/ˌsɛptᵻˈnɛːrɪʌɪ/, U.S. /ˌsɛptəˈnɛriˌaɪ/.septenariusn.
/ˌsɛptᵻˈnɛːrɪəs/, U.S. /ˌsɛptəˈnɛriəs//ˌsɛptᵻˈnɛːrɪʌɪ/, U.S. /ˌsɛptəˈnɛriˌaɪ/. Prosody.
A line of seven metrical feet, esp. the trochaic or iambic tetrameter catalectic.
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society > leisure > the arts > literature > poetry > versification > metre > [noun] > variety of > septenary
septenarius1706
septenary1819
septenar1882
sevener1920
1706 Phillips's New World of Words (new ed.) Septenarius,..a Verse of Seven Feet.
1808 J. Grant Inst. Lat. Gram. 447 The Dactylic-Trochaïc Septenarius, with an Archilochian Iambic Trimeter, Catalectic.
1883 H. M. Kennedy tr. B. ten Brink Early Eng. Lit. 267 [In the southern English lives of saints] regular septenarii or tetrameters are more rarely found.
1924 Stud. Philol. 21 574 In the hymns, the pause at the end of the fourth foot is very marked, so that the septenarius becomes virtually two short lines.
2008 B. W. Fortson Lang. & Rhythm in Plautus ii. 24 The trochaic septenarius, Plautus's favorite meter, enjoyed popularity in many other forms of Latin poetry as well, especially in ‘lower’ genres such as riddles, satirical songs, and folk tunes.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2020; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1706