  In 12th- and early 13th-century logical textbooks the concept of sign does not play an important role yet. ‘Sign’ in its technical sense is taken as the name of the so-called syncategorematic terms (e.g., omnis [every], nullus [no] as signa universalia or universal signs, quidam [a certain], aliquis [some] as signa particularia or particular signs) (L. M. de Rijk, 1965–67, II/2.383).[41]  In line with the text of Aristotle's Peri Hermeneias and its translation by Boethius, only written and spoken words were said to signify. Mental concepts (passiones animae, intellectus, conceptus) were seen as likenesses (similitudines) rather than as signs of things. Once again, it is the mid-13th century where a conceptual change is taking place which, although at first it may seem to be a matter of nuance, turns out to be one of the most important junctures in the history of semiotics: mental concepts — without at first losing their status of being likenesses of things — begin to be characterized as signs of things (signa rerum). It is true that there are some few passages in Boethius, Anselm, and Abelard already pointing in this direction (Boethius, In Periherm. ed. sec., 1880, 24; cf. Magee, 1989, 71; Anselm of Canterbury, Monolog., 1968, 25; Abelard, Log. ‘Ingredientibus’, 1927, 315f.). But it is not until the second half of 13th century that this idea achieves general acceptance and gains relevance to the theory of  sign.[42]