Fwd: "motifeme, n." - Word of the Day from the OED

[Dave Monroe]

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Date: Wed, May 21, 2014 at 7:30 PM
Subject: "motifeme, n." - Word of the Day from the OED
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Your word for today is: motifeme, n.

motifeme, n.
[‘ In the study of folk tales: a story element, as a character, event,
incident, circumstance, etc., usually one common to tales from many
different sources.’]
Pronunciation: Brit. /məʊˈtiːfiːm/, /ˈməʊtɪfiːm/,  U.S. /moʊˈtiˌfim/,
/ˈmoʊdəˌfim/
Etymology: <  motif n. + -eme suffix (see quot. 1954).
  In the study of folk tales: a story element, as a character, event,
incident, circumstance, etc., usually one common to tales from many
different sources.
1954  K. L. Pike Lang. in Rel. Human Behavior i. vi. 75/1 As a first
approximation toward a useful definition of the emic motif we may
state:..An emic motif (or motifeme) is the minimum unit of the feature
mode of the behavioreme.
1963 Current Anthropol. 4 277/1 In an extended tale consisting of
three separate motifeme sequences..it is true that the order of these
three may be altered... Nevertheless, the sequence of motifemes within
motifemic sequences..remain [sic] the same.
1980  A.-L. Siikala in  L. Honko  & V. Voight Genre, Status, & Reprod.
in Oral Lit. 73 These elements..could be called motifemes. The
manifestations of the motifeme, the motifs, are determined from the
traditional background of the shamanism in question.
1999 Res. Afr. Lit. 30 117 The constant factors or functions.., or
motifeme.., are that the woman was beautiful, had a will of her own,
got married without much regard for convention, but did not live
happily ever after.

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