Vivien Law is Reader in the History of Linguistic Thought at Cambridge University, and Fellow of Trinity College.

• Preface; 1. Getting ready to study the history of linguistics; 2. Greek philosophy and the origins of western linguistics; 3. Towards a discipline of grammar: the transition from philosophy; 4. From literacy to grammar: describing language structure in the ancient world; 5. Christianity and language; 6. The early Middle Ages; 7. The Carolingian Renaissance; 8. Scholasticism: linking language and reality; 9. Medieval vernacular grammars; 10. The Renaissance: discovery of the outer world; 11. And what happened next? Linguistics since 1600 - in brief; 12. Becoming a historian of linguistics.

"...a book very useful for scholars. Each chapter is readable, entertaining, and full of background information needed to put things in context. Anthropologists will find this book of particular interest because of its emphasis on understanding people different from oneself." Anthropological Linguistics Anthropological Linguistics