"hapax legomenon, n." - Word of the Day from the OED

[Jochen Stremmel]

My prize goes to Catull:

*Scortillum*, a diminutive form meaning "little prostitute", only occurs in
Poem 10 of Catullus <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catullus>'s Carmina
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poetry_of_Catullus>, line 3.

(from the Wikipedia everybody on the list who uses it should give money to)



2015-10-06 5:20 GMT+02:00 Monte Davis <montedavis49 at gmail.com>:

> e.g. "anallegory," a useful portmanteau of "analogy" and "allegory."
> Encountered in Stephen Fry's 1994 *The Hippopotamus *and never again.
>
> On Mon, Oct 5, 2015 at 10:10 PM, Dave Monroe <against.the.dave at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>> From:  <oedwotd at oup.com>
>> Date: Mon, Oct 5, 2015 at 7:30 PM
>> Subject: "hapax legomenon, n." - Word of the Day from the OED
>> To: OEDWOTD-L at webber.uk.hub.oup.com
>>
>>
>> OED Online Word of the Day
>>
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>> ________________________________
>>
>> Your word for today is: hapax legomenon, n.
>>
>> hapax legomenon, n.
>> [‘ Chiefly in linguistic and literary studies: a word or word form
>> which is recorded only once in a text, in the work of a particular
>> author, or in a body of literature.’]
>> Pronunciation: Brit. /ˌhapaks lᵻˈɡɒmᵻnən/, /ˌhapaks lᵻˈɡɒmᵻnɒn/,  U.S.
>> /ˌhæpæks ləˈɡɑməˌnɑn/
>> Inflections:  Pl.  hapax legomena.
>> Forms:  16 apax legomenon,   17– hapax legomenon.
>> Etymology: <  Hellenistic Greek ἅπαξ λεγόμενον something that has been
>> said once <  ancient Greek ἅπαξ once ( < the same Indo-European base
>> as same adj. + an ablaut variant (zero-grade) of the base of πηγνύναι
>> to fix, make solid: see pectic adj.) + λεγόμενον, use as noun of
>> neuter of λεγόμενος, medio-passive present participle of λέγειν to
>> speak (see lexis n.).
>> In plural hapax legomena after the Greek plural form.
>>   Chiefly in linguistic and literary studies: a word or word form
>> which is recorded only once in a text, in the work of a particular
>> author, or in a body of literature.
>> The term has in the past been particularly associated with biblical
>> commentary.
>> [1654  J. Trapp Comm. Minor Prophets (Zech. xiv. 20) 605 'Tis ἄπαξ
>> λεγόμενον read only here: and hence this variety of interpretations.]
>> 1692  J. Dunton Young-students-libr. 242/1 There are many words but
>> once used in Scripture, especially in such a sence, and are called the
>> Apax legomena.
>> 1774  J. Rhudde Ribband(ed. 3) (Annotations section), The word
>> ‘Ribband’, is of that order, called, hapax legomenon, [h.e. [sic] a
>> word, found occurring but once] in respect, we mean, of our English
>> Bible.
>> 1838  W. Jenks Guide to Study Bible i. ii. 6/3 in Suppl. to
>> Comprehensive Commentary, The ancient versions..must be regarded as
>> having furnished us with the most important and valuable of all the
>> subsidiary means, by which to ascertain the sense in cases of hapax
>> legomena.
>> 1882  F. W. Farrar Early Days Christianity I. xi. 236 The number of
>> the hapax legomena is remarkable, and some of them are full of
>> picturesqueness.
>> 1931 Eng. Stud. 13 124 An article that should certainly find a place
>> in a miscellany in honour of the brave defender of Wulfila as a
>> translator: Collitz on two hapax legomena in Wulfila's translation.
>> 1957  C. Brooke-Rose Lang. of Love iv. 34 She saw herself go through
>> the minutiæ of scansion, dialect forms, emendation, haplography, hapax
>> legomena and anacolutha in Beowulf.
>> 1997  S. B. Morrow Names of Things 26 Commager taught us about the
>> hapax legomenon, the word that is used only once, that is created for
>> that occasion only.
>>
>> http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/84040
>> ________________________________
>>
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