allitteratio

Forms

allitteratio f (genitive allitterationis); third declension^[1] It is also spelled alliteratio and adlitteratio.^[1]

Etymology

It is a New Latin word, formed from Latin ad- + littera (“letter”) + -tiō,^[2] as a noun of action.^[2] Pontano, who uses it first in Ramminger's record, explains the name by a play of letters (allūsiō).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

In his dialogue Actius Giovanni Pontano proposes the name alliteratio for a figure “because it consists in a play of letters”: it occurs when two or three words in a row in a verse begin with the same consonants, the vowels sometimes changed, or with the same syllables or vowels.^[1]

Semantic evolution

Pontano refers back to the term in a later work, where he says he has called it alliteratio elsewhere, when giving rules for the rhythms of poets.^[1] A commentary on Tibullus mentions it as a name some use for a harsh run of syllables such as Ca Ca,^[1] the Jesuit Masen gives the pun of Biborius Mero for Tiberius Nero as an example,^[1] and Morhof counts “thin alliterations” among the faults of Lipsius' style.^[1]

English borrowed the word in the 1650s as alliteration.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (New Latin, rhetoric) Alliteration, the repetition of the same initial letters or syllables in neighbouring words.^[1][2]

Related words

• littera
• allūsiō
• English alliteration

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Ramminger, Johann, Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700, www.neulatein.de
2. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com