Editing Grammar (section)

== History<!--'History of grammar' redirects here--> ==
{{Further|History of linguistics}}
The first systematic grammar of [[Sanskrit]] originated in [[Iron Age India]], with [[Yaska]] (6th century BC), [[Pāṇini]] (6th–5th century BC<ref name="britpanini">{{Cite book |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Ashtadhyayi |title=Ashtadhyayi, Work by Panini |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica |year=2013 |quote=Ashtadhyayi, Sanskrit Aṣṭādhyāyī ("Eight Chapters"), Sanskrit treatise on grammar written in the 6th to 5th century BCE by the Indian grammarian Panini. |access-date=23 October 2017 |archive-date=5 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170805063047/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Ashtadhyayi |url-status=live }}</ref>) and his commentators [[Pingala]] ({{Circa|200 BC}}), [[Katyayana]], and [[Patanjali]] (2nd century BC). [[Tolkāppiyam]], the earliest [[Tamil language|Tamil]] grammar, is mostly dated to before the 5th century AD. The [[Babylonia]]ns also made some early attempts at language description.<ref>{{Cite book |last=McGregor |first=William B.|author-link=William B. McGregor |title=Linguistics: An Introduction |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |year=2015|edition=2nd |isbn=978-0-567-58352-9 |pages=15–16}}</ref>

Grammar appeared as a discipline in [[Hellenistic period|Hellenism]] from the 3rd century BC forward with authors such as [[Rhyanus]] and [[Aristarchus of Samothrace]]. The oldest known grammar handbook is the ''[[Art of Grammar]]'' ({{lang|grc|Τέχνη Γραμματική}}), a succinct guide to speaking and writing clearly and effectively, written by the ancient Greek scholar [[Dionysius Thrax]] ({{Circa|170|90 BC|lk=no}}), a student of Aristarchus of Samothrace who founded a school on the Greek island of Rhodes. Dionysius Thrax's grammar book remained the primary grammar textbook for Greek schoolboys until as late as the twelfth century AD. The Romans based their grammatical writings on it and its basic format remains the basis for grammar guides in many languages even today.<ref name="Casson2001">{{Cite book |last=Casson |first=Lionel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ECBkVPQkNSsC&q=Library+of+Alexandria |title=Libraries in the Ancient World |date=2001 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-09721-4 |location=New Haven, Connecticut |page=45 |author-link=Lionel Casson |access-date=11 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210824033514/https://books.google.com/books?id=ECBkVPQkNSsC&q=Library+of+Alexandria |archive-date=24 August 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Latin grammar]] developed by following Greek models from the 1st century BC, due to the work of authors such as [[Orbilius Pupillus]], [[Remmius Palaemon]], [[Marcus Valerius Probus]], [[Verrius Flaccus]], and [[Aemilius Asper]].

The grammar of [[Old Irish|Irish]] originated in the 7th century with [[Auraicept na n-Éces]]. [[Arabic grammar]] emerged with [[Abu al-Aswad al-Du'ali]] in the 7th century. The first treatises on [[Hebrew grammar]] appeared in the [[High Middle Ages]], in the context of [[Midrash]] (exegesis of the [[Hebrew Bible]]). The [[Karaite Judaism|Karaite]] tradition originated in [[Abbasid]] [[Baghdad]]. The ''[[Diqduq]]'' (10th century) is one of the earliest grammatical commentaries on the Hebrew Bible.<ref>G. Khan, J. B. Noah, ''The Early Karaite Tradition of Hebrew Grammatical Thought'' (2000)</ref> [[Ibn Barun]] in the 12th century, compares the Hebrew language with Arabic in the [[Islamic grammatical tradition]].<ref>Pinchas Wechter, Ibn Barūn's Arabic Works on Hebrew Grammar and Lexicography (1964)</ref>

Belonging to the ''[[trivium]]'' of the seven [[liberal arts]], grammar was taught as a core discipline throughout the [[Middle Ages]], following the influence of authors from [[Late Antiquity]], such as [[Priscian]]. Treatment of vernaculars began gradually during the [[High Middle Ages]], with isolated works such as the [[First Grammatical Treatise]], but became influential only in the [[Renaissance]] and [[Baroque]] periods. In 1486, [[Antonio de Nebrija]] published ''Las introduciones Latinas contrapuesto el romance al Latin'', and the first [[Spanish grammar]], ''[[Gramática de la lengua castellana]]'', in 1492. During the 16th-century [[Italian Renaissance]], the ''[[Questione della lingua]]'' was the discussion on the status and ideal form of the Italian language, initiated by [[Dante]]'s ''[[de vulgari eloquentia]]'' ([[Pietro Bembo]], ''Prose della volgar lingua'' Venice 1525). The first grammar of [[Slovene language|Slovene]] was written in 1583 by [[Adam Bohorič]], and ''[[Grammatica Germanicae Linguae]]'', the first grammar of German, was published in 1578.

Grammars of some languages began to be compiled for the purposes of evangelism and [[Bible translation]] from the 16th century onward, such as ''Grammatica o Arte de la Lengua General de Los Indios de Los Reynos del Perú'' (1560), a [[Quechua languages|Quechua]] grammar by [[Fray Domingo de Santo Tomás]].

From the latter part of the 18th century, grammar came to be understood as a subfield of the emerging discipline of modern linguistics. The ''Deutsche Grammatik'' of [[Jacob Grimm]] was first published in the 1810s. The ''Comparative Grammar'' of [[Franz Bopp]], the starting point of modern [[comparative linguistics]], came out in 1833.