| 释义 |
‖ tmesis Gram. and Rhet.|ˈtmiːsɪs|
(Also 6 timesis.)
[a. Gr. τµῆσις a cutting, from verbal ablaut series τεµ-, τοµ-, τµ- to cut.]
The separation of the elements of a compound word by the interposition of another word or words.
(Often a reversion to the earlier uncompounded structure.)
1586Day Eng. Secretary ii. (1625) 83 Timesis or Diacope, a diuision of a word compound into two parts, as, What might be soeuer vnto a man pleasing,..for, whatsoeuer might be, etc. 1678Phillips (ed. 4), Tmesis,..a figure of Prosody, wherein a compounded word is, as it were, cut asunder, and divided into two parts by some other word which is interposed, as Septem Subjecta Trioni, for Subjecta Septemtrioni. 1844Proc. Philol. Soc. I. 265 Though the constituent parts of compound terms may be disjoined by tmesis, the elements of truly simple words never are. 1889Athenæum 23 Mar. 373/1 Forgive the quaint tmesis of his opening line:—How bright the chit and chat! |