Sententiae
Sententiae is the plural of sententia, a Latin term with related senses including opinion, judgement, and sentence. The word underpins several related concepts in rhetoric, law, and literature, and it is the source of the English words sentence and sentiment. In its broad sense, sententia refers to a concise, memorable statement that expresses a general truth, a moral principle, or an authoritative conclusion. In rhetorical use, a sententia is a short, pithy maxim or aphorism that can serve to close an argument or illustrate a point.
Historically, sententiae appeared in both legal and scholarly contexts. In classical Rome, jurists and orators employed
In the Renaissance and early modern period, writers and printers gathered large collections of sententiae—curated lists