Polyptoton
The polyptoton (from the Greek πολύς = much and πτῶσις = case, case) is a rhetorical figure. In a broader sense, it denotes the repetition of a word or the word stem with a modification of the inflected form .
Examples
- Thomas Hobbes , De Cive :
- Homo homini lupus
- "Man is a wolf to man."
- Cicero , Laelius de amicitia , Chapter 5:
- Sed ut tum ad senem senex de senectute, sic hoc libro ad amicum amicissimus scripsi de amicitia.
- "Just as I explained something about old age to an old man as an old man, so in this book something about friendship to a friend as the closest friend."
- Georg Christoph Lichtenberg , The journey to Gotha via Wiegleben in a poetic excerpt from the larger work, the stinging kützel of all strolling travelers, set for singing in the room in lines with final sound , verse 7 :
- "As soon as I says to myself, we stayed ,
- We stayed that way
- And unfortunately! was mine: longer here
- Only driven too long. "
- λέγειν τὰ λεγόμενα (legein ta legomena) , very oftenquotedin the Latin form relata refero, "traditional deliveries "
See also
Individual evidence
- ^ Poems, bibliographical records, fables by Georg Christoph Lichtenberg - text in the Gutenberg project. Retrieved July 7, 2020 .