Apokoinu

The Apokoinu [ apokɔi̯ˈnuː ] (from Greek ἀπὸ κοινοῦ apo koinou 'from the common') is a rhetorical stylistic device of word saving similar to the ellipse , the syllepse and the Zeugma . It's a form of brachylogy . With this syntactic construction, one part (word or phrase) of a sentence is related to two other parts at the same time. This means that the common part of the construction - the koinon - is equally common to both partial constructions. Usually the koinon is in a middle position and relates to the preceding and following text.

Apokoinus can be found quite frequently in ancient Greek and Roman poetry, and it is also common in Middle High German texts. A well-known example is the beginning of the Nibelungenlied :

In old mæren we are wondrously
by the side of heroes lobebæren, of great work, of joys,
tales of excitement, of weeping and complaints,
of brave warriors struggles muget ir nu hear miracles say.

Here is the coinon “ of heroes […] strîten ”: Both the section “We are… vil besides heroes… fight.” And the section “From heroes… strîten muget ir… hear say.” Each result in a complete sentence .

In the following example from Friedrich Schiller's Wilhelm Tell (3rd act, 1st scene, "Walthers Lied", 3rd stanza) the koinon That is his prey is only realized once, but refers equally to the subclauses of the two surrounding verses:

He owns the vastness,
what his arrow reaches, that
is his prey,
what creeps and flies.

The two statements have been extracted for explanation:

What his arrow reaches is his prey.
That is his prey, what creeps and flies.

literature

Gero von Wilpert : Subject dictionary of literature (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 231). 8th, improved and enlarged edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-520-23108-5 .
Kristina Poncin: Apokoinu constructions: empirical investigation of their use in task-oriented dialogues and discussion of their grammatical modeling in a unification grammar , dissertation. Bielefeld 1990.