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Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Coined in 1917 by the Danish linguist Jens Otto Harry Jespersen: pro- ("before") (from the Ancient Greek preposition πρό (pro)) + σιώπησις (siōpēsis, "taciturnity") (from σιωπάω (siōpaō, "to be silent")) + -σις, (-sis, suffix forming nouns of action).

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Examples

  • I've never come across the term "prosiopesis" before.

    On prosiopesis DC 2009

  • A correspondent writes to ask for an explanation of prosiopesis and whether this can be used in relation to writing.

    On prosiopesis DC 2009

  • Metathesis as a particular example of prosiopesis?

    On prosiopesis DC 2009

  • I'm trying to look for examples in my native language Arabic, or specifically in my Kuwaiti Dialect, and whether there is such a grammatical term in Arabic Syntax called prosiopesis.

    On prosiopesis DC 2009

  • As with prosiopesis, my body thinks it has created the substance typed the letters from the first T up to and including the second.

    On prosiopesis DC 2009

  • A correspondent writes to ask for an explanation of prosiopesis and whether this can be used in relation to writing.

    Archive 2009-07-01 DC 2009

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