LATIN: FIGURES OF SPEECH

& RHETORICAL DEVICES

ALLITERATION (L., toward the same letters) Repetition of the same sound, usually initial, in two or more words. This term normally applies to consonants and accented initial vowel (magno cum murmure montis, Aeneid 1.55).

ANAPHORA (Gk., carrying back) Repetition of a word, usually at the beginning of successive clauses or phrases, for emphasis or for pathetic effect. This figure is often accompanied by asyndeton and ellipsis (hic illius arma, hic currus fuit; hoc regnum..., Aeneid 1.16-17; ubi...ubi...ubi, Aeneid 1.99-100).

APOSIOPESIS (Gk., becoming silent) An abrupt failure to complete a sentence, for rhetorical effect (Quos ego - , Aeneid 1.135).

APOSTROPHE (Gk., turning away) Address of an absent person or an abstraction, usually for pathetic effect (o terque quaterque beati, Aeneid 1.94).

ASSONANCE (L., answer with the same sound) The close recurrence of similar sounds, usually used of vowel sounds (amissos longo socios sermone requirunt, Aeneid 1.217).

ASYNDETON (Gk., not bound together) Omission of conjunctions in a closely related series (don’t confuse with anaphora).

CHIASMUS (Gk., marking with diagonal lines like a X) Arrangement of pairs of words in opposite order ABBA

ELLIPSE (Gk., leaving out) Is the suppression of a word or of several words of minor importance the logical expression of the thought, but necessary to the construction. It allows for brevity, force and liveliness and often unconsciously supplied.

ENJAMBMENT (Fr., the act of straddling) The running over of a sentence from one verse or couplet into another so that closely related words fall in different lines (ac veluti magno in populo cum saepe coorta est seditio, Aeneid 1.148-49).

EUPHEMISM (Gk., speaking favorably/well) Is the substitution of a less direct expression in place of one whose plainer meaning might be unpleasant or offensive.

HENDIADYS (Gk., one by two) Use of two nouns connected by a conjunction with the meaning of one modified noun (molem et montes, Aeneid 1.61).

HYPERBOLE (Gk., excess, exaggeration) Exaggeration for effect (terram inter fluctus aperit, Aeneid 1.107).

INTERLOCKED ORDER (SYNCHYSIS, G., mixture, confusion) Arrangement of pairs of words so that one word of each pair is between the words of the other (A,B,A,B). This arrangement normally emphasizes the close association of the pairs (saevae memorem Iunonis ob iram, Aeneid 1.4).

LITOTES (Gk., plainness, simplicity) An understatement for emphasis, usually an assertion of something by denying the opposite (neque enim ignari sumus, Aeneid 1.198).

METAPHOR (Gk., transference) An implied comparison, using one word for another that it suggests, usually with a visual effect

METONYMY (Gk., change of name) Use of one noun in place of another closely related noun (Cererem corruptam undis, Aeneid 1.177), to avoid common or prosaic words.

ONOMATOPOEIA (Gk., making of a name/word) Use of words whose sound suggests the sense (magno cum murmure montis, Aeneid 1.55).

PERSONIFICATION (L., the act of making a person) Treatment of inanimate objects as human (suadentque cadentia sidera somnos, Aeneid 2.9).

POLYSYNDETON (Gk., bound together by many) Use of unnecessary conjunctions (Eurusque Notusque ruunt creberque...Africus, Aeneid 1.85-86).

PROLEPSIS (Gk., taking before) Use of a word before it is appropriate in the context. A proleptic adjective does not apply to its noun until after the action of the verb, and is often best translated with a clause or phrase to bring out the emphasis on the adjective

SIMILE (L., like) An expressed comparison, introduced by a word such as similis, qualis, or velut(i) (velut agmine facto, Aeneid 1.82). Epic similes tend to be long, to relate to nature, and to digress from the point(s) of comparison (compare Aeneid 1.430-36).

SYNECDOCHE (Gk., understanding one thing for another) Use of the part for the whole (puppes for naves, Aeneid 1.68) to avoid common words or to focus attention on a particular part.

TRANSFERRED EPITHET (Gk., attributed to) A device of emphasis in which the poet attributes some characteristic of a thing to another thing closely associated with it (templumque vetustum desertae Cereris, Aeneid 2.713-14).

ZEUGMA (Gk., junction, band) Use of a verb or adjective with two words, to only one of which it literally applies (crudeles aras traiectaque pectora ferro nudavit, Aeneid 1.355-56).