proprietates terminorum (Latin ‘properties of terms’), in medieval logic from the twelfth century on, a cluster of semantic properties possessed by categorematic terms. For most authors, these properties apply only when the terms occur in the context of a proposition. The list of such properties and the theory governing them vary from author to author, but always include (1) suppositio. Some authors add (2) appellatio (‘appellating’, ‘naming’, ‘calling’, often not sharply distinguishing from suppositio), the property whereby a term in a certain proposition names or is truly predicable of things, or (in some authors) of presently existing things. Thus ‘philosophers’ in ‘Some philosophers are wise’ appellates philosophers alive today. (3) Ampliatio (‘ampliation’, ‘broadening’), whereby a term refers to past or future or merely possible things. The reference of ‘philosophers’ is ampliated in ‘Some philosophers were wise’. (4) Restrictio (‘restriction’, ‘narrowing’), whereby the reference of a term is restricted to presently existing things (‘philosophers’ is so restricted in ‘Some philosophers are wise’), or otherwise narrowed from its normal range (‘philosophers’ in ‘Some Greek philosophers were wise’). (5) Copulatio (‘copulation’, ‘coupling’), which is the type of reference adjectives have (‘wise’ in ‘Some philosophers are wise’), or alternatively the semantic function of the copula. Other meanings too are sometimes given to these terms, depending on the author. Appellatio especially was given a wide variety of interpretations. In particular, for Buridan and other fourteenth-century Continental authors, appellatio means ‘connotation’. Restrictio and copulatio tended to drop out of the literature, or be treated only perfunctorily, after the thirteenth century. See also SUPPOSITI. P.V.S.