By analysing a large number of Sanskrit technical texts, this study aims to show and explain how the specificity of the semiotic status of proper nouns has been addressed in the three traditional Indian disciplines ofvyākaraṇa (grammar), nyāya (logic) andmīmāṃsā (exegesis), in all three of which reflection on language is central.

Forming part of a research project on the history of theories of word formation, this volume uses an historiographical approach to review the treatment of compound words in different linguistic traditions - Sanskrit, Greek, Latin, Arabic, Hebrew and German.