The diversity of Ancient Greek through the eyes of a forgotten grammarian

The linguistic ideas of the 16th-century French grammarian Petrus Antesignanus have been largely neglected up till now. In the present paper, I aim to partially repair this research lacuna within the context of the notion of “dialect”. After some short introductory notes on Antesignanus’ life and works, I discuss his conception of dialect, which is expounded in his 1554 scholia on Nicolaus Clenardus’ Greek grammar. This analysis occurs both on a general level and specifically with regard to the Ancient Greek situation. I include in this discussion a number of considerations that contextualize the views of Antesignanus. Henricus Stephanus’ attack on Antesignanus’ assertions figures as a case study in this regard