Tertium quid

Tertium quid sikter til et uidentifisert tredje element som er i kombinasjon med to kjente.^[1] Uttrykket er kjent særlig fra alkymien.^[1] Det er latin for «tredje [ting]», som igjen kommer fra gresk tríton ti (τρίτον τι).^[1]

Det greske uttrykket ble benyttet av Platon (360 f.Kr.),^[2] og av Irenæus (c. 196 e.Kr.).^[3]

Det eldste latinske eksempel er fra Tertullian (c. 220), som benyttet uttrykket for å beskrive en blandet substans med sammensatte egenskaper som for eksempel elektrum, - dette er en noe annerledes forståelse enn den som brukes i moderne tid.^[4]

Referanser[rediger | rediger kilde]

^ ^a ^b ^c "Tertium quid", Online Etymological Dictionary
^ George Grote: Plato, and the other companions of Sokrates, Vol 2, s. 418. From the dialogue Sophist: "Existence or reality must therefore be a tertium quid, apart from motion and rest, not the sum total of those two items."
^ Irenæus: Against Heresies 2.1.3. Den nå kjente tekst er latinsk, men originalen var gresk. "But if they say this, there will be a 'tertium quid,' with this immense separation between the Pleroma and what is outside it, and this 'tertium quid' will limit and contain the other two, and will be greater than both the Pleroma and what is outside it, since it contains both in its bosom." (Grant, Robert McQueen, Irenaeus of Lyons, p. 108.)
^ Tertullian, Adv. Praxean 27. "If, however, it was only a tertium quid, some composite essence formed out of the two substances, like the electrum (which we have mentioned), there would be no distinct proofs apparent of either nature." (That is, of the divine and human natures of Christ.)

[etymol-1] "Tertium quid", Online Etymological Dictionary

[2] George Grote: Plato, and the other companions of Sokrates, Vol 2, s. 418. From the dialogue Sophist: "Existence or reality must therefore be a tertium quid, apart from motion and rest, not the sum total of those two items."

[3] Irenæus: Against Heresies 2.1.3. Den nå kjente tekst er latinsk, men originalen var gresk. "But if they say this, there will be a 'tertium quid,' with this immense separation between the Pleroma and what is outside it, and this 'tertium quid' will limit and contain the other two, and will be greater than both the Pleroma and what is outside it, since it contains both in its bosom." (Grant, Robert McQueen, Irenaeus of Lyons, p. 108.)

[4] Tertullian, Adv. Praxean 27. "If, however, it was only a tertium quid, some composite essence formed out of the two substances, like the electrum (which we have mentioned), there would be no distinct proofs apparent of either nature." (That is, of the divine and human natures of Christ.)

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