hyperbaton
noun/haɪˈpɜːbətɒn/
Etymology Borrowed from Latin hyperbaton, itself a borrowing from Ancient Greek ὑπερβατόν (huperbatón, “overstepping”), from ὑπερβαίνω (huperbaínō), from ὑπέρ (hupér) + βαίνω (baínō, “walk”).
1
Grammar, Human sciences, Linguistics, Sciences An inversion of the usual or logical order of words or phrases, for emphasis or poetic effect.
- In real life we often see a man under the influence of rage, or fear, […] begin a sentence, and then swerve aside into some inconsequent parenthesis, and then again double back to his original statement […]Now the figure hyperbaton is the means which is employed by the best writers to imitate these signs of natural emotion.c. 100, Longinus, chapter XXII, in H. L. Havell, transl., On the Sublime, published 1890:
2
Rhetoric Adding a word or thought to a sentence that is already semantically complete, thus drawing emphasis to the addition.
- Derived terms
- hyperbatic
- Related terms
- Yodaspeak