| 释义 |
‖ hysteron proteron, n. (a. and adv.)|ˈhɪstərɒn ˈprɒtərɒn|
[late L. (Servius), a. Gr. ὕστερον πρότερον, the latter (put as) the former; called also πρωθύστερον (f. πρῶτος first), and ὑστερολογία (see hysterology1).]
1. Gram. and Rhet. A figure of speech in which the word or phrase that should properly come last is put first.
1565Jewel Repl. Harding 476 In these woordes, ‘Take ye: Eate ye: This is my Bodie’, They have founde a Figure called Hysteron Proteron. 1589Puttenham Eng. Poesie iii. xii[i.] (Arb.) 181 Another manner of disordered speach..we call it in English prouerbe, the cart before the horse, the Greeks call it Histeron proteron, we name it the Preposterous..as he..said: ‘My dame that bred me vp and bare me in her wombe.’ Whereas the bearing is before the bringing vp. 1706Phillips (ed. Kersey), Hysteron Proteron, a preposterous manner of speaking or writing, expressing that first which should be last. 1883March A.S. Gram. 141 Transposition..of clauses [is called] hysteron-proteron.
†2. Inversion of the natural or logical order; as by placing the conclusion before the premisses, etc.
1620Granger Div. Logike 318 Inverted Method, is when particulars are disposed before universals: also, when the parts..are not handled after the same order, by which they were laid downe, which is called Hysteron Proteron.
3. generally. The position or arrangement of things in the reverse of their natural or rational order; ‘putting the cart before the horse’; topsy-turvydom.
1589Cogan Haven Health To Rdr. ⁋⁋iv, Contrariwise vsing Hysteron Proteron..as I haue heard say of a gentle⁓man who..would not begin his meale with potage, but insteed of cheese would eat his potage last. 1648–99J. Beaumont Psyche i. lxxxv, How wild A Hysteron Proteron's this, which Nature crosses, And far above the top the bottom tosses.
B. attrib. or adj.
1646Unhappy Game Scotch & Eng. 14 Those jugling Husteron Proteron trickes. 1689Hickeringill Ceremony Monger Wks. 1716 II. 418 Shall Christians be like that Histeron-Proteron-Herb, which Physicians as foolishly call Filius ante Patrem? a1734North Exam. i. ii. (1740) 88 This hysteron proteron Stuff, Causes without Effects, and Effects before Causes.
†C. as adv. By or with an inversion of the natural order of things; topsy-turvy; vice versa.
1600W. Watson Quodlibets Relig. & State (1602) 47 The Catholicke religion will be vtterly extinguished and perish, and so by consequent all runne Hysteron Protheron. 1617Middleton & Rowley Fair Quar. i. i. C iij, Wisemen begets fooles, and fooles are the fathers To many wise Children. Histeron, Proteron, A great scholler may beget an Ideot, And from the plow tayle may come a great scholler.
Hence ˈhystero-ˈproterize v. intr., to use hysteron proteron.
a1834Coleridge in Southey Life Wesley (1846) I. 324 We must explain the force of the horse by the motion of the cart-wheels, and hystero-proterize with a vengeance! |