antithesis

Forms

antithesis f (genitive antithesis, accusative antithesin); third declension^[1][2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek ἀντίθεσις (antíthesis, “opposition”),^[3][1] a noun formed from ἀντί (antí, “against”) and θέσις (thésis, “a placing, setting”).^[4] In Greek it meant opposition or resistance, literally “a placing against”, and was a term of logic and rhetoric.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Latin grammarians of the 4th century AD, first Charisius, use it for a grammatical figure: the putting of one letter in place of another, as in olli for illi or impete for impetu.^[1][2][6]

Semantic evolution

The sense of letter substitution recurs in Diomedes and other late grammarians and in Isidore of Seville,^[6][2] and glossaries explain the word as “placed against”.^[7]

In British Medieval Latin it meant an objection, and more generally opposition or contradiction, besides its grammatical use.^[8] English borrowed it from Late Latin in the 1520s for the rhetorical opposition of contrary ideas.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 362 AD – Charisius defines it as one letter put for another.^[1][2][4]
• second half of the 4th century AD – Diomedes gives the same definition.^[1][2][4]
• c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville uses it in the same sense.^[6][7][4]
• 1520s – English borrows it, first as a term of rhetoric.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (grammar) The substitution of one letter for another (olli for illi).^[1][2][9]
2. (Medieval Latin) An objection.^[8]
3. (Medieval Latin) Opposition, contradiction.^[8]

Related words

• English antithesis

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
2. ^ a b c d e f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
3. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b Goetz, Georg (1888–1923), Corpus glossariorum Latinorum, Leipzig: Teubner; vols. VI–VII Thesaurus glossarum emendatarum, digital ed. CGLO, Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
8. ^ a b c Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
9. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.