| 释义 |
Porson|ˈpɔːsən|
The name of Richard Porson (1759–1808), English classical scholar, used (a) in the possessive to designate a metrical law formulated by him and governing Greek tragic trimeters (see quots.); (b) attrib. and absol. to designate certain founts of Greek type influenced by his handwriting.
(a)1894W. W. Goodwin Greek Gram. (ed. 2) v. 358 When the tragic trimeter ends in a word forming a cretic ({b1}˘{b1}), this is regularly preceded by a short syllable or by a monosyllable... This is known as ‘Porson's rule’. 1949Oxf. Classical Dict. 565/2 The comic trimeter..is not bound by Porson's Law. 1962H. Lloyd-Jones tr. Maas's Greek Metre 35 The rule..is known in this connexion as ‘Maas's Law’, as it is known as ‘Porson's Law’ with respect to the tragic trimeter and as ‘Havet's Law’ with respect to the tetrameter. 1973A. H. Sommerstein Sound Pattern Anc. Greek 136 The iambic trimeter..is governed in tragedy by, among other constraints, a rule known as Porson's Law. 1976R. Pfeiffer Hist. Classical Scholarship 1300–1850 xii. 160 Bentley had led the way in the scholarly treatment of Greek and Latin metre, and Porson was the first to make a further substantial advance; we may say that his claim to immortality is based above all on the rule called ‘Porson's Law’: that no word may end after a long anceps in the last iambus of the tragic iambic trimeter.
(b)1894Amer. Dict. Printing & Bookmaking 240/2 Greek type is cast by one foundry in New York... Some kinds now in use in the United States have been imported from England and from Germany... A heavy face, generally known as a Porson, is in use for headings and emphasis. 1927D. H. Stevens et al. Man. Style (ed. 9) 269 Monotype Porson Greek. 1960Penrose Ann. LIV. 38/2 Austin cut the Porson greek type in London.
Hence Porˈsonian |-əʊn-| a., pertaining to or characteristic of Porson, his work, or the fount of Greek type named after him. Also absol. as n.
1840Penny Cycl. XVIII. 420/2 Porson's great reputation during his lifetime converted all the promising young scholars of the time into servile imitators of the great critic, and the ‘Porsonian school of critics’, as they have been termed, threw many impediments in the way of sound and comprehensive scholarship. 1896Dict. Nat. Biogr. XLVI. 163/2 There was a reaction..against the Porsonian school. 1929N. & Q. 13 Apr. 267/2 A stronger and more dignified type than the common current Porsonian. 1976R. Pfeiffer Hist. Classical Scholarship 1300–1850 xv. 179 In his editions of Greek tragedies he [sc. Hermann] may be said to rival Porson and the Porsonians or even surpass them. |