In the Beginning was the Word: A Translation of part of St Thomas’s commentary on the Gospel of St John

Extract

To understand this term ‘word’ we should note that, as Aristotle teaches, vocal sounds are signs of movements within the soul. In Scripture, of course, it is usual for things signified to be called by the names of the signs, as in 1 Cor. 11: ‘But the rock was Christ’. But it is necessary that what is within our soul and expressed by our spoken word, should itself be called word. Whether the term word belongs first to what is uttered by the voice, or to the concept within the soul, is not immediately relevant. It is none the less clear that what exists within the mind and is expressed by the sound is prior to the word uttered by the voice, since it is its cause. If therefore we wish to know what is the word within the soul, let us see what is meant by what is uttered by the exterior vocal sound.