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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §21.1.9.pr

Speech Impairments and Classification as Diseased

Passage 3023 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Discusses that a mute person or someone who speaks unintelligibly is considered diseased under the Aediles' Edict, whereas someone with a heavy voice or merely indistinct speech is not.

[IDEM libro quadragesimo quarto ad Sabinum. ] §21.1.9.prMutum morbosum esse Sabinus ait: morbum enim esse sine uoce esse apparet.
[THE SAME with the forty-fourth book on Sabinus.] Sabinus says that a mute person is diseased; for it is apparent that to be without voice is to be diseased.
sed qui grauiter loquitur, morbosus non est, nec qui ἀσάφῶς: plane qui ἀσήμως loquitur, hic utique morbosus est.
But he who speaks heavily is not diseased, nor he who speaks indistinctly; clearly he who speaks unintelligibly is certainly diseased.

Notes

  1. §21.1.9.prmorbum enim esse sine uoce esse apparet — The infinitive phrase sine uoce esse (to be without voice) functions as the subject, with morbum esse (to be a disease) as its predicate, together forming the subject clause of apparet (it is clear).
  2. §21.1.9.prἀσάφῶς — Greek adverb meaning "indistinctly" or "unclearly". It refers to a state where the pronunciation lacks clarity but the meaning is still communicative. In this case, the person is not classified as "diseased" (morbosus). The double accent on ἀσάφῶς in the manuscript tradition reflects a textual variation.
  3. §21.1.9.prἀσήμως — Greek adverb meaning "unintelligibly" or "without meaning". It refers to a state where pronunciation or language function is so severely impaired that the words do not carry semantic significance (sēma), and in this case, the person is judged to be "diseased" (morbosus).

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §21.1.9.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:21.1.9.pr

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