abecedarian

See also: Abecedarian

English

Alternative forms

• abecedary

Etymology

From Late Latin abecedarius (from the first four letters of the Latin alphabet + -arius). Equivalent to abecedary +‎ -an. Compare abecedary.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /eɪ.biː.siːˈdɛː.ɹɪ.ən/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌeɪ.biˌsiˈdɛ.ɹi.ən/, /ˌeɪ.biˌsiˈdæɹ.i.ən/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

abecedarian (plural abecedarians)

Examples (rhetoric)
He knew the rhetorical devices, from abecedarian, battologia, and contentio, all the way to zeugma.

1. Someone who is learning the alphabet. [Early 17^th century.]
2. An elementary student, a novice; one in the early steps of learning. [Early 17^th century.]
   • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 28, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC, page 404:

     A man may alwaies continue his studie, but not schooling. O fond-foolish for an old man to be ever an Abcedarian [translating abecedaire].

3. (archaic) Someone engaged in teaching the alphabet; an elementary teacher; one that teaches the methods and principles of learning. [Early 17^th century.]
4. (rhetoric) A work which uses words or lines in alphabetical order.
   • 1996, Mediaevalia, volume 19, Center for Medieval and Early Renaissance Studies of the State University of New York at Binghamton, page 133:

     This formal organization is most likely to create obscurity in such elaborate and artificial forms as: palindromes (words, phrases, or verses which read the same backward or forward), abecedarians (poems in which the initial letters of lines or stanzas are arranged to […]) […].

   • 2007, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Music Collection of the National Library, →ISBN, page 590:

     Abecedarian verses are chanted stichoi/stichera verses in which the first letter of each verse follows an alphabetical order. […] The Amomos, an abecedarian, is the longest psalm in the Psalter […].

   • 2008, Erich J. Goller, Groovy, page 165:

     An Abecedarian is any poem constrained by alphabetical order.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:beginner

Adjective

abecedarian (comparative more abecedarian, superlative most abecedarian)

1. (now rare) Pertaining to someone learning the alphabet or basic studies; elementary; rudimentary. [Mid 17^th century.]
2. Pertaining to the alphabet, or several alphabets. [Mid 17^th century.]
   • 1971, Brian Lumley, Rising with Surtsey:

     The professor [...] had several other translations or feats of antiquarian deciphering to his credit. Indeed, I was extremely fortunate to find him in at the museum, for he planned to fly within the week to Peru where yet another task awaited his abecedarian talents.

3. Arranged in an alphabetical manner. [Mid 17^th century.]
4. Relating to or resembling an abecedarius.

Derived terms

• abecedarian insult
• abecedarian psalms