Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In rhetoric, a figure consisting in the use of different cases or inflections of the same word, or of words of the same immediate derivation, in the same context.
- noun (Unless the death of Death had brought death to death by [his] death, the door of eternal life would have been closed.)
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Rhet.) A figure by which a word is repeated in different forms, cases, numbers, genders, etc., as in Tennyson's line, -- “My own heart's heart, and ownest own, farewell.”
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun rhetoric A stylistic scheme in which
words from the sameroot are used together, or a word isrepeated in a differentinflection orcase .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun repetition of a word in a different case or inflection in the same sentence
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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I'm sitting here trying to decide whether a particular specimen of paronomasia is to be considered polyptoton or antanaclasis.
I love the classical roots of education, but... Prof. de Breeze 2008
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I'm sitting here trying to decide whether a particular specimen of paronomasia is to be considered polyptoton or antanaclasis.
Archive 2008-02-01 Prof. de Breeze 2008
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That was polyptoton, or using a word in two different ways, as in FDR's, nothing to fear but fear itself.
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= For an extreme instance of Ovid's favourite figure of _polyptoton_ (Quintilian IX 3 36-37), see the account at _Met_ IX
The Last Poems of Ovid 43 BC-18? Ovid
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= For Ovid's use of polyptoton, see at viii 67 _uatis ... uates_ (p 278).
The Last Poems of Ovid 43 BC-18? Ovid
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_penna_ vs. _pinna_, 28, 203 pentameter endings trisyllabic, 294 quadrisyllabic, 164-166 pentasyllabic, 181-182 perfect subjunctive vs. future perfect indicative forms, 215 polyptoton, Ovid's use of, 278, 378
The Last Poems of Ovid 43 BC-18? Ovid
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Other instances of polyptoton with _uates_ at _Fast_ I 25 (to Germanicus) 'si licet et fas est, _uates_ rege _uatis_ habenas' and _EP_ II ix 65 (to
The Last Poems of Ovid 43 BC-18? Ovid
rolig commented on the word polyptoton
Polyptoton is most fun when the same (or related) word is used in different parts of speech. Here, for instance, the word "text" is used as a verb, an adjective, and a noun. "Someone texted me a text message with almost no text."
Then there is the strange case of buffalo.
December 2, 2007
bilby commented on the word polyptoton
Arguable. Text message is a noun stack as in traditional terms the adjective would be textual. But I'm not complaining. I like noun stacks :-)
December 2, 2007
rolig commented on the word polyptoton
You can call "text message" a noun stack if you like – the term is new to me – but even if it is, the word "text" here is being used adjectivally, as nouns often are used in English: writing desk, kitchen utensil, computer jargon, and so on. That's part of the genius of English: to be able to turn words that are originally one part of speech into another part of speech. Verbs can even become nouns: e.g. "That book is a good read," "You go and have yourself a nice cry," and so on.
December 2, 2007
bilby commented on the word polyptoton
If you say that text is being used adjectivally you are describing its function. The functional definition in this case is modifier. From the functional POV we have a noun phrase of the Modifier-Head format where text is a noun functioning as modifier and message is a noun functioning as head. Lots of items may fill the modifier slot as you point out.
December 2, 2007
seanahan commented on the word polyptoton
I think Rolig means noun phrase. I would tend to agree with Bilby, and for this purpose, and Ockham's razor, it makes sense to consider text to be an adjective.
December 3, 2007
qms commented on the word polyptoton
True, rhetoric and its devices
The mischievous in me entices,
But having now tripped upon
That devil polyptoton
I deem them all devious vices.
September 4, 2016