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  1. polyptoton love

Definitions

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. 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.
  2. n. (Unless the death of Death had brought death to death by [his] death, the door of eternal life would have been closed.)

Wiktionary

  1. n. rhetoric A stylistic scheme in which words from the same root are used together, or a word is repeated in a different inflection or case.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. (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.”

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. repetition of a word in a different case or inflection in the same sentence

Etymologies

  1. Via Latin, from Ancient Greek πολύπτωτον (poluptōton), neuter of πολύπτωτος (poluptōtos, "having many cases"), from πολύς (polus, "many") + πίπτω (piptō, "I fall"). (Wiktionary)

Examples

  • “I'm sitting here trying to decide whether a particular specimen of paronomasia is to be considered polyptoton or antanaclasis.”

    Archive 2008-02-01

  • “That was polyptoton, or using a word in two different ways, as in FDR's, nothing to fear but fear itself.”

    NPR: Analyzing The Text Of Obama's Inaugural Address

  • “= 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

  • “= For Ovid's use of polyptoton, see at viii 67 _uatis ... uates_ (p 278).”

    The Last Poems of Ovid

  • “_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

  • “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

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hypernyms (2)

Words that are more generic or abstract

  1. repetition
  1. ploce

tags (4)

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  1. language
  1. linguistics
  1. rhetoric
  1. cvcvccvcvc

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Comments

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  • seanahan 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. Dec 3, 2007

  • bilby 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. Dec 2, 2007

  • rolig 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. Dec 2, 2007

  • bilby 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 :-) Dec 2, 2007

  • rolig 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. Dec 2, 2007

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‘polyptoton’ has been looked up 3318 times, loved by 3 people, added to 15 lists, commented on 5 times, and is not a valid Scrabble word.