La parola ambigua: la riflessione sull’amphibolia in Quintiliano inst. 7, 9

Abstract

Amphibolia is a limit, primitive but in some ways also extreme, of the communicative experience: as Quintilian points out, every man can, even accidentally, run into it. In inst. 7, 9 we find a meticulous list of all possible occasions of ambiguity: these are presented according to a classification that aims not to neglect any aspect of the matter. And it is precisely in these cases that the orator must know how to deploy his skills, exercising every tool of knowledge and training, starting with grammatica.