Глава LXII. Об имении

The word "estate" is used in eight senses. Or in relation to belonging and condition, or some other quality. So they say about us that we have knowledge and virtue. Or when applied to quantity. Thus the tree is said to be three cubits thick. Or in application to one substance in its relation to another. This case represents the highest genus, which is divided into the following types. It takes place either in relation to the whole body, for example, when talking about a dress, or in relation to a part, for example, when talking about a ring on a finger; or in relation to a part contained in the whole; so it is said of us that we have a hand; or in relation to a vessel, for example, when we say that the vessel contains wine; or in relation to property: it is said that we have a house or a field. It is also said that we have a wife, just as it is said that a wife has a husband; however, apparently, this meaning is not peculiar to the word “to have,” since conversion is possible here. That a husband has a wife means no more than that a wife has a husband. Neither of them owns the other, but both stand in the same relation to each other without distinction. True, the owner has property, and property has the owner, and here recourse is possible; however, not in the sense that a husband has a wife, and a wife has a husband, for the owner is an independent and supreme manager of property. Therefore, they prefer to say in relation to the owner that he has, and in relation to property that they have it. It is clear that the word “have” is one of the homonyms. According to some, the word “have” has as many varieties as action and suffering. Just as that which acts and that which suffers is either animate or inanimate, so here too the one who has and the one who has is either animate or inanimate. But how can different genera have the same varieties? To this we can answer that property is attached either to the whole body or to a part, and either in relation to that which serves for protection or in relation to that which serves for decoration. You might be interested in: