Editing Polyptoton

{{Short description|Stylistic device}}
{{wiktionary|polyptoton}}
'''Polyptoton''' {{IPAc-en|ˌ|p|ɒ|l|ᵻ|p|ˈ|t|oʊ|t|ɒ|n}} is the [[rhetorical device|stylistic scheme]] in which different words derived from the same root (such as "strong" and "strength") are used together. A related stylistic device is [[antanaclasis]], in which the same word is repeated, but each time with a different sense.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2014-03-31|title=Polyptoton - Definition and Examples of Polyptoton|url=https://literarydevices.net/polyptoton/|access-date=2021-04-19|website=Literary Devices|language=en-US}}</ref> Another related term is [[figura etymologica]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=RHETORICAL TERMS {{!}} Dickinson College Commentaries|url=http://dcc.dickinson.edu/cicero-de-imperio/rhetorical-terms|access-date=2021-04-19|website=dcc.dickinson.edu}}</ref>

== In inflected languages ==
In inflected languages (such as [[Latin]]), polyptoton is the repetition of a word in different grammatical cases. One example of this can be found in the Latin forms of the Roman deity Jupiter, or "Iuppiter". The word appears in various cases as follows: "Iuppiter" (nominative), "Iovem" (accusative), "Iovis" (genitive), "Iovi" (dative), and "Iove" (ablative).

== Genesis ==
The form is relatively common in Latin Christian poetry and prose in a construction called the superlative genitive, in phrases such as [[sanctum sanctorum]] ("holy of holies"), and found its way into languages such as [[Old English]], which naturally preferred the prevalent [[alliteration]] that is part and parcel of polyptoton—in fact, polyptoton is "much more prevalent in Old English verse than in Latin verse." The specific superlative genitive in Old English, however, occurs only in Latinate Christian poems, not in secular poetry.<ref>{{cite book |last=Fleming| first=Damian |editor1=Michael Fox |editor2=Manish Sharma |title=Old English Literature and the Old Testament |year=2012 |publisher=U of Toronto P |location=Toronto |isbn=9780802098542 |pages=229–52 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=OPBv9DIVf0oC| chapter=''Rex regum et cyninga cyning'': 'Speaking Hebrew' in Cynewulf's ''Elene''}}</ref>

== Historical instances and usages ==
It is also used in [[public speaking]], and several examples can be found in [[Winston Churchill|Churchill]]'s speeches.<ref>{{Cite news|title=A Rhetorical analysis of Winston Churchill's speech: We Shall Fight on the Beaches|url=http://jultika.oulu.fi/files/nbnfioulu-201909182881.pdf}}</ref> 

[[G. K. Chesterton]] frequently employed this device to create [[paradox]]: 
{{quote |text=It is the same with all the powerful of to-day; it is the same, for instance, with the high-placed and high-paid official. Not only is the '''judge''' not '''judicial''', but the '''arbiter''' is not even '''arbitrary'''.|author=G.K. Chesterton, ''The Man on Top'' (1912)<ref name="Farnsworth72">{{harvsp|Farnsworth|2011|p=72}}.</ref>}}

In combination with verbal [[active voice|active]] and [[passive voice]]s, it points out the idea of a latent [[Reciprocity (social and political philosophy)|reciprocity]]:{{quote |text='''Judge''' not, that ye '''be''' not '''judged'''|author=Matthew 7:1<ref name="Farnsworth63">{{harvsp|Farnsworth|2011|p=63}}.</ref>}}

An alternative way to use the device is to develop polyptoton over the course of an entire novel, which is done in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Shelley combines polyptoton with periphrastic naming, which is the technique of referring to someone using several indirect names. The creature in Frankenstein is referred to by many terms, such as "fiend", "devil", "being", and "ogre". However, the first term that Shelley uses in reference to the creature is "wretch". Throughout the novel, various forms of this are used, such as "wretchedly" and "wretchedness", which may be seen as polyptoton.  According to Duyfhuizen, the gradual development of polyptoton in ''Frankenstein'' is significant because it symbolizes the intricacies of one's own identity.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Duyfhuizen | first1 = Bernard | year = 1995 | title = Periphrastic Naming In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein | journal = Studies in the Novel | volume = 27 | issue = 4| page = 477 }}</ref>

==Examples==
* "Who shall '''watch''' the '''watchmen''' themselves?" (''Quis '''custodiet''' ipsos '''custodes'''?'') — [[Juvenal]]
* "Thou art of '''blood''', joy not to make things '''bleed'''." — [[Sir Philip Sidney]]
* "With eager '''feeding''' '''food''' doth choke the '''feeder'''." — [[William Shakespeare]], ''[[Richard II (play)|Richard II]]'' II,i,37
* "The Greeks are '''strong''', and '''skillful''' to their '''strength''' / '''Fierce''' to their '''skill''', and to their '''fierceness''' valiant" — [[William Shakespeare]], ''[[Troilus and Cressida]]'' I, i, 7-8
* "Love is not love / Which '''alters''' when it '''alteration''' finds / Or bends with the '''remover''' to '''remove'''." — [[William Shakespeare]], [[Sonnet 116]]
* "The greatest '''weakness''' of all '''weaknesses''' is to fear too much to appear '''weak'''." — [[Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet]]
* "Do not listen to the '''reasoners'''; there has been too much '''reasoning''' in France, and '''reasoning''' has banished '''reason'''." — [[Joseph de Maistre]], ''[[Considerations on France]]'', criticizing the [[Cult of Reason]] during the French Revolution
* "People complain of the '''despotism''' of princes; they ought to complain of the '''despotism''' of ''man''. We are all born '''despots'''." — [[Joseph de Maistre]], ''Against Rousseau''
* "Deep into that darkness peering / Long I stood there wondering, fearing / Doubting, '''dreaming dreams''' no mortal ever dared to '''dream''' before." — [[Edgar Allan Poe]], ''[[The Raven]]''
* "The '''expropriators''' are '''expropriated'''." — [[Karl Marx]], ''[[Das Kapital]]''
* "To be '''ignorant''' of one’s '''ignorance''' is the malady of the '''ignorant'''." — [[Amos Bronson Alcott]]
* "'''Diamond''' me no '''diamonds''', '''prize''' me no '''prizes'''…" — [[Alfred, Lord Tennyson]], ''Lancelot and Elaine''
* "'''Absolute''' power corrupts '''absolutely'''." — [[John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton|Lord Acton]]
* "If we lose our sanity, we can but '''howl''' the lugubrious '''howl''' of idiots, the '''howl''' of the utterly lost '''howling''' their nowhereness." — [[D. H. Lawrence]]
* "The healthy man does not '''torture''' others—generally it is the '''tortured''' who turn into '''torturers'''." — [[Carl Jung]]
* "There is no end of it, the voiceless wailing / No end to the '''withering''' of '''withered''' flowers / To the movement of '''pain''' that is '''painless''' and motionless / To the '''drift''' of the sea and the '''drifting''' wreckage / The bone’s '''prayer''' to Death its God. Only the hardly, barely '''prayable''' / '''Prayer''' of the one Annunciation." — [[T. S. Eliot]], ''[[The Dry Salvages]]''
* "Love is an '''irresistible desire''' to be '''irresistibly desired'''." — [[Robert Frost]]
* "Not as a call to '''battle''', though '''embattled''' we are." — [[John F. Kennedy]], ''Inaugural Address'', January 20, 1961.
* "The young are generally full of '''revolt''', and are often pretty '''revolting''' about it." — [[Mignon McLaughlin]]
* "What was done to me was '''monstrous'''. And they created a '''monster'''." — [[V (character)|V]] in ''[[V for Vendetta (film)|V for Vendetta]]''
* "'''Secrets''' aren't '''secret'''. They're just hidden treasures, waiting to be exploited." — [[Stephen White (author)|Stephen White]], ''Dry Ice''
* "I am a '''disciple''' of '''discipline'''!" — [[David Goggins]]
* "Can’t explain all the '''feelings''' that you’re making me '''feel'''." — [[The Darkness (band)|The Darkness]], ''[[I Believe in a Thing Called Love]]''

==See also==
* [[Antanaclasis]]
* [[Cognate object]]
* ''[[Figura etymologica]]''
* [[Legal doublet]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
* Corbett, Edward P.J. ''Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student''. Oxford University Press, New York, 1971.
* {{cite book|author=Ward Farnsworth|title=Farnsworth's Classical English Rhetoric|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1tmyiqjvpnYC&pg=PR7|year=2011|publisher=David R. Godine Publisher|isbn=978-1-56792-385-8|pages=63–73}}
* Toswell, M. J. “Polyptoton in Old English Texts.” ''Early English Poetic Culture and Meter: The Influence of G. R. Russom'', edited by M. J. Toswell and Lindy Brady, pp. 111–130. Medieval Institute Publications, Kalamazoo, 2016.  JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvvnccj.11.

{{Figures of speech}}

[[Category:Rhetoric]]
[[Category:Figures of speech]]