PART VI.

FIGURES OF SPEECH.

A figure of speech is an intentional deviation Figures of

from the laws of grammar. The figures of speech are divided into three classes:

(1.) Figures of Etymology;

(2.) Figures of Syntax;

(3.) Figures of Rhetoric.

A Figure of Etymology is an intentional deviation from the laws of the construction of words.

A Figure of Syntax is an intentional deviation from the laws of the construction of sentences.

A Figure of Rhetoric is an intentional deviation from the ordinary application of words.

FIGURES OF ETYMOLOGY.

speech.

etymology.

Aphoresis (a taking away, Gr.) is the omis- Figures of sion of some letter or letters at the begin- Apheresis. ning of a word; as, 'gan for began; 'gainst for against.

Apocopè (a cutting off, Gr.) is the omission Apocope. of some letter or letters at the end of a word; as, tho' for though; th' for the.

Diaresis (a taking apart, Gr.) is the sepa- Diæresis. ration of two vowels in a word, which would

etymology.

Figures of otherwise be pronounced as a diphthong. It is marked thus (...); as, aërial, not arial.

Prosthesis.

Synæresis.

Syncope.

Tmesis.

Figures of

syntax.

Anacolu

thon.

Ellipsis.

Prosthesis (a placing to, Gr.) is the prefixing of an additional syllable to a word; as, adown for down; yclad for clad.

Synoresis (a taking together, Gr.) is the taking of two syllables together, and pronouncing them as one; as, loved for lovèd, appeared for appeared.

Syncopè (a cutting away, Gr.) is the omission of a consonant or vowel in a word. It is generally marked with an apostrophe ('); as, lik'st for likest e'en for even.

;

Tmesis (a cutting, Gr.) is the separation of the parts of a compound word; as, to us ward for toward us.

FIGURES OF SYNTAX.

Anacoluthon (not following, Gr.) is a confusion of two different constructions in the same sentence.

"You are three men of sin, whom destiny
(That hath to instrument this lower world,
And what is in 't) the never-surfeited sea
Hath caused to belch up you."-Tempest.

"Do that good mischief, which may make this island
Thine own for ever, and I, thy Caliban,
For aye thy foot-licker."-Tempest.

"But lend it [money] rather to thine enemy;
Who, if he break, thou mayst with better face
Exact the penalties."--Merchant of Venice.

Ellipsis (an omission, Gr.) is the omission of some word or words which are necessary to

complete the grammatical structure of a sen- Figures of tence, but which are not necessary to convey

the meaning; as,

""Tis not a lip or eye, we beauty call,

But the joint force and full result of all."-POPE.

syntax. Ellipsis.

Of the relative.

Of the

"Once school divines this zealous isle o'erspread;
Who knew most sentences was deepest read."-POPE. antecedent.

"The poor, the rich, the valiant, and the sage,
And boasting youth, and narrative old age."-POPE.

"Gone to be married! gone to swear a peace!
False blood to false blood joined! gone to be friends!

"Both have sinned, but thou

Of the noun.

Of the nominative and auxiliary verb.

King John.

Of principal

Against God only, I against God and thee."-MILTON. verb.

Enallagé (exchange, Gr.) is the use of one Enallage.

part of speech for another.

"Dark with excessive bright thy skirts appear.”

"So much of death her thoughts

MILTON.

Had entertained, as dyed her cheeks with pale."

MILTON.

Idiom (a peculiarity, Gr.) is a form of speech Idiom. peculiar to any country, and not common to all languages.

Idioms are those phrases which cannot be translated, word for word, into any other language. They must be rendered by some phrase of corresponding meaning, but not of similar words. For instance, the English idiomatic expression, You are right, cannot be rendered word for word into good French or Latin. In French it would become Vous y avez raison; in Latin, Recte facitis, or dicitis.

Figures of

syntax. Idiom.

Grecism.

The idiom of the English language, however, is sometimes violated by the introduction of some French, Latin, or Greek phrases and constructions. These violations are called Gallicisms, Latinisms, or Grecisms, according to their origin.

Of all the classical English writers, Milton is the most conspicuous for the introduction of foreign idoms, chiefly Greek in his case, or Latin.

The following are examples of this figure of speech :

"For not to have been dipt in Lethe's lake

Could save the son of Thetis from to die."-CHAUCER.

Here from to die is word for word from the Greek ek tou thanein. The English idiom would express it from dying or death.

"Adam the goodliest man of men since born
His sons, the fairest of her daughters Eve."

MILTON.

These lines would literally imply that Adam was one of his own sons, and Eve one of her own daughters; else how could he or she be the best of them.

But in Greek the superlative is often used where we should use the comparative; thus, Thucydides calls the Peloponnesian war the most worthy of record of all the wars that had previously taken place. Homer calls Achilles the most short-lived of all others. And it was this idiom that Milton had in his mind when he wrote the above lines.

"Nor did they not perceive the evil plight
In which they were."-MILTON.

The double negative being a Latin idiom.

"Or hear'st thou rather pure ethereal stream,
Whose fountain who can tell?"-MILTON.

This is an imitation of Ovid's Seu Matutine pater, seu Jane libentius audis? and Dido's Quae quibus anteferam in her enumeration of Eneas's acts of treachery to her.

In idiomatic English the lines would be "Or dost thou choose rather to be called pure ethereal stream, the fountains of which no one can tell."

[Ulysses] "Who far and wide

A wanderer, after Ilium overthrown,
Discovered various cities."-Cowper.

Here after Ilium overthrown is a verbal translation of post Ilium eversum. After the overthrow of Ilium, would be the English idiom.

The following lines contain an example of either a Latinism or a Gallicism; the English idiom would require the insertion of how, as the verb to know is never followed by a simple infinitive without it :—

"Who would not sing for Lycidas? He knew Himself to sing, and build the lofty rhyme."

MILTON.

Figures of syntax. Latinism.

Inversion is a change from the usual order in Inversion which words are placed in a sentence. It was much more common among the earlier poets than the later ones.