Roger Bacon On Signs: Translated with an Introduction and Notes

MALONEY, Thomas S. Roger Bacon On Signs: Translated with an Introduction and Notes. Mediaeval Sources in Translation. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 2013. xii + 147 pp. Paper: $19.95-To understand the major significance of this very important translation of a central text in medieval Latin semiotics, one must recall that it is the first English translation of a missing chapter from Roger Bacon's Opus maius, part three, on the utility of languages, that is, the utility of languages for theological studies taken in the broadest sense of the term. Further, it is the first-ever critical translation of De signis, a text discovered in the Bodleian Library, and edited by the late Jan Pinborg, K.M. Fredborg and Lauge Nielsen in Traditio (1978). Since 1978, there have been many critical studies of this text and its great importance for medieval logic and semiotics, but there has been no translation with critical study of this all important text.

Maloney has produced a first-class translation with an equally firstclass introduction with notes and appendices. Since the De signis exists in only one manuscript, the presentation of good text and translation is not easy task. Maloney presents us with a good literal translation that places the emphasis on getting good sense...