Authors/Ockham/Summa Logicae/Book II/Chapter 14

Latin	English
CAP.14. DE PROPOSITIONIBUS IN QUIBUS PONUNTUR FIGMENTA QUIBUS NIHIL CORRESPONDET EX PARTE REI: QUOMODO DEBENT EXPONI?	C. 14 ON PROPOSITIONS IN WHICH OCCUR FIGMENTS TO WHICH NOTHING CORRESPONDS IN REALITY: WHAT SHOULD BE GIVEN AS THEIR EXPONENTS?
Sicut propositiones in quibus ponuntur termini negativi et privativi habent plures exponentes, ita propositiones in quibus ponuntur figmenta, hoc est in quibus ponuntur termini ficti quibus nihil correspondet a parte rei tale quale finguntur significare, plures habent exponentes.	Just as propositions with negative and privative terms have more than one exponent, so propositions in which figmenta are posited (that is, propositions in which invented terms are posited, to which nothing corresponds in the world of things such as they are made up to signify) have more than one exponent.
Tales enim termini vere sunt connotativi, nec aliquid imaginabile per eos significatur nisi vera res quae est in actu vel esse potest vel saltem potuit fuisse vel fuit in actu.	For such terms are really 'connotative', and it is false that something imaginable is signified by them except a real thing which is actual or could be actual or at least could have been or was actual.
Unde sicut termini negativi et privativi nihil significant nisi quod significatur per terminos positivos, quamvis illud idem quod significatur per terminum affirmativum positive et construendo vel affirmative, significetur per terminum negativum vel privativum non construendo sed destruendo vel negando, secundum modum loquendi Anselmi, ita per tales terminos fictos, cuiusmodi sunt 'chimaera', 'tragelaphus', 'vacuum', 'infinitum' et huiusmodi, nihil significatur nisi quod significatur per terminos alios, sicut patet ex definitionibus exprimentibus quid nominis eorum.	Wherefore just as negative and privative terms signify nothing except what is signified by positive terms, even though that same thing which is signified positively by an affirmative term and by constructing or affirmatively, is signified by a negative or privative term that is not by constructing, but by destroying or negating, according to Anselm's way of speaking. Thus by such made up terms, like 'chimera', 'tragelaphus', 'vacuum', 'infinitum' and the like, nothing is signified but what is signified by other terms, such as is clear from their nominal definitions.
Tamen non eodem modo significantur res per istos terminos et alios, sed sic significantur per alios quod pro illis rebus alii termini supponere possunt, isti autem termini non possunt pro eis supponere, sicut nec definitiones exprimentes quid nominis eorum.	Yet things are not signified in the same way by these and other terms, rather, they are signified by other terms in such a way that the other terms can denote those things, but those terms cannot denote them, insofar as they are not their nominal definitions.
Unde non est imaginandum quod sicut sunt quaedam entia significata per tales terminos 'homo', 'animal', 'album', 'calidum', 'longum', 'breve' et huiusmodi, ita sunt quaedam non-entia et impossibilia, distincta totaliter ab entibus, significata per tales terminos 'chimaera', 'hircoceruus' et huiusmodi, quasi esset unus mundus ex impossibilibus sicut est unus mundus ex entibus.	Wherefore it should not be imagined that just as there are certain entities signified by such terms as 'man', 'animal', 'hot', 'long', 'short' and suchlike, so there are certain non-entities and impossible things, entirely distinct from beings, signified by terms such as 'chimera', 'hircocercus' and suchlike, as if there were one world of impossible things just as there is a world of things.
Sed quidquid imaginabile significatur per hoc nomen 'chimaera' significatur per aliquem terminum de quo in propositione de inesse vel de possibili praedicatur esse; tamen hoc nomen 'chimaera' pro illo non potest supponere. Propter quod quaelibet propositio affirmativa, in qua subicitur hoc nomen 'chimaera' significative sumptum vel praedicatur, vel aliquid consimile, est falsa de virtute sermonis, quia habet aliquam exponentem falsam. Ista enim est falsa de virtute sermonis 'chimaera est non-ens' et quaelibet consimilis, quia quaelibet talis habet istas exponentes 'chimaera est aliquid' et 'illud est non-ens' quarum prima falsa est.	But whatever imaginable is signified by the name 'chimera' is signified by some term concerning which an indicative or possible proposition is predicated; yet the name 'chimera' cannot denote that. On account of which any affirmative proposition, in which the name 'chimera' is subject taken significatively or predicated, or something similar, is literally false, because it has some false exponent. For 'a chimera is a non-being' is literally false, and so is anything similar, because whatever of that sort has the exponents 'a chimera is something' and 'that thing is a non-entity', of which the first is false.
Et si dicatur: numquid ista est vera 'chimaera est chimaera'? Videtur quod sic, eo quod praedicatur idein de se, et Boethius dicit quod nulla propositio est verior illa in qua idem de se praedicatur.	And if it is objected: whether the proposition "the chimaera is the chimaera" is true? It seems so, seeing as it is predicated of itself, and Boethius says that no proposition is more true [than] that in which the same thing is predicated of itself.
Dicendum est quod de virtute vocis ista est falsa 'chimaera est chimaera' si termini supponant significative, eo quod falsum implicatur.	In reply, the proposition "the chimaera is the chimaera" is literally false if the terms denote significatively, in that something false is implied by it.
Et ad Boethium dicendum quod Boethius intendit quod nulla propositio in qua aliquid praedicatur de aliquo est verior illa in qua idem praedicatur de se.	And concerning the point about Boethius, it should be said that he meant that no proposition in which something is predicated of something is more true than that in which the same thing is predicated of itself.
Quia tamen ista est negativa, cum ista stat quod nulla sit vera: nec illa in qua idem praedicatur de se nec illa in qua praedicatur aliud.	For nevertheless that point is a negative one, since it is consistent with neither proposition being true - neither that in which the same thing is predicated of itself, nor that in which another thing is predicated of that thing.
Si tamen illa esset vera in qua de aliquo praedicatur aliquid, illa esset vera in qua praedicatur idem de se. Sicut si haec esset vera 'chimaera est aliquid', haec esset vera 'chimaera est chimaera'.	Still, if it were true where something is predicated of something, it would be true in which the same thing is predicated of itself (for example if "the chimaera is something" is true, "the chimaera is the chimaera" is true).
Et ita nulla propositio in qua praedicatur aliquid de hoc nomine 'chimaera', significative sumpto, potest esse verior illa in qua hoc nomen 'chimaera' praedicatur de se ipso. Cum hoc tamen stat quod nec illa nec ista sit vera.	And in this way no proposition in which is predicated something with the name "chimaera", taken significatively, can be more true [than] that in which "chimaera" is predicated of itself. But still, this is consistent with neither one nor the other being true.	}