De Re and De Dicto in Latin

The de re and de dicto distinction became important during the Middle Ages and still has relevance today in modal logic. Additionally, de re and de dicto illustrate how de + the ablative case can function in Latin: "de" in this context can be translated "of, concerning, respecting, about" for both phrases (de re and de dicto). Both re and dicto are ablative forms (respectively of res and dictum), so when the noun is coupled with the preposition, de re could be translated "of the thing" or "concerning the thing." On the other hand, de dicto is "concerning the statement/utterance/word" or "of the statement/utterance/word." I hope this illustrates how writers can use de + the ablative to state something concerning or about an object whereas the de re and de dicto distinction is used to describe either a thing, an utterance or part of an utterance. A question that we can ask about an utterance is whether the thing is meant (i.e., whether the utterance is de re) or whether the utterance itself is being emphasized (i.e., the de dicto sense of the utterance). As a side point but related to theology, numerous Patristic writers employ de in the titles of their works (e.g., De Trinitate, De civitate Dei) and Thomas Aquinas wrote De ente et essentia.

Alvin Plantinga (The Nature of Necessity): "An assertion of modality de dicto predicates a modal property of another dictum or proposition, while a claim of modality de re asserts of an object that it possess a property either essentially or contingently."

Consider the possible difference between the two statements:

1) Necessarily, the number nine is odd.

2) The number nine is odd.