What's so "principal" about the Cooperative Principle?

---- by J. L. Speranza
------- for the Grice Club

WE ARE DISCUSSING, among other things, 'principium' and lack thereof, in anarchy and other animals. Here is the Short/Lewis, online:


princĭpĭum , ii, n. princeps, [Note that it is feminine in Greek, though: ἀρχή. JLS].

USAGE I.

a beginning, commencement, origin (class.; synonyms: "primordium", "initium").

I. In general:

origo principii nulla est nam ex principio oriuntur omnia
Cicero, Tusc. 1, 23, 54:

quid est cuius principium aliquod sit nihil sit extremum?
id. Natura Deorum 1, 8, 20:

nec principium nec finem habere
Cicero, Sen. 21, 78:

cvivs criminis neqve principivm invenire neque evolvere exitvm possum
Cicero, Cael. 23, 56:

hic fons hoc principivm est movendi
Cicero, Republica 6, 25, 27:

bellorum atque imperiorum
Cicero, Balb. 3, 9:

principium pontis
Tac. A. 1, 69:

principio lucis at daybreak -- Amm. 25, 5, 1:

in principiis dicendi
at the commencement of a speech, Cicero, de Or. 1, 26, 121;

“so of a declaration in a lawsuit,” Juvenal 6, 245:

suave quoddam principium dicendi Amm. 30, 4, 19:

principia ducere ab aliquo

to derive, deduce:

omnium rerum magnarum principia a dis immortalibus ducuntur
id. Vatin. 6, 14:

principium urbis
id. Off. 1, 17, 54:

scribendi recte sapere est et principium et fons
Horace, A. P. 309:

omne principium huc refer id. C. 3, 6, 6:

a Jove principium
Virgil, E. 3, 60:

“anni,” Livy 1, 4:

a sanguine Teucri Ducere principium
Ovid, Metamorphose 13, 705: “capessere,” to begin, Tac. A. 15, 49.

—Adverb.:

"principio," "a principio," "in principio," at or in the beginning, at first:

principio ... postea, etc. Cic. Div. 2, 35, 75:

principio generi animantium omni est a natura tributum ut se tueatur
Cicero, Off. 1, 4, 11; id. Tusc. 2, 22, 53; id. Fin. 1, 6, 17; Ter. Eun. 5, 8, 39; id. And. 3, 3, 38; Verg. A. 6, 214; Cic. Off. 3, 5, 21; so,

a principio: ac vellem a principio te audissem, etc.
id. Att. 7, 1, 2:

“dixeram a principio, de re publica ut sileremus,”

Cicero, Brut. 42, 157:

in principio
Cicero, de Or. 1, 48, 210:

“principio ut,”
as soon as,
Plautus, Merc. prol. 40; v. Ritschl ad h. l.

— Rarely of the boundaries of a country or people:

adusque principia Carmanorum
Amm. 23, 6, 74.—

II. In partic.

A. Plur., beginnings, foundations, principles, elements (class.):

bene provisa et diligenter explorata principia ponantur
Cicero, Leg. 1, 13, 37:

juris
Cicero, id. ib. 1, 6, 18:

principia naturae
Cicero, Off. 3, 12, 52;

for which:

principia naturalia
id. Fin. 3, 5, 17; cf. id. ib. 2, 11, 35:

principia rervm ex quibus omnia constant

first principles, elements, id. Ac. 2, 36, 117.—

Proverb:

obsta principiis

(cf. the French:

ce n'est que le premier pas qui coute [I'm not surprised this is a French proverb. Cfr. Helm on the French! JLS]).

Ov. R. Am. 91.—

B.

That makes a beginning, that votes first:

tribvs principivm fvit, pro tribu Q. Fabius primvs scivit Lex Thoria, Rudorff. p. 142;

Lex Appar. ap. Haubold, Moment. Leg. p. 85; Plebissc. ap. Front. Aquaed. 129:

Faucia curia fuit principium, was the first to vote,
Livy 9, 38 fin.—

2. In general, a beginner, originator, founder, ancestor (poetic):

Graecia principium moris fuit
Ovid, F. 2, 37:

mihi Belus avorum Principium
ancestor, progenitor, Sil. 15, 748.

—Here, too, prob. belongs PRINCIPIA SACRA, Æneas and his successors in Lavinium, ancestors whom the Latins and Romans honoured as deities, Inscr. Orell. 2276.—

C. In military language, in plural: princĭpĭa , ōrum, n.

1. The foremost ranks, the front line of soldiers, the front or van of an army:

post principia
behind the front, Livy 2, 65; cf.:

hic ero post principia, inde omnibus signum dabo
Ter. Eun. 4, 7, 11:

post principia paulatim recedunt
Sisenn. ap. Non. 135, 31:

deinde ipse paulatim procedere

Marium post principia habere
Sall. J. 50, 2:

traversis principiis, in planum deducit
id. ib. 49, 6:

equites post principia collocat
Livy 3, 22; Tac. H. 2, 43. —

2. The staff-officers, members of the council of war (post-classical Latin):

mittere principia
Front. Strat. 2, 5, 30:

a principiis salutari
Treb. Pol. Trig. Tyr. 10:

advocatis legionum principiis et turmarum
Amm. 25, 5, 1; Cod. 12, 47, 1.—

3. A large open space in a camp, in which were the tents of the general, lieutenants, and tribunes, together with the standards, and where speeches were made and councils held; the general's quarters.

jura reddere in principiis
Liv. 28, 24:

in principiis ac praetorio in unum sermones confundi
id. 7, 12:

principium castrorum
Just. 11, 6, 6:

in castris
Varr. R. R. 3, 4, 1:

in principiis statuit tabernaculum, eoque omnes cotidie convenire (jussit), ut ibi de summis rebus consilia caperentur
Nep. Eum. 7, 2; Suet. Oth. 1; 6; Flor. 3, 10, 12:

primores centurionum et paucos militum in principia vocat
Tac. H. 3, 13; 1, 48; Dig. 49, 16, 12; cf. Front. Strat. 4, 1, 16.—

USAGE D.

Precedence, preference, the first place:

principium ergo, columenque omnium rerum preti margaritae tenent
Pliny 9, 35, 54, § 106. —

E. Plur., selections, selected passages:

principiorum libri circumferuntur, quia existimatur pars aliqua etiam sine ceteris esse perfecta
Pliny Ep. 2, 5, 12.—

2. In partic., mastery, dominion (post-classical):

ἀρχή, magisterium, magistratus, praesidatus, principium, Gloss. Philox.:

in Graeco principii vocabulum, quod est ἀρχή, non tantum ordinativum, sed et potestativum capit principatum
Tert. adv. Hermog. 19.

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So, I guess the source of all this should be Greek. In any case, the principal use of 'principal' seems to be the literal one, meaning 'start'. Or something.