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Moreover, examine the inflected forms. For if 'justly' has more than
one meaning, then 'just', also, will be used with more than one
meaning; for there will be a meaning of 'just' to each of the meanings
of 'justly'; e.g. if the word 'justly' be used of judging according to
one's own opinion, and also of judging as one ought, then 'just' also
will be used in like manner. In the same way also, if 'healthy' has
more than one meaning, then 'healthily' also will be used with more
than one meaning: e.g. if 'healthy' describes both what produces
health and what preserves health and what betokens health, then
'healthily' also will be used to mean 'in such a way as to produce' or
'preserve' or 'betoken' health. Likewise also in other cases, whenever
the original term bears more than one meaning, the inflexion also that
is formed from it will be used with more than one meaning, and vice
versa.
Look also at the classes of the predicates signified by the term, and
see if they are the same in all cases. For if they are not the same,
then clearly the term is ambiguous: e.g. 'good' in the case of food
means 'productive of pleasure', and in the case of medicine
'productive of health', whereas as applied to the soul it means to be
of a certain quality, e.g. temperate or courageous or just: and
likewise also, as applied to 'man'. Sometimes it signifies what
happens at a certain time, as (e.g.) the good that happens at the
right time: for what happens at the right time is called good. Often
it signifies what is of certain quantity, e.g. as applied to the
proper amount: for the proper amount too is called good. So then the
term 'good' is ambiguous. In the same way also 'clear', as applied to
a body, signifies a colour, but in regard to a note it denotes what is
'easy to hear'. 'Sharp', too, is in a closely similar case: for the
same term does not bear the same meaning in all its applications: for
a sharp note is a swift note, as the mathematical theorists of harmony
tell us, whereas a sharp (acute) angle is one that is less than a
right angle, while a sharp dagger is one containing a sharp angle
(point).
Look also at the genera of the objects denoted by the same term, and
see if they are different without being subaltern, as (e.g.) 'donkey',
which denotes both the animal and the engine. For the definition of
them that corresponds to the name is different: for the one will be
declared to be an animal of a certain kind, and the other to be an
engine of a certain kind. If, however, the genera be subaltern, there
is no necessity for the definitions to be different. Thus (e.g.)
'animal' is the genus of 'raven', and so is 'bird'. Whenever therefore
we say that the raven is a bird, we also say that it is a certain kind
of animal, so that both the genera are predicated of it. Likewise also
whenever we call the raven a 'flying biped animal', we declare it to
be a bird: in this way, then, as well, both the genera are predicated
of raven, and also their definition. But in the case of genera that
are not subaltern this does not happen, for whenever we call a thing
an 'engine', we do not call it an animal, nor vice versa.
Look also and see not only if the genera of the term before you are
different without being subaltern, but also in the case of its
contrary: for if its contrary bears several senses, clearly the term
before you does so as well.
It is useful also to look at the definition that arises from the use
of the term in combination, e.g. of a 'clear (lit. white) body' of a
'clear note'. For then if what is peculiar in each case be abstracted,
the same expression ought to remain over. This does not happen in the
case of ambiguous terms, e.g. in the cases just mentioned. For the
former will be body possessing such and such a colour', while the
latter will be 'a note easy to hear'. Abstract, then, 'a body 'and' a
note', and the remainder in each case is not the same. It should,
however, have been had the meaning of 'clear' in each case been
synonymous.
Often in the actual definitions as well ambiguity creeps in unawares,
and for this reason the definitions also should be examined. If (e.g.)