syllepsis

See also: Syllepsis

English

Etymology

From Latin syllepsis, from Ancient Greek σύλληψις (súllēpsis), from συλλαμβάνω (sullambánō).

Pronunciation

• (UK, General American) IPA^(key): /sɪˈlɛp.sɪs/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

Examples (rhetoric)

She lowered her standards by raising her glass, Her courage, her eyes and his hopes. – Flanders and Swann Here thou, great Anna! whom three realms obey, Dost sometimes counsel take—and sometimes tea. – Alexander Pope I checked my coat, my privilege, and my watch. – James Harbeck The gun is loaded and so is the sheriff. – J.G. Thirlwell She cribbed the baby and then the corn. She came in high spirits and a Cadillac.

syllepsis (countable and uncountable, plural syllepses)

1. (rhetoric) A figure of speech in which one word simultaneously modifies two or more other words such that the modification must be understood differently with respect to each modified word; often causing humorous incongruity.

   Hypernym: brachylogy

   Coordinate term: zeugma

2. (botany) Growth in which lateral branches develop from a lateral meristem, without the formation of a bud or period of dormancy, when the lateral meristem is split from a terminal meristem.

   Antonym: prolepsis

Related terms

• sylleptic

Translations

figure of speech

• Finnish: syllepsi
• French: syllepse (fr) f
• German: Syllepse f, Syllepsis f
• Hungarian: szillepszis
• Italian: sillessi f, sillepsi f
• Polish: syllepsa f, syllepsis f
• Portuguese: silepse (pt) f
• Romanian: silepsă (ro) f
• Spanish: silepsis (es) f

botany: growth of branches without dormancy

References

• Silva Rhetoricae

Latin

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek σύλληψις (súllēpsis), from συλλαμβάνω (sullambánō).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /sylˈleːp.sis/, [s̠ʏlˈlʲeːps̠ɪs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /silˈlep.sis/, [silˈlɛpsis]

Noun

syllēpsis f (genitive syllēpsis or syllēpseōs or syllēpsios); third declension

1. (grammar) syllepsis

Declension

Third-declension noun (Greek-type, i-stem, i-stem).

	singular	plural
nominative	syllēpsis	syllēpsēs syllēpseis
genitive	syllēpsis syllēpseōs syllēpsios	syllēpsium
dative	syllēpsī	syllēpsibus
accusative	syllēpsim syllēpsin syllēpsem1	syllēpsēs syllēpsīs
ablative	syllēpsī syllēpse1	syllēpsibus
vocative	syllēpsis syllēpsi	syllēpsēs syllēpseis

¹Found sometimes in Medieval and New Latin.

Descendants

• → English: syllepsis
• → German: Syllepse, Syllepsis
• → Polish: syllepsa, syllepsis
• → Portuguese: silepse (learned)

References

• “syllepsis”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press

Polish

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin syllēpsis. Doublet of syllepsa.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɘlˈlɛp.sis/
• Rhymes: -ɛpsis
• Syllabification: syl‧lep‧sis

Noun

syllepsis f (indeclinable)

1. (rhetoric) syllepsis (figure of speech in which one word simultaneously modifies two or more other words such that the modification must be understood differently with respect to each modified word; often causing humorous incongruity)

   Synonym: syllepsa

Further reading

• syllepsis in Polish dictionaries at PWN