 Signifying by convention is the result of an original (voluntary) imposition of a significatum upon a word, primarily conceived of as a spoken word (vox) – a modulated sound (DOS 488; see also QLIVS 42,  224).[25]  A word signifies the passio mentis and the thing outside the soul (QLIVS 11, 47). Spoken words signify primarily the passio animi (or species intelligibilis or intellectus; Lewry Pery, 289) and signify things via thoughts (uoces sunt note intellectuum, et sic rerum) (QLIS 144, 143). The passio, being a likeness of a thing in the mind—received rather than made by us—is common to all human beings (LPA ed. 1516, 82rb).