What is the origin of the word antanaclase?
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Repetition of the same word that is used in two different senses,
antanaclase
(from the Greek anti, against and anaklasis, repercussion) has a bad reputation. Even if we find it in Plato: "
The eyes of the spirit begin to be piercing only when those * of the body begin to droop
"; Jules Renard: "
A man of character does not always have a good character
"; Pascal: "
The heart has its reasons which reason does not know
"; Victor Hugo: “
The songs are like the guillotine; they cut indifferently, today this head, tomorrow that one. This is only a variant
”and Prévert:“
They quietly made those who could not suffer suffer.
", Some purists, considering that it can give rise to easy puns, even to fallacious advertising slogans:"
With our printers, the print quality always makes an impression
", do not give it much credit.
Read alsoStylish figures: what is a hypocoristic?
From Raymond Devos to Frédéric Dard
As far as I'm concerned, I have nothing against when she makes me smile.
Some examples: “
Going to bed late at night
” and “
When the moon is silver, my tax collector comes back
”, by Raymond Devos.
"
The summer light, more grazing than an electoral speech
", by Frédéric Dard.
"
The right is left and the left clumsy
" and "
The existence precedes the essence, but the essence is more and more expensive
", whose authors are unknown.
* Note: we speak of antanaclase, even if the word is not
replaced, but implied or replaced by a pronoun, as
is the case in this sentence of Plato.
Extract from
Literary walk among figures of speech
.
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