Sound and motion in the De Generatione Sonorum, a treatise by Robert Grosseteste

Abstract

Here I am proposing a discussion of some parts of the De Generatione Sonorum, one of the short treatises written by Robert Grosseteste. The main subject of this treatise is the phonetics. However, sound and oscillations are shortly described. Since Grosseteste discussed a phonetics based on the analogy with motions and their combinations, we can find in this text some hints on how a medieval scholar approached the description of motions.