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[20arg] The Latin word coined by Sinnius Capito for “solecism,” and what the early writers of Latin called that same fault: and also Sinnius Capito's definition of a solecism.A solecism, which by Sinnius Capito and other lien of his time was called in Latin inparilitas, or “inequality,” the earlier Latin writers termed stribiligo, 1 evidently meaning the improper use of an inverted form of expression, a sort of twist as it were. This kind of fault is thus defined by Sinnius Capito, in a letter which lie wrote to Clodius Tuscus: “A solecism,” he says, 2 “is an irregular and incongruous joining together of the parts of speech.” Since “soloecismus” is a Greek word, the question is often asked, whether it was used by the men of [p. 443] Attica who spoke most elegantly. But I have as yet found neither soloecismus nor barbarismus 3 in good Greek writers; for just as they used βάρβαρος, so they used σόλοικος. 4 So too our earlier writers used soloecus regularly, soloecismus never, I think. But if that be so, soloecismus is proper usage neither in Greek nor in Latin.
