# Grammar book

A grammar book is a book or treatise describing the grammar of one or more languages. In linguistics, such a book is itself frequently referred to as a grammar.

## Etymology

Ancient Greek had the term τέκνή γραμματική (téchnē grammatikḗ, 'skill in the use of letters'), which was adapted into Latin as ars grammatica. This term was used in the title of works about writing and language, which came to be known in English as grammar-books or grammars.$^{:72}$

## Definition

Although the style and content of grammar-books varies enormously, they generally aim for a fairly systematic and comprehensive survey of one language's phonetics, morphology, syntax and word-formation. Since languages vary across time, space, social groups, genres, and so forth, grammars inevitably cannot represent every single aspect of a language, but usually select a particular variety with a view to a particular readership.$^{:73–74}$
The readerships of grammars and their needs vary widely. Grammars may be intended for native-speakers of a language or for learners. Many grammars are written for use by children learning a language in a school environment. Many grammars are reference grammars, intended not to be read from beginning to end like a textbook, but to enable readers to check particular details as the need arises. Some grammars are prescriptive, aiming to tell readers how they ought to use language; others are descriptive, aiming to tell readers how language is used in reality. In either case, popular grammars can be enormously influential on language-use.$^{:73–74}$

## History

The earliest known descriptive linguistic writing, leading to early grammar-books, took place in a Sanskrit community in northern India; the best known scholar of that linguistic tradition was Pāṇini, whose works are commonly dated to around the 5th century BCE. The earliest known grammar of a Western language is the second-century BCE Art of Grammar attributed to Dionysius Thrax, a grammar of Greek.
Key stages in the history of English grammars include Ælfric of Eynsham's composition around 995 CE of a grammar in Old English based on a compilation of two Latin grammars, Aelius Donatus's Ars maior and Priscian's Institutiones grammaticae. This was intended for use by English-speaking students of Latin, and is the first known grammar of Latin written in a vernacular language, but was arguably also intended to use Latin as a basis for explaining English grammar. A key step in the development of English grammars was the 1586 publication of William Bullokar's published his Pamphlet for Grammar, which used a framework derived from Latin grammars to show how English too had grammatical structures and rules.$^{:74}$ Numerous grammars aimed at foreign learners of English, sometimes written in Latin, were published in the seventeenth century, while the eighteenth saw the emergence of English-language grammars aiming to instruct their Anglophone audiences in what the authors viewed as correct grammar, including an increasingly literate audience of women and children; this trend continued into the early twentieth century.$^{:74–78}$ A key shift in grammar-writing is represented by Charles Carpenter Fries' 1952 The Structure of English, which aimed to give up-to-date, descriptive rather than prescriptive, information on English grammar, and drew on recordings of live speech to inform its claims.$^{:74}$

