polyptoton

English

WOTD – 8 May 2009

Etymology

Via Latin, from Ancient Greek πολύπτωτον (polúptōton), neuter of πολύπτωτος (polúptōtos, “having many cases”), from πολύς (polús, “many”) + πίπτω (píptō, “I fall”).

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌpɑ.ləpˈtoʊ.tɑn/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

polyptoton (countable and uncountable, plural polyptota or polyptotons)

Examples (rhetoric)
William Shakespeare, Richard II (c. 1595) With eager feeding food doth choke the feeder.

1. (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.

   Hypernym: ploce

   • [1835, L[arret] Langley, A Manual of the Figures of Rhetoric, […], Doncaster: Printed by C. White, Baxter-Gate, →OCLC, page 84:

     A Polyptoton still the same word places,
     If sense require it, in two different cases.]

Translations

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

• Czech: polyptoton n
• Finnish: polyptoton
• French: polyptote (fr) m
• German: Polyptoton n
• Italian: poliptoto (it) m
• Portuguese: poliptoto m
• Russian: полиптотон m (poliptoton), многопаде́жие n (mnogopadéžije)
• Spanish: políptoton f

See also

• antanaclasis
• figura etymologica (compare the Wikipedia article)
• cognate accusative
• Category:English cognate expressions