and always, which of the two is the more equitable; and which was the meaning attached to the words by him who wrote or spoke them. But the manner of treating these questions, for or against, has been sufficiently shown in what I have said on conjecture and quality.
|