## List of first printed grammars (1450–1800)

| Year | Language | Author | Notes |
| 1451 | Latin | Aelius Donatus | Donatus' Ars Minor was the first printed book by Johannes Gutenberg. |
| 1471 | Ancient Greek | Manuel Chrysoloras | Chrysoloras' Erotemata was the first printed book in greek language. |
| 1489 | Hebrew | Moses Kimhi | |
| 1492 | Spanish | Antonio de Nebrija | Nebrija's Gramática de la lengua castellana is the first printed grammar of a vernacular language. |
| 1505 | Andalusi Arabic | Pedro de Alcalá | |
| 1516 | Italian | Giovanni Francesco Fortunio | |
| 1527 | Biblical Aramaic | Sebastian Münster | |
| 1530 | French | John Palsgrave | |
| 1533 | Czech | Beneš Optát | |
| 1534 | German | Valentin Ickelsamer | |
| 1536 | Portuguese | Fernão de Oliveira | |
| 1539 | Hungarian | János Sylvester | |
| 1539 | Classical Arabic | Guillaume Postel | |
| 1539 | Syriac | Teseo Ambrogio | written in collaboration with the Maronite monk Elias ibn Ibrahim. |
| 1543 | Sicilian | Claudio Mario d'Arezzo | |
| 1552 | Geʽez | Mariano Vittorio | written in collaboration with the ethiopian monk Täsfa Ṣǝyon. |
| 1558 | Purépecha | Maturino Gilberti | Gilberti's Arte de la lengua de Michoacán is first printed grammar of an American indigenous language. |
| 1560 | Quechua | Domingo de Santo Tomás | |
| 1567 | Welsh | Gruffydd Robert | |
| 1568 | Polish | Pierre Statorius | |
| 1571 | Nahuatl | Alonso de Molina | |
| 1578 | Zapotec | Juan de Córdova | |
| 1584 | Dutch | Hendrik Laurenszoon Spiegel | |
| 1584 | Slovene | Adam Bohorič | |
| 1586 | Church Slavonic | anonymous | |
| 1586 | English | William Bullokar | |
| 1593 | Mixtec | Antonio de los Reyes | |
| 1595 | Tupi | José de Anchieta | known by the title Arte de gramática da língua mais usada na costa do Brasil |
| 1603 | Aymara | Ludovico Bertonio | |
| 1604 | Japanese | João Rodrigues Tçuzu | known by the title Arte da Lingoa de Iapam |
| 1604 | Croatian | Bartol Kašić | |
| 1606 | Mapuche | Luis de Valdivia | Valdivia also published in 1607 two other grammars for Allentiac and Millcayac languages. |
| 1610 | Tagalog | Francisco Blancas de San José | |
| 1612 | Malay | Albert Cornelius Ruyl | |
| 1612 | Turkish | Hieronymus Megiser | based on manuscript written by Hector von Ernau. |
| 1614 | Timucua | Francisco Pareja | |
| 1618 | Hiligaynon | Alonso de Méntrida | |
| 1619 | Chibcha | Bernardo de Lugo | |
| 1620 | Yucatec Maya | Juan Coronel | |
| 1622 | Modern Greek | Girolamo Germano | |
| 1624 | Armenian | Francesco Rivola | |
| 1627 | Ilocano | Francisco Lopez | |
| 1636 | Coptic | Athanasius Kircher | Kircher's Prodromus Coptus was based on manuscript written by Yuhanna al-Samannudi. |
| 1637 | Estonian | Heinrich Stahl | |
| 1637 | Mazahua | Diego de Nágera Yanguas | |
| 1638 | Basque | Arnauld de Oihenart | |
| 1639 | Persian | Louis de Dieu | |
| 1640 | Guarani | Antonio Ruiz de Montoya | |
| 1640 | Konkani | Thomas Stephens | Stephens' Arte da Lingoa Canarim is the first printed grammar of any Indian language. |
| 1643 | Georgian | Francesco Maria Maggio | |
| 1643 | Old English | Abraham Wheelocke | A summary of the Old English grammar was included in Wheelocke's edition of Bede's Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum |
| 1644 | Mam | Diego de Reynoso | |
| 1644 | Mochica | Fernando de la Carrera | |
| 1644 | Latvian | Johans Georgs Rēhehūzens | |
| 1647 | Bikol | Andrés de San Agustin | |
| 1649 | Finnish | Eskil Petraeus | |
| 1651 | Vietnamese | Alexandre de Rhodes | |
| 1651 | Icelandic | Runolf Jonsson | |
| 1653 | Lithuanian | Daniel Klein | |
| 1659 | Kongo | Giacinto Brusciotto | |
| 1659 | Breton | Julien Maunoir | |
| 1663 | Waray | Domingo Ezguerra | |
| 1666 | Massachusett | John Eliot | |
| 1667 | Kalinago | Raymond Breton | |
| 1668 | Danish | Erik Pontoppidan | |
| 1672 | Tamil | Philippus Baldaeus | |
| 1677 | Irish | Froinsias Ó Maolmhuaidh | |
| 1679 | Sorbian | Xaver Jakub Ticin | |
| 1680 | Cumanagoto | Francisco de Tauste | |
| 1681 | Frisian | Simon Abbes Gabbema | A grammar of Frisian was included in the Gabbema's edition of Gysbert Japiks's Friesche Rymlerye |
| 1683 | Tarahumara | Tomas de Guadalajara | |
| 1686 | Manchu | Ferdinand Verbiest | |
| 1689 | Gothic | George Hickes | |
| 1690 | Pangasinan | Andrés Lopez | |
| 1696 | Swedish | Nils Tiällmann | |
| 1696 | Russian | Heinrich Wilhelm Ludolf | |
| 1696 | Chinese | Martino Martini | published by Melchisédech Thévenot in his Relations de divers voyages curieux |
| 1697 | Kimbundu | Pedro Dias | |
| 1698 | Amharic | Hiob Ludolf | written in collaboration with Abba Gorgoryos. |
| 1699 | Kipeá | Luigi Vincenzo Mamiani | Mamiani published the only grammar of a non-Tupí language from colonial Brazil |
| 1702 | Opata | Natal Lombardo | |
| 1707 | Cornish | Edward Lhuyd | A grammar of cornish language was included in Lhuyd's Archæologia Britannica. |
| 1707 | Sinhala | Johannes Ruell | |
| 1716 | Albanian | Francesco Maria da Lecce | |
| 1729 | Romansh | Flaminio da Sale | |
| 1729 | Kapampangan | Diego Bergaño | |
| 1729 | Mixe | Agustín de Quintana | |
| 1731 | Otomi | Francisco Haedo | |
| 1732 | Lule | Antonio Maccioni | |
| 1737 | Cahita | Tomás Basilio | |
| 1738 | Sámi | Pehr Fjellström | |
| 1743 | Hindi | David Mills | based on manuscript written by Joan Josua Kettler. |
| 1743 | Bengali | Manuel da Assumpção | |
| 1743 | Tepehuan | Benito Rinaldini | |
| 1747 | Huastec | Carlos de Tapia Zenteno | |
| 1750 | Maltese | Agius de Soldanis | |
| 1752 | Totonac | José Zambrano Bonilla | |
| 1753 | Kaqchikel | Ildefonso Joseph Flores | |
| 1760 | Greenlandic | Paul Egede | |
| 1769 | Chuvash | anonymous | |
| 1770 | Negerhollands | Joachim Melchior Magens | |
| 1775 | Mari | anonymous | |
| 1775 | Udmurt | anonymous | |
| 1778 | Scottish Gaelic | William Shaw | |
| 1778 | Marathi | anonymous | |
| 1779 | Neapolitan | Ferdinando Galiani | |
| 1780 | Romanian | Samuil Micu-Klein | |
| 1782 | Sardinian | Matteo Madao | |
| 1783 | Piedmontese | Maurizio Pipino | |
| 1787 | Kurdish | Maurizio Garzoni | |
| 1790 | Sanskrit | Paulinus of St. Bartholomew | based on manuscript written by Johann Ernst Hanxleden. |
| 1790 | Slovak | Anton Bernolák | |
| 1794 | Slavo-Serbian | Avram Mrazović | |
| 1799 | Malayalam | Robert Drummond | |