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Abstract Kinship terms in Ancient Greek describe immediate and extended familial relationships, as well as social relationships (phratries). Terms relating to immediate family or close relationships by marriage are derived from Indo-European and were originally used to describe Archaic familial relationships. The meanings of these terms evolved over the Classical period. Kinship terms in Ancient Greek encompass a wide array of familial and clan relationships. Terms applicable to the immediate family ( mḗtēr, patḗr, etc.), or those describing direct (or fairly direct)…

Abstract Epanalepsis is a rhetorical device characterized by the repetition, for the sake of emphasis, of a word or group of words at the beginning of successive clauses. Epanalepsis is a rhetorical device characterized by the repetition, for the sake of emphasis, of a word or group of words at the beginning of successive clauses. The term is taken from the Greek epanálēpsis, which means ‘taking up again, resumption, repetition’. The term can be considered synonymous with anaphora (from the Greek anaphorá ‘carrying back’) and epanaphora.     Examples of this rhetorical figure can …

Abstract The entry discusses the formation and various instances of onomatopoeia in Classical Greek, with reference to Proto-Indo-European as well as later forms of the Greek language (Koine and Modern Greek).  The term onomatopoeia (from the Greek ‘making names’) refers to words that imitate the sounds of the things they describe.  The most common examples of onomatopoeia mimic sounds found in nature, either those of animals or inanimate objects. The geographer Strabo makes particular reference to both the term ‘onomatopoeia’ itself as well as the process by which…

Abstract This article discusses the month-names attested in various forms of the Greek language, beginning with the Mycenaean evidence and continuing through to the Classical period. A brief discussion of the structure of ancient Greek calendars is included as well. Greek months were named after deities honored or festivals held in the times of the year the months delineated (although in later times some city-states used ordinal numerals to refer to months). There was, however, no standard set of these ‒ each community possessed its o…

Abstract This article covers the rhetorical term ‘chiasm’ (alternately ‘chiasmus’), which describes an inverted parallel structure, i. e., A-B-B-A, where these letters stand for words, ideas, or grammatical structures. This article also details the term’s etymology and history (said to be used first by the fourth century Attic orator Isocrates), including examples in Greek prose, as well as a discussion of the related (and seemingly more ancient) rhetorical device known as ‘chiastic structure’. The term ‘chiasm’, alternately ‘chiasmus’ (from the Greek verb khiázo,…