Talk:Prosiopesis

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Age of the term

The article tells us:

David Crystal writes, "In rhetorical terminology, an elision in word-INITIAL position was known as aphaeresis or prosiopesis, in word-MEDIAL position was known as syncope, and in word-FINAL position as apocope."

And yes, Crystal does indeed write this (minus the hyperlinks).

"Was known", past tense: but Crystal doesn't say when. I'd take it to mean some time well before 1917, which is when Jespersen presented it as his own coining. Lanham's Handlist has a proper entry for aposiopesis but no mention of prosiopesis, I'd guess because it is such a recent term. If this guess is right, then Crystal's description is rather misleading. -- Hoary (talk) 22:55, 18 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]