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 short propositions—sententiae—to structure reasoning and present holdings. In medieval scholasticism, the term extended to brief quotations or authorities’ opinions used to support theological or philosophical positions. A notable instance is Peter Lombard’s Libri Quattuor Sententiarum (The Four Books of Sentences), a 12th-century compendium that organized patristic and scholastic authorities and became a standard textbook for theologians.

In the Renaissance and early modern period, writers and printers gathered large collections of sententiae—curated lists of concise, authoritative sayings from classical, patristic, and contemporary sources—to aid rhetoric, moral instruction, or legal argument. In contemporary scholarship, sententia remains a technical term in rhetoric and literary studies for a compact, standalone proposition, while historically significant as a vehicle for transmitted wisdom and authority. See also aphorism, maxim, quotation, Lombard, The Sentences.