The problem I propose to tackle is a recurrent one and has been vigorously dealt with in the historiography of ancient Epicureanism. 1 It is at the crossroads of philological and philosophical difficulties, within the philosophical doctrine itself, at the intersection of cardinal questions pertaining to physics, anthropology, noetics, and epistemology. The Epicurean theory of language is indeed based on ethical, political, and pedagogical purposes that are not always explicit. The nature of language is directly linked to its social use, which explains the tensions and possible contradictions within the Epicurean doctrine. I will thus discuss these contradictions, so as to show how an anthropological approach can allow us to address this problem differently and in a slightly less aporetic way. In particular, I propose to show how taking into account certain sources dealing with Epicurean hypotheses concerning the origin of law and the organization of human societies can provide valuable information concerning the actual semantic functioning of language, understood as a technology in the true sense of the word (i.e., involving a learning context as well as an expertise). This approach will allow me to show how Epicureanism can assume, on the one hand, that the meaning of words proceeds from an initial experience common to all but, on the other hand, that it is also susceptible to learning and to varying degrees of precision and truth according to the capacities of the speakers within a society.