Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. See amphimacer.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Cretan: specifically (without a capital letter) applied to a form of verse. See II.
- n. In ancient prosody: A foot of three syllables, the first and third of which are long, while the second is short, the ictus or metrical stress resting either on the first or on the last syllable . The cretic has a magnitude of five times or moræ, each long being equivalent to two shorts. It is accordingly pentasemic. The word glō′ rĭ-fȳ may serve as an English example of a cretic. Also, but less frequently, called an amphimacer.
- n. plural Verses consisting of amphimacers.
Wiktionary
- adj. Referring to a metrical pattern of poetry where each foot is composed of 3 syllables, the first and third of which are stressed and the second is unstressed. This pattern is very rare in English poetry.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Gr. & Lat. Pros.) A poetic foot, composed of one short syllable between two long ones (- ˘ -).
Etymologies
- Latin Crēticus, of Crete, Cretic foot, from Crēta, Crete. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“I have been rather less scrupulous in allowing the last foot of the glyconic lines to be a dactyl (- uu), in place of the more correct cretic (- u -).”
“But these same three feet end a sentence very badly if one of them is placed at the end, unless the dactyl comes at the end instead of a cretic; for it does not signify whether the dactyl or the cretic comes at the end, because it does not signify even in verse whether the last syllable of all is long or short.”
“For there is the cretic, which consists of a long syllable, then a short one, then a long; and there is its equivalent the paeon; which is equal in time, but longer by one syllable; and which is considered a very convenient foot to be used in prose, as it is of two kinds.”
“Aristotle, Theophrastus, Theodectes, and Ephorus, the most suitable of all for an oration, either at the beginning or in the middle; they think that it is very suitable for it at the end also; in which place the cretic appears to me to be better.”
“But there are several other cadences which will have a numerous and pleasing effect: for even the _cretic_, which consists of a long, a short, and a long syllable, and it's companion the _paeon_, which is equal to it in quantity, though it exceeds it in the number of syllables, is reckoned”
Cicero's Brutus or History of Famous Orators; also His Orator, or Accomplished Speaker.
“They are likewise of opinion, that it is equally proper at the end; where, in my opinion, the _cretic_ deserves the preference.”
Cicero's Brutus or History of Famous Orators; also His Orator, or Accomplished Speaker.
“But the three feet I am mentioning, are neither of them very proper for closing a period, (that is, to form the last foot of it) unless when a _dactyl_ is substituted for a _cretic_, for you may use either of them at pleasure; because, even in verse, it is of no consequence whether the last syllable is long or short.”
Cicero's Brutus or History of Famous Orators; also His Orator, or Accomplished Speaker.
“= Ovid lists the three possible ways of scanning the name so as to remove the cretic: _TUticanus_, _TuticAnus_, and _TUtIcAnus_.”
“= A constant problem for the Latin poets was the impossibility of using words with cretic patterns (a long syllable, followed by a short syllable, followed by another long syllable) in hexameter or elegiac verse.”
“The fact played an important part in determining Latin poetic vocabulary; for instance, such an ordinary word as _femina_, cretic in its oblique cases, is usually represented through metonymy by such words as _nurus_ and _mater_.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘cretic’.
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11250 more...
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Prosody
Your terms and additions are welcome.
headless iamb, tailless trochee, dibrach, disyllable, trisyllable, tetrasyllable, pyrrhus, iamb, trochee, choree, choreus, tribrach and 203 more...
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Off label definitions
Commonly used words with multiple meanings, the others being obscure or rarely used. Good to know for that dang analogy exam.
marquise, navette, indorse, crew, defile, poop, straiten, heckle, frit, notate, oblate, hotspur and 16 more...
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Adjectival Arcana
A roster of adjectives that infrequently surface in typical conversation and writing. Many are dredged from scientific or other technical jargon or sieved from examples of disused archaic forms.
unitegmic, acaulescent, reticuloendothelial, ingressive, uniate, acanthopterygian, ossific, epiphysial, perivisceral, acœlomatous, cestoid, acælomate and 7756 more...
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Rime Riche
being words relating to the art of poetry
enjambment, prosody, meter, rhyme, foot, scansion, iamb, hexameter, pentameter, caesura, inversion, headless and 45 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for cretic.
hernesheir Over here,
Over there;
Anywhere. Jul 5, 2010