L’USO DEL VERBO “ESSERE” IN PARMENIDE FRA ΛΕΓΕΙΝ E ΝΟΕΙΝ: CATEGORIE MORFOSINTATTICHE E RAPPRESENTAZIONI CONCETTUALI

The use of the verb “to be” in Parmenides between λέγειν and νοεῖν : morphosyntactic categories and conceptual representations · This paper investigates the function and the distribution of εἶναι “to be” in Parmenides, with the aim of clarifying the relationship between the various types of constructions in which the verb occurs. The results of a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the Parmenidean corpus are reported, and a unitary model is proposed to account for the apparently incompatible uses of εἶναι, at the interface between morphosyntactic categories and conceptual-semantic representations. It is also shown how the understanding of the principles underlying the use of “to be” in the ancient Greek philosopher offers the opportunity to build a bridge between the interpretation of the ancient world and the insight into universal principles in language and cognition.