The new character which Latin presents from the foundation of the universities and the

domination of scholasticism is especially evident in vocabulary. The new speculation needed a new
terminology to express its analyses and rationales with scientific precision. Many scholastic
neologisms had a lasting impact.
For example, consider the abstract terms prioritas and superioritas derived from prior and
superior, verbs such as organizare and specificare with their corresponding nouns organizatio
and specificatio, a number of nouns in -alitas derived from adjectives in -alis, such as actualitas,
causalitas, formalitas, indiuidualitas, potentialitas, proportionalitas, realitas, spiritualitas,
nouns in -ista such as artista, iurista, decretista, occamista, thomista, scotista, platonista,
latinista, humanista.
We still say disputare pro et contra or a priori, a posteriori, expressions used in the
teaching of dialectic. A collection of sermons is still called in German Postille, from Latin postilla,
an abbreviation of the words post illa uerba, by which one began the explication of a text at this
time. Other innovations of scholasticism were more ephemeral or changed the sense of words, for
example quodlibetum, a general disputation where the auditors could propose any problem
whatsoever, quodlibet, for the analysis of the professors, or the somewhat fantastic forms such as
hecitas, ipseitas, talitas, quiditas, perseitas, uelleitas, anitas (a response to the question an sit
aliquid), etc.
The victory of Aristotelianism led to a new influx of Hellenisms. St. Thomas Aquinas, for
instance, introduced words such as epicheia, eubolia, synderesis, theandrica, and there are
underlying expressions in Aristotle which explain the use of Latin words such as habitus, accidens,
forma, materia, intellectus agens, etc. Many words were even borrowed from Arabic, many of
which are still in use: algebra, algorismus, cifra, alchimia, chimia, elixir, camphora, etc.

However, above all, it is the simplicity of syntax and the monotony of style which
characterize scholastic Latin. One adds new arguments with item, an amplius or a preterea,
repeated ad infinitum. Logic required of Latin expressions an impeccable precision, but not the
variation consistent with the standards of rhetoric.
The use of images to enliven style is forbidden: the austerity of thought demanded complete
stylistic dryness. From Old French ly was borrowed to designate a citation in order to avoid any
possibility of misunderstanding. St. Thomas, speaking of the Son in his treatise on the Trinity,
states: Melius est quod dicatur "semper natus," ut ly "semper" designet permanentiam eternitatis et
ly "natus" perfectionem geniti.

The Latin of scholasticism is a remarkable creation. The language cultivated for centuries by
poets and rhetors possessed great plasticity to be remodeled according to the needs of the new
movement and to become an admirable instrument in the service of the thought of logicians and
metaphysicians.

El uso de imágenes para elevar el estilo está prohibido: la austeridad del pensamiento exige
una total limpieza estilística. Se toma del Picardo el pronombre ly para designar una cita que evite
toda posibilidad de malentendido por motivos de autonimia. Tomás, hablando del Hijo en su tratado
de la Trinidad, señala:

Melius est quod dicatur "semper natus," ut ly "semper" designet permanentiam eternitatis et ly "natus"
perfectionem geniti.